5th Army truck returning stolen art to the city of Florence, Italy, 1945

Description: 

Photograph. Italians welcome home art treasures stolen by the Germans and returned by Americans. Official Caption: "Rome 7/25/45--Florentine Art Returned--U.S. Fifth Army trucks with part of the billion dollars worth of art treasures stolen by the Germans arrive at the Plaza Signoria, Florence. Trumpeters garbed in medieval costume stand before the reviewing stand to welcome the return of the priceless paintings which had been hidden by the Germans on the upper Adige River near Bolzano. The paintings were presented to the Mayor of Florence by Brigadier General Edgar Erskine Hume, Senior Civil Affairs Officer of the Fifth Army.--Army Pictorial Service through Rome OWI--Approved by appropriate military authority (Full) [number missing]." Florence, Italy. 25 July 1945

Image Information

Donor: 
Dylan Utley
Accession Number: 
2012.019.139
Date: 
07/25/1945
Location: 
Hometown: 
Branch: 
Theater of Service: 
Unit: 
Fifth Army
Campaign / Event: 
POW / KIA: 
Topical Subjects: 
Trucks--American--Italy
Art objects-- Italy
Parades & processions--Italy
Trumpets
People--Italy
Collection Level: 
Items from the service of Isaac "Ike" Bethel Utley, who was born in Smith Mills, Kentucky on 3 March 1920. Ike enlisted in the Army Air Corps on 19 January 1942. He was shipped overseas to the European Theatre and worked with a supply division based out of the city of Naples with an office set up in a residential villa. Utley worked with the Office of War Information and used their photographs in news articles to inform soldiers of the progress of the war. At war's end, Utley returned stateside. A trunk full of over 800 photographs from the O.W.I. arrived on his doorstep from his office in Italy, sender unknown. This collection consists of those photographs.
Geography: 
Firenze
Latitude: 
43.767
Longitude: 
11.250
Thesaurus for Graphic Materials: 
Trucks--American--Italy
Art objects-- Italy
Parades & processions--Italy
Trumpets
People--Italy