On September 18, 1966, just one year after the Southern European Task Force headquarters was moved to Caserma Carlo Ederle in Vicenza, 19-year-old American Soldier Robert Hansen landed in Milan on his way to an assignment that would affect his life for six decades.
After Hansen completed basic training in Fort Ord, Ca., and another six months at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, he was sent to Caserma Ederle. But, two hours after arriving, a jeep brought him and another Soldier to a small military post in Longare, now named Caserma Miotto. Hansen was part of the 69th Ordinance Company under the 559th U.S. Army Artillery Group.
at Fort Ord, California. VIEW ORIGINAL
“I felt like I was on another planet,” said Hansen when remembering his first impressions of the small town. “When I asked my captain to go to Longare church he told me ‘Don’t go to the church because they will cut your throat with a knife.’”
Hansen disregarded his captain and became involved in the parish by becoming friends with the priest, Don Severino, and a network of families who lived nearby that he is still in contact with.
“Longare families made me feel at home,” Hansen said.
Hansen stayed in Longare for two years after his military service and kept busy in the church. In the first year, he served first as a guest in the rectory, then helping serve mass and in the nursery school, and even teaching after-school English classes at the nearby Don Calabria Institute in Costozza. The second year he moved to Verona where he assisted the elderly patients at the Sacro Cuore Don Calabria hospital.
“I planned to pursue a religious life, so in 1970 I returned to the United States to attend the Catholic seminary in San Francisco. I realized, though, that that was not my path, so I took the path of teaching.”
During his time in the U.S., he even started an Italian cooking class, called “Longare Cuisine,” continuing his affection for his adopted hometown.
Except for the early 1970s, busy with his studies, Hansen always spent part of his summer vacation in Longare, at least six weeks, and sometimes even Christmas for the last 58 years. His connection to Longare was confirmed by the city administration, when, in 1997, they awarded him honorary citizenship.
He continues to this day playing the organ in the Longare church and tutoring Italian students in English.
He also divides his time between his host families and old and new friends. A regular fixed appointment is having cappuccino at the Cà d’ Oro bar in Costozza and aperitifs at Bar Luna in Longare.
“I like Italian cuisine. Even at home I have adopted the Italian traditions, especially pasta and espresso coffee”, he said. My mom used to tell me, ‘You are not an American anymore, you don’t eat like us.’ And I used to answer, ‘I am an American from Longare.’”
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