USA mean to me


The Declaration of Independence – all Americans know it.
The Thanksgiving Day – all Americans celebrate it.
The Tribute to Navajo Code Talkers – the most "American" monument, probably unknown to the majority of Americans.

I visited the States for the first time in April 1971. It was a business trip and I had to get my visa in a hurry. At that time I was living in Paris. Therefore, I had to apply for the visa at the US consulate at Champs Elysées.
It was 9 a.m. The TWA flight for Boston-Washington was scheduled to leave Paris at 1 p.m. I exited the consulate at 9.45. The visa had been granted without major difficulties. I had been asked to answer, among others, the following questions:
-Are you a member of the Italian Communist Party?
-Were you a member of the Fascist Party? (I was 10 years old when fascism collapsed)
-Are you planning to go to the States with the intention of killing the President of the USA?
The questions, together with my answers, were recorded on a tape that, I imagine, has been kept in the Consulate files. The gentleman who interviewed me was an African-American extremely kind and efficient. He did not even smile when asking the third question.
Together with a colleague from India, (who was almost a Danish citizen being a resident of Copenhagen since 1962), I left Paris onboard the 707 of TWA at 1 p.m. sharp.
We landed in Boston some nine hours later and we lined up for the immigration control. My colleague, who had stated in the written declaration not having resided in the last six months in any country affected by endemic diseases, was asked to confirm his statement by swearing on a Bible! For an individual belonging to a country where the Bible is probably considered an optional and does not represent any binding tradition, this sounded at least a little odd. It was our very first approach to the spontaneous and somewhat naive American style.
We continued our trip to Washington. There, we had to change airport from Dulles to ... (or viceversa?), where we boarded a flight bound for Huntington, West Virginia. There we were scheduled to attend a series of technical meetings with one of the most renowned metallurgical companies in the world.
We landed in Huntington late in the evening. It was snowing.
The illuminated display of the Holiday Inn, where we had been booked, gave us a touching welcome: "Bienvenus amis les francais". None of us was French but …were we not arriving from Paris?
The next day the sun was shining and a breathtaking white landscape wished us a real good welcome. Everything looked as in an American Xmas comedy. Anybody missing? Yes! Cary Grant and Greer Garson.
While shaving, I watched the TV where, mixed up with commercials, Mr.Nixon was announcing the vietnamization of the war in Vietnam.
After the first technical meeting of the morning, the lunch was held in the local Golf Club. The waiters, all colored men, seemed extracted from "Gone with the Wind" or a similar movie; at least according to the openhearted opinion of a European visiting for the first time the States.
The technical meeting of the afternoon was followed by:
-The visit to the 56 flavors ice cream shop of Huntington
-A cup of tea offered by the charming wife of one of the American engineers in a tidy and beautiful house where we could admire the family Bible, the bathrooms for the seven children, all equipped with sinks adjustable in height, the timber on top of the fireplace said to come from the barrack of the mother of Jesse James.
-A dinner at the local bowling where, for the first time in our Asian and European lives, my colleague and I have been given the possibility to appreciate a noise level in excess of 120 dba.
The second day has been completely devoted to the technical discussions. The third day we left for New York, La Guardia Airport. To answer the question of the taxi driver we said: ‘take us to Wall Street!’
And there we saw the first of the two WTC towers under completion. The workers were applying the (later so discussed and criticized) fire proofing to the upper stories of the building. A cloud of white mortar dust was spread over Manhattan.
We walked all the way from Wall Street to Central Park, just in time to catch a taxicab to JFK for our return to Europe. Rather than impressed, I would say we were scared from New York. I am very grateful to God who favored my first impact with US to take place in a little, tidy province town.

Since that time I have been at least twenty times in US. I rode a car through the States from San Francisco to New York. I visited the wonderful West. Together with my wife and our children we admired the most famous National Parks from Yosemite to Yellowstone, to the Death Valley, to Grand Canyon.

