johndray

	John at Cassino War Cemetery. Here we found the grave of his former Company Commander, Major R.Cooke MC, who had been killed going up the Liri Valley. John could recall Major Cooke had been buried by the road with the others who fell near him, but the graves were moved here after the war.
	Although he only ever saw it from a distance in 1944, we took John up to the Monte Cassino Abbey, where he was able to enjoy the view the Germans had of his battalion's positions on Snakeshead Ridge in May 1944. Here John is pointing to the ridge. The white farm buildings of his former company HQ are just visible.
	We then took a walk up to Snakeshead Ridge, the first time John had done this properly since the war. On the way up we found numerous artifacts from the battle, and here John is examining a German 7.92mm cartridge case found near Hill 594.
	As we came onto Snakeshead Ridge, we found the farm buildings that were once the company headquarters of John's unit. These were the original buildings, and John could pinpoint where some of his sangars had been.
	The Italian family which owned the farm buildings came out to greet us, and kindly gave us all a drink. Using the Italian he had picked up as a soldier in WW2, John was able to explain that he had fought there sixty years before. The family then let us explore the grounds of their farm, in search of where John had been.
	It was during this walk around we found the old stone well, where John and his comrades of the 5th Northants drew water at night. Little had changed since 1944.
	After being up on Snakeshead Ridge, we also went in search of the 'Jeep Head', the place where the march up to the ridge began. Using some wartime maps we were able to do this, and here John is pictured standing close to where the Jeep Head was in 1944, close to the track that took them up to Snakeshead Ridge.
	A few days later we went down to the Liri Valley, and visited the ground where John crossed the Rapido River. From here they pushed on to a small ridge beyond; John is pictured looking over the ground where he served as a sniper in May 1944.
	When he first joined the 5th Northants, John crossed the Sangro River in late 1943, not long after he had been taken. He remembered the main bridge across had been destroyed, but had been repaired so that infantry could cross. Here John is standing on the modern road bridge across the Sangro.
	When we visited the Coriano Ridge War Cemetery, we met Aldo Balacca (pictured left), a CWGC gardner, and a veteran of WW2 who had fought in the desert with the Italian Army, until taken prisoner. He and John chatted about their service in WW2, and Aldo kindly invited us into his house for a drink.
	The final part of out trip was to visit the battlefield around Faenza, where John's war had come to end in December 1944. John had taken part in an attack on 7th December following the Tringo River towards the town of Faenza. In the Faenza War Cemetery, we found the grave of one of John's comrades who had been killed the day he was wounded.
	In the 1960s John had retraced his steps around Faenza, and found the farmhouse and vineyard where he had been hit. He wondered whether it would still be there - and his excellent directions quickly took us to the site, and showed that indeed it was - and that the same family still had it.
	When we indicated why we were here, the family wrote a date on a piec of paper - the date John was wounded! They took us out into the vineyard, and here John was able to show us the exact spot where he was wounded, when a trip-wire exploded a mine strapped to one of the trees. One of the balls from the mine hit John in the ankle. Pictured left is myself talking to John, and the farm owner, who was a young boy in December 1944.
	From the orchard he was dragged into the nearby farmhouse, and into one of the rooms for treatment. There were mortar rounds exploding outside, so it was a safe place to be. Here John points to the doors where he was taken inside - nothing had changed since 1944!
	John pictured with the Italian farmer, who as a boy in December 1944, had helped to evacuate the wounded of 2/7th Queens from the vineyard. John is holding a photo of himself, taken not long after he had joined the Queens.
	A jeep arrived and John was placed on a stretcher on the front of the vehicle. The jeep sped off to the Regimental Aid Post, located in a nearby church. As the jeep went down the road, both sides stopped firing and John remembered seeing Germans sitting in the ditch by the side of the road! He is pictured here at the church (now a house) where the RAP was located. John's war was now over, but he wouldn't get back to England until 1945.