5 things you may not know about Sicily-Rome American Cemetery
Sicily-Rome American Cemetery is located in Nettuno, Italy. This World War II American Battle Monuments Commission site contains the graves of approximately 7,900 service members. Approximately 3,100 names are also commemorated on its walls of the missing.
Office of Strategic Services loss from Corsica
An OSS mission to Corsica happened to be quite costly. The Special Operations Branch sent a four-man team, made up of one American and three Corsicans, ashore from a submarine one night in December 1942. It was the first OSS secret agent team infiltrated into enemy-occupied Europe. As they arrived on the beach, they carried weapons, ammunitions and a million French francs and Italian lires. Mussolini’s Italian Army had occupied the Vichy French island the previous month. Disliking the occupying Italian fascist regime, French Corsicans supported the team, but the secret agents were eventually captured, tortured and executed in the summer of 1943.
After the Italian government in Rome surrendered Sept. 8, 1943, the French Resistance in Corsica rose up, and called upon the Allies to help them get rid of them of the occupying Italian and German forces. An expeditionary French force from North Africa landed along with a detachment of OSS French and Italian speaking operational groups, consisting of two officers and 30 enlisted men.
Because of the earlier OSS mission, the local Corsican Resistance cooperated more with the operation groups than with the French troops, whom they did not trust. The OSS proved both aggressive and heroic. On Sept. 25, near Barchetta, a three-man operational group team led by 1st Lt. Thomas L. Gordon of Brownsville, Pennsylvania, was on advanced patrol when they encountered heavy German mortar and artillery fire. They remained in position to cover the withdrawal of a French unit when enemy reinforcements arrived. A French captain observing from a nearby hilltop, stated later that it was one of the bravest acts he had ever seen. Continuing to fire until the end, the three OSS men, Gordon, Sgt. Rocco T. Grasso of Babylon, New York, and Sgt. Sam Maselli of Queens County, New York, were killed by mortar fire. All three were posthumously awarded medals for bravery from the American and French governments. Gordon was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest military decoration for heroism of the U.S. Army after the Medal of Honor; Grasso and Masselli the Bronze Star Medal.
Gordon is buried at Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Plot J, Row 1, Grave 43.
Monte La Difensa
The Battle of Monte La Difensa took place between Dec. 3-9, 1943, during Operation Raincoat, part of the Battle for the Bernhardt Line during the Italian campaign in World War II.
Monte La Difensa, also known as Hill 960, was one of the peaks forming the Camino hill mass which formed the left-hand “gatepost” dominating the Mignano Gap, key to the U.S. Fifth Army’s route to Cassino, the Liri valley and Rome. The mountain itself had become a stalemate for American and British troops because of the defenses employed by the German troops, part of the Bernhardt Line.
One of the units that participated in the assault was the First Special Service Force. First Lt. Wayne E. Boyce took part in this battle. He was in the First Special Service Force, a Canada-U.S. joint venture to deploy troops against the highest odds in the toughest terrain of the Second World War, like Mount La Difensa. Masters of unarmed combat, those service men developed skills like skiing, rock climbing, arctic survival and handling weapons. They had to complete 97-kilometer marches in 20 hours and ski cross-country in formation through the night. They were trained to carry things, going where animals and machines could not, carrying 45-kilogram packs.
Boyce's Distinguished Service Cross citation:
“Boyce’s platoon was designated as the assault wave of his company for an attack on two fortified enemy ridge lines. Immediately after starting the attack, the platoon encountered fierce machine gun, machine pistol and mortar fire, which halted the advance. Boyce, however, fearlessly moved forward, and his action inspired his men to rush onward and assault the position. The first objective having been taken, Boyce immediately reorganized his unit and led the assault on the second enemy line. Although wounded fatally in this assault, Boyce devoted his remaining energy to reorganizing his platoon and consolidating its position. His determined courage and aggressive leadership are an everlasting inspiration to those who followed him in his heroic assaults against the enemy. Boyce's intrepid actions, personal bravery and zealous devotion to duty at the cost of his life, exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.”
