New York - A set of nine large copper medallions, taken in 1945 from a Roman marble wall depicting Mussolini's fascist empire and meant to be one of his principal shrines, has turned up at a ranch in Missouri, the New York Times reported yesterday.
Mr Jay Anderson, a cattle rancher in Sheldon, Missouri, said that he and his sister have been using the medallions to decorate their houses for years, unaware of their historical significance. His father, a major in the US army, took them down from a building when his unit helped to occupy Rome in 1945.