History Around Us: A trip Not Wasted

     Its been awhile since I've posted anything but life seems to get in the way. Nonetheless we went on a drive and I was hoping to get photos of some sites in Burnt Cabins for a post on Pre French and Indian period locations and it fell through due to my lack of planning on the area.

    On the trip back we came back through Letterkenny Army Base and found the Chapel that was built by Italian POW's during WW II and the 9/11 memorial and I got some pic's.

The 9/11 memorial, I think they did a very nice job, it was kind of awe inspiring to see an actual piece from the towers.

        The Italian POW battalion worked at the General Supply and Transpotation Division at the depot. The commander on one of his nightly inspections discovered an elderly Italian(a stone mason) trying to kill himself. Upon further investigation he found that the man had gotton word his wife had died in Italy and he felt he had nothing to live for.
         It occured to him they might be able to help the prisoner if they could help him find a reason to live. The commander called him into the office the next morning and asked the elderly man if he would be interested in designing a Chapel for the base. The man became interested and said he could not only design the Chapel but he could build it.

         The chapel tower was built first using native stone gotton from the bases of old farmhouses located on the base and the rest quickly followed. It was dedicated in May of 1945 and closed soon after the war ended. It was reopened in 1963 and refurbished.

Stay safe, Bob