On the 75th anniversary of the end of WW2, I am featuring the base at which my father served as a pilot, the captain of a bombing crew based in the southernmost tip of Italy's toe, Manduria, Puglia. I went to visit this base a few years ago to also see the wonderful museum that the local population has opened to honor the American and Italian soliders who fought in this war. The museum is located in a former historic building in the town center, and a dedicated group of local heroes has painstakingly banded together to collect historical documents, artifacts and encourage scholarship. Over the years, I heard much about this group of airmen who stayed in touch with my father and wrote to us about their daring, often dangerous sorties over north Italy, southern France, Austria and Germany. The 450th Bomb Group flew 265 missions in 1944-45--each one detailed by our government--in B 24 Liberators that took many lives but helped enable defeat of the Axis. It's hard to imagine now that Italy is our favored retreat and these beautiful European countries were our enemies that at one time these devastating incursions stood between fascism and democracy. If you watch Rome Open City or other war films, you will understand the flavor of the times.