Raymond Kestner

In December 2011, I received a note from Jessica Kestner McMahon.

“I am the granddaughter of Pvt. Raymond Kestner who was interred in Camp 59, she wrote. “I am in the process of scanning his war letters, etc. into my computer. I happened upon your blog and found his name listed in Charles Simmon’s address book from January 2010. I have a similar book from my grandfather.

“My grandfather died in 1986, when I was only 8, so I don’t remember a lot about him. He moved to St. Paul, MN soon after returning from the war, and lived there until he died.

“His sister kept all the letters he wrote, as well as the newspaper clippings about him, which I have. I am currently working on scanning them into the computer. I will send some of those on to you as I get them.

“My grandpa seems to be a pretty laid back guy—he was much more content to wait things out than to try to escape.”

Is in Ireland

Private Raymond Kestner

Son of Mr. and Mrs. Jos. Kestner, East Main Street, is with U.S. troops in Ireland. He went across some time in May as nearly as his parents could ascertain. The first letter from Ireland arrived in Sleepy Eye [Minnesota] August 5th.

Private Kestner has been In the service about eight months, was first at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and then at Fort Dix, New Jersey. He is serving in the armored division.

Ray Kestner Uses Sign Language in Talking to Arabs in Africa

Likely from the Sleepy Eye Herald-Dispatch

Ray Kestner, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jos. P. Kestner, East Main, has learned to use the sign language. He had to in order to carry on a conversation with the Arabs in northern Africa.

Writing to his parents in a letter dated November 19, Ray said, “We have to use hand motions in dealing with the Arabs because they can’t understand our language and we can’t understand there.”

The local youth was among those from this state who saw action the port of Oran, but escaped unscathed. “In fact,” he said, “I’ve never felt better in my life.”

Fruit is plentiful in the vicinity where Ray and his buddies are in camp. Oranges, dates and olives grow in abundance—75 tangerines can be purchased for a dollar.

Life has been a bit rugged at times, but Ray doesn’t seem to mind. Being exposed to the element, he said, has made a rather rough-looking bunch out of us. ‘Our skins are really sun-tanned.’

Far removed from the conveniences of home, he writes in his pup tent by candlelight with his knee as an improvised desk. That finished, he turns in for the night while the coyotes in the nearby hills howl a bedtime lullaby.

Ray Kestner Last Seen by Lieutenant

Likely from the Sleepy Eye Herald-Dispatch

Mr. and Mrs. Joe Kestner, East Main, have received word from a second lieutenant now in California stating that he was in an Italian prison camp with PFC Raymond Kestner until September 14 when Badoglio suspended hostilities against the Allies and American prisoners were freed.

The two were in a group which set out for southern Italy to join allied forces, but were separated September 24. It took the lieutenant until November to reach advancing Americans.

Private Kestner was wounded and taken prisoner by the Italians December 12, 1942, but wrote several cards to his parents from prison camp. At first his injury seemed to be only a flesh wound in the arm, but x-rays later disclosed a bone had been shattered.

Last word Mr. and Mrs. Kestner received was in December of 1943 and it was a card which had been written July 21.

In his letter the lieutenant wrote that on their way south American soldiers worked for and sought shelter with Italian families. Whether Raymond is still on an Italian farm, keeping his identity secret until allied forces reach him, or has been retaken by German authorities is still unknown.

Ray Kestner Was German Prisoner,
Now on Way Home

From the Seventh Service Command Headquarters, Omaha, Nebraska, this office received notification Tuesday that PFC Raymond A. Kestner, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Kestner, East Main, would arrive from overseas at Fort Sheridan today (Thursday). It will be remembered that Kestner, who had served overseas 27 months, was a German prisoner in a camp in Italy until he made his escape back to Allied lines. After a short stay at the reception center he will come on to his home in Sleepy Eye.

Was Prisoner of Italians and Germans

Sleepy Eye Herald-Dispatch
Thursday, August 17, 1944

After digging in, some hundred yards forward, a group of American infantrymen in the Tunisian engagement in Africa suddenly found themselves without a leader and withdrawn to the rear was cut off. Their commanding officer, dead from a bullet wound before he could give the command to withdraw, left the few men tenaciously holding their position, fighting against heavy odds. Many of them were killed, others wounded.

Among the group was PFC Raymond Kestner, on of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Kestner, East Main. That was December 1942.

Kestner, who was manning a machine gun, was wounded by a bullet through his left wrist. Opening his first aid kid he applied the sulfa powder to the wound and swallowed the sulfa pills but when he attempted to release the bandage from its case he couldn’t manage it with one hand. Gingerly he crawled the few feet to where a pal was holed in. There matters were even worse. The fellow had been shot in the head, a bullet going though his helmet. Though not dead he was no assistance to Kestner whose wound was bleeding profusely. Raymond applied a crude tournque [tourniquet] and tried to lay low until the Germans could be routed or withdrew. But together with others, he was captured and marched away a prisoner of war. December 6, 1942 he was reported missing in action.

Because of military censorship the complete story of what happened after his capture until he finally got back to America, cannot be told. However there are many things that do not constitute vital war information that can he told.

The first night the prisoners were herded into a shell-wrecked building, searched and questioned, after which they got what rest they could. They piled straw on and around Kestner to keep him warm during the night. His captors did what they could to make him comfortable, dressed his wound and saw what he was warm. Later he was flown out in a JU-52, taken to a military hospital at Casserta, Italy, and ten days after being wounded his wrist was in a cast. Two months were spent in the enemy hospital before he was sent to a divisional point where prisoners were classified and sent to permanent camps.

Their clothing, much the worse for wear, was replaced by British Red Cross outfits. There was a large red patch on one pant leg and another on the back of the shirt, indicating they were military prisoners.

They were not ill-treated in the prison camp but received little food. The Italian people were in a state of starvation themselves and had little to offer. Breakfast was a cup of vile coffee, at noon a piece of cheese weighing about two ounces and a small round of hardtack made up their meal, and for supper they had a small bowl of soup, sometimes of rice, sometimes of macaroni. ‘If it had not been for the Red Cross food parcels received each week we would have starved,’ said Ray. At times the parcels were from the British Red Cross and at other times from the American Red Cross, but were distributed by emissaries from Geneva.

American prisoners were not allowed to work for fear they would escape, so time hung heavy on their hands. A library furnished by the Red Cross provided a good amount of reading material. They also had their own dispensary provided by the Red Cross and manned by captured medical men who looked after their physical welfare. But they were always fighting lice, they would get into the seams of clothing and try as they could they were not able to rid the place of them. From time to time Red Cross officials ordered the place fumigated and cleaned out, but in a week of two the lice were as bad as ever. They were most annoying to those sent to the prison part of the camp.

Here fleas as well as lice and other pests were numerous. Fellows were put there for minor infractions of rules such as not being asleep when the guard made his look in at night, or being up a few minutes after lights out, etc.

Most prisoners attended church service at camp every day. An Italian Padre conducted Mass and a captured British officer held church service for the Church of England and other Protestant denominations.

Mail from home seldom arrived and most of the men never received the parcels sent to them. Barracks were made of wood and men slept in double decked bunks with straw mattresses. Every two weeks they took everything out of the place and gave it a real scrubbing. Americans were allowed sheets and pillow cases but the English were not, presumably because they had deprived Italian prisoners in their camps of those articles.

After the Italians had signed the Armistice with the Allies the prisoners looked forward to the day of liberation which finally came September 14, 1943, and the gates of the camp were swung wide.

Prisoners were told to shift for themselves and to return to Allied lines any way possible.

That in itself was a big order for most of them spoke no Italian and knew little of the country. Red Cross parcels were divided, each had three and they surely came in handy. “We couldn’t speak Italian, and the Italians couldn’t speak English so we used the sign language at first and gave them soap from our parcels (a most cherished article). The people soon learned that we desired to make friends and gradually trusted us.”

“We split up in small groups, some starting back to attempt a break through German lines to their own positions. Others laid low to get their bearings and plan what was bet to try.”

Four of them left together but after about ten days decided to split up, two went on to try and get through the German lines, and they made it. Kestner and his buddy stayed back, thinking that they would have a better chance of hiding than getting through. For several months they lived in comparative safety among friendly Italians who gave them food and shelter; in return the young men helped pick grapes, harvest crops and in numerous other ways.

The Italians were very poor, living under most primitive conditions. Men turned the oil with ox-drawn plows.

Houses and barns were one structure with the barn on the first floor. Steps led into the living quarters above. All cooking was done over a fireplace. The families were large but they seemed eager to aid their new American friends and shared with them even to dying the khaki uniforms dark so they would not be so easily recognizable by German scouting parties.

The last two months before Kestner was recaptured were days of fear and hiding. Nazis were combing the area with fine tooth precision, it was unthinkable to jeopardize friends by staying with them, so the Americans shifted for themselves, hiding out my day and getting food from friendly natives by night. This hunt and hide system at last came to an end when Germans were tipped off as to their hiding place. One morning they were rudely awakened by Nazis and again found themselves prisoners of war. Strangely enough an English Major who had attached himself to the hideout party was the only one to escape capture. He always slept outside, apart from the rude shelter they had used.

That particular evening the ground was damp, and the men thought they would risk sleeping inside, but not the Major, wet or dry, he slept away from the shelter and that time it proved a lucky break for him.

How Kestner escaped the second time and finally reached port and Allied lines has to remain untold for the present. But escape he did and after a ling and anxious wait by his parents he is home again, this time for a 21-day furlough before being assigned to another outfit or camp.

This V-mail Christmas card, dated November 22, 1941, was sent by Matthew Brazil to his sweetheart (and later wife) Doris Greenquist of San Jose, California.

On December 11, Matt’s plane was shot down near Naples while on a bombing run, and he was captured.

The following San Jose area newspaper articles, document the details of his disappearance and capture, and his mother’s first communications about him.

One of the articles mentions a Christmas card sent by Matt to his mother on the same day time he sent the V-mail card to his girlfriend.

RETURNED._
Of hundreds of Xmas cards sent servicemen by CofC [presumable chain of command, the military organization from the individual soldier to President Roosevelt] only one has come back. Addressed to PFC Matthew P. Brazil of a bomber squadron in England or Africa, the cards was returned…ominously rubber stamped: “Missing in Action.” To make sure of it, these two endorsements were written on the envelope: “Missing in Action—Herbert B. Law, 2nd Lt. A. C.” & “Missing in Action—Robert R. Sewell, Capt. A. C.”

Matthew P. Brazil Missing in Action

Mrs. Jennie Brazil of 108 Myrtle street, received word Thursday from Washington that her son, Sgt. Matthew P. Brazil, of the air corps, is missing in action.

The telegram read:

“The secretary of war desires me to express his deep regret that your son, Sergeant Matthew P. Brazil, Air Corps, has been reported missing in action in North Africa since Dec. 11. Additional information will be sent you when received.”

Mrs. Brazil received a Christmas card from her son Wednesday, dated November 22. He entered service about a year ago, and left for training in New Jersey last June. He was born in San Joaquin valley, but received his education in Santa Cruz schools. He was a printer in San Jose when he entered service and has one sister, Mrs. William Smith, in Los Angeles.

Sgt. M. Brazil Is Prisoner Of War In Italy

Sgt. Matthew P. Brazil of 108 Myrtle street, reported to have been missing in action, is now a prisoner of war in Italy, according to word received here by Mrs. Jennie Brazil, his mother.

Mrs. Brazil recently received a message from Chaplain M. J. Broussard of the 98th Bombers, telling her that the plane in which Matthew Brazil was flying was seeing to land in the ocean near Italy, and that they had received a radio communique from Italy, confirming the fact that the crew had been interned as prisoners of war.

“I am sure they are doing well,” the chaplain wrote, “as the Italians are known to be very considerate of the prisoners.”

Chaplain Broussard advised Mrs. Brazil to contact the National Red Cross in order to reach her son. He said that in due time she should hear from him although it would be some time before the slow mail service would pass the letter.

The war department will continue to pay Sgt. Brazil his salary and allotment through the duration, the chaplain stated.

Brazil was born in the San Joaquin valley but received his education in Santa Cruz schools. He was working as a printer in San Jose when he entered the service about a year ago. He left for training in New Jersey in June.

