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Gaeta is a charming little town of about 24,000 people who are
known as Gaetani. It is situated in the Lazio region in the province of Latina.
Man has inhabited the Gaeta area since prehistoric times. This theory has
been confirmed when they found in a cave of San Felice Circeo, a town near
Gaeta, the cranium of Circeo man, close to Neanderthal Man. Caveman
relics can be seen in the Local San Felice Circeo Museum. Greek civilization greatly influenced the people in this area, although Gaeta was not a Greek colony. A vase was found containing figures from the myth of Dionysus, and sculpted by Salpion, a Greek who lived in the first century B.C. The bowl was used as a mooring for ships in ancient times. This special bowl and many other artifacts can be seen in The National Archaeological Museum of Naples. The origin of the name Gaeta is from a book written by Virgil who lived in the 29th century B.C. This book is the source of the stories of the birth of Rome. The story tells of Enea, who was a refuge of Troy, who came to this area looking for new land, as Troy had been destroyed. He came here in a ship with the survivors. Among these survivors was his wet nurse whose name was Gajeta. She died in this area, Gajeta, later changed to Gaeta. During roman times, Gaeta was known as a famous resort with a good harbor for ships. The Via Flacca, (known as Rome Road) leading towards the town of Sperionga was lined with beautiful villas, gardens, swimming pools and mausoleums. The best preserved villa is Villa Tiberio, located just below the Sperlonga Museum. Two mausoleums are still in Gaeta: Plancus Mausoleum on Monte Orlando, which is the best preserved one in all of Italy, and Atratino Mausoleum, just a block off "Rome Road" on Via Atratina, which is in poor condition because many of the stones were removed during the middle ages in order to build local churches. During the middle ages, Gaeta became a fortified city. It was naturally fortified because of its position on a promontory of land jutting out into the sea. Towers and walls were built around it and it became a castrum. These medieval walls can still be seen today on the promenade to the old Gaeta. At one time you could not see the sea from the waterfront road. In the ninth century, Gaeta separated from the Byzantine government and became an autonomous Dukedom. It successfully fought the Saracens. It was ruled by the Norman Dukes in the 11th century, by the Sicilians in the 12th century, and then had Anjou and Aragonese rulers. It was the northernmost line of the Bourbons during their reign over the Kingdom of Naples. In 1848, Pope Pius IX took refuge here. He coined the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception in the Annunziata, a local church. He also elevated the status of Gaeta to an Archbishop. In 1870, Gaeta came a part of Unified Italy. It was heavily damaged during World War II, but has since been rebuilt and is presently a fishing center and a resort town because of the beautiful Serapo Beach and marvelous shores. Gaeta is also home to the United States Sixth Fleet Command Ship. In 1967, the French government withdrew France from NATO's military command structure and forced all US forces to leave the country. At that time, the Commander, United States Sixth Fleet (COMSIXTHFLT) was based out of Villefranche, France, located on the French Riviera, just east of Monaco. The current Sixth Fleet Command Ship is the U.S.S. LaSalle (AGF 3). It concurrently serves a NATO role under Allied Forces Southern Europe (AFSOUTH) as the command ship for Striking and Support Forces Southern Europe (STRIKFORSOUTH). (USS Little Rock CLG-4 / CG-4 served as the Sixth Fleet Flag Ship from 1967 to 1970 and 1973 to 1976 and alternated with the USS Springfield.) Whereas the Sixth Fleet ship is based out of Gaeta, the NATO components are located in Naples. The Gaeta American Community is part of the greater Naples Military Community. |
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Photo Submitted By andcopy©right by eCorbin Internet Services , Inc. |
Gaeta with it's many beautiful landscape scenes. No wonder she was the homeport of The Sixth Fleets Admiral's Flag Ship. .Here is a fisherman's cove just south of the pier where the Rock tied up. Man I'd love to go back to Gaeta someday. I never knew what I was missing until after I was gone. I miss Vic's Pizza's and the Peroni Beer. The well dressed people and the food was outta this world. Paradise on earth , you bet. |
| Monte Orlando,
the Blue Oasis and the Park Monte Orlando are located between Serapo beach
and the ancient quarter of Sant’ Erasmo. This fascinating historic area
has recently been turned into a wildlife reserve; access to it is only allowed
to visitors who come on foot, or by shuttle-bus. * The Park contains examples
of the Mediterranean vegetation, in particular dwarf palm trees, carobs,
