Page 129 - Chronicle Vol 17

Day 3 was the start of the Sicily 1943 Peace, Security & Prosperity Conference to which the DLI Association delegates had been invited to attend. A welcoming ses- sion with VIPs started at 0800hrs and was opened by the Rt. Hon Edward Llewellyn, UK Ambassador to Italy, followed by Avv Enrico Troutino, Mayor of the City of Catania. Steve Gregory, founder of the International Forum for Peace, Security & Prosperity (IFPSP) Major General Maurizio Angelo Scardino, Commander Italian Army in Sicily, Senator Tony Loffreda of Canada, Tracy Roberts-Pounds, Consul General Naples, USA. Thomas Reiberling, MA, Embassy of Germany, Rome. Joseph Lenardo, Consul General, the National Italian American Foundation.
The Sicily Peace, Security & Prosperity Conference heard 40 speakers from Italy, Canada, Germany, the UK and the US provide a comprehensive account of the events in Sicily in July-August 1943 and their aftermath. More than 300 people attended the event as speakers, guests, and delegates.
The event represented a further step towards developing an approach to memo- rialisation of the events in Sicily and Italy 80 years ago that is both resonant in the present and relevant to the future. Eyewitnesses are now fading away, and this imposes a special burden on those wishing to preserve the memory of a critical moment in European history. It is the time for a fresh approach that retains the emotional power of experience and dispassionately records the facts.
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