San Jose Youth, Reported Missing, Captive In Italy

Sergeant Matthew Brazil, who lived at 322 Delmas until his enlistment in the army air force in October, 1941, and who was reported missing in action last December, is a prisoner of war in Italy, according to word received by Miss Doris Greenquist, 325 Gifford. He had been in active service as an aerial gunner in North Africa since August, 1942.

Mrs. Jennie Brazil Receives Letter From Her Son

October 18th was a red letter day for Mrs. Jennie Brazil of 108 Myrtle street, for it brought a letter from her son, Sgt. Matthew Brazil from Italy, where he has been a prisoner of war since Pearl Harbor. He was picked up at sea and was taken to an Italian hospital where he has been treated for injuries.

She received a message through the Red Cross and another through the Vatican, but this was the first one written by her son, and it was mailed May 4 under U. S. censorship. He writes, “Say hello to all my friends for me. Wish I could get a letter from you and some from them, for I do not get any mail.” Mrs. Brazil was delighted to see his own hand writing.

BRAZIL

Mrs. Jennie Brazil, 108 Myrtle street, has received a direct and personal message from her son, Sergeant Matthew Brazil, who is in an Italian prison camp, that he has been released from the hospital at Salerno, and now weighs even more than he did before his injury.

Mrs. Brazil received word in December that the plane in which her son was an aerial gunner was seen to land in the ocean near Italy and official notification came a short time later that he was an Italian prisoner of war.

The only other news Mrs. Brazil has had of Matthew was an Easter card sent by the Vatican via Holy Cross school here. The message received this week was delivered through the International Red Cross.

This list of contents for American Red Cross “Standard Package No. 8″ was sent to me by Matt Brazil.

I am pleased to share it.

The Red Cross document above reads:

Form 1631-P
Feb. 1942

American Red Cross
STANDARD PACKAGE NO. 8
for
PRISONER OF WAR
___
FOOD

CONTENTS

Evaporated Milk, irradiated – 1 – 14 1/2 oz. can
Lunch Biscuit (hard-tack) – 1 – 8 oz. package
Cheese – 1 – 8 oz. package
Instant Cocoa – 1 – 8 oz. tin
Sardines – 1 – 15 oz. tin
Oleomargarine (Vitamin A) – 1 – 1 lb. tin
Corned Beef – 1 – 12 oz. tin
Sweet Chocolate – 2 – 5 1/2 oz. bars
Sugar, Granulated – 1 – 2 oz. package
Powdered orange concentrate (Vitamin C) – 1 – 7 oz. package
Soup (dehydrated) – 1 – 5 oz. package
Prunes – 1 – 16 oz. package
Instant Coffee – 1 – 4 oz. tin
Cigarettes – 2 – 20′s
Smoking Tobacco – 1 – 2 1/4 oz. package

The WW2 US Medical Research Centre website has some interesting details on Red Cross food and medical parcels and first aid kits, including photographs of contents.

Sgt. Lawrence “Laurie” Sidney Barker, Royal Canadian Air Force

I received a note from Michael Laurence Barker of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on December 24.

He wrote, “I am the nephew of a Canadian POW who was, I believe, held at Servigliano, at least for part of his time as a POW.

“He escaped from prison camp and travelled with seven others before being discovered in a barn by the Nazis, near Pito. The Nazis set the barn on fire. When the men ran out, all, but for one, were shot. The date was March 11, 1944. The one man who escaped told the sad story to the families of the other seven men. I do not know his name.

“Laurence was buried locally by Pito villagers. Presumably the others were buried there as well.

“Laurence was later re-interred at Ancona War Cemetery.”

The Ancona War Cemetery lies in rural Tavernelle, in the commune and province of Ancona, Italy.

Michael sent me a newspaper article about his uncle’s death. I asked him if the spelling of his name in the article was incorrect, and whether he was named for his uncle.

He replied, “Laurence—yes, spelled with a ‘u’ not a ‘w’; the obituary had the misspelling. Yes, I am named for him.

“The only reason I believe he may have been at Camp 59—and perhaps moved to Camp 53, as I note from your site that many British (Canadians) we transferred there—is that I would think he could not have traveled too far from where he escaped to where he was killed (Pito) but I may be completely wrong in that assumption.

“I do not know the names of the others who were killed.

“Laurence was born January 3, 1920 in Edmonton, Hornsey, Middlesex, England (now Greater London).

“He immigrated to Canada in June 20, 1920 with his mother, Amy, on the CP Ship Scotian (renamed Marglen in 1922). My grandfather, Sidney, a Canadian soldier who fought in World War I, married Amy in England. Sidney had already returned from England to Canada when Amy and Laurie made their way from England to join him in Oxbow, Saskatchewan. They arrived on June 29, 1920.

“Laurence enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in May 1940. He started serving overseas in January 1941, and in the Middle East in July 1941. He served on Wellington bombers in the Desert Air Force.

“Laurence was shot down over Benghazi, Libya, and taken prisoner in November 1941.

“As a side note, Laurence’s father was a POW camp guard at camps in Alberta, Canada, for German prisoners at Ozada (camp 133) and at the Kananaskis camp (130) during the same period of time that Laurence was a prisoner in Italy.”

Laurence’s grave marker in Ancona War Cemetery.

R. 62010 WARRANT OFFICER I
L. S. BARKER
WIRELESS OPERATOR/AIR GUNNER
ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE
11TH MARCH 1944
AGE 24

NO PAIN, NO GRIEF,
NO ANXIOUS FEAR
CAN REACH
THE PEACEFUL SLEEPER HERE

The marker bears the crest of the Royal Canadian Air Force and the motto, Per ardua ad astra (“Through adversity to the stars”), of the Royal Air Force and other Commonwealth air forces, including the RCAF.

After corresponding with Michael, I checked the online list of the 967 Allied servicemen who are buried in the Ancona cemetery. I guessed that some, or all, of the six escapees who died with Laurence might have been re-interred in the cemetery. However, I found that Laurence was the only one listed with a March 11, 1944 date of death.

Died for His Country

The Star-Phoenix, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Date of article unknown

W.O.2 L. S. BARKER

Sgt. S. H. Barker, attached to the Veterans’ Guard of Canada at Medicine Hat and Mrs. Barker, 325 Avenue E, south, have been informed by the R.C.A.F. casualties officer that their son, W.O.2 Lawrence Sidney Barker, 24 years old, is presumed to have died late in March or early in April of this year while a prisoner of war in Italy. It is believed that he was buried just outside the cemetery at the village of Pito. Warrant Officer Barker was taken prisoner of war in November, 1941, and his parents received no word from him since the capitulation of Italy. He was a graduate of the Youth Training Program at the Technical Collegiate and enlisted in May, 1940. He went overseas in January, 1941, and to the Middle East in July, 1941. Besides his parents he is survived by a brother, F.O. [Flight Officer; Laurence's brother Leslie was a flight lieutenant] L. W. A. Barker, with the R.C.A.F. overseas.

Barker family photo of Sid (father), Leslie, Amy (mother) and Laurence, just before Laurence went overseas in late 1940. Michael says, “Laurie would be 20 and Les would be 15 here.”

Barker Bay on Porter Lake in Northern Saskatchewan (56.4 N, 107.3 W) is named after Laurence.

This two-page memo from the U.S. War Department contains instructions for families on how to prepare packages to be sent to prisoners of war and civilian internees overseas.

The memo is from Matt Brazil, whose father, Staff Sgt. Matthew P. Brazil, was a POW at Camp 59. Matthew’s family undoubtedly used these guidelines in putting together parcels for him.

The parcels are the American equivalent of what British prisoner Robert Dickinson, in his camp journal, “Servigliano Calling,” called “next of kin” personal parcels.

Here is a transcription of the War Department memo:

WAR DEPARTMENT
Services of Supply
Office of the Provost Marshal General
Washington

March 11, 1943

The Provost Marshal General directs me to inclose a label which may be used within the date stamped thereon for the purpose of sending a prisoner of war or civilian internee parcel. Should you desire to use the label, it is suggested that the following mailing package instructions be strictly followed.

PACKAGE MAILING INSTRUCTIONS

Only one label at a time will be issued to the designated next of kin, or emergency addressee, to each American internee or prisoner of war officially reported. The label may be transferred to another person if so desired. Each label will be issued in duplicate. The original to be securely pasted on the outside of the package and the duplicate to be placed on top of the contents inside of the package in order that it maybe removed by the postal censor. The label can only be used between the dates specified on the original label. Additional labels will be issued from time to time.

The contents of the package must be listed on the Post Office Department Custom’s Declaration, Form No. 2966, at the time of mailing. If this form is not available at your local post office, the contents may be listed on plain paper and attached to the package. No postage is required.

The weight of your package should not exceed 11 pounds, gross dimensions not over 18 inches in length, not 42 inches length and girth combined. The package should not be sealed and should be wrapped in a manner which will facilitate opening for postal inspection.

The following articles only may be included in the package:

Tobacco Pouches
Pipes
Cigarette Holders (except paper)
Cigarette Cases (non-metallic)

Washing Powder
Medicated Soap
Bath Soap
Towels, bath and face
Wash Cloths
Tooth Powder (in non-metallic containers)
Tooth Brushes
Combs (non-metallic)
Brushes, scrubbing
Clothes Brushes

Shaving Material
Safety Razor
Safety Razor Blades
Shaving Brushes
Talcum Powder (in non-metallic containers)
Styptic Pencils
Shaving Soap Cake and Powder
Small Mirrors

Clothing
Socks
Sock supporters
Belts
Sport shorts for athletics
Shirts (regular army or navy if prisoners of war)
Slacks (regular army or navy if prisoners of war)
Gloves
Handkerchiefs
Mufflers
Light Sweaters
Shoes
Shoe Laces
Insoles
Underwear
House Slippers
Bathrobes
Pajamas
Nightgowns
Suspenders

(Over)

Women
Wool Hose
Safety Pins
Small Mirror
Ribbon
Hair nets and pins
Knitting Needles (non-metallic)
Crochet Needles (non-metallic)
Knitting Yarn
Elastic
Blouses
Skirts
Dresses
Toilet articles except liquids (in non-metallic containers)
Kleenex
Camphor Ice (cardboard containers)
Sanitary supplies for feminine hygiene
Orange Sticks

Children
All kinds of clothing and shoes
Crayons
Small indestructible wooden toys

Sports and Games
Playing cards
Checkers
Chess
Cribbage
Ping Pong or Table Tennis Sets
Softballs
Baseballs
Footballs
Softball or Baseball Gloves

Miscellaneous Items
Chewing gum
Shoe polish in tins
Tooth picks
Nail clippers
Wallets
Pocketbooks
Mending Kits (no scissors included)
Sewing kits
Buttons (non-metallic)
Hair clippers
Vitamin tablets in cardboard containers

Food Items

Processed American or Swiss Cheese (wrapped in cellophane)

Dried Prunes, Raisins or Apricots, Peaches and Apples (in one pound or one-half pound cellophane pkgs.)

Dried soups (in cellophane bags)

Cereals of the Farina or Cream of Wheat type (cardboard containers)

Dried skim milk (in one or one-half pound cellophane bags)

Nuts – only pecans, Brazil nuts, or peanuts in shell or salted (cellophane bags or cardboard containers)

Plain or chocolate powdered malted milk in press top tins or boxes or in cellophane bags not in excess of one pound

Malted milk tablets in cellophane bags or cardboard boxes not in excess of 500 tablets

Dried noodles, macaroni or spaghetti in cardboard boxes
Dried (chipped) beef wrapped in clear wax paper or cellophane not in excess of one pound

Coffee in plain bags not in excess of one pound

Tea – bulk (loose) in one-fourth (1/4) or one-half (1/2) pound bags or cardboard boxes

Cocoa in press-in topcans or cellophane bags not in excess of one-half (1/2) pound

Sugar in paper bags or cardboard boxes not in excess of one pound
Biscuits or crackers – one pound (cardboard containers)

Bullion cubes – (1/2) pound package

Sweet chocolate in one pound bars

Rice in one pound cellophane packages or cardboard containers

The signature and address of sender must appear in ink in the space provided on the label. Cigarettes and printed matter may not be sent at this time.

