The Marine Carp Boys

Anna Tambellini (April 27, 2009)

Remembering John Cappelli (1927 - 2009). Aldo and John met each other in 1946 during an ocean crossing: two Americans who lived their adolescence and young adulthood in Italy during the war. Both faced it with courage, one in Tuscany and the other in Abruzzo. On the Marine Carp they talked about the future. One wanted to be a poet, the other dreamed of art. Once in the U.S., destiny separated their roads, and then reunited them again after 60 years. They discovered they had kept the same values; they were still fighters in life. The following words are from the internationally-renowned artist Aldo Tambellini, who emailed them to us shortly after he learned of John’s death.

Nives Cappelli lovingly calls them The Marine Carp Boys, referring to the two teenagers who met on the Red Cross ship leaving war torn Italy in 1946 with its cargo of US Citizens, taking them back to the USA. Both Gianni Vanni Cappelli and Aldo Tambellini were teenagers sharing a similar history. Both were born in the USA; but, because of life’s circumstances, they grew up in Italy and both became part of the human collateral damage of WWII returning to the USA, returning to rejoin their fathers, returning to their country of birth where they felt like strangers and whose language they did not speak.

During the oceanic crossing, Gianni, who was 2 years older than Aldo, influenced

Aldo Tambellini and John Cappelli

his younger friend in a manner which was going to impact Aldo’s life. Gianni spoke of poetry, his poetry, and the influence of the modern Italian poet, Ungaretti, upon the young poets in Italy. This was Aldo’s first exposure to modern poetry, something he embraced and worked to master the rest of his life.

Aldo, the young artist, sketched a portrait of Gianni during the long trip and presented it to the young poet. They parted ways at the port in New York. Although they corresponded by mail for many years, soon life changes separated them and they lost contact.

In 2006, after much research I found an interview which Letizia Arios did of Gianni Cappelli on the internet. Although the interview no longer talked about a poet; but, of an accomplished, highly respected and rebellious journalist, Aldo knew that this man was his friend.

The first encounter on the telephone was a simple exchange of two questions. Aldo asked, “Are you the poet from Ungaretti’s Circle who was on the Marine Carp in 1946?” And a second question came back to Aldo from the old man now on the telephone line, “Are you the young artist who made a sketch of me on the Marine Carp in 1946?” This was the reunion of the two boys from the Marine Carp, fifty-five years later joined through the wonder of technology- joined through telephone and internet lines.

Today, Nives’, trembling voice informed Aldo that his friend from the Marine Carp had died a few hours earlier. The two Marine Carp Boys have parted ways once more