His name was Giuseppe Martinelli.
Born in Lucca, on 25 June ’21.
He lived with his family in Via San Donnino, in the centre.
Following the events that followed on 8 September 1943, the paratrooper Second Lieutenant Giuseppe Martinelli, upon returning from leave with his family in Lucca, was assigned to the 184th Parachute Regiment of the NEMBO Division, engaged with the Liberation Army National on the Adriatic side, alongside the British VIII Army, which was slowly moving up the Italian peninsula.
In mid-August 1944, Second Lieutenant Giuseppe Martinelli’s unit was engaged in furious fighting near Senigallia in the province of Ancona.
Precisely at a location at 211 m altitude in Castellone di Suasa.
Commander of a machine gun platoon, he was repeatedly hit by German grenades, but although seriously wounded, he refused to be helped, continuing in his command action to incite his paratroopers until they prevailed in the fight.
He was now transported bloodless to the Iesi Hospital, but despite undergoing treatment and the amputation of his seriously affected lower limbs, he died there on 15 August 1944.
For his heroic action the commander proposed him for a dutiful Silver Medal for Military Valor, “for Memory”. Dutiful.
He was posthumously promoted to the higher rank of Lieutenant and buried in the Iesi cemetery, where he still rests.
Almost end of story.
Then, little by little, as often, but not always, happens, the heroes are forgotten, put to sleep by History.
The others win, the knowledgeable ones, the ones who have patron saints, the beautiful, tall and blond ones.
The request for the Silver Medal was lost in the depths of the General Staff in Rome.
A ministerial desk, a file, a folder, a supplementary request for information, the round stamp, the revenue stamp, the signature… if one thing is missing, this is the end.
The practice ended up forgotten. The Medal was not awarded to him.
Despite repeated searches and requests, the story slowly passed. Case closed.
And nothing more was done about it. Happens.
Every now and then the Lucca section of the National Paratroopers Association of Italy remembered him with newspaper articles; even the paratroopers from Lucca went on a trip to Iesi to clean the tomb, and dedicated some initiatives to his memory, including an airdrop carried out in the meadow in front of the city walls.
A “local” memory of affection.
But his little brother Luciano, who had seen his older brother Giuseppe leave home in uniform and never return, continually asked all the civil authorities to remember him worthily with a plaque, a dedication of a street, bearing the name of Lieutenant Giuseppe Martinelli, a boy from Lucca who fell in combat for his country.
It was not an illegitimate request.
Much more dutiful and just than many dedications from people who have attacked, debased and humiliated the country.
Then, around 2015, Mr. Luciano who continued to rightly cultivate the memory of his brother, managed to slowly win his personal battle, to do justice and historical visibility to his brother Lieutenant Luciano Martinelli.
With a collection of signatures among friends and the ANPDI Section of Lucca, he managed to convince the Mayor and his deputy to name a Public Work in memory of Lieutenant Martinelli.
He investigated the matter and placed the request on the desk of the then Mayor Tambellini, who, very correctly, immediately supported the initiative.
There was a municipal resolution and it was decided to name a next roundabout on the Brennero regional road SR 12 just outside Lucca, in the direction of Abetone.
Well. The thing was done. More or less.
Time passed… but things didn’t progress…
Partly Covid, partly the bureaucratic machine… the matter… strangely languished, stagnated…
Wait now, wait tomorrow, he started asking around, among his friends in the Administration, and little by little a substory within the story emerged. A miserable little story.
A councilor (generic…), of the Dark Forces of Evil who probably didn’t have much sympathy for the paratroopers, had tried to… let’s say “slow down” the practice, in order to have that rather large and clearly visible roundabout named after another person… a political personality, who in that councilor’s opinion deserved greater visibility; A minor roundabout would then be dedicated to Lieutenant Martinelli, on an internal country road in the Acquacalda industrial area. Small, almost not visible. Even too much for a paratrooper, right?… Perfect.
The execution plan was also simple; this councilor would have waited until the Mayor was on holiday, to present a small “supplementary” resolution that moved the two roundabouts between them, had it approved, and the thing was done; After all, what was the harm?
But the devil makes pots…
The plan was discovered in the “camera caritatis…” and traced back to the old approved version!
Naturally the Dark Forces of Evil were rather upset about the issue and the resulting disgrace. Strangely enough, there was now no financial coverage for the purchase of the license plate…
A collection between friends and the ANPDI Section managed to find the funds (400 euros) to pay for the plaque out of their own pocket (!) which was finally discovered on 30 August 2021 on a beautiful sunny day, at the roundabout on the Regional Road nr 12 “of Abetone and Brennero”, in San Pietro a Vico!
Unveiling of the plaque with the Tricolore, official speeches with the civil and military authorities, historical conference held by Col. (Res.) Vittorio Lino Biondi, and Lieutenant Giuseppe Martinelli of the 184th Parachute Regiment “Nembo” was given the right visibility and the right I remember.
After 75 years Lieutenant Giuseppe Martinelli was remembered by his city. Forever.
End of the story.
Vittorio Lino Biondi
Photo Geraldo Zigurella