Howard F. Bresee,
Colonel, C.M.P.,
Chief, Information Bureau.

1 Incl.
Label

The Story of Sergeant Matt Brazil, Shot Down at Naples,
A Prisoner, Then Freedom

December 1943
By Laura Rawson

Sergeant Matthew Brazil, son of Mrs. Jennie Brazil of Santa Cruz, an aerial gunner who shot down [by] an enemy plane after it had disabled the Liberator on which he was a gunner over Naples December 11 of last year, and who escaped from an Italian prison camp less than three months ago, is bringing a happy ending to 1943 after all, for last Sunday he married Doris Greenquist of San Jose, to whom he became engaged before going overseas.

He will receive the purple heart and the air medal for his heroic efforts. His troubles are not entirely over yet, for he will undergo an operation to correct adhesions in the tendons of his injured leg soon. Sgt. Brazil is assigned to Hamilton Field when his 30-day furlough is over. He does not expect to be sent back to the European theatre but says, “I wouldn’t mind taking a look at the Japs.”

He says the most exciting moment was when he landed a short time ago on American soil in Newport News, Virginia. “I felt like getting down and kissing the ground,” Sgt. Brazil declared.

To start at the beginning of his military career. He was working as a printer in San Jose when he entered service about a year ago. He shot down an enemy plane after it had disabled the Liberator on which he was a gunner over Naples last December 11.

His leg was lacerated when his plane jolted onto the water in Naples harbor. He spent four months in an Italian hospital where the Italian doctors did their best to save his leg and finally succeeded. They had feared they would have to amputate it at the hip joint.

He had been reported as “missing in action,” but later Mrs. Brazil received a message from the chaplain of the 98th Bombers telling her that the plane in which Brazil was flying was seen to land in the ocean near Italy and that they had received a radio communique from Italy confirming the fact that the crew had been interned as prisoners of war. He wrote, “I am sure that they are doing well, as the Italians are known to be considerate of the prisoners.”

In telling of his experiences Brazil says: “We were alone over Naples in the second American raid there, when the Italian plane, an M.A. 202, came after us. He threw lead into us at 500 yards and the two men with me were hit. My gun was knocked out so I took one of the others and gave him a burst of fire. He began smoking as we went past him, then I saw that our number four motor was knocked out.

“The propeller flew off and shot out ahead of the plane, then curved back and hit our number three motor, knocking its propeller off. I told the pilot what happened and we had to start down fast. Then I looked back and saw the Italian plane in flames. We landed between three fishing boats and my leg was cut badly by jagged metal in the plane. But I didn’t know that until I got back to the surface of the water and tried to swim. I inflated my ‘Mae West’ and the fishing boat picked me up.”

In Prison Camp

Brazil continued, “ That was December 11 and the next day I was a prisoner in an Italian hospital. On December 13 they brought in the Italian captain I had shot down, but he died before I got the chance to see him. The Italians asked everybody who had shot him down, but you bet I didn’t say a word because they hadn’t operated on me yet. They didn’t have much to work with in the hospital but they gave me the best care they could.”

After four months in the hospital Brazil was moved to a prison camp at Ancona on the Adriatic, approximately 150 miles father north than Rome.

“There were about 200 American and 1100 British prisoners there,” he said, and they would have starved if it hadn’t been for the Red Cross. After the Italian surrender the prisoners were guarded less closely, so Brazil and six other men escaped. A day or two later all the prisoners were released.

Because there are other men out there in the Italian hills, Brazil can’t tell just how he got back to the Americans and the military doesn’t want to give away the methods they used in getting them back. They escaped Brazil said, because they feared the Germans would take over the camp. That’s just what happened at another camp nearby where there were 8000 British prisoners.

He could not travel fast because of his leg injury and he wandered into the hills and was fed and given sleeping quarters at night by peasants. They were kindly and hospitable and he was able to use to good advantage the Italian he had learned while in the hospital. Brazil finally got back with the British and the Americans. He flew to Africa and came back to the good old U.S.A. by boat. “I had hoped to fly back, but the boat was good enough. Nothing in the world was ever as good as getting my feet on American soil again.”

Italian and German patients in the hospital were friendly Brazil said and the main question they asked was, “When we thought the war would end.” But we didn’t give them any definite answers.

The U.S. National Archives database of WW II POWs lists Matt Brazil as having been a prisoner, but the record doesn’t include a camp name.

A couple of things mentioned in Laura Rawson’s article, “The Story of Sergeant Matt Brazil….,” and the Fog Horn article seem to reinforce that he was in Camp 59:

The article above mentions two British doctors. The two British doctors in Camp 59 were J. H. Derek Millar and Adrian Duff, both Scottish. The article also mentions a dentist—who was named Hogson, according to Giuseppe Millozzi.

Matt mentions getting mail regularly, which was not true in all camps.

Camp 59, though not in Ancona, is near to it. Matt’s estimate of their being around 1,300 prisoners (about 1,100 British and 200 Americans) in camp is close. The number in Camp 59 at the time of the escape is generally estimated at 2,000. Giuseppe Millozzi refers to Italian military authority records in giving the count of prisoners in March 1943—close to the time Matt would have arrived there—as 1,445 British and 464 Americans.

In “The Story of Sergeant Matt Brazil,” Laura Rawson wrote, “After the Italian surrender the prisoners were guarded less closely, so Brazil and six other men escaped. A day or two later all the prisoners were released.”

The Italian armistice was signed on September 3, 1943, and publicly declared on September 8. Word of the armistice reached the prisoners on the morning on September 9.

On September 10, Captain Millar, who was in charge of the men within the camp, was informed of the Allied “stay put order”—that the prisoners were to remain in camp until Allied forces reached them. It therefore seems likely that Matt and the six men who escaped with him left camp around September 10–13.

THE BEACH AT SANTA CRUZ MUCH BETTER THAN BEACH AT ANZIO

The Fog Horn
Saturday, May 6, 1944

MATTHEW P. BRAZIL
Sergeant, Army Air Force

One of the first of our men to see service in Italy, one of the first to be taken prisoner of war, one of the first to escape and make his way back to the States, is the distinction of Matthew P. Brazil, not a patient at Letterman General Hospital.

Sergeant Brazil, a native of Santa Cruz, California, was awarded the Purple Heart on March 27 in a ceremony at Letterman Hospital.

Military service started for the Sergeant in October of 1941 when he went into the Air Corps as an armorer of guns and as a flight gunner. After nine months of training in this country, he was sent overseas, where he took part in over twenty missions, covering Tobruk, Ben Gassi, Crete, Tripoli, and Naples.

He was in the first mission over Italy and the first squadron over the southern part of that country. It was in Naples that the twenty-four year old sergeant was shot down and made an unexpectedly long stay in Italy. An Italian MA 202 plane came up on the tail of the ship in which he was flying and, in the first burst of fire, shot down the two men stationed next to the sergeant on the number four engine. When Brazil returned the fire, the firing pin on his own ship snapped, and he manned the waist gun, whose gunner had been killed. In two bursts he had the satisfaction of seeing the enemy catch fire and do a dive into the ocean. By that time things were happening fast and furiously. The sergeant called the pilot to inform him that number four engine was throwing oil, and as he did so the engine prop came around, hitting the number three prop, causing both of them to fall to the water. They were flying too low to keep going and were forced to make a crash landing in the ocean about one hundred yards off shore, where they found themselves surrounded by three row boats filled with Italian fishermen.

Seven of the crew, most of them badly injured, among them Sergeant Brazil, were picked up by the fishermen and were taken to a small barracks, where they were given first aid. Eighteen hours later found Brazil in a hospital, where he spent the next four months and was then sent on to a prisoner-of-war camp.

The high light of the six months spent in the prison camp was the weekly parcel from the Red Cross. Even now the sergeant dwells with pleasure on each item in those parcels. There were dried fruits; Prem or Spam; bully beef; soap, which was a rare treat; coffee and sugar; candy; biscuits, oleomargarine; salmon or sardines; cigarettes; and lemon powder to make a drink. Most of the prisoners supplemented their meager daily rations by extracting one item at a time from their Red Cross parcels. The normal menu provided by the camp was no breakfast, a lunch composed of a piece of bread made of acorns and chestnuts, accompanied by hard cheese. Dinner was a small ladle of water with spaghetti or rice floating limply in it. Even after four months at home, Brazil claims he can’t eat as much as he wants.

Sanitary facilities for the number of prisoners was inadequate. It was possible to bathe by ladling water over oneself by the dipperful, but showers were so few that a man averaged only one a month. Two English doctors and a dentist, also captured, did all they could to aid the others.

One great aid in breaking the monotony was the supply of books constantly sent in by both the English and American Red Cross. There was little else to do but read.

Another one of the most vivid memories of his prison life for Sergeant Brazil is the day, after six months internment, when the first mail came through. On that day he received a letter from his mother and two from his sweetheart. After that the mail arrived with fair regularity.

After his escape and arrival in this country, Brazil lost no time in pursuing an interest dear to his heart. He landed in America in November 21 and on November 28 he gave up his new-found freedom to become the husband of Miss Doris Greenquist of San Jose, California, author of the first two letters to reach him while he was a prisoner of war.

After his leave, he returned to Letterman, where he is now recuperating from his wounds.

Matt was awarded his first medal while still a prisoner of war in Italy.

Air Medal Given S.C. [Santa Cruz] Lad Who Is Prisoner Of War

He may be a prisoner of war in Italy, but he has been given a medal, just the same.

Sgt. Matthew P. Brazil, son of Mrs. Jennie Brazil, 108 Myrtle street, has been awarded an air medal, according to word from Cairo.

Sgt. Brazil enlisted in the army air corps more than a year ago and was reported missing in action in the North African area last December. Later Mrs. Brazil received word that the plane in which her son was known to have been flying was seen to land in the ocean near Italy, and Italian radio communique confirmed the fact that Brazil was among prisoners interned in Italy.

Educated in Santa Cruz schools, Brazil was working in San Jose as a printer at the time of his enlistment.

Additional medals were awarded to Matt in September 1944, while he was recuperating in Menlo Park, California.

DIBBLE GENERAL HOSPITAL
MENLO PARK, CALIFORNIA

30 Sept 44

IN REPLY REFER TO:

Sgt. Matthew P. Brazil, 39013867

Is authorized to wear the following ribbons and medals:

Air Medal
American Defense
European Theatre of Operations with 3 bronze stars
Purple Heart
Good Conduct
Over Seas-stripes two (2)
Service Stripe 1 (one) (hash mark)
Silver Star

JOHN A. CARLSON, JR.
1ST Lt. MED. ADM. O.
CHIEF, MILITARY PERSONNEL BRANCH

Ray Kestner

Jessica Kestner McMahon shared the following letters and postcards that her grandfather sent home while in the service. Ray Kestner was interned at Camp 59 in 1943 from March 1 to September 14.

On December 17, newspaper articles about Ray were posted to this site.

LETTER

[Fort Knox, Kentucky]

Dear Pappy, Mamy, and kids,

We finally arrived in Fort Knox at about 7:00 pm Fri. It took 39 hours to get here. While we were on the train we ate out of our mess kits. We had plenty to eat. The kitchen was in the baggage car.

It’s kool and cloudy here today. It sure rained hard last night. The ground is all red here except where there are trees. It’s kinda hilly around here and the buildings we are in are all new the same as at Snelling [Fort Snelling, Minnesota].

We have off from Sat. noon to Mon. morning, so I am just listening to the radio.

Yours with Love
Pvt. Raymond Kestner
Co. A, 10th Battalion
A.F.R.T.C., 4th Platoon
Fort Knox, Kentucky

LETTER

Nov. 19 [November 19, 1942]

Dear Folks:

I am now in Northern Africa in Algeria enjoying the country side as much as possible. We seen a little action at the port of Oran and fortunately came out O.K.

Today I had all my hair clipped off like everyone else. We cut each other’s hair and are sure a rough looking bunch with our sun tan skins.

Wine is very cheap. It costs about fifteen cents a quart in American money. I bought seventy five tangerines for a buck yesterday. Oranges, dates and olives are also raised around here. We have to use hand motions in dealing with the Arabs when we buy some thing because we can’t understand them and vice versa. There are also French and Spanish people around here but very few can speak English.

