Located on the side of the building about 6 feet from the ground, at window level adjacent to the 1^st Special Service Force Plaque.

An inscribed marble plaque.

The plaque remembers Alfredo Rinaldi – a mascot of the US Armed Forces in Anzio in World War 2 and man who memorized the American Sacrifice in Anzio/Nettuno.

Extracted from the Naval Warfare Institute website story regarding a 2016 6^th Fleet Staff Ride to Anzio:  

In 1944, Alfredo was an adventurous soul, a 16-year-old with an insatiable desire to live all that life had to offer. To him, in the thralls of a German occupation, war was a playground, an open door for new experiences. Alfredo Rinaldi and the many residents of the Italian seaside town of Anzio were relocated to Rome when it became obvious that the shorelines were going to become battlegrounds. Alfredo became sort of a transient in Rome, a teenage wanderlust hoping to see action and aimlessly roaming the cobbled streets of Rome in search of it. He was lucky to avoid the ranks of the German Army, apparently because he was young and scrawny; his brother had been drafted into the Wehrmacht, but he deserted and was hiding somewhere in Italy. And then the news came in that the Americans [and British too] had landed at Anzio.

As the reports flooded the hopeful Roman populace, vibrant with excitement that liberation was at their doorstep, Alfredo chose to start marching toward Anzio, a 20-kilometer journey roiled with barbed wire, snipers and German booby traps. He left in the early morning and arrived late that night, somehow steering clear of German munition dropped from above and well-laid land mines. Alfredo’s first contact with Allied Forces was with an African American U.S. army soldier who said, “What in the world are you doing here kid?,” and ultimately gave Alfredo a ride to Anzio in his jeep. Alfredo told us that until this point in his life, he did not realize that America included “people of color” and that this man had changed his life forever . . . Along the way, Alfredo saw his family’s abandoned house, unscathed despite the wreckage from the German air bombing campaign, elevating his mystical belief in America and its forces even more.

Alfredo ended up introducing himself to a group of soldiers, an infantry company, and instantly befriended them. Without any formal paperwork or agreement, he was essentially enlisted. The soldiers told him it was unsafe to for him to go back to Rome, and he preferred to stay anyway. And so he became their translator and their ‘mascot,’ a cheerful soul in a grim and beaten war.

…….our man Alfredo traveled with his unit, returning to his exiled home of Rome to raucous cheers from fellow Italians. Alfredo lived a storybook life from there, transitioning from military service to become a driver/caretaker at the American cemetery in Nettuno, constructed to honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the Italian campaign. From there, he drove buses for ten years, then opened up a photography business with his son, and ended up returning to the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery as an official photographer, where he met then President George H.W. Bush during the cemetery’s annual Memorial Day commemoration.

…….For my friend Alfredo, he considers himself—and rightly so—a U.S. Army World War II veteran. His patriotism is remarkable for someone that doesn’t claim any official nationality to America. As we part ways, he extends a sentimental, “God bless America.” We in America have come to make this saying cliché but I can tell that Alfredo truly means it, a reflection of the appreciation that he and thousands of other Italians expressed as they were liberated from Fascist and Nazi hands.

The text on the plaque is written in Italian and reads:

ALFREDO RINALDI

“Un Ragazzo chiamato Anzio”

Veterano della V’Armata USA,

In seguito allo sbarco del 1944.

Testimone della Memoria Storica,

Si impergno nel dare una degna sepoltura

a migliaia di Americani morti nella

Battalgia di Anzio, per la Liberta.

Ricevuto e premiato alla Casa Bianca,

Dal Presidente George W. Bush,

Per la sua Opera.

ANZIO 22 GENNAIO 2018             LA CITTA’ DI ANZIO

The translation in English:

ALFREDO RINALDI

“A boy called Anzio”

Veteran of the US 5^th Army

Following the Allied landing in 1944. 

A witness to historic events,

He strove to provide a worthy burial

for the thousands of Americans who died in the 

Battle of Anzio, for Liberty.

He was received and honored at the White House

Of President George H. Bush

For his great work.

ANZIO 22 JANUARY 2018            THE CITY OF ANZIO