Determined Disabled Soldier

How did a one-legged Italian man end up receiving his country’s highest honor for bravery, the Gold Medal of Military Valor? Born in Rome in 1882, Enrico Toti went to work for the State Railways as a stoker. In March 1908, while working on the lubrication of a locomotive, Toti slipped, and his left leg was crushed by gears. He was 24 years old. In hospital, his leg was amputated at the pelvis. He subsequently lost his job and devoted himself to various activities, including some small inventions.
He took up cycling, riding as far as Lapland and Egypt between 1911 and 1913. When Italy declared war on Austria in 1914, he volunteered for military service but was rejected because of his disability. Undaunted, he cycled to the frontline, serving as an unpaid civilian. Sent home by the military police, Toti returned, attaching himself to a Bersaglieri Bicycle Battalion. Fatally wounded in the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo, he hurled his crutch at the enemy. Before falling on the ground, he shouted: “I do not die!”
He was posthumously awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valor by Victor Emmanuel III. Some doubt the facts surrounding his actions. The Fascist regime, in subsequent years, exalted the Toti‘s contribution for propaganda purposes. Two submarines of the Italian Navy were named after Enrico Toti.