U.S. soldier Hans Busch and architect A.A. Secchi Hans Busch with statue of Verdi, Milan, Italy, 1945

Description: 

Photograph. U.S. Staff Sergeant Hans Busch, with smoking pipe, talking over plans for the reconstruction of La Scala Opera House with A.A. Secchi, architect in charge, at the foot of a statue of famed Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. Official Caption: "U.S. Staff Sergeant Hans Busch of the Allied Military Government [AMG] in Milan, an orchestra conductor in private life, talks over plans for the reconstruction of La Scala Opera House with A.A. Secchi, architect in charge. The AMG is sponsoring the rebuilding and has approved expenditures of 20,000,000 lire on the project. It is also expediting the reconstruction by providing transportation for materials so La Scala can be reopened by Feb. 1, 1946. The statue of Verdi, famed Italian composer, is one of several similar works of art in La Scala.--(4 in a series--Rome OWI) 7147-4."”Milan, Italy. Circa 1945

Image Information

Donor: 
Dylan Utley
Accession Number: 
2012.019.250
Date: 
1945
Location: 
Hometown: 
Branch: 
Theater of Service: 
Unit: 
Campaign / Event: 
POW / KIA: 
Topical Subjects: 
Soldiers--American--Italy
Architects
Sculpture--Italy
Discussion--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: 
Scala
Latitude: 
40.650
Longitude: 
14.600
Thesaurus for Graphic Materials: 
Soldiers--American--Italy
Architects
Sculpture--Italy
Discussion--Italy