My Grandfather's WWII Helmet

My grandfather, William Andrew Cannon, around 1942.

On October 24, 1942, my grandfather William Andrew Cannon enlisted in the Air Force at Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He would become a pilot based out of Foggia, Italy during the war. During his time in Italy, he met my grandmother on the Isle of Capri. They married in December 1945 and moved to Meridian, Mississippi in 1946. They would eventually move back in Italy in 1955, where they lived until he retired from government service in March 1990. They moved to Booneville, Mississippi later than year. 

On October 25, 2014 (72 years and a day after my grandfather first enlisted), a man named Grant sent me a message through the G&J website. He owns an Ebay store called Circa1941 that specializes in WWII helmets and other military gear. He had purchased a helmet with the name Cannon written on the inside along with the serial number 4357. A quick search of this website told him the helmet belonged to my grandfather. Another quick internet search led him to Gerald & Joan and the blog posts I've written about my grandfather. We connected a few days later, and he offered to send us the helmet as a gift. My grandfather passed away on February 28, 2002, so being reconnected to him in this way is a true gift that means a great deal to our family, especially my grandmother. 

There have been times over the past two years that I've wondered what I'm doing with this blog. It has really become more of a family history/photo preservation blog, and while it provides inspiration for my work, it doesn't really do much for my business. When Grant emailed me, I was reminded why I started this business and this blog -- Through my work, I wanted to tell stories, preserve history and share memories. Because of this blog, we were reunited with a piece of our family's history and we're able to honor my grandfather's memory. If that isn't Gerald & Joan in a nutshell, I don't know what is.

Thank you, Grant, for this wonderful gift.

My grandfather, Lt. William A. Cannon, is at the bottom left. 

Update: My dad with the helmet!

lady with a heart for Capri

Capri, Italy.

LADY WITH A HEART FOR CAPRI  by Anna Maria Boniello

My Nonna in her room in Capri.

Translated from Italian to English

The first time that the little Lucia, daughter of Raoul de Forcade Marquis and Marchioness de Biaix Tina, laid her eyes on Capri, she was just five years old. It was a different Capri in 1928, an era in the middle between the two World Wars, and the aristocratic family descended on the island as a place of choice to spend the free time, the holiday months, even in those that today would be called the "low season." The memories of Marquise Lucia (pictured), now ninety years old, they are perfect and shiny and well-preserved in her memory, where she recorded anecdotes of famous people and simple stories of the local people. "Our first house," begins to tell the Marquise de Forcade, "was Villa Weber. Few today know that it is not the beautiful building that houses a hotel, but a typical house from the local architectural lines at the beginning of the Two Gulfs, which has hosted over the years, having been the home of the philosopher-poet, the premises of the court and then the court. Then we moved to another house with the largest and most sumptuous Villa wall, in a bottom of Vuotto to Tiberius, owned by an English nobleman. The most vivid memory I have, however, was our landing in Capri. No pier, but fishermen welcomed passengers with their strong arms and their boats and took them to the ground. This was my first arrival to the island."

See the original story (written in Italian) here. You can also read a story by my grandmother about Curzio Malaparte that is written in English here. 

joan in capri, italy

We're finishing off our week-long trip to Italy with a few more photographs taken by my grandfather Sid of my grandmother Joan in June of 1979. 

I love these photographs so much -- two of my very favorite people on vacation to one of my very favorite places in the world. My world collides in these photographs...my maternal grandparents enjoying the place where my parents and paternal grandparents (and great-grandparents if you remember that story) fell in love. How is that for a good family story?

One day I'll show these photographs to my children and grandchildren. They are true family heirlooms. 

Joan with a horse and some pigeons in Rome, Italy. She loved all animals.

Joan with my parents in Capri, Italy. They packed light for the occasion...ha! Check out the lime green car (Fiat?).

Joan exploring Capri, Italy.

My pretty grandmother. The colors in this one are so lovely. This is Italy to me -- terra cotta pots of flowers and sun-faded buildings with terraces and shutters.

rome and florence in 1979

Today we're continuing our vintage photographic tour around Italy with stops in Rome and Florence....

The beautiful Duomo in Florence, Italy.

The Roman Forum. 

My beautiful grandmother Joan at Rome's Forum.

The Spanish Steps in Rome, Italy.

Michelangelo's David in Florence, Italy.

My grandparents Joan and Sid in front of the Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy.

Just for fun, here's Jonathan in the same spot in August 2010. 

The glorious Trevi Fountain.

I love seeing photos of my grandparents in places Jonathan and I have experienced and loved as well. Time marches on, but some things remain the same. There is comfort in that.

You can see photos from our trip in Rome in 2010 over at my old blog, Painted Pink Roses.