Olgiate Olona, June 26, 1959 - Commemorative events (2024)

Commemorative events of June 26, 1959

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

year:

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2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 1993 | 1959-1964

Commemorative events 2024

In 2024, the educational project in memory of the plane crash was addressed to 56 students in the eighth grade of Dante Alighieri school of Olgiate Olona.

Commemoration of 65th anniversary of the plane crash

On June 26, 2024, the ceremony for the 65th anniversary of the plane crash was held in the ancient Collegiate Prevostal church of Santi Stefano e Lorenzo of Olgiate Olona. The promoting staff invited with a personal letter all those who supported the commemorative events from 2010 to 2024, and some relatives of the seventy immortal lives coming from Italy and the United States of America attended the ceremony. The reading of the names of the seventy immortal lives was followed by the memorial mass for the seventy immortal lives and their deceased in which the coadjutor Don Giovanni Lorenzo Calastri held the homily The hope of the Risen Christ; the Litany of the Saints was preceded by the reading of the names of the deceased of the seventy immortal lives (family members, friends and supporters of commemorative events) who passed away from 2010 to 2024; offers have been collected which will finance the masses of suffrage for the seventy immortal lives to be celebrated in the Prevostal church of Olgiate Olona from August 2024 to June 2026. In the second part of the ceremony, the deputy mayor Leonardo Richiusa read the speech of mayor Giovanni Montano (unable at the last moment to attend the event) and awarded the authors of the five deserving works of the 14th edition of the educational project in memory of June 26, 1959 (with a certificate of merit, the first classified read his work and received the book-coupon given as a gift by Studio di architettura Renzo Canavesi of Olgiate Olona); Giorgia Tracanzan’s work In the hearts of people was rewarded with the 2024 Special Award; certificates of thanks were awarded to the regent school director Anselmo Pietro Bosello and to Esmeralda Schepis, director of the general and administrative services of the school.

Fourteenth edition of the educational project: the five works awarded

Commemoration of June 26, 2024
Commemorative speech of Olgiate Olona mayor
read at the ceremony by the deputy mayor Leonardo Richiusa

Greetings and thanks to all of you present here and in particular to the families of the seventy immortal lives of the plane crash who honor us with their presence this year too. Greetings to the associations and the young finalists of the educational project, their families and the teachers of the Beato Contardo Ferrini school. Last but not least, my heartfelt thanks for their constant commitment go to Dr. Alberto Colombo, the organizers and volunteers who make this commemoration possible with passion and dedication.

This year marks the 65th anniversary of the plane crash of Olgiate Olona, and like every year we gather to pay homage to all the people who were on board of the TWA aircraft on June 26, 1959, and who concluded their earthly existence in the sky over Olgiate Olona.

The ringing of the bell of our church and the reading of the names of the victims of the plane crash of June 26, 1959, at the beginning of this commemoration gathered us together to dedicate a few moments of silence and to turn our thoughts to 70 brothers and sisters no longer among us. That distant day 65 years ago, a fatal bolt of lightning during a violent summer storm decided to put an end to their stories, their projects, their affections.

I always believe it is important to commemorate the plane crash of 1959: it is not just an institutional duty, it is above all a moral duty and a way to express the closeness of the entire community of Olgiate Olona to the families of the victims, marked by a pain that the passage of time does not ease. The community that I represent has always reserved a special place in the collective memory for these unfortunate brothers and sisters, and the memory is perpetuated thanks to the dedication of our eighth graders and their teachers involved in the educational project in memory of the plane crash: the works of our children demonstrate an extraordinary ability to grasp the profound meaning of the painful event and transform it into a message of solidarity as well as a commitment to preserving its memory.

Love for life is therefore born from a painful event, and in the memory of these unfortunate brothers and sisters the limits of time and space are erased. The presence today of some friends who have joined us from the United States of America and Italy to remember their loved ones is the best testimony to this: the "family" of those who care about the memory of June 26th is more united than never, and solidarity, moral closeness and brotherhood are the values on which this family is founded. Values that the passage of time cannot erase.

Today, once again, we embrace each other in a big embrace that unites the relatives of the seventy immortal lives, the witnesses of the plane crash, the children of the educational project and all of us attending this commemoration. This is our way of honoring this page of History, in the memory of those who are no longer visibly among us.

Dr. Giovanni Montano
Olgiate Olona mayor

Documents related to the commemorative events of 2024

July 1, 2024 - Press releases of Municipality of Olgiate Olona

The prayer for the seventy immortal lives of the plane crash continues in the Prevostal church of Olgiate Olona: masses of suffrage every two months until June 2026

June 27, 2024 - Press releases of Municipality of Olgiate Olona

65th anniversary of plane crash of June 26, 1959. Speech of Olgiate Olona mayor

Commemoration of June 26, 2024 - 65th anniversary

Homily of the Mass in suffrage of the seventy immortal lives of the plane crash of Olgiate Olona of June 26, 1959

June 9, 2023 - Press releases of Municipality of Olgiate Olona

Ceremony for the 64th anniversary of the plane crash of 1959, Monday June 26, 2023, in the town hall of Olgiate Olona

Selection of articles related to the commemorative events of 2024

Corriere.it June 26, 2024
Il disastro aereo di Malpensa: il decollo, il fulmine, lo schianto del Super-Constellation, i 69 morti. «Precipitava come una torcia»