This letter is being written in a pup tent by candle light, so excuse please. I can hear the coyotes howls in the hills around here at night.

I hain’t got any mail from home for quite a while. Must be kinda cold by now back home. The nights are very cool here and the days hot. Any way I am catching up on all the sun shine I’ve been missing. We get plenty [of] good food so don’t think I am going hungry.

This morning I helped get a load of water at a near by oasis. There’s always a bunch of Arabs with barrels strapped on jack asses hauling water too. They must have to come a long ways as there seems to be a pretty good number of them.

Say hello to the rest of the relations and don’t worry about me. I never felt better in all my life.

Your Loving Son
Ray

LETTER

December 12 [1942]

Dear Folks:

I am in the hospital with a bullet wound in the left arm which explains the strange writing. No broken bones. I am also a prisoner of war and receiving fine treatment. I still have my prayer book and rosary and a few pictures from home which are my own possessions. The red cross is doing wonderful work over here. We even have white sheets on our beds. Each week we have parcel day which [is when] we receive packages with lots of good things in them. It helps out a lot.

Well, I hope all you folks back home are well, must be kinda cold there now. Hope you enjoy your Christmas. I hope to be home for the next one. “Merry Christmas and a happy new year to every one.”

Yours with Love
Ray

LETTER

[Undated]

Dear Folks:

Just a few lines to let you know I am getting along just fine. How do you like this messy writing? In case you didn’t get the first card, I am a prisoner of war and wounded in the left arm. We also have mass here in the hospital.

Yours with Love
Ray

POSTCARD

[Christmas 1942]

Dear Folks:

Just got back from Christmas mass. The Xray showed up a badly smashed bone, so I am now carrying my arm in a plaster cast. Everything is going just fine.

Yours with Love
Ray

POSTCARD

Jan. 17 [January 17, 1943]

DEAR FOLKS:

In good health. Still in plaster and feeling pretty good. I’ll sure be glad to get out of it in two more weeks.

Yours with Love
Ray

POSTCARD

[January 1943]

Well here I am in the hosp. [hospital] again with a bullet hole in my left arm. Nothing serious. I am a prisoner and receiving very good treatment. Don’t worry about me. Say hello to the rest of the relations.

Yours with Love
Ray

POSTCARD

JAN. 24 [January 24, 1943}

DEAR FOLKS:

Still in the hospital taking it easy. Conditions are better than you may think so don’t worry. Hope everyone at home is well.

Yours with Love,
Ray

POSTCARD

12/3/43 [March 12, 1943]

Dear Folks:

I am now at my permanent camp and in good health. I just got back from Ash Wednesday mass. We also have the rosary every afternoon. Hope you are in the best of health.

Ray

LETTER

March 12 [1943]

Dear Folks:

I am now at my permanent camp and in good health. We don’t have to work here [and have] all the leisure time we want. We received Red Cross parcels weekly which are a great help. [The] Life of a prisoner ain’t as bad as you might think.

I am anxiously waiting for mail from home, as I ain’t heard from you for over four months. My arm is completely well and doesn’t give me a bit of trouble.

I hope all of you folks at home are well. You have nothing to worry about in regard to me.

Yours truly
Ray

POSTCARD

Mar. 19 [March 19, 1943]

Dear Folks:

Just a line to let you know I am alright. During Lent I go to rosary every afternoon and communion every Sunday. Happy birthday to me.

yours truly
Ray

LETTER

26 March 1943

Dear Folks:

No word from you yet. Hope you folks ain’t doing no worrying on my account. I am in the best of health and my arm is completely healed.

You must be having fine weather back home by now and it sure makes me miss my motor cycle. You will probably be out in the garden pretty [soon] so don’t work too hard.

By this time Johny must be a first class nuisance. So just remind him of me. He probably forgot all about me by now. Say hello to George and Mary, Al and Fran, and Rolly and Liz and all the kids.

Yours truly
Ray

According to Wayne Houben (Clifford Houben’s son), Clifford escaped from Camp 59 and was given refuge by Italians; he was later recaptured and sent to Stalag 2B in Germany.

While in the Italian and German camps, Clifford accumulated a long address list of men he met. The list is comprised of nine full pages.

Roughly half of the addresses are written within the shapes of dog tags, and the traced holes of several of the tags cleverly contain camp numbers or crosses that likely indicate medical or pastoral affiliation.

Only the following 11 servicemen were noted as having been interned in Camp 59:

Keith Argraves, James A. Coccoran, Thomas C. Cronin, Edmund H. Cote, Milton Bunz, Marion P. Barone, Jack Kirkpatrick, Anthony Primac, Gene Schull, John A. Silborski, and Maholan J. Black

I checked many of the other names in the U.S. National Archives database of WW II POWS. Overwhelmingly, these other men were listed as having been freed from camps in Germany. How many were in Camp 59 and were recaptured after escaping—like Clifford Houben—I have no way of knowing. Some of the men, like Richard and Henry Kane, I know from other sources to have been in Camp 59.

I hope that relatives of any of the men listed below who read this post will contact me (hilld@indiana.edu) in order to help to resolve a bit of this puzzle.

The only person listed with multiple camp names within his “tag” is Keith Argraves, who was in Camps 98, 59, 53, 73, 132 and 82, and Stalags 7-A and 2-B. (After the war, Keith published a memoir entitled Keith Argraves, Paratrooper: An Account Of The Service Of A Christian Medical Corpsman In The United States Army Paratroops During World War II.)

Clifford’s list contains mostly names of U.S. soldiers. Also included, however, are “foreign” addresses—from England, Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Canada, and Poland. Most of the names in the list were written in the same handwriting, presumably Clifford’s. Since these names and addresses must have been spoken to the recorder, the list understandingly contains misspellings. I’ve attempted to correct errors through double checking online. Most of the errors were in foreign addresses.

KDO, an acronym penned beside many of the names, is short for kommando, a German word meaning unit or command. During World War II it also was used as a term used for units of slave laborers in German concentration camps.

Within the addresses, six Italian towns are listed. Amendola, Montemonaco, Trisungo, Faete, and San Lorenzo and all in the province of Ascoli Piceno, in the Marche region where Camp 59 was located. Ari Chieti is in the province of Chieti, in the Abruzzo region immediately south of the Marche. It seems likely these places are noted because Clifford Houben passed through them after his escape from Camp 59 and before his recapture.

p. 73

Elmer J. Neff Jr.
1621 W. 58th Street
Los Angeles
California

Stanley Coburn
Sabattur
Maine

Notation indicates Stanley was an assistant chaplain

Keith Argraves
532 S. E. 20th Avenue
Portland
Oregon
Pennsylvania

A notation indicates Keith was interned in Italian Camps 98, 59, 53, 73, 132 and 82, and Stalags 7-A and 2-B

Peter J. Casalino [or Casolino]
527 East 148 Street
Bronx
New York
A.S.N. 12020422
251985-ST IIB

A notation indicates Peter was interned in Stalag II-B, and 251985 was probably Peter’s prisoner number

Tony Catellano
15 Sheldon Street
Lowell
Massachusetts

Michel-Soto-Puig [or Ping]
1025 Beacon Street
Boston
Massachusetts

John A. Goddu
351 Springfield Street
Chioppe [Chocoppe is a town in Massachusetts]

There is a cross in the hole of John’s tag

Clifford H. Houben
1 West 10th Street
Lowell
Massachusetts
P.O.W. No. 22284
A.S.N. 12016278

The following names are written within the outlined shape of the state of Massachusetts, which is also labeled “Mass. State”:

Narnci Lewis [or Lowis]
Ersilia DeSantis
Forcina Antonio
Leoni Orlando
Straccini Ines De.
Amechie

Earl McGuire
Danville
Virginia

Bud Feicke
1421 Walnut Street
Anderson
Indiana

Milton Bartell
Box 236
Kenyon
Minnesota

C. V. Manasco
c/o ala Hyway Fatral [or Patral]
Birmingham
Alabama

William P. Keslihal
241 Rea Avenue
Hawthorne
New Jersey

Hugh F. Farley (Duke)
725 Bridge Street
Lowell
Massachusetts
23797 – ST. IIB.

Floyd W. Young
3 East 9th Street
San Angelo
Texas

A note below the address indicates Floyd was in Stalag 2-B. There is also a drawing of a pocket watch on this tag.

Robert Hughes
84 Malbough Street [Marlborough Street]
Lowell
Massachusetts

A cross is drawn on this tag.

James A. Coccoran [James A. Corcoran]
404 No. Montello Street
Brockton
Massachusetts

Notation in the dog tag hole indicates James was interned in Camp 59

Thomas C. Cronin
3 Wood Place
Fitchbourgh [Fitchburg]
Massachusetts

Notation in the dog tag hole indicates Thomas was interned in Camp 59

Mrs. Kenyon
13 Social Street
New Bedford
Massachusetts

Notation in the dog tag hole indicates Mrs. Kenyon was interned in Camp 98
A note below was “BURNS”

Edmund H. Cote
77 Weetamoe Street
Fall River
Massachusetts

Notation in the dog tag hole indicates Edmund was interned in Camp 59

William Dussault
40 Wiley Street
Fall Rivers
[No state is listed. However, there is a Wiley Street in Fall River Massachusetts and there is a William H. Dussault from Massachusetts who is listed in the U.S. National Archives WW II database as having been freed from Stalag 2-B]

Notation in the dog tag hole indicates William was interned in Stalag 7-A

p. 74

Massachusetts State Addresses

Walter Hastings
3 Watson Street
Cambridge
Massachusetts

A note indicates Walter was interned in Stalag 7-A

Joseph Filex Sil
162 Flint Street
Fall River
Massachusetts

A note indicates Joseph was interned in Stalag 2-B

William W. Williams
Box 248
Centerville
Cape Cod
Massachusetts

There is a letter “t” or possibly a + or a drawing of an anchor in the hole of William’s tag

Dan Hurley
217 M. Street
South Boston
Massachusetts

A note indicates Dan was a doctor and he was interned in Stalag 2-B

Pete Bruno
201 Havre Street
East Boston
Massachusetts

Dick Nichols
240 Plymouth Road
Newton Highlands
Massachusetts

Milo Hale
109 Tyler Park
Lowell Massachusetts
Bigelow 0817

C. Doucette
131 Adam Street
Lynn
Massachusetts

C. Douglas Day
187 Forest Park Road
Lexington
Kentucky
U.S. Army Air Force

William Mahoney
18 Whitman Street
Maiden
Massachusetts

Charles Haratsis
4 Poplar Street
Lomerville
Massachusetts

William J. Connolly
1703 So. Chadwick Street
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania

Henry J. Perigny
Box 117-C Locust Road
Lakeview Park
Dracut
Massachusetts

Pennsylvania

Milton Bunz
Rector
Pennsylvania

Notation in the dog tag hole indicates Milton was interned in Camp 59

Marion P. Barone
Bryn Maws
Pennsylvania

Notation in the dog tag hole indicates Marion was interned in Camp 59

Jack Kirkpatrick
322 Lincoln Street
Johnstown
Pennsylvania

Notation in the dog tag hole indicates Jack was interned in Camp 59

Anthony Primac
N. Vandergrift
Pennsylvania

Notation in the dog tag hole indicates Anthony was interned in Camp 59

Gene Schull
Emerson Street
Vandergrift
Pennsylvania

Notation in the dog tag hole indicates Gene was interned in Camp 59

John A. Silborski
724 McKinley Avenue
E. Vandergrift
Pennsylvania

Notation in the dog tag hole indicates John was interned in Camp 59

Maholan J. Black
R. R. 1
Utahville
Pennsylvania

Notation in the dog tag hole indicates Maholan was interned in Camp 59
“Coal Port” is noted in one corner of the tag

p. 76

Duane H. Church
Main Street
Cowanesque
Pennsylvania

Paul R. Sims
Box 44
West Windfield
Pennsylvania

Charles Baron
315 Chestnut Street
Port Allegany
Pennsylvania

Jack E. Goeller
14 Fairview Avenue
Delaware County
Yeadon
Pennsylvania

Emmett S. Quinney
R. 2 – E. Knowlton Road
Media
Pennsylvania

Leonard Davis
Box 604
Youngsville
Pennsylvania

Joe Shaw
5026 Ditman Street
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania

John L. Bonazzag
R. 1
Washington
Pennsylvania

Ernest Tuttle
Smith Ferry
R.D. 1
Pennsylvania

Joseph A. Skope
1101 E. 28th Street
Erie
Pennsylvania

Rudolph Gutman
Route 1
Export
Pennsylvania

Walter Martin
107 Wilson Street
Larksville
Pennsylvania

Frank D. Heller
268 Virginia Avenue
Rochester
Pennsylvania

Leonard Orvitz
2003 12th Avenue
Beaver Falls
Pennsylvania

Clark Ingram
Weedville
Pennsylvania

George Kurtz
R.D. #6
Butler
Pennsylvania

John DiGiammarino
R.D. 2 – Box 12
East Brady
Pennsylvania

Mark Wallace
539 Park Avenue
Kane
Pennsylvania

Frank R. Trocino
2650 S. Alder Street
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania

Michael C. Uasiliadis
1535 E. Third Street
Bethlehem
Pennsylvania

Fay A. Jacobs
Westinghouse Factory Store Cafeteria
Sharon
Pennsylvania

Notation in the dog tag says KDO 1725 Louisenhof. Louisenhof is a village in northeastern Germany.
Also listed outside Fay’s tag is this address:
2950 W. Jackson Boulevard
Chicago
Illinois

p. 77

Charles Gover
338 S. 2nd Street
Sunbury
Pennsylvania

Harry Victor Choltko
1107 2nd Avenue
New Kensington
Pennsylvania

Hommer August
32 North Street
Bradford
Pennsylvania

Notation in the dog tag says Hommer was interned in Stalag IIIB.

