MATOS COELHO (1946-2023)
IN MEMORIAM MEMORIAE (1)
Adelino Matos Coelho was a distinguished and courageous soldier, as he demonstrated in March 1974, in Caldas da Rainha, a legitimate heir to those soldiers who risked everything in the revolts against the Dictatorship and the Estado Novo, in favor of Freedom.

ANTÓNIO VENTURA*


LIFE IS MADE OF encounters and mismatches. I met Adelino Matos Coelho at the beginning of the 1980s when we both belonged to the Portuguese Association of Friends of Castles and took part in the congresses and other initiatives it organized. I remember his interest in the military monuments of Baixo Alentejo, especially the castle of Noudar, which was the subject of a book he published in 1999. We then lost touch. We met again years later, during one of the colloquia on Military History at the Palácio da Independência. He was then Director of the Army’s Directorate of Military History and Culture, a post he held from 2007 to 2011; I was head of the History Center at the University of Lisbon. We combined what was useful with what was pleasant, starting a collaboration between the two institutions, and, from then on, we met more frequently, particularly in the context of the 200th anniversary of the Peninsular War, in colloquia and in the books published by the Army to mark the anniversary. He later joined the History Center of the University of Lisbon as a Collaborating Researcher, an institution that has focused on Military History and close collaboration with the Military Academy, the Naval School, and the Air Force Academy, even creating a line of research in Military History, in which Ade- lino Matos Coelho joined, developing several projects, including two lines of work that are still ongoing: one on the importance of prisoners of war and humanitarian law in the context of the First World War and subsequent conflicts, and the other on the Portuguese military campaigns during the First World War in the territories of Angola and Mozambique.

His love of history cemented our relationship, with regular contacts at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, where he often went to have coffee with me and other friends, including my colleague José Varandas, who was also very interested in military history. Between lively exchanges of views, which didn’t always coincide, as is healthy, we had good, humorous conversations about the most-on the most diverse topics. We called each other “you”, naturally, and by our first names, although sometimes, when he called me, I would reply with a “Yes, General!”. And we laughed, we laughed a lot. We were confreres – academics of the Portuguese Academy of History – and I had the pleasure and honor of collaborating several times, at his invitation, on initiatives for the Revista Militar, of which he had been a full member since 1999. and in the magazine itself.
Adelino Matos Coelho was a distinguished military man, courageous, as he demonstrated in March 1974, in Caldas da Rainha, a legitimate heir to those soldiers who risked everything in the revolts against the Dictatorship and the Estado Novo, in favor of Freedom. Later on in his career, he served his country and the army professionally. Now in reserve status, he was always aware of the importance and fundamental role of the Military Institution in the context of the Nation, and of the careless way in which it has been treated by successive governments, driven by party-political interests, spurious external subservience, or economic visions. He never ceased to express his opinion, not least within the framework of the Independent Strategic Reflection Group (GREI), on measures that he considered inappropriate.
But beyond what has been said, Adelino was a human being of excellence. He was a gentleman, with the modesty that only gentlemen can demand. In a world where we are surrounded by upstarts, scoundrels, and individuals devoid of character, men like that are rare. It is living with them that softens the hardships of our daily lives.
His death is a huge loss that history will never forget.
As far as I’m concerned, I’ve lost a good friend who I’ll remember with great nostalgia.
But there remains an emptiness that is impossible to fill. Lisbon, June 16, 2023

* University professor, historian

(1) – In memory of memory. Conscious appropriation of the title of David-Mourão Ferreira’s 1962 book.

in O REFERENICAL – REVISTA DA ASSOCIAÇÃO 25 DE ABRIL

DIRECTOR: ANICETO AFONSO | N.º 149 | ABRIL – JUNHO 2023

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks the Luso-American Education Foundation for their support of Filamentos.