On Wednesday 8 April, a delegation from the Verona area visited the 3 ° Stormo of Villafranca di Verona Samaritan's Purse, the evangelical Christian humanitarian organization which operates in over 100 countries around the world and which on 17 March donated to Italy a field hospital with 60 beds and 8 ICU intensive care units installed near the Ospedale Maggiore of Cremona to deal with the Coronavirus emergency.
About three weeks after the arrival of the first DC8 from the United States with on board the health and logistics personnel and medical equipment destined to support one of the Italian cities most affected by Covid19, Bev Kaufeldt, team leader of Samaritan's Purse, asked to meet the commander of the 3rd Wing, Colonel Francesco De Simone, to be able to symbolically thank the whole department for the contribution offered in the preparation of the hospital.
During the meeting, Bev Kaufeldt, accompanied by the Italian representative of Samaritan's Purse, Barnaba Ruggieri, and by the linguistic-cultural mediator of the Municipality of Cremona, Lara Raffini, in fact spent words of gratitude for the whole department and especially for the personnel of the Air Terminal Operation Center and of the Autotrasporti Group and for the RAOS - Rapid Airfield Operational Systems team, led by First Marshal Matteo Monaco and made up of experts in plant engineering and temporary airport structures.
"Thirty-six hours to build a hospital and give the first respirator to the first dying patient was possible thanks to you, to us. One mission, one team, thank you!" Barnaba Ruggeri said in his speech which was followed by Bev Kaufeldt "Thank you, for all your support, it was an honor to work with you! Praying for you!".
All the members of Samaritan's Purse wanted to leave a thought to the staff and the commander imprinted on the banner with the organization emblem donated to the 3rd Wing in memory of the experience lived in Italy alongside the Air Force.
