Rome, 3 Nov. (LaPresse) – “The Republic is here today at this funeral”, alongside the highest offices of state, “which represent the Italian state, today united without division to pay tribute to these four brothers of ours”. This was stated by Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, speaking at the conclusion of the solemn funeral service for the four soldiers who died in the helicopter crash in Bosnia, held at the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri in Rome. “They served this country with a sense of honour from which each of us benefits every time we travel abroad. They represent the best of Italy.” Addressing the victims’ families, Crosetto said: “I know that for you, who loved them dearly, everything you are going through is incomprehensible. You would like to be alone with them, without all this going on around you. Because to you, they were the children you held in your arms, the young people you saw running, who made you proud, whom you watched grow up. But they are also something else, and that is why we are here today.” The minister recalled the stories of the four servicemen: Claudio, a paratrooper and lover of nature and sport; Simone, deeply attached to his hometown of Salerno and the sea; Franco Adriano, who had continued to help others even after retirement; and Laura, a doctor, paratrooper and ambulance volunteer. “Four different stories, but all united by a passion, by a dream: the pride, the passion and the joy of serving one’s country,” said Crosetto. “Today they have become something different; they are no longer just your children, they have become symbols of that desire to serve, of the pride in serving, of the joy of serving.”
Soldiers killed in Bosnia, Crosetto: “The nation stands united for them; they represent the best of Italy”
Rome, 3 Nov. (LaPresse) – “The Republic is here today at this funeral”, alongside the highest offices of state, “which represent the Italian state, today united without division to pay tribute to these four brothers of ours”. This was stated by Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, speaking at the conclusion of the solemn funeral service for the four soldiers who died in the helicopter crash in Bosnia, held at the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri in Rome. “They served this country with a sense of honour from which each of us benefits every time we travel abroad. They represent the best of Italy.” Addressing the victims’ families, Crosetto said: “I know that for you, who loved them dearly, everything you are going through is incomprehensible. You would like to be alone with them, without all this going on around you. Because to you, they were the children you held in your arms, the young people you saw running, who made you proud, whom you watched grow up. But they are also something else, and that is why we are here today.” The minister recalled the stories of the four servicemen: Claudio, a paratrooper and lover of nature and sport; Simone, deeply attached to his hometown of Salerno and the sea; Franco Adriano, who had continued to help others even after retirement; and Laura, a doctor, paratrooper and ambulance volunteer. “Four different stories, but all united by a passion, by a dream: the pride, the passion and the joy of serving one’s country,” said Crosetto. “Today they have become something different; they are no longer just your children, they have become symbols of that desire to serve, of the pride in serving, of the joy of serving.”