How the "friendship bridge" started
What I'm going to tell you about is something that happened 70 years ago in Volon, a small agricultural town in the countryside near to the town of Zevio, about fifteen km away from the city of Verona in northern Italy.
The Bonato family consisted of a father, Gilio, mother, Augusta, three sons and two daughters, and earned a livelihood from agriculture, especially in the cultivation of wheat, maize and grapes.
In World War II, the three brothers had to serve their country, and Adelino and Angelo were prisoners in Germany; on the occasion of 8th September 1943 Amelio was able to return home to Volon.
In his work, Gilio was helped daily by his daughter Anna, and also by Amelio once he had returned home. It was during just such a day's work, while collecting the grapes, that the meeting took place with the two British soldiers: Albert Rhoades and George Carter.
The two had been wandering aimlessly in the countryside around Volon and were so very hungry. Amelio, despite not knowing the English language well, approached them and was able to communicate with them.
Understanding the difficulty of the two British soldiers, Amelio asked his father to help them. Gilio, thinking of his sons who were imprisoned in Germany , did not hesitate to house George and Albert and they become part of his family.
The following days and months passed between work and home life. The mother, Augusta, prepared excellent macaroni, polenta, salami and other traditional dishes .. Every evening the father, Gilio, would read the Bible and each time Albert would listen to him.
Often the quiet was interrupted by German patrols, which sent the two Englishmen fleeing out the back door of the house to hide among the vines in the fields, or sometimes they would climb the apples trees.
All this ended when the BETTELI brothers were killed in the nearby village of Palù.
Albert realised that for the Bonato family the situation had become too dangerous, so along with George they decided to leave.
Gilio and Amelio did not want to abandon them so they decided to shelter them in a hidden hut, which would hopefully be safer for everyone rather than them staying in the house!
From that moment on Amelio took charge of taking them food.
After a few days, the hidden British soldiers were no longer two, but had instead become twelve!
Despite this, Amelio went back and forth daily with the food in the bag. It was not an easy task and was always very dangerous, but when you are twenty years of age you can do this and more!
My father, Amelio, was able to contact a highly ranked official in the English army who then came to the house to speak with his compatriots. From there, to help them in the best way possible for their own health , it was decided to entrust all 12 British soldiers to the Carabinieri of Zevio.
Prior to leaving the Bonato home, my parents organised a dinner for the two young soldiers to show them, once again, the love of the Bonato family.
The British soldiers, escorted by the police, were taken to the prison in the castle of Zevio.
From that time on there was no further news. The war ended and the Bonato family often wondered about the two of them, if they had made it home, or if they were even still alive.
In 1960, on a late summer's day, Albert present at the door of the Bonato's
Alberto, maybe because he was the only one to have made it back home could not forget the love that he had received from the Italian family, and so he returned to say thank you.
Since that time, “the friendship bridge”, as Albert called our friendship, has increased to become a very close relationship between the families despite the distances involved.