U.S. Army honors Wisconsin son, killed on an Italian battlefield in WWI

U.S. Army honors Wisconsin son, killed on an Italian battlefield in WWIBy Staff Sgt. Richard Cole, U.S. Army Garrison ItalySAN DONÀ DI PIAVE, Italy –… SAN DONÀ DI PIAVE, Italy – Lt. Edward Michael McKey, an American Red Cross volunteer, arrived in Italy with a simple purpose – to help those caught in the devastation of war. He carried no rifle. Instead, he used his skills as an artist and humanitarian to serve on the front lines – where the Red Cross supported allied troops with ambulance services and supporting morale. On June 15, 1918, an Austrian artillery shell killed him along the Piave River. His sacrifice forever connected him to Italy.

He is the only American buried at Sacrario Militare di Fagarè – an Italian military memorial cemetery not far from Venice. On Nov. 4, the Italian Armed Forces Day, four medical Soldiers from the U.S. Army Health Clinic – Vicenza joined Italian partners at Fagarè della Battaglia to honor McKey and the allied forces who fell during the war. McKey’s sacrifice highlights a longtime partnership between the United States and Italy that began when he, and other Americans like writer Ernest Hemingway, chose to share WWI hardships and found a mutual commitment on the battlefield. Born in Janesville, Wisconsin, and raised in Minnesota, McKey built a career as