Boyce is buried at Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Plot A, Row 12, Grave 30.
A tie to Hollywood
U.S. actress Téa Leoni, born Elizabeth Téa Pantaleoni, has a connection to the cemetery through her grandfather, Lt. Col. Guido Pantaleoni Jr., who is commemorated on the Wall of the Missing at Sicily-Rome American Cemetery.
Pantaleoni was born in St. Louis, Missouri, March 23, 1900. He graduated from Milton Academy, Harvard University and Harvard Law School and became a lawyer. He married a wealthy woman in 1923. His wife died in 1934, leaving him alone with three children. In 1935, he remarried and had two other children, including Anthony, Leoni’s father.
Even though Pantaleoni was exempt from service in World War II, he still wanted to join the effort. In 1943, he went to war, responsible for controlling the whole Italian and southern French area of operations for the OSS. When Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, started July 10, 1943, OSS could only play a minor role in the invasion, since the new intelligence organization had been forbidden to conduct operations prior to the invasion by Allied Forces Headquarters, who feared that OSS operations would alert the Germans to the pending landings. Compounding the problem, OSS had a relatively small number of Italian-American personnel in the theater. The operation in Sicily evolved slowly. The main OSS unit consisted of two officers and several enlisted men who landed in Sicily on D-plus-four.
The men had no experience gathering tactical intelligence and AFHQ loosely defined their role. Operations proceeded in a trial-and-error fashion. When Allied forces engaged the Germans in the mountains of Sicily, a small detachment from OSS Special Operations attempted several operations that were canceled due to the rapid Allied advance. Believing he needed to gain firsthand mission experience, the SO chief, Pantaleoni, decided to lead an SO mission in person, together with Ohioan Sam Buta, who once ran for Congress, and Tony Ribarich, a former waiter. Max Corvo, chief of the OSS, thought it was necessary to have his agents land on the Tyrrhenian part of the Mediterranean front, near Cerami and Capizzi, north of Troina. Pantaleoni, as a senior member within the OSS, knew top-secret information, including, possibly, the fact that the Allies had broken the German Ultra Code and were reading their communications.
Exposure in enemy territory, which could lead to his arrest and interrogation by the Abwehr, could compromise this information. Nevertheless, to gain experience he led a mission, code-named San Fratello, of four enlisted men and two civilians across the frontlines to collect information about German fortifications on Mount Etna that had slowed down the advance of Patton’s Seventh Army.
They left Palermo Aug. 3, 1943, headed toward Messina and reached the no-man’s land in the morning of Aug. 7. On the way, they hired two local guides with mules and bought civilian clothes, which they put over their uniforms. They separated into three groups to be less conspicuous to enemy patrols. The first group of two soldiers and a guide crossed the lines without incident. After 45 minutes the second group of Pantaleoni, Pvt. Anthony Ribarich, Sgt. Serafin Buta and a guide headed down the trail. They walked for a half hour when Ribarich stepped on a land mine. He received only a minor scratch in the back of his neck, so they decided to carry on.
Two hours later, they came across a German patrol, which ordered them to surrender. A firefight ensued, during which the Americans tried to get rid of the civilian clothes they had put over their uniforms. After 20 minutes Buta was gravely wounded with a bullet in his spine and Pantaleoni decided to surrender.
The Germans summarily executed the two local guides and took Pantaleoni away immediately after his capture, while Ribarich was able to escape and walked back toward the American lines for two days and two nights, making contact with U.S. Army units Aug. 10. Pantaleoni was taken prisoner but remarkably sought to convince his German captor, a sergeant, that since Germany’s cause was doomed, he should think of surrender. Apparently, he was beginning to make an impression but was unfortunately killed when the vehicle he was in struck a mine. What renders this story so extraordinary is that years after the war the former German sergeant sought out Pantaleoni’s family to relate his last days. He located Guido’s widow, in New York and explained to her that even though he only knew Pantaleoni for two days and was his enemy, he regarded him as one of the most outstanding people he had ever met in his life. He also delivered a handwritten note from Pantaleoni which requested that German sergeant be afforded the same courtesy and consideration that had been extended to him.
