That Others Might Live
The Powerful Tale of Salvo D'Acquisto
Salvo D’Acquisto freely gave his life to save
his countrymen during WWII.
Human society rightfully venerates its heroes. On a certain primal level, this is a survival mechanism. For the species to endure, bravery and selflessness must be rewarded. It is simply that, in the age of modern industrial war, the real heroes often do not live long enough to pass on their greatness. Such was the case with Salvo D’Acquisto.
Salvo D’Acquisto was born in Naples, Italy, on 15 October 1920, the oldest of eight children. Four of his siblings perished prior to adulthood. His dad worked in a chemical factory. As was typical for the era, Salvo left school at the age of 14 to work.
In 1939, D’Acquisto volunteered for the Carabinieri — a sort of national police force in Italy. They serve to maintain order and support local cops. They are also organized like a military unit and deploy overseas. In 1940, with war exploding all over the world, Salvo D’Acquisto jumped across the pond to Libya.
While in North Africa, D’Acquisto was wounded in the leg and contracted malaria. In 1942, he returned to Italy, attended a leadership course, and was assigned to a police outpost in Torre near Rome as a vice sergeant. In the summer of 1943, the dictator Benito Mussolini was overthrown and Italy made peace with the Allies. Their former German friends did not take kindly to these shifting allegiances.
The German fallschirmjagers had some of the neatest toys.
However, they were still fighting for the dark Nazi cause.
Credit: Bundesarchiv.
Why the Krauts Always Make the Best Villains
I worked with some German pilots when I was an Army Aviator. They were, without exception, loyal, professional, disciplined and fun. However, during World War II, the Devil had his way with those people. The Nazis were uniformly horrible. While today’s Germans strive mightily to free themselves of the historical baggage, it will still take generations to cleanse that taint.
In early September 1943, units of the German 2nd Parachute Division were dispatched to establish coastal defenses near Palidoro which fell underneath the jurisdiction of the Torre Carabinieri. On Sept. 22, several fallschirmjägers were pawing through boxes of abandoned munitions when something went off. Two of the German paratroopers died, and several more were wounded.
War is a messy, wasteful thing, arguably the messiest and most wasteful of all foolish human pursuits. It invariably results in vast quantities of deadly junk left lying about. Curiosity, not the isolated purview of the feline, young soldiers invariably explore. Under such sordid circumstances, accidents inevitably happen. However, the fallschirmjäger commander did not see it that way.
The German commander pinned the blame on some vague unknown locals. The Germans believed their former allies to be traitorous. Subsequently, suspicions and tensions ran hot. They demanded that the local Carabinieri assist in locating those responsible. Salvo D’Acquisto was the top cop in charge.
D’Acquisto conducted an investigation and tried to convince the German commander that the deaths had been an unfortunate accident. The Nazi officer was hearing none of this. He directed his troops to round up 22 random civilians to be executed in reprisal. He saw this as an opportunity to send a needed message.
In addition to the 22 civilians, the Germans also took D’Acquisto into custody. They then proceeded to interrogate the lot of them viciously, D’Acquisto included. When further information was not forthcoming, the Germans gave the captured Italians shovels and directed them to dig their own graves.
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of digging a really big hole with a shovel, that takes a minute. I’m also fairly sure their hearts weren’t in it. Regardless, in due time, the graves were complete, and the Germans prepared to execute the captured civilians. At that point, Salvo D’Acquisto stepped forward and confessed to the killings.
D’Acquisto declared that he alone was responsible and that everyone else was innocent and should be released. 17-year-old Angelo Amadio was one of the Italian civilians subsequently granted his freedom. Before the Germans let him go, he saw Salvo D’Acquisto executed by firing squad.
Reprisals against civilians were part of the standard Nazi
playbook wherever they were a force of occupation.
Credit: Bundesarchiv.
Ruminations
Salvo D’Acquisto was posthumously awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valour. Established in 1793 by King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia, this award recognized deeds of exceptional gallantry in war by Italian soldiers. He was also declared to be a Servant of God by Pope John Paul II. This honorific is recognized as the first step on the possible road to sainthood in the Catholic church.
In a speech to the Carabinieri in 2001, John Paul II said, “The history of the Carabinieri shows that one can reach the peak of holiness in the faithful and generous fulfillment of the duties of one’s state. I am thinking here of your colleague, Deputy Brigadier Salvo D’Acquisto, gold medal for military valour, whose cause for beatification is underway.”
D’Acquisto himself purportedly said at the last, “We have to conform ourselves to God’s will whatever the cost in suffering or sacrifice.”
None of us knows how we will respond at the end. Will we face our own mortality valiantly and with stoicism, or will we snivel, turn and run. In the amazing selfless story of Salvo D’Acquisto we see a young man, only 22 at the time of his death, who willingly gave his life that others might live. He was the best of us all.
