Page 13 - aruba-today-20190615

A13
Friendship between Aruba and U.S.
ORANJESTAD — Friendship has everything to do with love, respect and joy
and all of that is applicable to the remarkable duo Jeff Angela and Vito
Traus a.k.a. Papa Vito. They met years ago when Vito visited Aruba and
Jeff showed him and his family around the island. “We are pals for life. This
gentleman deserves all the respect there is as he is a good man and vet-
eran who fought for our liberty and freedom as we have it today”, says Jeff.
Vito smiles throughout the full interview and repeatedly expresses his love
for this island and its people.
“One day my daughters came to Aruba and they took me with them. That
is where we met Jeff as we booked a tourist tour with him and since that
moment we are pals. He took us all over the island and we fell in love with
Aruba. We tell people back home how good it is here and they try to book
the trip but many times it is fully booked and they can’t go. We have to
reserve one year in advance sometimes. That is how good this town is.”
Vito praises the food, the service and the people. “You treat us good, you
respect us and that makes us come back every year. If I can’t come back
anymore in the future for sure my daughters will,” says the 93-old World War
II veteran.
Saturday 15 June 2019
Special Men
Jeff is a Aruba- born and proud of his island. “I showed
papa Vito and his family the real deal of Aruba, the his-
tory, the food, everything. I take him to visit special plac-
es and characters. Last year we visited the marines and
that was a fantastic experience. Now we are here in the
house of Padu Lampe.” Padu Lampe or Padú del Caribe
is 99 years old now and he wrote "Aruba Dushi Tera", a
waltz that is now the national anthem of Aruba. He is
a musician and songwriter who has been recording and
composing for several decades, and he is also called the
“father of our culture.” Lampe was honored by the King-
dom of the Netherlands with a Silver carnation. Likewise
Vito has been honored in the last seven decades as a
veteran by presidents, governors, mayors, the New York
Knicks … you name it. “Last year he graduated from high
school because before he never got the chance to do so
due to his dedication to the army,” says Jeff.
Into Service
Vito: “I come from New Jersey and was born in 1925. In
1943, I stepped into service at the age of 18 and I quit
school. Our basic training happened at Alabama in the
infantry, after that a ship took us to Europe but stopped
on the route for a two weeks training in Africa while con-
tinuing after that to Italy. I started as a replacement in
the front line and I was also a scout. We needed to find
out where the enemies were and inform our captains ac-
cordingly. It went wrong and they shot a lot of ours and
captured the rest.” He experienced being war prisoner in
Munich where the Nazis treated them bad and restrained
them from food. I weighed 165 pounds and came out of
prison with weighing 130 pounds. We were eventually lib-
erated and we came back to USA where everyone was
so happy. The last guy of my army group died last year.”
During the visit at Padu’s house, Vito shared his story while
his daughters heard the history of our Padu. “This is all
about sharing and respect towards men that carry a his-
tory of achievements. And it is about the mutual love for
Aruba,” as Jeff proudly stated. q