Bria was hired by the Boston AP bureau in 1942 , reporting on the Cocoanut Grove fire . The Italian - and French-speaking Bria was sent to the Rome AP bureau in May 1944 and wrote daily dispatches from the Allied front in Italy . Bria was flown to Milan in April 1945 to view the body of Benito Mussolini shortly after his execution , and was the first AP newsman to report on the surrender of German forces in Italy on May 2 . After the war , Bria joined the post-war AP bureau in Germany , reporting on the Nuremberg trials and the Berlin airlift , before returning to Rome and New York
Cocoanut Grove fire
Cocoanut Grove fire
George E. Bria