John N. Nix
1512 Harmon Way
Evansville
Indiana

p. 78

William A. Hall
Canandaigua
New York

Michel Driscoll
8218 5th Avenue
c/o Mrs. Hendrickson
Brooklyn
New York

Roxford Brown
1109 Admiral Street
Elmira
New York

Henry Skarzynski
R.R. 158
East Greenbush
New York

Manuel C. Brava
356 Court Street
Brooklyn
New York

Robert Kuhn
Rochester-Penfield Road
Penfield
New York

Ed Hasman
201 Clifford Street
Rochester
New York

Daniel Ehring
150-11 Twelfth Avenue
White Stone
Long Island
New York City

Notation in Daniel’s dog tag says KDO

Vincent J. Sylvester
23 Dickinson Street
Rochester
New York

Jacob Brewers
2844 Richmond Terrace
Staten Island

Notation in Jacob’s dog tag says KDO. There also is a word that looks like “Interp.”; perhaps Jacob Brewers served as an interpreter within one of the camps.

Ralph Wilson
321 56th Street
Brooklyn
New York

Timothy Phillips
Jack Ward
64 Broad Street
Glenn Falls
New York

Charles Stewart
2164 Nostrand Avenue
Brooklyn
New York

Richard Kane
Henry Kane
192 Washington Street
New Burgh
New York

Richard and Henry’s correct address is actually Newburgh, New York. The two men were brothers.

Alphonse V. Buttacavoli
1540 Cropsey Avenue
Brooklyn
New York

Stanley V. Cushner
3003 Ferry Avenue
Niagara Falls
New York

Harold Moran
2923 Dewitt Place 67
Brooklyn
New York

p. 83

Gordon C. Grace
Route 1
Union Grove
Alabama

Adam L. Johnson
Route 1
Candor
North Carolina

Ralph C. Smith
Route 1
Ohama
Illinois

[I cannot find a town named Ohama in Illinois. Perhaps this is Omaha, Illinois.]

Ted Brogger
3974 S. McClung Drive
Los Angeles
California

Russell Stein
1087 Linden Avenue
Akron
Ohio

Bertram Schmidt
East Clear Lake
Denville
New Jersey

John G. Baer
Deshler
Ohio

Walter J. Stockwell
P.O. Box 64
North Pownal
Vermont

Written beside Walter’s name is what appears to be #125. or $125.

William F. Young
3 East 9th Street
San Angelo
Texas

Lester E. Goodheart
2164 Wilson Avenue
Chicago
Illinois

Karl Reichlin
Route 3
Mount Vernon
Washington

Maurice L. Grant
929 Boscobel Street
Nashville
Tennessee

Cliff Wilson [or Clifford Wilson]
Route 2
Kasson
West Virginia

FOREIGN ADD’S [ADDRESSES]

Arthur Irvine
919 Avenue Road
Toronto
Ontario
Canada

Malcolm McAffer
c/o Sinclair
24 Hyndland Street
Patrick [likely Partick]
Glasgow
Scotland

William Johnston
The Demesne
Lurgan
County Armagh
Northern Ireland

Beside this address is written “Pat”

William Chambers
39 Govan Road
Glasgow S.W. 1
Scotland

Beside William’s address is written what appears to be “Joe”

James Rochord [possibly James Rochford]
New Hampton Bar
67 Glassford Street
Glasgow C-1
Scotland

p. 84

Earnest Squires [or Ernest Squires]
21 Thoresby House
Quarry Hill Flats
Leeds 9
York
England

Donald Frazer
Edenvale Edenburgh
Omagh Co. F
Yoone
Northern Ireland

This could possibly be:
Omagh
County Tyrone
Northern Ireland

Ray Dennis
24 Buckfast Road
Morden
Surrey
England

Norman W. Burns
583 Chepstrow Road
New Port Mon
England

It seems likely this is:
583 Chepstow Road
Newport
Monmouthshire
England

William Kincaid
237 Croftfoot Road
Kingspark [King’s Park]
Glasgow S-4
Scotland

Hugh Dickie
The Glebe Dairy Farm
Staveley Town
Near Chesterfield
Derbyshire
England

Beside this entry is written “Scot”

David Cook
8 Gravely Lane
Edington
Bermingham 2
England

Beside David’s entry is written what appears to be “Ire”

It seems likely this is:
8 Gravelly Lane
Erdington
Birmingham 2
England

AMENDOLA [name of a comune]
P. [Province] ASCOLI PICENO, IT. [Italy]

MONTEMONACO [name of an Italian municipality—see San Lorenzo below]
P. [Province] ASCOLI PICENO, IT. [Italy]

TRISUNGO PER FAETE [Trisungo and Faete are small comunes]
P. [Province] ASCOLI PICENO, IT. [Italy]

MONONGHLA, Penn.
R.I. ACQUARTA, IT. [Italy]
Above this entry is written BRO

There is a town in Pennsylvania named Monongahela.
I looked for towns by the name of Acquarta in Italy and Rhode Island (R.I.) but didn’t find any. Perhaps someone named R.I. Acquarta in Italy had a brother who lives in the U.S. in Monongahela, Pennsylvania.

GIOVANNI 5
ARI CHIETI, IT [Italy]
The comune of Ari is located in the Province of Chieti in Italy.

Giovanni is a common male Italian given name (the equivalent of John), but what does the 5 after the name stand for?

SAN LORENZO
ASCOLI PICENO, IT. [Italy]

The village of San Lorenzo belongs to the municipality of Montemonaco, in the province of Ascoli Piceno, in the Marche region of Italy.

George Cerdery
13 Glendower Close
Liecester
Uppingham Rd.
England

Glendower Close is a short cul-de-sac located near Uppingham Road in Liecester, England.

Charles Fitzpatrick
6 Colledge St.
Cavan Co.
Canan
Eire, Ire.

This is likely:
6 College Street
Cavan
County Cavan
Ireland (Eire)

D. Hewison
21 Victory Park Road
Addleston
Weybridge
Surrey, Eng

Beside D. Hewison’s address is written “Red Scot”

This is likely:
21 Victory Park Road
Addlestone (located near the town of Weybridge)
Surrey, England

Gilbert P. Bauer
4541 A Flora Avenue
St. Louis
Missouri

p. 85

Albert L. Lange
289 Rustic Circle
Pontiac
Michigan

Above Albert’s name is a long number; only the last four digits, 7164, are legible. Also above the name is “KDO.”

Arnold Raichle
407½ Kearney Street
El Cerretto
California

Above Arnold’s name are the numbers 1694 – 1725. Also above the name is “K.D.O.”

Andrew Koniarz
464 S. Whipple Street
Chicago
Illinois

Above Andrew’s name is “K.D.O.”

Gerry Gralinski
2876 So. 45 Street
Milwaukee
Wisconsin

Above Gerry’s name is “K.D.O.”

Harry E. Fandree
2211 N. Arkansas
Wichita
Kansas

Above Harry’s name is “K.D.O.”

Clarence H. Neding
Piper City
Illinois

Above Clarence’s name is “K.D.O.”

Loren Shackelford
Lathrop
Missouri

Above Loren’s name is “K.D.O.”

Pat Knight
Route 4
Walters
Oklahoma

Above Pat’s name is “KDO.”

Claude Smith
Grinlock
Kentucky

Above Claude’s name is “A.C.”

Henry Erickson
Bynum
Montana

ANTONI KNAWCRYK
WIES-WIR-STARY
POCRTA, POTWOROW
POWIAT RADON
POLAND.

Beside Antoni’s name is written “PARPART” and also the number 200.

William R. Daniels
109 Woodrow Street
Reidsville
North Carolina

Above William’s name is “KDO”

George Pazunrek [check spelling]
Robern or Rofern Avenue
Parkville
Maryland

Above George’s name is “KDO”

Clerance [Perhaps Clarence. The last name is not legible]
Box 135
Piper City
Illinois

Above Clarence’s name is “KDO”

Frank Ravine
2143 Constitution Lane
Long Beach
California

Above Frank’s name is “KDO”

Cecil Estip
Salt Rock
West Virginia

Robert Wallace
General Delivery
Ballinger
Texas

John Freeman
Box 24
Fanshawe
Oklahoma

p. 86

Oma L. Fleming
P.O. Box 412
Glenn Rose [Glen Rose]
Texas

Notation over Oma’s name says “10-R – Nov. 1944”

Peter C. Ga___ [last name is not clear]
Lomeinster Road [or possibly Leominster Road]
Lunenburg
Massachusetts

Notation over Peter’s name says “12-R – Dec. 1944”

Curtis W. Martin
Route A
Winnsboro
Louisiana

Notation over Curtis’ name says “6-R – Dec. 1944”

Thomas Guerin
2nd Street, Box #315
Berlin
New Hampshire

Russell E. Freeman
115 Saratoga Avenue
South Glens Falls
New York

Louis G. Willis
Route 3
Ozark
Alabama

Charles J. Meek
Route 4
Marietta
Georgia

Fred Curvin
Rt. 2
Ohatcher [Ohatchee]
Alabama

Notation above Fred’s name says 1/1/45; a second notation says what appears to be “Rep.”

Myles Galloway
Box 112
Westbrook
Texas

Above: American soldier Willman King superimposed against a page of his address list.

Like Clifford Houben, Charles Simmons, and many other POWs, Willman King kept a list of men he met while a prisoner.

Like Clifford Houben, Willman recorded his addresses on traced dog tags.

Because there are no notations in this list and because Willman was recaptured after escape from Camp 59 and sent to Germany, we can’t be sure which names and addresses were gathered in Camp 59 and which were collected later.

All the same, it’s good to have this document for future cross reference. Thanks to Willman’s son Joseph King for sharing this list.

