Diary of Writing Italy’s Sorrow

London, February 5, 2004
Matthew Parker has finished his epic work on Monte Cassino and very generously gave me his folder on German veterans.   Amongst the notes and emails was a message from Wolf von Kumberg, a Canadian whose German father had served in the Fallschirmjager at Cassino and subsequently through much of the remainder of the Italian campaign.  So I sent Wolf an email and it turns out he’s working in London and is keen to help out.  He’s fascinated by his father’s war experiences and has done a lot of work to piece together where and when precisely his father served.  Anyway, I met him today at his London office and he couldn’t have been more charming.  His dad is coming over from Canada for the 60th Anniversary of the Battle for Monte Cassino, and he suggested I come out too and perhaps interview him there.  I readily agreed; I’m conscious that getting hold of German veterans is going to be a lot harder than British or American vets.