AVEZZANO. The city of Avezzano commemorates its civilian victims: men and women who perished under the tragic forces
bombings by the Anglo-American forces, which, exactly 80 years ago, cruelly struck the social, urban and human fabric of a community that was still barely healing and mending its wounds after the 1915 earthquake. The ceremony took place took place on the stage of the Orsini castle where the names of those who perished under the bombs were revealed, traced with documents in hand and after two years of research.
“It was chosen for the unveiling precisely on May 22nd, because – commented the councilor, Pierluigi Di Stefano – 80 years ago, it was the bloodiest day and with the most crosses, according to the news: in the space of only 24 hours, 40 people from Avezzano lost their lives. There were uninterrupted months of hunger and chaos, which forced many of our fellow citizens to take refuge, with a forced exodus, in the countryside and in neighboring towns above all moral to sign a pact of memory with the city: next year, in May, the names of the civilian victims of Avezzano will become an integral part of a commemorative monument, which will be installed in the Remembrance Park of this Castle”.
The boys of the Classical High School, under the guidance of the Auser Association, have given a face and a voice to many identities
submerged or lost. “Today, almost all the civilian victims of those tragic bombings have a name and a surname” – recalls Di Stefano. From 21 to 23 May 1944, the sky of Avezzano was covered by hundreds of Anglo-American “flying fortresses” that pounded the city and the surrounding area, where the strategic retreat of the Germans was being organised, to prevent the arrival of supplies and logistical support to the German army. They were days of pain, terror and death which Avezzano, however, faced with courage and without breaking down, so much so that in 1961 she was awarded the silver medal for civil valor by the then President of the Republic, Giovanni Gronchi.