R. B. Lipps
410 Ninth St. [street address is unclear]
Marshalltown
Iowa

Ernest Kimbrel
6252 South Spalding
Chicago
Illinois

Eugene Hockenbery
RR #1
Waynesboro
Pennsylvania

Roy Anderson
503 So. Fremont Ave.
Alhambra
California

Toivo Alder
R.F.D. 1 Box 142
Clatskanie
Oregon

George A. Brooks
4427 N. Rockwell St.
Chicago
Illinois
Juniper 0859

Kenneth Hegman
Box 14
Winton
Minnesota

Gordon Holland
Central City
Kentucky

George Mickus
391 Grand Ave.
Brklyn [probably Brooklyn]
New York

Al Hiscock [or A. L. Hiscock]
33 Lake Ave.
Yonkers
New York

Joe Kearns
655 New York Avenue
Union City
New York

Harry Van Arsdale
Box 48
Ames
New York

Bernnie Klotz
962 E. 172 St.
Bronx
New York

Saldi Pinto
75 Clark Street
New Britain
Connecticut

Tony Stabile
585 Elderts Lane
Brooklyn
New York

Pasquale A. Demeo
719 Broadway
Schenectady
New York

Richard Hill
1989 Morris Ave.
Bronx
New York

Steve Baran
7606 64th St.
Argo
Illinois

Delvaughn Elliott
Proctorville
Ohio

Bill Kivlehan
312 Haven Ave.
New York
New York

Richard Hanson
4046 Keystone Ave.
Chicago
Illinois

Emil Keller
26 Leonard St.
Jersey City
New Jersey

Ed Schwartz
32 Cosmo St.
Lancaster
New York

Leo Keating
Durham Rd.
Dover
New Hampshire

Joe Kuderski
99 East 7th St.
New York
New York

R. G. T. Carter
5 East St.
Weymouth
Dorset
England

R. G. T. Carter
I. A. Haymarket Rd.
Cambridge
England

Marshel [or perhaps Marshall] Brekke
1725 South 88 St.
West Allis
Wisconsin

James McGee
Central City
Kentucky

William Bollander
7622 Dnonau St. [street name unclear]
C [full city or town name missing]
Ohio

D. S. Hoffpauir
1603 16th Street
Orange
Texas

L. A. Hayer
5 Brown Street
Westbrook
Maine

William Kabisch
2629 Sedgewick Ave.
Bronx
New York

J. P. Merideth
Eighty Eight
Kentucky

Luther Vaughn
Clay
Kentucky

Homer Cumberland
11.01.37 Ave. [Probably 1101 37th Ave.]
Meridian
Mississippi

Emerson J. Henry
401 North Scott St.
Wilmington
Delaware

William Handy
Mount Union
Pennsylvania

Arvie Mackie
15 West St.
Lisbon
New Hampshire

Horace Orton
Rte. #5
Union City
Tennessee

Owen Brashear
Rte. #1
Viper
Kentucky

Lowell McMurtrey
Willow Springs
Missouri

John C. Kollar
Pelican Rapids
Minnesota

Eugene Hockenberry
Route #1
Waynesboro
Pennsylvania

Sam W. Grabaskintz [the last name in unclear]
622 N. Blanco St.
Lockhart
Texas

Clarence Zisler
4850 Eastlawn
Detroit
Michigan

John P. Black
1614 5th Ave. So.
Columbus
Mississippi

Mason T. Turner
4217 Oglethorpe St.
Hyattsville
Maryland

Raymond Kestner with family

The letters in this post, saved by Ray Kestner’s sister, are posted here courtesy of Ray’s granddaughter Jessica Kestner McMahon.

In one of his letters, Marshall Wells makes reference to Ray’s wounded arm. Ray had been shot in the left arm before capture and was treated by the Italians.

The sensitive correspondence between strangers in this post calls to my mind the sharing of news concerning Albert Rosenblum’s capture described in “Kind Strangers—Relays from Radio Rome” and the news of Willman King recorded in “Heard over Shortwave.”

For more on Ray Kestner, see “Local News Articles—Raymond Kestner” and “Ray Kestner—Letters and Postcards.“

[Written on United States Army Air Forces stationery]

January 27, 1944

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Kestner,

If this address reaches you please write to me as I may be able to tell you something about your son Raymond.

I was with him in the P.O.W. camp in Italy. I traveled with him for ten days after our release. We got out of the camp the nite of Sept. 14th and Ray and I parted the 24th. He and another lad from Illinois were together and I traveled with another chap from Texas.

I got back to Allied troops in November and now I’m here in the States.

Raymond was in fine health when we parted and I don’t think you need to worry about his welfare now. The Italian farmers were very nice to us. Plenty of food & everything.

Raymond didn’t like to walk and his idea was to wait for the Allies.

If you receive this letter I do wish you’d write as Raymond & I were very good friends.

I’m sure he is fine and will be back before too long.

Sincerely,
Marshall C. Wells

Note that Mrs. G. E. Lowry’s letter is simply addressed to: “Next of Kin, of, Kestner/Prisoner of War in Italy” in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota.

Okawville, Ill. [Illinois] Jan-30-44

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Kestner,

I am Mrs. G. E. Lowry of Okawville, Ill., and I have a won Warren Lowry who has been a prisoner of war in Italy since December, 1942. At the time of the Italian surrender, Sept.-43, he was at Camp 59, M.P. 3300. Naturally we have been very anxious as to his whereabouts since that time.

Late in December I received a letter from Marshall C. Wells, who was a member of the same crew of a group carrier transport as our son. He was taken prisoner at the same time as our son and they have been together in a military hospital and prisoner camps in Italy.

He told us in this letter that he arrived home about a week before Christmas. He said that he (Wells), our son Warren and two other prisoners traveled together for the first ten days after they got out of the prison camp. Then they divided in their opinion as to the best way to reach the Allied lines. Wells and one lad started walking south and after walking about 130 miles reached the Allied lines and reached home late in Dec. Our son and the other young fellow decided to remain where they were. They were being cared for by three friendly Italian farmer families; plenty, and more than they needed to eat and also shelter.

I answered his letter, asking him among other things the name of the young fellow who remained with our son. I rec’d a letter yesterday saying that his name is Kestner from Sleepy Eye, Minn. [Minnesota] and that I might write to you if I cared to do so.

While what I have told you is not much, I am passing it on to you, hoping that it may help to relieve your anxiety as it has done for us.

The address of Wells is Lt. Marshall C. Wells AAF [Army Air Forces] Redistribution Station No. 3, Santa Monica Calif. [California] His Home address is Dodson, Mont. [Montana] I have had several letters from his mother and I feel that the information from him is authentic If you wish to inquire about your son you could write to him.

I hope I have made no mistake in writing to you. I appreciate so much hearing any little thing about our son.

Most Sincerely,
Mrs. G. E. Lowry
Okawville, Ill.

AAFRS #3
Squadron S
Santa Monica, Calif.
February 9, 1944

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Kestner,

Arrived at this station yesterday and your letter was waiting for me.

I’m awfully glad that you received word about Ray as he was my best friend in camp. I wasn’t at all sure of your address but evidently it was O.K.

I left Ray about 60 miles north of where the Allies are now. He was well & happy, doing nothing but sleeping and eating.

As for his wounded arm, it is as good as ever. It never did bother him a great deal.

He was with another fellow from Ill., neither one were over energetic and were living the life of Riley. They were being fed by three different Italian families, all the macaroni they could consume. Also plenty of wine.

I don’t think you need worry about him he’ll be there when the Allies reach that point. In the meantime you can rest assured that he is enjoying his freedom.

I will close for now. if I hear any more of Ray I’ll write you immediately.

Sincerely,
Marshall C. Wells

July 7, 1943 [The year is incorrect—the letter’s envelope is postmarked July 8, 1944.]
Okawville, Ill.

Dear Mrs. Kestner,

I arrived home today and after seeing how much my mother has worried I write news of Raymond. I last saw Raymond on last May 11th. We had been caught together on the previous day by German troops. The truck in which we were being transported to a camp in Italy was “strafed” by four British planes. Ray escaped the German hands at that time and if you have not heard from him by now you should soon. I did not escape until several days later. As the area in which we were staying is now in Allied hands I think that Ray should be on way home now. At least I hope so. Tell Ray to write me soon as possible.

Sincerely
W. C. Lowry
Okawville, Ill.

A page from Raymond’s Roman Catholic “Christmas book,” as Jessica Kestner McMahon refers to it—since it contains both Christmas carols as well as calendar pages.

On this page Raymond recorded key dates concerning his capture, interment, and escape:

Captured Dec. 6, 1942 around Tunis
Jan. 31 plaster [cast] removed [from left arm]
Dec. 10 arrived in Naples Di Caserta hospital
Febr 6 – Camp 66 (Capura) 1943
March 1 – Camp 59 (SERVIGLIANO) 1943
Sept. 14 – released from Camp 59 behind Jerry lines
Oct 24. Attempted boat scheme.
May 10 recaptured by Jerry 1944
May 12 escaped when planes strafed truck
June 21. allied troops arrived (Sarnano)

Ray Kestner’s granddaughter, Jessica Kestner McMahon, calls the little book that Ray brought home from prison camp the “Christmas book.”

Entitled Christmas 1942, the calendar booklets were a gift of Pope Pius XII to the Allied prisoners.

The booklets consist of 48 pages and a cover. They have calendar pages for January–December 1943, as well as a “memorandum” page for each month (pages 2–25); the rest (pages 26–48) is comprised of hymns and Christmas carols.

Camp 59 prisoner Charles Simmons also owned one of these booklets, described in “Charles Simmons’ Calendar and Address Book.”

Most of the addresses throughout Ray’s booklet are penciled in his own very legible handwriting. A few are written in other penmanship—presumably by the prisoners themselves.

Aside from the address of Italian Virgilio Orazi (above) and one Englishman—Bob Johnson of Leeds in West Yorkshire—the names and addresses are those of Americans.

Of her grandfather’s booklet, Jessica wrote, “The address book was more than likely started before he got to Camp 59, so not all the names are necessarily from that camp.”

It seems likely that the Christmas/address books were distributed near the end of 1942, before Ray was moved to Camp 59.

Ray was captured on December 6, 1942. He arrived at Ospedale Militare di Caserta (a hospital in Caserta, north of Naples) on December 10, where he received care for a bullet wound.

On February 6, 1943, Ray was transferred to Camp 66 (Capua), and on March 1 he arrived in Camp 59. It seems likely Ray was given the Christmas book while at the hospital in Caserta, so it may contain names of prisoners Ray met in Caserta and Capua.

Interestingly, Charles Simmons was also in Camp 66. In his calendar, Charles documents arrival in Capua on February 15, departure for “new camp” on February 28, and arrival in “new home Camp 59″ on March 1, the same date as Ray’s arrival.

Jessica continued, “I’m most interested in the one Italian address—Santa Vittoria in Matenano, which is south of the camp, so maybe that is where he was hiding?” The address is:

Orazi Virgilio [or Virgilio Orazi]
S: Vittoria [Santa Vittoria]
In Matenano
Provincia Ascoli Piceno
Marche

A number of the addresses in Ray’s “Christmas Book” are rural addresses. The abbreviations can be confusing. Country addresses are listed as Rte. (Route), R.R. (Rural Route), R.F.D. (Rural Free Delivery), R.D. (Rural Delivery), General Delivery, or simply Box.

Some of the men in the list, such as McKinley Blair, are in the National Archives online enlistment records, but not the POW records. I’m not sure what to make of that.

By cross-referencing with other records, I can confirm that nine of the men listed below were in Camp 59. Their names have asterisks before them. Others may have been interned in the camp, but I have no evidence of that as yet.

Here are the soldiers’ addresses in the booklet:

Bob Johnson
31 Lower Brunswick Street—off North Street
Leeds. 2. Yorkshire
England

*Clarence Horton
Bangs, Texas

Gerald Smith
411 Simpson Street
Clarksburg
West Virginia

Joseph Badgerow
2010 20th Avenue
Port Huron
Michigan
Route 4, Box 86

Joe Kuderski
104 E. 7th Steet
New York
New York

*Luther C. Vaughn
Route 3
Clay
Kentucky

Bernard Klotz
962 E. 172th Street
Bronx
New York

William A. Byrd
R.F.D. #2
Jefferson
South Carolina

Richard Lucas
318 Canda Street
Ishpeming
Michigan

Alexander Hiscock
33 Lakeview Avenue
Yonkers
New York

Gail Wall
Rural Route 9, Box 512
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma

Steve Baran
7606 W. 64th Street
Argo
Illinois

*Clovis G. Amos
607 6th Street
Bristol
Tennessee

William L. Kieff
R.D. #1
Rexville
New York

Stanley Delikate
1700 Belmont Avenue
Toledo
Ohio

Ray White
Dorothy
West Virginia

Lee Gettleman
Route 4, Box 319
West Allis
Wisconsin
S. 92nd W. Layton
[S. 92nd Street and W. Layton Avenue is an intersection in Milwaukee just south West Allis. Why this intersection recorded with this address is a mystery.]

