Italian Government
July 2, 1993, Somalia: the Battle of Checkpoint Pasta
"There are pages that the years do not fade, stories that time cannot erase.
Checkpoint Pasta, in Mogadishu, is one of them.
On July 2, 1993, that corner of Somalia became a battlefield. It was a day of dramatic fighting, during which our service members demonstrated the deepest meaning of courage, duty, and selflessness, even in the face of the ultimate sacrifice.
Those values are embodied by Second Lieutenant Andrea Millevoi, Sergeant Major Stefano Paolicchi, and Corporal Pasquale Baccaro, who lost their lives while serving as part of the United Nations peacekeeping mission to help restore peace in a country devastated by war. They were posthumously awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valor for their heroism.
Time has passed, but my thoughts—and those of the entire Ministry of Defence—remain with them, their families, their comrades, and all those who still bear, in body and spirit, the indelible marks of that day and of their fidelity to the oath they swore. Among them is Lieutenant Colonel Gianfranco Paglia, who was wounded during the fighting and, for the extraordinary courage he displayed on that occasion, was also awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valor.
To remember them means to continue preserving and living the values that guided their service to the Nation." Minister Guido Crosetto