Jerusalem pines, mastic trees and myrtles. Looking down from the Monte Orlando, one can see a series of buoys, which indicate the location of l’Oasi Blu (the Blue Oasis). This marine reserve, with its spectacular cliffs and several marine grottoes, protects the local undersea flora and fauna. Monte Orlando also hosts the Sanctuary of the Holy Trinity located on what is known as la Montagna Spaccata (Split Mountain), a natural phenomenon surrounded by legends of deep religious significance. Tradition holds that at the moment of Jesus’ death an earthquake split the mountain forming three deep vertical crevices, one of which is known as the Turk’s Grotto. Another legend recounts that a Turk (Saracen pirate) refused to believe in Jesus’ deity, and in the fact that the split of the mountain was caused by his death, unless he could put his hand into the rock. The hand print of the disbelieving Turk is still visible in the main split. In the 15th century a large stone precipitated into the next crevice remaining lodged there; it is on this rock that the little Chapel of San Filippo Neri stands. The top of Monte Orlando is dominated by the Mausoleum Lucius Munatius Plancus, Roman Consul (20 BC). |
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| The Association
needs your stories and pictures of Gaeta. You can be a part of all the greatness
of the Rock and also help other Rock Mates remember. Submit your stories
in plain text and jpeg images by email to: littlerocksol@verizon.net
OUR NEWSLETTER "LITCOMS" is the quarterly newsletter of the U.S.S. Little Rock Association. All submissions are reprinted for the purpose of keeping the Association membership informed. Anyone wishing to submit articles for publication, should forward those articles to Don Schuld, 3 Mildred Terrace, Flanders, NJ 07836-9231, Phone: 973-584-9634, Fax: 973-927-2264, E-mail: dschuld@juno.com |
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| The Crew of the Little Rock Remembers...... |
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John Meyers
on 03 Dec 07 contributed the following story:
Ship’s scuttlebutt had it that the prison in Old Gaeta held a single prisoner, a Nazi SS officer convicted of war crimes. By 1972, after more than 23 years behind bars, the man had outlived the other prisoners and by default spent his days alone, with only the prison guards for human contact. The Italians reviled the man and vowed to keep the prison operating, no matter the expense, until he died there. I left Gaeta in 1975 and from time to time have wondered if the story was truth or fiction. Recently, I went on a web search for information about Old Gaeta’s prison.
It appears the man I'm looking for is Herbert (Hubert) Kappler. He was an SS colonel in March 1944, when a partisan bomb killed a 33-man German patrol near the Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy. He was the officer in charge of the reprisal killing of 335 Italian civilians, for which he was convicted by a military court in 1948 and sentenced to life imprisonment. A movie based upon the story of Kappler and the massacre in Rome was released in 1973 and starred Richard Burton.
As Kappler’s health declined, the German government began making requests for his release on humanitarian grounds, but the Italians declined. Kappler did manage a prison wedding in 1972 to a German woman named Anneliese, a nurse. I don't know about the timing, but it seems a little too convenient that Kappler’s new wife was a nurse and a full 18 years younger than he was. It might be that the marriage was arranged as a compromise between the Italian and German diplomats as they argued over his release, with the woman more of a nurse and paid companion than wife, or possibly a secret operative for the Germans.
Sometime in 1976, Kappler was transferred from the Gaeta prison to a Rome hospital for cancer treatments. Kappler’s wife was allowed almost constant access to his hospital room. One night in August 1977, around 1 a.m., Kappler’s wife went to his room, stuffed him into a large suitcase and wheeled him out. (Can you hear the music playing à la Mission Impossible?) The carabinieri guard on duty even helped her roll the suitcase onto the elevator. She had a car waiting and drove him to a town in West Germany to hide out. In order to provide more time for their escape, she put a “do not disturb until 10 a.m.” note on Kappler’s hospital room door. As a result, the hospital nurses did not find he was gone until late the next morning when they discovered an old wig and pillow in his bed. Kappler died within six months of his escape.
There are other interesting elements to this story, but this writing is too long the way it is. You can find additional information by searching for Msgr. Hugh O’Flaherty of the Vatican and CIA notes. For a Time magazine story visit the web site: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,915344,00.html.
I never went to see to the prison while living in Gaeta and suspect that tourists were not allowed very close in any case. Since Kappler’s escape, I would guess relatives are no longer allowed to bring Samsonite luggage filled with goodies when they visit an inmate in Italy.
Do you remember hearing this story? Does anyone have some additional “inside” knowledge, or a picture or two of Gaeta’s prison? I disavow any information you have read here that might be attributed to me. |
| Add your remembrances about Gaeta (or any other place
the Little Rock visited) to this site. Either send your memories in text
form to the Association's Message
Board, or send and e-mail to Art
Tilley |
