The exhibition for the centenary of the Air Force has been inaugurated at the UN

The Italian Air Force carries the tricolor aloft over the United Nations. The multimedia exhibition for the centenary of the Italian Air Force co-organized by the representation at the United Nations, the Ministry of Defense and the Air Force was inaugurated at the Glass Palace in New York, in the presence of the UN Undersecretary General for Peace Operations , Jean-Pierre Lacroix. Entitled “Growing Peace”, the exhibition aims to guide the public through the 70 years of participation of the Air Force in peacekeeping operations under the aegis of the United Nations, of which Italy is the main support in terms of troops made available among Western countries.

«Today we tell a touching story made of courage, professionalism and a sense of duty to promote peace in multiple international theaters, from the Mediterranean to the Middle East, from Lebanon to Afghanistan and Iraq and more recently to bring relief to the populations of the Ukraine on the occasion of the floods of 2020 and those affected by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria in 2023», underlined Ambassador Maurizio Massari, Permanent Representative to the UN. “Our Air Force – he added – is one of the highest emblems of Italy’s commitment to multilateralism and peace”.

The Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Luca Goretti, recalled how the service provided by the women and men of the Air Force is characterized by the unshakable moral rectitude, empathy and closeness shown to the populations afflicted by the war: « Peace is the fuel that fuels our planes and our hearts and drives them to action, a tangible, daily goal that provides the motivation behind every sacrifice.”

During the ceremony there was also a tribute to the Italian airmen and to all the UN peacekeepers who died in service. Among the extreme sacrifices made by the personnel of the Arma Azzurra, General SA Goretti recalled the massacre in Kindu, in the Congo, during one of the first missions in which Italy participated under the UN banner. The beating heart of the exhibition is an over 70-year-old olive tree – as many as the years of participation of the air force in UN peacekeeping – as a symbol of peace and of the effort of our male and female aviators to plant “seeds of peace” in the world.