Olgiate Olona, June 26, 1959 - Commemorative events (2020)

Commemorative events of June 26, 1959

• Rewarded in 2011 with medal of the President of the Italian Republic •

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Commemorative events 2020

In 2020 the educational project in memory of the plane crash has been addressed to all the students in the eighth grade of “Dante Alighieri” school in Olgiate Olona.

Commemoration of 61th anniversary of the plane crash

The present moment
indicates the essentiality of existence and the priorities of public life
and the memory of the past
is alive first of all in people and in physical signs, and then also in external gestures

For the 61st anniversary of the plane crash planned for June 26, 2020, the promoting staff of the commemorative events together with the Municipality of Olgiate Olona decided for a more than sober, essential commemoration: to honor History (the plane crash and its protagonists) and to respect the present (communities and individuals affected by the pandemic).
Commemoration without the usual public ceremony and characterized by the usual signs of memory and solidarity: floral tributes at the memorial monument and on Maria Fermi Sacchetti’s grave at the cemetery; at 17.33, bell tolling of the Prevostal ancient Collegiate church of Saints Stephen and Lawrence; on OlgiateOlona26giugno1959.org website, Olgiate Olona Mayor speech, prayer in suffrage, texts and classification of the best deserving works (the students in the eighth grade authors of the most deserving works produced in the 11th edition of the educational project in memory of June 26, 1959, will be rewarded with a certificate of merit on a date to be established, the authors of the best three works will receive a book coupon sponsored by Assistenza e sicurezza of Fabio Casarotto, Olgiate Olona).

(page containing the works of the students in the eighth grade rewarded)

June 26, 2020 - Message of Olgiate Olona Mayor

In respect for the safety of people and in compliance with the law, for the first time in many years we have decided not to meet physically to commemorate the plane crash of June 26, 1959. Anyway, this does not mean that our civil commitment will fail.

My affectionate thought and greeting go first of all to the families of the victims and to those who in these recent years - by physically attending the commemoration - have given a strong signal to ensure that the memory of this mournful event is not lost.

In the day of the 61st anniversary we remember all the people who were aboard the TWA airplane whose earthly life ended in the sky of Olgiate Olona. We affectionately renamed them the seventy immortal lives: thanks to our commitment to remembering them, and above all thanks to the dedication of our young students and their teachers involved in the educational project in memory of the plane crash, the community of Olgiate Olona that I represent always reserve these unfortunate brothers and sisters a special place in our collective memory.

We are recovering from one of the most difficult periods of these past decades: the coronavirus pandemic that hit us, has radically changed our social life habits, has put many of our certainties into crisis and has made us feel vulnerable all of a sudden. In the same way it has forced us to reconsider the scale of values of our existence and to prioritize the ‘things’ that really matter. It is precisely in the most difficult moments like the one we are going through that we can understand the value of life and the love of people close to us.

Today we remember who is no longer there. Each of the seventy immortal lives has left a great void in their loved ones and in people who loved them. They have left a great teaching to all of us: it is the love for life.

In Olgiate Olona, the painful memory of June 26, 1959, continues to generate love for life: in the eyewitnesses of the crash, in the young protagonists of the educational project, in the relatives of the seventy immortal lives that unfortunately we will not be able to embrace again this year, and in all those who honour this page of history.

My sincere thanks go to all of them with the hope to meet again soon.

Dr. Giovanni Montano
Olgiate Olona Mayor

Witness

June 26, 2020 - Angelo Capozzi, Leonardo Armanetti’s grandson

Caro Nonno: In Memory of the Grandfather I Never Knew - TWA Flight 891

On October 27, 2020, in Vergiate (Italy), Nicola Puddu and Alberto Colombo attended the funerals of Antonio Monti (1938-2020), firefighter rescuer of the plane crash.

Alberto Colombo’s memory

Documents related to the commemorative events of 2020

Commemoration of June 26, 2020 - 61st anniversary

Press releases of Municipality of Olgiate Olona - Message of Olgiate Olona Mayor

International prayer in suffrage

June 10, 2020 - Press releases of Municipality of Olgiate Olona

Olgiate Olona, the 61st anniversary of the plane crash is essential: memory and solidarity to honor History and respect the present

Selection of articles related to the commemorative events of 2020

La settimana July 17, 2020
Addio a Cerana, fu uno dei testimoni del disastro aereo che sconvolse Olgiate

La prealpina July 14, 2020
In un cinegiornale lo strazio del disastro aereo

La prealpina July 9, 2020
Addio al testimone del disastro aereo

Malpensa24.it July 7, 2020
Olgiate piange Giuseppe Cerana, il saldatore del disastro aereo del 1959