The monument dedicated to Major Giuseppe La Rosa, gold medal for military valor who fell in Afghanistan on June 8, 2013, was inaugurated today at the Army Application School. Giorgio Battisti, commander for training specialization and doctrine of the Army, the main civil and military authorities of the territory and the military's family members.
Originally from Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto (ME), a city in which an urban park was recently dedicated to him, Giuseppe La Rosa served in the ranks of the 3 regiment of the "Sassari" brigade. Member of a support team for the Afghan armed forces, during a logistic movement La Rosa was the object of a vile terrorist attack and with a heroic gesture she immolated herself by placing her body to the shield of the remaining crew members, protecting them from the direct consequences of the deflagration.
The monument, the result of a spontaneous generosity race between arms associations and private citizens who have borne the costs, is a simple, evocative and meaningful work: a bronze vaira, traditional headgear of the feathered infantrymen, laid on a stone block with the motivation of the medal for value and beside the imposing sculpture of an eagle with spread wings. All around the remains of the colonnade of the Royal Military Academy of Turin, bombed during the last world war.
"The monument inaugurated today wants to remember all the soldiers who fell for Italy in peace and in war", said in his speech the gen. Battisti, who, addressing future commanders, urged a profound reflection on the values that distinguish the profession of arms.
The sober and poignant commemoration also marked the closure of the 141 General Staff course to which the fallen officer should have participated. And it was the colleagues of the 183 ° "Loyalty" who reminded us of the extraordinary human and professional qualities of the late comrade, who have worked since their arrival at the School to keep Giuseppe a tangible memory even in Turin. And they have always given their colleague's mother an album with a series of images that outline the personality of a man and a soldier.
A day today dedicated to a "normal hero", to the one who instinctively sacrificed his life to save three colleagues, and whose deeper meaning is the shared exhortation to defend in every circumstance the ideals for which the greater Giuseppe La Rosa has fallen.
