In the footsteps of Leo Pepe
On the eve of my 59th birthday, Cristina and I will be embarking on a historic trek in order to raise money for The Army Benevolent Fund. We will be walking over 100kms in 4 days following part of the route taken during the liberation of Italy during the Second World War, starting at the Salerno beaches where allied forces originally landed in 1943 and joining the Gustav line as well as visiting the historic battlefield and cemeteries at Monte Cassino.
This journey has particular relevance for me as my maternal grandfather, Leo Pepe was part of the British Army force involved in the liberation exercise. I have managed to obtain my grandfather's army record and some photos taken during his time with The Royal Engineers. I discovered that he left Naples in July 1945, just over 79 years before we will be arriving there. It cannot have been easy for a man with an Italian heritage to have taken part in this campaign in the land of his ancestors but he had volunteered without hesitation and was determined to do his part to eradicate fascism from Europe.
Today it is more important than it has ever been in our lifetime for us to have strong military capability to defend the values that we hold dear. We need to be able to remain independent and have a strong deterrent force UK Defence spending is due to increase by almost 50% over the next 10 years representing the largest sustained increase since the Second World War. However, we also need to ensure that our soldiers and their families are cared for if they are injured or suffer loss in the line of duty and a large part of that still comes from charitable donations which require significant funding.
