On the occasion of the 55 anniversary of the exile of Kindu, the sergeant-major Nicola Stigliani, who fell in the former Belgian Congo while participating in a mission that the Air Force was carrying out on behalf of the UN, was joined today by his fellow soldiers, fifty-five years after the tragedy. From the 11 November 2016, the electromechanical on board of the 46ª air brigade rests near the Kindu Shrine, in Pisa, in the temple that just in memory of the thirteen fallen 11 November 1961 was erected following a popular subscription.
By express will of the family, the gold medal for the value of memory Nicola Stigliani, was in fact transferred to Pisa from the cemetery of Potenza, where he rested for all these years, so that he could reunite with his colleagues, all united by the same tragic destiny while fulfilling their duty in the service of the country.
At the burial ceremony and at the subsequent Holy Mass, the families of the fallen and the civil and military authorities of the city of Pisa participated. In addition, the presence of the commander of the air team, Franco Girardi, the air force general and the commander of the Support and Special Forces, Air Division General Roberto Boi witnessed the gratitude and heartfelt closeness of the Air Force Summit to its fallen 13 and their families.
The commander of the 46ª air brigade, General of Air Brigade Achille Cazzaniga, recalled that "days like this give meaning to the sacrifice of those who have fallen and remind us of our essence, our DNA as servants of the State. For this I thank everyone for being here to greet Nicola Stigliani who is now in the company of his comrades after so many years ”. The commander of the 46 ^ later recalled, together with all those present, all the names of Kindu's fallen, one by one, concluding the celebrations.
The ceremony was preceded by the presentation, at the premises of the 46th air brigade, of the book "Caschi Blu Italiani", published by the Defense Staff, by the editor of the volume, Lieutenant Colonel Mario Renna, who retraced all the stages of the Italian contribution to the United Nations missions around the world, including that in the former Belgian Congo which, in Kindu, saw one of its most painful pages.
Equally significant was the donation to the 46ª air brigade by the Giovanna Dejua Foundation, of a pictorial work representing the Kindu tragedy, given by the director Angelo Paletta to the commander of the brigade.
Kindu's killing
On the morning of November 11 1961 two C-119 of Pisa took off from Kamina, in Congo, to supply the local garrison with Malaysian blue helmets stationed in Kindu. After downloading the material, including two small armored vehicles Ferret of the UN, the two crews went to the UN canteen located about a kilometer from the airport.
Towards the 16,30, while they were still having lunch, about eighty rebels of the Congolese National Army raided the canteen, followers of Colonel Pakassa who, after immobilizing the Malaysian guard personnel, beat and dragged the Italian 13 to the city prison.
Witnesses reported that one of the airmen had already been shot down at that time because of his reaction. Locked up in a large room in the prison, a few hours later they were savagely slaughtered in machine gun fire.
The members of the two crews victims of the massacre were:
- major pilot Amedeo Parmeggiani
- Lieutenant pilot Onorio De Luca
- medical lieutenant Francesco Paolo Remoti
- Engineer Marshal Nazzareno Quadrumani
- sergeant radio operator Francesco Paga
- Sergeant Major Emb Martano Marcacci
- sergeant major Sivestro Possenti
- pilot captain Giorgio Gonelli
- lieutenant pilot Giulio Garbati
- motorist marshal Filippo Di Giovanni
- marconer sergeant Antonio Mamone
- senior sergeant EMB Armando Fabi
- Sergeant Major Nicola Stigliani.
The contribution of the 46ª air brigade in international missions
Since the first missions outside national borders, the transport capacity of the aircrafts of the 46ª air brigade has meant that the department has become one of the main tools through which the country has been able to offer help to populations in difficulty throughout the world. In the 2006 the Air Force was again called upon to operate, on behalf of the European Union and the UN, in Congo in support of the country's first free elections ((EUFOR RD Congo). A C-130J transport aircraft, with 50 men between flight crews, air rifles and specialists have guaranteed the regular running of the first democratic elections in the Congo for six months until the election of the new president.In 210 missions, for a total of over 400 flight hours, are 2.479 passengers were transported and over 800.000 kilograms of materials including those necessary for the installation of polling stations and the relative cards.
