Zio Nino

In memoriam: Bartolomeo "Nino" Pivetta (1922-1944?). My paternal uncle, an infantryman in the Italian Army, went MIA during in the Siege of Stalingrad. The family never heard from again.

With his Belgian wife and two-year-old daughter in tow, he tried to sneak back to the family farm near Pordenone, Italy. Alas, the carabinieri nabbed him at the border. He became fodder for Mussolini's war.

The court historians claim my uncle did not die for freedom. He fought against Stalin, FDR's beloved Uncle Joe, and on the same side as Hitler. Hitler at the time was the Implacable Enemy With Whom No Compromise Was Possible. It would be another year before Stalin took his place.

Timing is everything when it comes to empire, perpetual war, and shifting alliances. Sorry, Zio Nino.

Keep your enemies close. Keep your country closer. As my late father once put it, in his own inimitable way:

"What? Fight for your country? Are you crazy?! Where do you get ideas like this? No! You have no country! You know where my country is? Right here! Between my legs! That's my country! It's all I live for! It's all I fight for! It's all I'll die for!"