Speaking during the celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the battle of Monte Cassino, the President said that it is thanks to this battle that Poland is "free, independent, sovereign and that Poland is in the European Union, is part of the Western world, free world, democratic world, world without war – the world that those soldiers surely dreamed of at the time."

We give a great testimony of love to those who gave their lives for their homeland and the great respect that this country has for their sacrifice and heroism – said President Andrzej Duda in Italy.

During the ceremony, Lt. Col. Wojciech Narębski, veteran of the 2. Polish Corps, nicknamed "Big Wojtek", read the proclamation to the young prepared by the veterans of the 2. Polish Corps. "You must keep in mind for the future generations the truth about the battle of Monte Cassino, the truth about our sacrifice, about the death of our colleagues, about the desperation with which we overcame the terrain obstacles under the deadly fire of the enemy. It all lies deeply in our hearts, but we want to be sure that when the last of us leaves the earth's paddock, there will be successors who will remember and that they will visit the graves of our colleagues and pay tribute to them" –says the appeal.

The daughter of General Władysław Anders, Anna Maria Anders, said that her father had two dreams – that Poland would be free and that the Polish soldier would be famous all over the world, and that the whole world would learn about the achievements of the Poles during the war. "It seems to me that both dreams have come true today," she said. "Long live Poland, long live Italy, long live friendship between Poland and Italy," she added.

Minister Jan Józef Kasprzyk, the head of the Office for Veterans and Victims of Oppression, pointed out that on many graves you can see photos of those killed in the Battle of Monte Cassino. "This is an action that we started this year. We want to bring back and recall their faces. We find pictures of wonderful heroes in archives and through families. We want a photo of each of the buried and fallen here to be placed on the graves in the coming months" – he said.