It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of Luis Ridao Cano on Saturday, February 25.
The General Command of Melilla has shared the following text in memory of Commander Caballero Legionario:
Who is going to make us laugh in our gatherings? Who is going to tell us those incredible anecdotes of the Legionary and his world so colorful? Who is going to brighten up our meetings with stories that, if we did not know you, would seem to be those of a professional “monologuist”? I am afraid that we will have to live on the (extraordinary) memories we have of you, now that you have received your “Hoja de marcha” in your “extraordinary permission” to present yourself to the Cristo de la Buena Muerte, the Protector of the Legionary Knights.
Not too many hours ago (which have been very long), the Legionary Knight Commander Luis Ridao Cano left us, after a period of fierce fight against a cursed disease, which has already taken so many Legionaries… and that almost equals in casualties to the enemy fire, although it appears when one least expects it. God has called him and he has gone to the place he claimed at the time to join the bride of the Legionaries, death, to embrace her with a strong bond, with serenity, knowing that this life is but a temporary step towards another, much happier one.
And he has departed, in his particular final “parade”, leaving us broken, empty, for those of us who knew him; He has left us alone, sad, thoughtful and still making us realize that a great friend, one of ours, has left this world to join a plethora of old Soldiers, former Legionary Knights, who already enjoy the deserved rest after thousands of days of Service to Spain, in his case, forming part of the legionary ranks and wearing his green shirt, gracefully, with a button undone, as if offering his chest and his heart to whoever needed his joy and protection.
Luis, Commander Ridao, was not “a man whom luck struck with the paw of a wild beast”, among other things, because all his life he has been surrounded by a wonderful family whom he adored and who adored him. Born in Antas (province of Almeria), back in July 1949, son of Antonio and Maria, he has been “accumulating triennia” of a life fully lived, throughout his more than seventy-three years of earthly life, in every experience he had.
He was a cultured and above all wise man; “really wise” and not because of his knowledge (which he also had), but above all because of his enormous common sense, which made him face each of the vicissitudes that life offered him with serenity, wisdom and intelligence.
That emotional wisdom was his style of command, because he knew “with details and signs” the life of his subordinates, whom he commanded without ordering; he corrected without punishing; he set an example without trying to do so…Luis, our Commander, was also a natural in his way of being, with no greater aspiration than to remain in command of “his Eighth Company”, in the now defunct Second Flag, from which he had plenty of charisma and mastery to serve, also, as an example to the Officers, NCOs and Troops of “his First Flag”, where he had also served.
There were many, many years of service, “without counting the days, months or years”, which he dedicated to his other family, the legionary family, dedicating himself especially to the least favored among those who were already so and who had sought in the Tercio a place of shelter, redemption, rebirth. He was able to restore self-confidence to a good handful of great legionaries who did not know their greatness, because for Luis, our Commander, “nothing mattered their previous life”.
They were many, very many, hard days, that began very, very early and ended very, very late; from that August 3, 1971, when you joined your destiny to The Legion in the “Banderín de Enganche” of Leganés (Madrid), with destination to Villa Cisneros, in the old Spanish Sahara, to form in the ranks of the Tercio “Alejandro Farnesio” 4º of the Legion; Until, after the withdrawal of the units of that territory, he left with his unit to Melilla, where he joined the Tercio “Gran Capitán” 1st of the Legion, in his beloved III Bandera, unit in which he served until its dissolution, going on to join the I Bandera as a Lieutenant and later to the II, as a Captain. He finished his legionary career in the Command Staff of the Tercio “Gran Capitán”, where he served his last years in active service, until that not so distant July 11, 2010, when he took a step aside and went to the reserve status. It has been almost forty years that he did not want to count, as our Creed says, but he did want (and knew how) to live.
Commander Knight Legionnaire Ridao has served with dedication and brilliance, reaching (after performing each and every one of the jobs of Troops and NCO, at the time) the highest job that the legislation allowed him in his scale, the Legionary Scale, giving prestige to it with his good work and better serving. He has been that companion that every soldier wishes to have close, very close, in case of bad luck, in peace or in combat.
A few weeks ago, a few officers who were very close to him and who had served with him in the ranks of the “Gran Capitan” Tercio, met again with their friend Luis, “in the shade of a coffee and a few porritas”, to see him, give him strength, encourage him… a big mistake…because it was he who, still convalescing from his last relapse, would get smile after smile from them, recalling his famous anecdotes… “Los moruecos”, “Sin novedad en el negociado” and so many others that would serve to write, not a book, but a whole series of “Best sellers” of the most traditional and legionary humor.
Those weeks have been very few; too few. Now we have to go through his departure, the trance of uneasiness; the anguish of the soul that does not find the reason or the reason why. Ana Mari, his wife, his four children, Gema, Antonio, Fran and Dani, as well as his grandchildren, do not find comfort at this time, nor do we.
Don’t look for it, no; that consolation will come to you unintentionally and will appear, as it will for us, when we remember each one of her thousands of anecdotes that, although you may not believe it now, will make you smile (and laugh, yes, laugh) when you rediscover that person so alive, so happy, who will now make happy those who have already left us. That same smile and that clean look in his blue eyes that will bring you the necessary tranquility to, with the perspective that time gives, feel the pride of wife, of children, of grandchildren, like the one we have always felt, as legionary companions or brothers… of oath between two men…
From the ranks of the Tercio “Gran Capitán” 1st of the Legion, as well as from the General Command of Melilla, we want to send to family and friends and in a very particular way, to his wife and children, an affectionate greeting in such complicated moments, along with a strong Legionary hug to our Commander, Commander Ridao, Luis, who is already marching, at 180 steps per minute, towards a place of honor next to his, our, Protector.
Rest in Peace.
