A Call for Remembrance in ‘Lest We Forget’ by Dr Allison Buck

Wendy reviews books set in Italy. For more articles like this one, subscribe to her Substack channel Italy Writers and get in touch via Sunflower Publishing. Privacy policy

Italy holds many secrets in her hilltop towns, each echoing with stories of glory, loss, and resilience. One such town is Soriano nel Cimino, perched in the Tuscia region of Lazio. On 5 June 1944, the day after Rome was liberated, this small town faced unimaginable devastation when Allied bombs fell from the sky.

Lest We Forget (Per Non Dimenticare) gives voice to the survivors of that day. Translated for the first time into English, these first-hand testimonies speak of terror and hope, loss and strength. Compiled originally in 1994 for the 50th anniversary of the bombing, these accounts reveal a town caught between fascist forces and partisan resistance, and a population trying to survive amid chaos. The book also documents cold-blooded killings carried out by retreating Nazi troops, and the heart-wrenching reality of building makeshift coffins from the rubble to bury nearly 200 of their own.

To this day, Soriano remembers. Three times daily, an air raid siren rings out from the town’s clock tower—8am, noon, and 5pm. Not as a warning, but as remembrance.

My Review:

Sometimes, stories find their way to the right hands. That was certainly the case for Dr Allison Buck. A musician by trade, she visited Italy frequently to perform at summer opera festivals. It was in Soriano nel Cimino, while playing bassoon at a concert, that she met her fiancé—owner of the town’s Café Centrale—and slowly became part of the town’s tapestry.

It began as curiosity. She noticed a lack of English-language books for visitors and stumbled across two out-of-print Italian volumes filled with survivor accounts of the wartime bombing. With permission from the local commune and the blessing of Maria Assunta Barellotti Tarsetti—the woman who compiled the originals—Dr Buck took it upon herself to translate and preserve these voices. What began as a quiet project soon turned into a heartfelt mission.

And what a remarkable result. The irony of this town’s tragedy is difficult to absorb. Rome had been liberated. There was relief, celebration, perhaps even cautious joy. Yet in the very next breath, death arrived from above. The German army, retreating along the backroads to avoid Allied forces, had passed through Soriano. For that reason, American bombers struck.

As one testimony recalls:

“The Sorianese were out celebrating in the piazza and watching the German troops retreat north.”

The bombings killed indiscriminately—children, farmers, housewives, elderly parents. The pain was shared by all.

The book presents each testimony individually, with the name of the survivor and a brief context. These are not anonymous memories. They are Renzo, Liliana, Gabriela, Angelo, Maria Teresa, Enzo. Their stories, concise and raw, are accompanied by haunting photographs and contextual insights into the political divides of the time.

One of the most unforgettable is Teresa’s:

“June 5th was my twenty-second birthday…
After a lapse of some interminable minutes… I reached the exit. Screams, tears, cries. Under the rubble of my house lay my mother Anna, 55, my sister Caterina, 24 and my brother Pietro, 16. My father started digging… After 11 days, the rotting corpses of our relatives were found. My father put them in boxes.”

There are no embellishments. Just pain, dignity, and truth.

Why I Recommend This Book:

Lest We Forget is not simply a collection of memories—it’s a call to remembrance. For many of us, war feels distant. A subject for textbooks or documentaries. Yet here, we see the scars it leaves on ordinary people. Not generals, not statesmen—but bakers, seamstresses, musicians, and children.

Dr Buck has not only translated these accounts—she has curated a lasting tribute. Her meticulous work ensures that the stories of Soriano will endure far beyond its borders. The reader feels the anguish, the despair, but also the courage of people who rebuilt their lives from ash and grief.

This book offers no easy comfort, but it gives something far more important: understanding. It reminds us that behind every war statistic is a human being, and behind every ruin is a story worth telling.

As one quote poignantly reminds us:

“War, misery and death spared no soul and took pity on no family.”
— Sherrilyn Kenyon

Author Bio:

Dr Allison Buck was born and raised in Northern California. She received her Bachelor’s and Master’s in Bassoon Performance from the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver and completed her Doctorate of Arts at Ball State University in Indiana.

Her love affair with Italy began through music, performing for years at opera festivals in Viterbo and Soriano nel Cimino. Now a resident part-time, she continues to explore the intersection of culture, history and humanity through her writing.

Dr Buck is currently working on a historical fiction novel set in wartime Soriano, due to be released in early 2023. She is also crafting a recipe storybook, inspired by traditional dishes discovered in Italy—many unearthed during lockdown, others drawn from classic historical fiction.

Book Blurb:

📖 Lest We Forget (Per Non Dimenticare)
Published by Soriano Publishing, 2022
Available in paperback via Amazon and the author’s website.

🌐 Visit: www.sorianopublishing.com

This article was adapted from my original review published on Sunflower Publishing.

See another book review here.