Forrest Perry
Joy
North Carolina

Glen Schroeder
2328 Avondale Avenue
Toledo
Ohio

Lenzy Webb
32 Hill Street
Richwood
West Virginia

Thomas Gillespie
534 Jersey Street
Boyne City
Michigan

Glendon McCutchen
Main Street, Box 34
Stratton
Maine

Leland Taylor
Loveland
Ohio

Leonard Meddings
Missouri Branch
West Virginia

Charles L. Berger
RFD 3,
Lehighton
Pennsylvania

John K. Sisson
Dewar
Oklahoma

Joseph Willshire
Redwood Falls
Minnesota

Joe Woltering
310 S. 1st Street
Bause
Illinois
[I cannot find a town name by this name in Illinois.]

Arnold Williamson
2356 Hampton Avenue
St. Paul
Minnesota

John B. Black
1624 5th Avenue South
Columbus
Mississippi

John J. Boyle
532 Spring Street
Hawley
Pennsylvania

John Slifko [or John Slifka]
211 Spruce Street
Byesville
Ohio

Floyd H. Stanger
RR 1
Indianola
Iowa

*Sal Trischitta
1836 Fowler Avenue
Bronx
New York

W. D. Christenson
96 Gleneden Avenue
Oakland
California

Thomas Bainbridge
923 N. 101st Street
Seattle
Washington

Harold Dolezal
Belleville
Kansas

M. L. Matthews
1829 College Street
Springfield
Missouri

Ernest S. Taylor
133 Chestnut Street
Williamson
West Virginia

Donald Terrien
Detroit
Michigan

Myron Carter
736 W. 3rd Street
Port Clinton
Ohio

Sy Sobotka
1613 Burnet Avenue
Syracuse
New York

Harold Kettle
Box 21
Lawtons
New York

Jimmy Mitchell
1580 W. 18th Street
Idaho Falls
Idaho

Earl M. Road [or Rood]
137 Forest Avenue
Buffalo
New York

Jack Kearns
655 New York Avenue
Union City
New Jersey

H. T. Marcus
5660 Phillips Avenue
Pittsburg
Pennsylvania

Andrew Marek
Route 4
Granger
Texas

Claude French
General Delivery
Baxter Springs
Kansas

Calvin E. Sizemore
Alpoca
West Virginia

McKinley Blair
Leitchfield
Kentucky

James Austin
1300 Belmont Street, NW
Washington, D.C.

Lea [or Leo] Whittington
R.R. #2
Tampico
Illinois

*George Mickus
391 Grand Street
Brooklyn
New York

*Marshall Brekke
1724 South 88th Street
West Allis
Wisconsin

*James Tasiopulos
459 South Rowan Avenue
Los Angeles
California

Demas L. Torres
Rte. 4, Box 37
Anaheim
California

William Bohlander
1622 Dhonan Street
Cincinnati
Ohio

Warren E. Lowry
752 Cottage Grove
South Bend
Indiana

John Lipka
510 S. Van Buren Street
Wilmington
Delaware

*Wesley Goettel
420 E. 5th Street
Blue Earth
Minnesota

Glen D. Taylor
Wileyville
West Virginia

Hardie Schweigen
Kanopolis
Kansas

Sam Abruzzo
9024 Flatlands Avenue
Brooklyn
New York

*Al Buttacavoli
1540 Cropsey Avenue
Brooklyn
New York

Ernest Bartholomew
Devault
Pennsylvania
[This may be Enos Bartholomew, who enlisted at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in September 1942.]

John R. Battiste
650 Beaver Road
Ambridge
Pennsylvania

Ray Kestner (left) with a buddy

T. J. Ager, after war and imprisonment, looking “rather the worse for wear”

On February 9, I received a note from Gillian Pink of Suffolk, England.

Her father, Thomas John Ager, who served in the Essex Regiment, was captured at Deir el Shein during the first battle of El Alamein. He was sent to Camp 82 at Laterina, Italy.

After the capitulation of Italy in September 1943, Tom and the other prisoners of the camp found themselves free of prison, but behind enemy lines.

“My father’s letters from Camp 82 stop in August of 1943,” Gill explained. “There is one dated July 1944 from the Red Cross to my mother saying he had been sent to a transit camp (Feldpost 31979), and another from the Red Cross dated August 1944 saying he was in Stalag VII-A. Shortly after, he was transferred to Stalag VIII-B, where they all seemed to end up.

“The first letter from Stalag VII-A is dated 16 July 1944. It says ‘The life that I am leading now is not quite so hectic as I have been used to for the last ten months. So I am having a little rest.’ I’m sure his time on the run is what he’s referring to, though my mother may not have known that. I can’t imagine an account of it would have been allowed past the censor.

“It seems the Germans clamped down on letters in and out, as well as Red Cross parcels, from around that date. Then of course the Russians started to advance, and the rest is history.

“I was interested to find some correspondence from the Vatican amongst the papers. It seems there was a Papal ‘go-between’ who facilitated communications between POWs in Italian camps and their families.

“In my burrowings, I discovered a letter dated 5 November 1944 to my mother from a Victor Parkin, asking if my father had arrived home safely. He said he was with my father at first, but then they separated—so he might have been the friend my father mentions in his account. It seems he got away while my father was recaptured. His address was 15 Pendennis Road, Staple Hill, Bristol.”

Although Tom was not in Camp 59, his story of survival in the Italian countryside is typical of the Camp 59 escapees’ experiences.

On his return to England, Tom married his fiancee, Gladys Wash. The two had known each other since childhood and were married for 54 years. They were married by special licence a few days after Tom was repatriated, though he had to return a few weeks later to a transit camp in Oxfordshire, where he helped repatriate Polish servicemen. He was finally demobbed in May 1946.

Tom and Gladys had two children.

“My father’s account is somewhat garbled,” Gill explained, “as by the time I persuaded him to record his experiences, he was dying.” Tom died in 1999.

“His time at large in Italy was really the only part of his war he would talk about when I was young,” Gill said. “I don’t think it was a bad time for him. He always longed to go back to see if he could find the people who helped him, but sadly he never managed the journey.

“I have all the letters my mother received from him while he was a prisoner (though probably not all he wrote), so I know pretty well where he was at any given time. Unfortunately, they don’t say much of interest, partly due to censorship and partly because he wanted to reassure my mother at length that his feelings hadn’t changed.

“I volunteer at a rural life museum and annually we hold a ‘Countryside at War’ day, when some of the letters are displayed together with other relevant documents (my mother, bless her, never threw anything away). Last year, one woman carefully read through the whole ‘story’ and anxiously asked me ‘And did he get home safely, do you know?’ I was pleased to be able to say he did, and produced me two years later!”

Tom Ager at the start of the war

Gill wrote, “I am sending two photos of my father: one at the start of the war, and one after a time as a prisoner, where he looks rather the worse for wear.”

Tom Ager’s Escape Story

“….I think there must have been about twenty of us; they put the main party to work cutting terraces on the side of a hill—the terraces to put the grapevines in—that was the only way you could do it in those hilly countries. I don’t know how much work they did, or how much sitting down. Jock Wilson and myself were left behind as camp cooks. You didn’t need to be very expert to cook macaroni, as long as we kept them supplied with hot water for the coffee and tea. First thing in the morning it meant getting up very early—chopping wood and lighting a fire—but we managed. The weather was fine. We stayed there for a time and life wasn’t too bad—we managed to keep going, with the odd letter here and there.

“Then in ’43, towards September, the Italians decided they’d had enough fighting—I don’t think they’d wanted to start in the first place—they said ‘Oh well, I think we’ve had enough fighting’, and packed it in. That was when all the trouble started. Before we knew where we were, all the Italian guards disappeared, demobbed themselves—gone home! There wasn’t much else we could do—we weren’t going to stop there and we decided to turn it in as well. Three of us left one night and struck north. Our idea was to get to the Swiss border. But we got into all sorts of difficulties on the way and we never reached the Swiss border—I don’t think we stood much chance at all. Our Italian wasn’t very good and we looked what we were—we hadn’t got wise to it—we turned round—lost one of the blokes, he was picked up. Poor kid—he was lost from the start; we had to mother him. I think he was a Scot—he was a good lad, a tea taster in Glasgow.

“The two of us got on quite nicely together; we wandered along until we met up with some other people and off we went together. We were on the way back by then—on the way back past Florence. Our idea then was to go to the east coast and try and get picked up, because we’d heard rumours that every now and then someone would arrive and pick up people—but how true it was I have absolutely no idea. But we never reached it—it was too heavily fortified. By that time my friend had gone off and I was alone. But by that time I was a bit wiser and managed to disguise myself as a travelling shepherd. I had a big stick and a cloak and a sheepskin. Whether or not I looked like a shepherd I don’t know—I hadn’t got any sheep—I hadn’t even got a sheepdog! But I managed to keep out of trouble, travelling alone was the best way of doing it. When you had friends with you, you spoke English; when you were moving alone, you had to speak the language, and I picked up quite a bit. People I met used to think I was a forestieri, which in Italian is a foreigner from another village, and the dialect used to alter from village to village in those days.

“It was getting on for winter and it was a very bad, snowy winter. I spent one night in a shepherd’s hut, way up in the hills, and there I made myself a meal—somebody, at some time, had left a lump of fat pork up there and I managed to get a fire going. Next morning there was only one thing to do—make for the lower slopes, and then on the way down I slipped and fell into a snow hole. I don’t really know how I got out; I think the only thing that saved me was my big old shepherd’s cloak. I remember being able to fling it out and it gave me a bit of purchase. By that time I was frozen with cold and soaking wet and I went down to a village, a little place I think was called Marucci which is not far from Pizzoli. I remember Pizzoli well. I’d just come down from the hills above Marucci, which was on the slopes of the Apennines not far from the Gran Sasso. I’d been trapped in the snow and I was cold, soaking wet, and the ladies of the village took me in, put me to bed and I finished up with double pneumonia and pleurisy, but they were very kind.

“The people of that village were very strong, including the old parish priest; and they put me to bed, kept me warm and got a doctor and when you hear people standing behind you who can’t make up their mind what to do with you when you pop off it’s a bit disconcerting! They didn’t know whether to take me back up the hills and leave me as if I’d died of exposure or whether to bury me in the churchyard, which I don’t think the priest was very happy with, or just to hand me over to the Germans who were left. But I fooled them—I got better! And they were most kind—they looked after me, fed me and kept very quiet. The men of that village weren’t bad, but a lot of them were deserters who’d hopped it when Italy packed up, so they were half hiding as well, because if the Germans got hold of them they would have taken them back into the army again—and I don’t think they were very keen on that.

“I stayed there for some time building myself up, wandering about, hiding away, doing a little work helping them plant a few potatoes and odds and ends; trying to earn my keep. I gave them one of my photos—of myself and Gladys—where it is now, who knows! Tucked away in somebody’s bits and pieces, no doubt.

“Then after a time summer came, the weather was fine and we heard that the Yanks were on the point of entering Rome, so I thought it was about time that I made a move; so without saying anything to the people, which I suppose was pretty rotten, I wandered off in what I thought was the direction of Rome. Luckily, I seemed to be on the right road. I was getting quite close to Rome; my plan would have been to enter Rome and try and get into the Vatican because once you’d got in there, you were in a different country and you were quite safe. But unfortunately on the track I met up with two Italian yobbos who walked along with me and talked—of course they knew who I was and it was no good trying to hide. Next thing I knew one of them had dropped back—said something about going somewhere. I ought to have done the other one in and scarpered, I suppose, but then again that’s not me. Next thing I knew, waiting for us along the road was a German patrol full of guns, all looking fierce, just to catch one poor old English prisoner who’d had a lot of luck—and now his luck had run out.

“They stuck me on a truck and took me back to Aquila. And I’d been so close! Another hour or so and I’d have made the outskirts of Rome and could have hidden myself away. But it wasn’t to be. In Aquila they questioned me and stripped me—I hadn’t got anything with me—no incriminating evidence, absolutely nothing at all. The only book I’d got with me was a small Bible and they went through that like I don’t know what—I don’t know what they expected to find!—but they didn’t find anything at all.

