The Military Museum, recently established, is a small museum that preserves items from the First and Second World Wars. The majority of the objects belonged to members of the military from Mesagne who, in various capacities, took part in the two conflicts. Many of these objects have a history that is linked to the soldiers to which they belonged; a history which has been handed down from father to son and is now accessible to us. For example, the wooden crutches are from a Mesagnese soldier who was injured on the battlefield during the First World War and returned home with them. The crutches, which are a family memento, were then donated by the soldier’s descendants to the museum.
Of particular significance, from a historical point of view of, is the helmet of a German soldier, found in the Mesagne area, with a bullet hole. The Scheda da Reduce(prisoner of war documents) of Lieutenant Daniele Cavaliere, a priest, tells another page of history. He was captured on the 15th July 1942 during the battle for El Alamein in Egypt and was then moved to various prison camps.
Other objects ‘tell the story of war’ such as the telegraphs, the radio transported by camel, the muskets, the bayonets from the First World War, the various medals and the first aid pack – which includes an ’emergency war surgery Manual’ that allows us to understand how in some cases, perhaps because of the losses sustained, the medics were forced to deploy to the front.
The museum, therefore, thanks to its exhibits, tells us about the wars. The various wars in which many young people from Mesagne personally experienced battle. Every soldier carried with them an experience, at times dramatic, together with a memory, an object from that part of their lives. For this reason, the Military Museum is also the custodian of the memory of the town.
