Private Tiago Anaya Detimermani, 1986 - 2010
(Brazil)
Third Sergeant Tiago Anaya Detimermani, a national of Brazil, was assigned to the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) since July 2009.
Tiago joined the Army at the age of 18 and served with the 5th Battalion Light Infantry based in Lorena, São Paulo State.
“His dream was to go to Haiti to help the people there. It was a great joy for all when he was asked to go,” his grandmother said.
Tiago was known to his friends and family for his warm and generous personality. “He had a very good heart,” his relatives said.
His brother-in-law wrote a long poem describing Tiago as a sentimental, loving, good listener who respected others. “His main goal was to be a friend,” the poem said.
Another relative described him as “a great soldier, who was at the front line to help the needy of a very poor nation for a noble and brave cause.”
A ceremony was held on 22 January at the Brasilia Air Base to honour Tiago and his fallen colleagues, which was attended by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and First Lady Marisa Letícia. President Lula called their work with MINUSTAH “the noblest humanitarian mission ever carried out by the Brazilian Armed Forces.”
Tiago and his colleagues posthumously received a promotion and the Peacemaker Medal from their country for outstanding acts of courage and bravery under lifethreatening circumstances.
Just prior to leaving for Haiti, Tiago and his wife, who called Tiago the “greatest love of her life,” were married in a civil ceremony. A religious ceremony was planned for April 2010 in their hometown of Cachoeira Paulista.
“He was very happy because he was about to return to Brazil to fulfil his two dreams: buy a house and have a child,” his wife said.
Tiago is survived by his wife Rosilene, his father Wagner, his stepmother Patrícia Gonçalves, and his four brothers.