Pantaleoni was awarded the purple heart.
A family connection: Passing on history
Ovidio Taurelli is a second-generation fixture at Sicily-Rome American Cemetery following his father Angelo’s steps. Taurelli started in 1982. He worked as an irrigation specialist for over 40 years. As a boy, Taurelli remembers helping his father place flags on graves for Memorial Day. “I grew familiar with those crosses and what they represented,” he said. “I was a member of the local baseball team, an oddity in soccer-crazed Italy. The GIs taught the game to the Italian.”
He grew up in Nettuno, listening to his father’s stories. As a 14-year-old casual laborer, Angelo helped build the temporary site. In 1944, he witnessed the death of one of its planners, Tec 5 James B. Kimble, 45th Quartermaster Corps, Grave Registration Service. After the war, Angelo got a permanent job, soon taking over as irrigation specialist.
Taurelli looks forward to passing the lore to his grandchildren. “My story, like the stories of many Italians, starts in 1944 when these men and women gave our parents and grandparents new hope.”
A last name in common
Pfc. Wayne L. Weaver’s story is a poignant reminder of the sacrifices made during World War II. Weaver, a member of the Sixth Infantry Regiment, First Armored Division, died Jan. 4, 1944, in the midst of fierce fighting in Italy. According to historical records, Weaver’s regiment was engaged in a difficult battle at Mount Porchia, where the First and Second Battalions of the Sixth Infantry faced heavy German artillery and mortar fire. The Second Battalion, where Weaver served, was struck with devastating accuracy, forcing the troops to withdraw. The intense fighting led to numerous casualties, including Weaver, whose death was initially reported as occurring in North Africa.
Mariska Weaver, a colleague of Heather Topping, was shocked to discover that Topping's uncle, Weaver, was buried at Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial. Mariska and Heather had developed a close friendship while working as immigration officers in Nashville, Tennessee. Their connection grew stronger as Mariska took a position with the American Battle Monuments Commission in Nettuno, Italy. When she shared her new role with Topping, she was astounded to learn that Topping's uncle was buried at the very cemetery where she would soon work. The coincidence of sharing the same last name, Weaver, only added to the strange serendipity, even though they do not appear to be related.
Initially, Topping believed her uncle had died in North Africa, as stated in the letter from President Roosevelt to his family. The letter described Weaver's death in the “North African Area,” leading to years of misunderstanding about the exact location of his death. However, upon further research, it was revealed that Weaver died at Mount Porchia in Italy, a location far from North Africa. His body was initially buried at a temporary cemetery in Marzanello, Italy, before being moved to Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, where he now rests among other American heroes who fought and died in the Italian Campaign.
For Mariska, the discovery of her friend’s uncle’s burial site in Nettuno added a personal and emotional connection to her work with American Battle Monuments Commission. As she takes on her role at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, she is reminded daily of the deep and enduring sacrifices made by men like Weaver.
Sicily-Rome American Cemetery is one of two World War II American cemeteries in Italy. Most of the service members buried or commemorated there died in the liberation of Sicily; in the landings in the Salerno Area and the heavy fighting northward; in the landings at Anzio Beach and expansion of the beachhead; and in air and naval support throughout the region.
For more than 100 years, the ABMC has been committed to its mission: honoring the service, achievements and sacrifices of the U.S. service members who made the ultimate sacrifice during American conflicts abroad, including World War II.
Sources:
Article created with Sicily-Rome American Cemetery’s team
ABMC Historical Services
ABMC documents, brochures and website.