Pink Floyd musician attends commemorations for his father

Pink Floyd founding member Roger Waters was made an honorary citizen of Anzio on 18 February on the 70th anniversary of the death of his father, Lt Eric Fletcher Waters who died following the Allied landings at Anzio.

The British musician also attended commemorative events in nearby Aprilia, the small town south of Rome where his father was killed on 18 February 1944, when Waters was just five months old.

Waters placed a wreath at the foot of a new white marble memorial in honour his father, saying, "It is 70 years to the day since my father died here and I have finally come to the end of a journey to discover what really happened to him."

Waters was helped in his quest by Harry Shindler, the 93-year-old Battle of Anzio veteran who was awarded an MBE in Rome on 19 February for his work in tracing the graves of British servicemen killed or listed as missing in action during world war two.

On the evening of 18 February the American University of Rome awarded Waters an honourary doctorate for his contribution to music and for his social activism. After the ceremony, which took place at the Istituto Italiano di Studi Germanici, Waters gave a talk to AUR students who he encouraged to “make the world a much better place than it is now.”