Sunbeams illuminate the ruins of the Albaneta farm. Rebuilt after the war, the farm is still active. We now leave the Albaneta Farm and drive over the battlefield to the Polish Cemetery.
	The graves of General Wladyslaw Anders and his wife in the Polish Cemetery. General Anders was stripped of his rank and citizenship after the Soviets occupied Poland. He died in exile in Great Britain and his last wish was to be buried with his troops. Every member of the Polish II Corps fought in a British uniform, on Italian soil with only one thought in mind - the eventual liberation of Poland. In 1989, 19 years after his death, the Polish people, through sheer willpower, threw off the yoke of Soviet Occupation and finally liberated Poland. Soon after, General Anders' rank and Polish Citizenship was reinstated. It was an honor to pay my respects.
	Jewish graves in a special section at the front of the Polish Cemetery. As a Jew whose grandparents came to the United States from a part of Poland called Galicia, I've taken it upon myself to become acquainted with Polish history. Consequently, I am one of the few American Jews who doesn't hate the Poles. Antisemitism was imported to Poland by it's conquerors at the end of the 18th Century, it is not in the Polish psyche. Poland's unique government was extremely tolerant of other cultures and when France, England, Spain and other European countries expelled the Jews between the 13th and 15th Centuries, Poland welcomed them to their land. The Hebrew phrase, PO-LIN, the name Polish Jews gave to their new country, means "Here we rest (Until the coming of the Messiah.)" Eighty percent of European Jews lived in Poland by the late 18th Century. Although offered full Polish citizenship, they lived by choice in autonomous communities, for 500 years. Jews and Poles of course had their differences, as any people of different cultures do, but state-sponsored antisemitism only appeared after the partitions of Poland by Prussia, Austria-Hungary and Russia beginning in 1795. Let us never forget that Poland was the only German-occupied country where the penalty for aiding Jewish people was death. Whole Polish families were executed attempting to shield their Jewish neighbors from the Holocaust. Despite this, over 30% of "Righteous Among the Nations" are Poles - the highest percentage of any nationality. So here are buried 18 Jewish soldiers of the Polish II Corps. Amongst these graves is that of Dr. Adam Graber of Warsaw who, along with a Catholic Chaplian, was killed while tended to wounded soldiers when the Aid Station he manned was shelled by the enemy. I placed a stone on each marker and photographed them to aid in genealogical research.
	The Eagle of Poland gazes upon the killing fields of Monte Cassino. It wept for it's children for 45 years after World War II. The hope of every Polish soldier who fell at Cassino or who survived, was fight Germany anywhere they the Allies needed them until they could eventually land in Poland and liberate it. While Polish blood still dripped on the battlelfields of Monte Cassino, the heads of the 3 Allied Powers made the backroom decision to dash the hopes of these soldiers and hand Poland to the Soviets. Thus, to the millions of Poles slaughtered by the Nazi's was added millions more murdered by the Soviets. But the Poles never lost hope and never lost their dream of independence. In a display of the power a true "People's Republic," the Polish people rose up and by 1989 had taken their country back from the Soviets. The Eagle weeps no more.
	We returned to the Hotel La Terrazza Sulla Storia in San Pietro Infine for an outstanding meal and a good night's sleep. I was asked how I could sleep in a place where 9,000 Italians, Americans and Germans lost their lives. Perhaps it is because the dead of these countries can rest in the knowledge that their homelands are today free, independent and vastly better than they were before the war.
	The Abbey of Monte Cassino seen from my window in San Pietro. Eight miles that took 8 months to liberate.