80 years after his death, we remember “Sardo”, the partisan of Mandas
The young Pasqualino Secchi died in Veneto under German fire. In his town the community pays homage to the fighter
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In memory of Pasqualino Secchi, anti-fascist and partisan, born in Mandas on April 12, 1925 and died in Farra d'Alpago, in the Belluno area, on August 31, 1944. Pasqualino Secchi, part of the “Fratelli Bandiera” Brigade, Garibaldi Division “Nino Nannetti”, is a victim, along with four other freedom fighters, of German fire. An ambush in Veneto. The partisans of the “Garibaldi” descend into the valley and are surprised by the Nazis who also kill a 13-year-old boy. Mandas does not want to forget the sacrifice of Pasqualino Secchi, battle name “Sardo”.
80 years after his death, on Saturday, August 31, his community pays homage to him, thanks also to the efforts and research of his great-grandson Carlo Raccis, who continues to keep family and collective memories alive. Starting at 10 am, an intense day dedicated to “Sardo” between the cemetery, the former Convent, the monument to the fallen, the parish church (where a mass will be celebrated at 7 pm). In the courtyard of the house, in via Vittorio Veneto, where the partisan lived, a plaque will be unveiled at the base of the holm oak that Pasqualino himself planted before embarking on the units of the Royal Navy.
With the uniform he faces a new life. When he is on board the destroyer "Zeno" the news of the armistice of Cassibile reaches him. It is September 8, the surrender and the chaos for Italy. A picture well described by Beppe Fenoglio who told the story of September 8, 1943 from the point of view of a soldier: "And then they didn't even know how to give us the order. A shitload of orders arrived, but each one different from the other, or contrary. Resist the Germans - don't shoot the Germans - don't let the Germans disarm you - kill the Germans - disarm yourself - don't surrender your weapons".
Rome is abandoned by the head of government Pietro Badoglio and by King Vittorio Emanuele II. Pasqualino Secchi takes refuge in Friuli in Monfalcone, in the convent of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, where his older sister, Sister Maria, has been for some time. Faced with the danger of searches by the Nazi-Fascist armed forces, for fear of endangering the lives of the nuns themselves, he moves to Veneto where he joins the partisan struggle with the same courage as his Garibaldian grandfather who had never shirked his responsibilities. He dies at the age of 19 at the foot of the Cansiglio Plateau where there is now a plaque that tells us how short and exemplary the life of “Sardo”, the partisan of Mandas, was.
