The Letter Of Second Lieutenant Adolfo Ferrero, 3rd Alpini Val Dora Battalion, Written During the Battle of Ortigara
[in English via Google Translate]
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| Lt. Ferrero |
[19 June 1917]
Dear parents,
I am writing this in the hope that there will be no need to send it to you. I cannot help it, the danger is grave, imminent. I would be remorseful if I did not dedicate these moments of freedom to you, to give you a last farewell.
You know I hate rhetoric... No, no, it is not rhetoric that I am doing. I feel life in me that claims its share of the sun; I feel my hours are numbered, I foresee a glorious but horrendous death.
In five hours it will be hell here. The earth will tremble, the sky will darken, a thick fog will cover everything and rumblings and thunder will resound among these mountains, dark as the explosions that I hear in the distance at this very moment.
The sky has become cloudy; it is raining. I would like to tell you so many things... so many.... but you can imagine. I love you all, all of you.... I would give a treasure to see you again... But I cannot... My blind destiny does not want it. In these last hours of apparent calm, I think of you, Papa, of you, Mama, who occupy the first place in my heart; of you, Beppe, innocent child, of you, Nina... Goodbye.
What should I say? I am speechless: a clash of ideas, a jumble of happy and sad ghosts, an atrocious premonition takes away my expression... No, no, it is not fear. I am not afraid! I feel moved, thinking of you, of what I am leaving, but I know how to show myself in front of my soldiers, calm and smiling. After all, they too have very high morale. When you receive this letter, delivered to you by a good soul, do not cry. Be strong, as I have known how to be.
A son who dies in war is never dead. May my name remain engraved in the souls of my brothers; may my military uniform and my trusty pistol (if it is delivered to you), jealously preserved, bear witness to my glorious end.
And if by chance I have earned a medal, let that remain for Giuseppe. Oh parents, speak, speak, in a few years, when they will be able to understand you, to my little brothers, about me, who died at twenty for the Fatherland. Speak to them about me; try to reawaken in them the memory of me... It is painful to think of being forgotten by them... In ten, twenty years, perhaps they will no longer even know that they had me as a brother.
Now I turn to you. Forgiveness I ask of you, if I have if I have given you sorrows. Believe me, it was not out of malice, if my inexperienced youth has made you endure troubles: I beg you to forgive me... Stripped of this earthly life, I hope to enjoy that good that I believe I have deserved.To you, Papa and Mama, a kiss, just one kiss that says all my affection.
To Beppe and to Nina another [kiss?] and a warning: remember your brother. Sacred is the religion of the dead. Be good. My spirit will always be with you.
I leave all my substance to you. It is little. However, I want it to be jealously preserved by you. To Mama, to Papa, I leave...my immense affection. It is the most estimable memory that I can leave them. To aunt Eugenia, the silver crucifix; to my uncle Giulio, my golden Madonna. He will certainly wear it. My uniform to Beppe, as well as my weapons and my belongings. I leave my billfold with 100 L. to my orderly. Greetings to aunt Amalia and Adele and to all the relatives.
A burning kiss of affection from your most affectionate Adolfo
The original letter from Adolfo Ferrero is now exhibited in the Museum of the Great War, at the Military Shrine of Asiago. It was originally discovered in 1958 on the exhumed body of Lt. Ferrero's orderly, who was also killed in the fighting. They are both buried at the Asiago Military Shrine.
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