25th
My dad turned 7 years old on June 28th, 1943. On July 9th, the Allied invasion of Sicily occurred. I can’t begin to imagine how scary that must have been for a 7 year old, regardless of whether or not it was viewed as liberation. A 7 year old doesn’t know what liberation means, he just knows that thousands of men were falling out of the sky with guns and hundreds of giant ships were floating off the beach where he would swim and play, and they were firing their giant canons towards his house.
Operation Husky on Wikipedia
Map of the Italian Defensive Front (Italian Infantry Perspective)
Google Map marking the house where my father grew up.
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Later today I will show him this picture of a giant ship exploding and I am absolutely positive he will remember the scene and tell me a rousing story of what he witnessed through his 7 year old eyes.
