Arriving in Italy

We took off from Houston at 4:22 PM Texas time and arrived in Frankfurt at 8:28 AM local time. After a 90 minute layover we took off for Rome and were soon flying over the snow capped Alps.

At 11:30 AM we landed in Rome where we were met by

our host Alberto Campanini. With Alberto were

Lt. Col Erik Jordon of the American Consulate, Retired General Cremona and two of Alberto's friends from Parma. Colonel Jordon presented P. D. with commemorative coins from the the U. S. Consulate , U. S. Air Force and U. S. Army. Alberto had prepared plaques commemorating his return to Italy to celebrate Liberation Day. P. D. presented one of these plaques to Col. Jordan. After there ceremony at the airport we were introduced to Italian driving conditions as we were taken to our hotel. General Cremona arranged for us to stay at a military hotel usually used by visiting military personnel and other dignitaries.

After getting settled in to our hotel we went to dinner with Alberto, General Cremona and his two Parma friends. We were introduced to the custom of a multiple course meal with multiple wines usually lasting 3 hours. General Cremona is an expert on Marconi and has one of the largest personal museums of Marconi memorabilia. He was very interested in learning that Lamar State College has a still standing tower given to it in 1909 by the Marconi Corporation along with radios to train Marconi

operators. I promised to send him pictures and

documentation about the tower.

At close to midnight we ended our first day in Italy (an almost 32 hour day for me having not be to sleep since 7:00 AM Port Arthur time Thursday.

Leaving for Italy

We depart from Bush International bound for Italy.

At 4:22 PM we took off for Rome with a 2 hour layover in Frankfurt, Germany. In the airport Steve Gomez and Barney Singleton presented P.D. with at Leather Bomber's Jacket with the appropriate insignia.

An Italian Tour With Rover Joe

On Thursday, April 16th I will be leaving for Italy. I will be accompanying a patient of mine who has been invited to take part in the Italian Liberation Day ceremonies in Parma on April 25th and 26th. My friend was a Rover Joe during WWII. We will tour some of the same areas he saw action in over a half a century ago.

(A Rover Joe was a member of the Army Air Corps who drove a Jeep equipped with radios that could talk to the P47s, the the Air Field. He was accompanied by a pilot who talked with the planes and directing their fire.) Our hero, Paul Bennett was a Rover Joe in Africa and Italy.

Also going along are two more of Paul's friends, Warren (Barney) Singleton and Steve Gomez. Steve is a WWII re-enactor who jumps out of perfectly good airplanes win full WWII uniform. Steve is responsible for having setup this trip. (more of that story later)

I will try to describe our trip and post some pictures.

By George