When and where did the U.S. first enter World War II in Europe? If you said D-Day, you'd be forgiven, as much has been said and produced related to the invasion of Normandy.
What most people forget was that the Allies' first European landing was actually in Sicily from July through August of 1943. So-called Operation Husky began as a massive amphibious and airborne campaign followed by a six-week-long land operation involving more than 150,000 ground troops.
Coverage of the event was carefully choreographed, with the media releasing photographs and newsreel footage of crowds cheering, women handing out flowers, and soldiers giving chocolate bars to children.
While writing The Last Letter in Sicily and Beneath the Sicilian Stars, I had the opportunity to tour Catania's Museo Storico dello Sbarco in Sicilia 1943, where I gained a deeper understanding of this event from the Italian perspective. In truth, there was a fine line between liberation and invasion. Yes, these soldiers brought food and pushed out Nazis. But the campaign also cost the lives of 135,000 Italian troops.
Later, I stumbled on a fascinating project called "Food, Hunger, Migration and the American Myth in Sicily at the Time of the WWII Allied Landing," produced by Teresa Fiore, the Theresa and Lawrence R. Inserra Chair in Italian and Italian American Studies at Montclair State University, and students at Montclair State University. The team conducted a series of interviews with individuals with memories of the arrival of the Allied Forces in Sicily in 1943, the late phase of Fascism, and the post-war period.
It's a reminder that the history of war isn't written by battles alone, but also by hunger, nourishment, and the stories passed down around the table. From these quiet legacies, several scenes in my historical novels were born.
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