HEREFORD - They were prisoners in a strange land, thousands of miles and an ocean away from the battles that brought them here.
From 1943 to 1946, 4,000 Italian prisoners of war were confined at the 800-acre Hereford Military Reservation and Reception Center.
A stark white reminder of the World War II POW camp sits lonely in the middle of a cornfield about three miles south of the city. It's a small chapel, paid for and built by the prisoners to honor five who wouldn't return home.
On Saturday, four Italians returned to the camp they left more than 60 years ago. They were honored guests at a ceremony marking the restoration of the chapel built for fallen comrades. The rededication was an international event and featured military and government representatives from Italy.
Adriano Angerilli, 91, is the only survivor of the original group who built the small white chapel as a burial marker for the Italian POWs who died in Hereford. He left Italy to go to war in 1939 and was a lieutenant for the Italian National Guard when he was captured in 1943 in North Africa. He arrived at Camp Hereford in 1944 and left in 1946.
The POWs paid for the chapel and built it, said Giuseppe Clemente of Norman, Okla., an Italian-American who volunteers his time to care for the graves of the five Italian POWs, which were moved in 1947 to Fort Reno, Okla.
He acted as a translator for the Italians in Hereford on Saturday.
Saturday marked Angerilli's fifth - and best - trip to Here-ford, he said.
"It's too many emotions," he said. "It's exceptional."
The ceremony marked the first time the Italian government recognized the chapel and one of the most welcoming receptions for the former POWs, Clemente said.
"He never saw America as an enemy," Clemente said, translating for Angerilli. "He just happened to be here. Based on what happened to other people, he was lucky to end up in Here-ford. He still remembers how much the U.S. did after the war to rebuild Europe."
He remembers the U.S. more for the aid given to European nations than his time as a POW, Angerilli said.
"It's the spirit of freedom when you read the Declaration of Independence," Clemente said for Angerilli. "That's the way he sees it."
After the war, Angerilli joined his nation's Corpo Forestale Stato, the national forestry service, Clemente said. He retired and now lives in Arezzo in Tuscany, Italy. He earned a doctorate in Italian. He knew one of the Italian POWs for whom the chapel was built.
Also present for Saturday's festivities were Ezio Lucioli, Fernando Togni, and Giuseppe Margottini, 80, the youngest of the surviving POWs. He faked his age to join the military. Togni and Margottini were captured in 1944 at Anzio Beachhead in what is known as The Battle for Rome.
They were joined by many other Italian dignitaries and Hereford residents celebrating the revitalization of the historic chapel, which sat empty and bare for 40 years. It was first restored in 1988. In 1992, the chapel earned a designation as a Texas Historic Landmark.
The site was vandalized in 2008, but the chapel was rebuilt through the efforts of residents of Castro and Deaf Smith counties and a financial donation from the Committee for Italians Living Abroad. Clara Vick, chairman of the Castro County Historical Committee, has played a key role in rekindling the friendship between the Italian POWs and Panhandle residents.
While the chapel could serve as a memory of the enemy for Italians, a marker of history or a symbol of spirituality, it highlights the reconciliation of two nations, said Roberto Menia, undersecretary of state for Italy, during a luncheon after the chapel rededication.
The two countries now have joined in fighting for freedom, democracy and to overcome terrorism, he said.
"Sixty-five years ago, the prisoners of war were considered your enemy," he said through an interpreter. "Now, 65 years later, you consider them among the best friends you have."
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