Memorial Day, 1945: Lt. General Lucian Truscott Jr. Issues Apology To Fallen Soldiers At Italian Cemetery


This Memorial Day, as with all others, we remember the fallen soldiers who lost their lives in battle. In a most unusual and moving Memorial Day commemoration ceremony in 1945, Lt. General Lucian Truscott Jr. issued an apology to the fallen soldiers buried at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery.

It was Memorial Day, May 30, 1945, and Lucian Truscott was sent to the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuno, Italy to speak and dedicate the cemetery on behalf of America and president Harry Truman as part of the Memorial Day celebrations.

Unfortunately, there is no recording of the speech Lucian Truscott gave on that Memorial Day, but famed cartoonist Bill Mauldin, best known for his “Willie and Joe” cartoons, happened to be present that day, and he spoke of the moving Memorial Day experience in his memoir The Brass Ring.

During World War II, Lt. General Lucian Truscott commanded the 3rd Infantry Division, VI Corps, as well as the Fifteenth United States Army and Fifth United States Army. It was while Lt. Truscott was in charge of the 3rd Infantry Division at Anzio that 3,000 American soldiers lost their lives in an ill-fated and badly planned invasion that haunted Lucian Jr. for the rest of his days. The remains of the fallen soldiers, which had yet to be retrieved by their families by the time the Memorial Day dedication ceremony began, were buried under temporary grave markers at the Sicily-Rome American cemetery.

When Lt. General Lucian Truscott took the podium on that Memorial Day 62 years ago, he turned his back on the audience, and instead addressed his speech to the fallen soldiers buried there, and gave them a moving, heartfelt apology.

“The general’s remarks were brief and extemporaneous,” Maudlin wrote.

“He apologized to the dead men for their presence here. He said everybody tells leaders it is not their fault that men get killed in war, but that every leader knows in his heart this is not altogether true. He said he hoped anybody here through any mistake of his would forgive him, but he realized that was asking a hell of a lot under the circumstances…. he would not speak about the glorious dead because he didn’t see much glory in getting killed if you were in your late teens or early twenties. He promised that if in the future he ran into anybody, especially old men, who thought death in battle was glorious, he would straighten them out. He said he thought that was the least he could do.”

So, this Memorial Day, remember your fallen heroes, but also remember that while there are many who glorify war and dying in battle, Lt. General Lucian Truscott felt the need to issue an apology for those who were taken too soon and too young as a result of their love for their country.

[Photo by Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images]

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