Museum hosts moving WWII documentary

The Italian American Veterans Museum hosted a very special screening of “The Lost Mountaineers” on Aug. 27. Producers/Directors Antonella Previdi and Ben Appleby came all the way from Italy to do a private screening of this incredible film. The one-hour documentary tracked efforts to recover the equipment and remains of 25 soldiers who perished when their amphibious vehicle sank during a violent storm on Lake Garda on April 30, 1945.  As the film began, a similar tempest lashed the floor-to-ceiling windows of the museum, giving the audience an even more realistic sense of what the soldiers endured in their final hours. The museum was filled to capacity, with attendees processing a wide range of emotions, from pride in our soldiers to the anguish that only a family member that loses a loved one in wartime can feel. “I really enjoyed the presentation,” one attendee said, reflecting the sentiments of everyone in the room. “I didn’t expect it to be so moving.” A huge thank you to Ben and Antonella for keeping our soldiers’ stories alive.