Memorial Service in Italy

Early November there was a memorial service combined with a Holy Mass in Portici, Italy. The fights of the First World War between the Austro–Hungarian Monarchy and Italy ended in 1918 with the defeat of the Monarchy, concluded by the armistice signed on November 3, 1918 in Padua. About 500,000 Italian soldiers fell on the battlefield, while the Monarchy lost 2-300,000 men on the Italian front. Many became prisoners of war (POWs), some of whom died in Campania Region, Italy, at a military hospital established in Portici, a town lying eight kilometres from Naples. The representatives of the Italian, Austrian and Hungarian nations pay tribute to their memory every year.

On behalf of the service members posted with permanent change of station to the NATO Allied Joint Force Command (JFC) Naples, Lt.-Col. (Med.) Dr. Péter Vekszler, Hungary’s Senior National Representative (SNR), Lt.-Col. Ferenc Nagy, the commander of the southern national support group, WO Csabáné Simon, Command Sergeant Major (CSM) and WO Richárd Gácsi laid wreaths at the monument of the dead troops.

(MoD Press Office)

Photo: Lt.-Col. (Med.) Dr. Péter Vekszler