Join the Italian Cultural Garden Foundation and the Italian community in marking the 2nd annual Monte Grappa Commemoration on Thursday, November 11, 2010 from 1 to 2 PM in the Garden at 990 East Blvd, Cleveland OH 44108; at the intersection with Parkgate Avenue.

US veterans are especially invited to be present.  Among those present will be some Buffalo soldiers plus Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, Cleveland Council members Jeff Johnson and Matt Zone, as well as Marco Nobili, Consul of Italy.

Admission is free and all are welcome.  Free parking will be available along East Blvd.  Refreshments will be served.

The Italian Garden has a block of stone hewn from the side of Monte Grappa in northern Italy, in honor of the many northern Ohio members of the 332nd Regiment of Infantry, who fought on Italian soil during World War I.

The plaque on the stone bears the inscription:  “In this garden, sacred to the glories of Rome, the Italian War Veterans of Cleveland have placed this rock taken from the torn slopes of Monte Grappa, a lasting memorial to the mutual sacrifice that in the heroic moments of WWI bound America and Italy, effecting a bond of imperishable friendship in the fruitful work of peace cemented by the blood of some fifty soldiers of Ohio’s 332nd Infantry who fell on Italian soil.”

See photo below courtesy of Robert Angeles of the Cleveland Photographic Society:

Monte Grappa Memorial Plaque & Stone