The first Christmas in freed Italy found these Fifth Army fighters delving into their own gift packages to play Santa Claus to the bombed out children of Mignano – Vintage Print
(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)
Description
Step back in time with The first Christmas in freed Italy found these Fifth Army fighters delving into their own gift packages to play Santa Claus to the bombed out children of Mignano, a historic print rich in period detail. The original is held by the Library of Congress, so what you hang is a true record of its time.
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The first Christmas in freed Italy found these Fifth Army fighters delving into their own gift packages to play Santa Claus to the bombed out children of Mignano
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Soldiers of the Fifth Army emptying their own Christmas gift packages for the children of Mignano set this scene apart, with the men playing Santa Claus among the ruins of a town fought over only weeks earlier. Mignano lay along the Liri and Volturno corridor, and the fighting there in late 1943 left much of it in rubble. This 1944 halftone reproduction belongs to the kind of public relations imagery the Army circulated to newspapers and magazines, showing American troops at peace with Italian civilians. Its caption stresses the first Christmas in freed Italy, a holiday message meant for readers back home.
| Medium | 1 photomechanical print : halftone. |
|---|---|
| Notes | 1944 |
| Subjects | United States.--Army.--Army, 5th.--Public relations--1940-1950. World War, 1939-1945--Military personnel--American--Italy. Soldiers--American--Italy--1940-1950. Children--Italy--1940-1950. |
| Source | Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
| Original scan | 4,161 × 5,082 px · prints to 14 × 17 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-HPA-210457 |
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