Quite recently I was there again and saw a new Phoenix, AZ, that had grown up from the 1.5 MM inhabitants of 1990 to almost 6 MM of today. I visited the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico and the Canyon de Chelly in Arizona. I paid also my second visit to the Petrified Forest.
Once more I summarized for myself my experiences in US, the memories of my previous contacts with people met there, the happenings and ceremonies I had the opportunity to get involved in.
Among others:
-St.James, Long Island, NY. 1976. Uncle John was born in the USA from Italian parents in 1894. He became Italian citizen in 1919. As an officer of the Italian army he was sent to Libya where he spent a couple of years. He decided to be American again when he went back to the States together with the just married Emily in 1926. He became a prominent manager in the east coast structure of the Western Union. He helped Italian prisoners in the NY area during the war and hundreds of starving Italians at the conclusion of World War II. He had retired two times. When I met him in 1976 he was 82 and was employed as janitor by a dealer of electronic components. ‘How can you stop working after you worked an entire life? Remember! Never wake up a day without a task waiting for you!’

-Fort Laramie, Nebraska. 1978. The lowering of the flag at sunset. Impressive!
-Rodeo in Ogallala, Nebraska, 1978. The cowboy checking our entrance tickets hands out also a box of matches. Printed on the box: "vote for Charley Thone governor- A record of common sense leadership". At my question ‘who this Charley Thone is?’ the answer is: ‘I am Charley Thone! Are you going to vote for me?’ May be this promotion sounds natural to an American. To a European, not so familiar with this direct and simple way to handle such an important matter, the episode becomes "unforgettable".
-New York 1982. A taxi driver of Russian nationality says: ‘I spent two years in Rome, Italy, waiting for the visa to US. I appreciate the Italian culture, the Italian art, the Italian people, their kindness…but, once you experience the madness of the New Yorkers, for no reason you will ever dream of going back to Europe …’
-Phoenix, AZ, august 1990. I do not remember much of this developing town. A strange monument, the tribute to the Navajo Code Talkers, impresses me. Back in Italy I will study the matter to understand what this monument stands for.
-Rodeo in Merton, Utah to celebrate the hundred years of Utah joining the Union. It starts with the American national anthem. A cowgirl flying the US flag rides through the arena. Then a second cowgirl with the Utah flag. First sponsor: the Coca Cola flag. Second sponsor: the Ford flag. Then…all lights go off. In the darkness the touching sound of a trumpet playing a "Spaghetti Western" melody composed by Ennio Morricone…Unforgettable event.
-New Orleans, Memphis, Nashville. It is 1994.
-New York: December 31st 2000. Times Square. My wife and I we welcome the new century. It shows up with the famous falling ball.
-New York: January 1st 2001. Visiting for the first time the twin towers.
-New York: March 2002. At the immigration: ‘take care of yourself’.
We are among the pilgrims to Ground Zero.
-Cincinnati,OH-December 1st 2004. Immigration: Fingerprints, Photo, Request of detailed information.
I appreciate the extent of this control. But I think: what about Mexicali, El Paso, Canada? And what can be done to protect the Panama Canal?
-Phoenix, AZ. December 2nd, 2004 (5 to 6 millions inhabitants). I ask a policeman: ‘Please, help me to find a monument to the Navajos which I saw when visiting this town in 1990!’ The guy explains that in 1990 he was only a young boy and since that time many "ancient" buildings, plazas, gardens have disappeared, replaced by more modern constructions. He addresses an older colleague without any positive result. An older lady caring of the safety of school children crossing the Washington road is called in to help, but the question is not answered. Nobody has ever heard of this monument. I tell them the story I learnt: "During world war II in the Pacific area, all communication codes used by the Americans were easily broken by the Japanese intelligence. Americans lost soldiers and armament. Then, one day, a group of Navajo marines suggested their commanders to employ them as code talkers, utilising their own language. The Navajo ‘code’ has never been broken by the Japes. Most of the Navajos who took part in this heroic action never returned to their territory and remained in some war cemetery overseas. America, grateful, erected the monument to the Navajo Code Talkers in Phoenix, AZ."

This is the story I narrated to the policemen I met in the central square of Phoenix. They appreciated, but could not help…
-Phoenix, AZ. December 11, 2004. I walked some 10 miles. I found it: at the Xing of Central with Thomas road.
Do not miss it! This is your true America.