“Next thing I knew I was on another truck going back up north again to our old camp at Laterina which had altered quite a bit since I was there—they’d put buildings up and it was quite smart. Then we were all rounded up, lined up, and put onto cattle wagons and taken up into Germany into another camp, at Moosberg, which I don’t think is very far from Munich. We didn’t stay there very long. We then moved on up to another camp in Poland, Silesia or somewhere—a huge camp, Stalag 8B—Lamsdorf, I think it was called. I was there for some time, bored stiff, ill-fed—the camp was rife with blokes on the fiddle all the while—blokes who’d been there since 1940 and made it their home. I don’t know what they did when they got home! They must have been completely disorientated.”

Gill says of the image above, “There is a bit of a mystery about this last photo. It was amongst the letters, and has a name and address on the back. As far as I can read it: Maglioni (and I cannot read the other name, something like Oronuoso) No 1, Via Roma H10 Premilcuore Forli Italia. I wonder if it was someone who helped him when he was on the run.”

“There is a scrap of paper with it in a different hand,” Gill adds, “which says—as far as I can make out—‘Colgo l’occasione per farti gli auguri della J. Pasquas. Spero con ausia la vostra gratitudine, R. Giuseppe’.”

Telegram to Tom’s fiancée Gladys, announcing “Tom safe prisoner of war in Italy”

Address panel from letter to Gladys, showing Tom Ager’s Camp 82 address

According to Stanley Taylor’s daughter, Barbara Chapman, after his escape from captivity, Stanley made his way to Switzerland. His records state he was there by November 2, 1944.

Barbara writes: “Father lefthand side, back row, assuming by snow to be St. Gallen, but I could be wrong.”

This photo of Stanley (standing at right) and two companions was evidently taken in Switzerland. On the back of the photo is Stanley’s home address (Mrs. M. Taylor, 81 Astbury Road, S.E. 15, London, England) and the address of his camp in Switzerland:

L/BDR [Lance Bombadier], TAYLOR S.E. 1555827.
CAMP D, INTERNEMENT MILITAIRE
DEGERSHEIM
ST GALLEN
SUISSE

Of this photo of a young man, Barbara says, “I understand this to be a Swiss national.” The back side of the photo bears a stamp: Photo Hege, E5594, St. Gallen, Vadienstr. [Vadienstrasse] and a handwritten message in German or Swiss German.

The certificate below was printed in Bern, Switzerland as a means of honoring the Swiss, who cared for the escaped prisoners who managed to cross the border from Italy into Switzerland.

Barbara wrote, “Here is the certificate I mentioned. I have Googled the two officers whose signatures are on it. They were both in Campo PG12 Vincigliata known as Castello di Vincigliata. As you probably know, this camp was for officers, so why my father should have a copy of this I do not know. In fact, my Godmother also had one.”

Here is the text of the certificate:

British Legation Berne

Adorned with the royal coat of arms a border of oak leaves, the certificate bears a color reproduction of a lithograph by seventeenth-century Bern artists Sigmund Freudenberger entitled The Return of the Soldier.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=3315269&partid=1&output=People%2F!!%2FOR%2F!!%2F124567%2F!%2F124567-2-23%2F!%2FAfter+Sigmund+Freudenberger%2F!%2F%2F!!%2F%2F!!!%2F&orig=%2Fresearch%2Fsearch_the_collection_database%2Fadvanced_search.aspx&currentPage=6&numpages=10

The certificate reads:

During this the Second World War of our generation over five thousand British officers and men, escaped prisoners of war sought sanctuary in Switzerland whilst awaiting the opportunity to rejoin their forces. Many of these men had suffered severe hardships and privations and were in need of all those things necessary to restore them to a full state of mental and physical fitness – above all they required a welcome, kindness and companionship. It is to all those individuals in Switzerland, who have done so much to show us hospitality and kindness, that this card is sent as a token of our gratitude and remembrance.

The British Empire, which, in the cause of Liberty, has fought on from a time of weakness and great peril to supreme strength and final victory, must owe a debt of gratitude to those who have helped our Sailors, Soldiers, and Airmen.

The Senior British Officer and all ranks convey to you their sincere gratitude and very best wishes for the years to come

G. H. Fanshaw, Colonel
Deputy Senior British Officer

G. Younghusband, Colonel
The Senior British Officer

1944

Printed by Büchler & Co., Berne

I received a note this morning from Roy Grillo, who, in conducting online research about his father, Peter Grillo, discovered his name on Clifford Houben’s Address List of POWs.

Peter’s name and address are also recorded in Charles Simmons’ address book.

Peter passed away in 2002.

“I remember my dad told me once that he and some of the other men ate rat and dog because of very small meals that were made available to them,” Roy said.

“I think the greatest gift my father left me was his talk about death and fear just before I left for Vietnam. It had a profound impact on me when our convoy came under attack (ambush), and it was his words that got me through those tough times.”

Roy shared a letter with me that was sent by the U.S. War Department to his mother during Peter’s captivity.

Here is the text of that letter:

WAR DEPARTMENT
SERVICES OF SUPPLY
OFFICE OF THE PROVOST MARSHAL GENERAL
WASHINGTON

24 July 1943

Mrs. Peter Grillo,
Leomnister Road,
Lunenburg, Massachusetts.

Dear Mrs. Grillo:

The Provost Marshall General directs me to reply to your letter of July 20, 1943, regarding your husband, Private Peter Grillo.

The records in this office indicate that your husband is still interned at Camp 59, Military Post 3300, Italy. It is located in the vicinity of Ascol-Piceno [Ascoli Piceno] near the east coast in central Italy.

No further information has been received concerning your husband since our letter of July 15, 1943.

Sincerely yours,

Howard F. Bresee
Colonel, C.M.P.,
Bhief, Information Bureau.

Stanley Ernest Taylor

In June 2012, while my partner and I were traveling in England, I had the pleasure of meeting with Stanley Taylor’s daughter, Barbara Chapman. My first contact with her had been in April. When she heard we would be in the Cotswolds, she wrote back to say, “You’ll be on my doorstep when you are in Cheltenham.”

The day we arrived, Barbara met us at the train station and took us to our hotel, where we enjoyed a visit over afternoon tea. Barbara brought a envelope full of pictures, which I photographed. I am pleased to share them here.

Additional photos are on a previous post, “Stanley Taylor in Switzerland.” Also, read about Stanley on “Stanley Ernest Taylor.”

Meeting with Barbara in Cheltenham, England.

Stanley is standing third from left in this photo of British soldier in battle dress.

Stanley at ease

Stanley, most likely in Libya

Stanley (standing) and a friend.
An inscription on the back of the photo reads, “To My Darling Wife.”

On back of this photo is written, MR. SCOTT – T.H.Q. PERSONAL”
T.H.Q. is most likely Territorial Headquarters in North Africa. Perhaps “personal” meant to be “personnel.”

An inscription on this photo of Mary Taylor reads, “To My Darling Husband/Love Mary”

Wife and husband. On the back of Mary’s photo is the inscription, “TO L/BDR [lance-bombardier]. S.E. TAYLOR.” It was evidently a photo she sent to him while he was in the service.

Stanley carried this postcard of the S.S. Meroë while he was a POW. According to www.wrecksite.eu, the Meroë, on a voyage during WW I from Alexandria to Liverpool, was sunk in October 1916 by the German submarine U-63 (Otto Schultze), 70 miles from Cape Trafalgar.

On the back of the S.S. Meroë card are letters of the alphabet within four grids that seems be to a word game of sorts. (An additional two grids are not filled in.) Some of the letters spell words horizontally or vertically (zebra, stile, seeds) but other letters do not. On the opposite end of the card are written the date 13 MAR FRIDAY 42 (two days after Stanley’s arrival in Camp 59) and a list of foods and their weights:

Bread 200 Grammes
Mac or Rice 66
Meat 2 week 120
Dried Beans 30
Coffee 7
Sugar 15
Fat or Oil 13
Tomatoes 15
Grated Cheese 10
Cheese 5 week 40

28.352 Gms 1 oz.

These foods are likely the contents of Red Cross parcels.

On the back of this photo the following numbers are recorded, the meaning of which is unclear to me.

1-17-6
1-5-0
17-6
________

4-0-0
1-0-0
1-0-0
1-0-0
________

COL 2-0-0
COOP 1-0-0
IN 16-0
SG 1-17-6
MC 1-10-0
BC 12-6
________

16-15-0

2-3
11 1/2
2-8
1-3
1-6
1-0
11 1/2
1-6
4
________

12-50

2-5
6-4
________

8-9

Felice “Phil” Vacca escaped from PG 59 in September 1943, along with fellow American prisoners Peter Calvagno, Edmond Petrelli, Joe Mandese, and Tony Spicola.

I have been in touch recently with Mario and Tony Vacca, two of Phil’s three sons. They’ve sent me a wealth of material that I will divide into separate posts.

This first post concerns Tony’s contact with the Virgili family and his first visit to Camp 59. That visit occurred in 1968, 25 years after Phil and his companions escaped from the camp.

Sergio Virgili at the gate to Camp 59 in Servigliano, 1968

While stationed in Pisa during the 1960s, Tony made contact with members of the Virgili family of Monte San Martino in the Marche—Sergio Virgili, and his sisters Luigia and Elena—who assisted his father during the war.

Tony explains, “It was on my second visit to the Virgili’s that I went to see the prison camp at Servigliano and to take photos for my father, per his request.

“Sergio Virgili guided me to the camp. It was a cloudy, dreary day. As we drove through Servigliano, I got an eerie feeling, as I could hear someone playing ‘Taps’ on the trumpet.

“Sergio took me straight to the main gate of the camp and we parked.

“That’s where I took the picture of Sergio standing at the front gate.

“It was like stepping into a ‘ghost town.’ It was very quiet—just Sergio and me – it was like the world stood frozen in time without occupants. The buildings showed signs of deterioration and were locked to prevent anyone from trying to live in them. As I walked around taking photos, I could not help but wonder what the living conditions would have been like for the prisoners. My father made very little mention of his experiences there.

“The only building that was pointed out to me was the guard shack by the gate. At the time I only speculated which buildings were the barracks.

“There were rectangular stone islands of sorts outside, located between buildings. They looked like some sort of outdoor wash stations.

“We also visited the train station across from the camp, which my father had told me about.

As a matter of fact, I have a small book, Il Campo Di Servigliano, 1915–1955, published by Casa della Memoria, which contains a map of the camp, with building locations, and some photos. The map layout is pretty much as I remember the building positions.”

See note after the photos.

Two views of the huts. A stone foundation is all that remains of a one hut that was razed—or possibly destroyed by fire.

A latrine between two huts.

The northwest wall of the camp.

A water source, possibly used for outdoor bathing.

Another view of the huts. Note the pigs in the foreground.

A brick structure, probably the camp infirmary.

Two views of buildings adjacent to the main gate, probably the command offices and guard barracks just inside the camp walls.

An open soccer field, probably in the area outside the camp that was section B during WW II (see the diagram below).

Pictured above is the page from Il Campo di Servigliano, 1915–1955 that Tony mentioned.

The diagram, from the state archives at Fermo, Italy, is a plan of the command offices, guard barracks, and the layout of the camp, as designed by engineer Eugenio Fagiuoli in 1915 to house prisoners during World War I.

Although the camp had two sections (A and B on the plan) in WW I, during the Second World War only section A was used to house prisoners (click on the image above to enlarge the diagram). The area in gray indicates the confines of the camp during WW II.

Several camp buildings outside the camp walls were used for guard’s barracks, offices, the commandant’s quarters, and storehouses. Inside the camp, there were 16 barracks, which were called huts, and eight latrines—one for each pair of huts. There was also a brick infirmary, two cookhouses, and at least one area for bathing.

Here is a translation of the diagram terminology:

Pianta—plan
Prospetto—prospectus
Corpo di guardia—guardhouse
Casamatta—blockhouse
Infermeria—infirmary
Bagno—bath
Latrina—latrine
Cucina—kitchen, or cookhouse
Settore—sector
Ingresso—entrance
Pozzo—well
Ferrovia—railroad (arrows on the diagram indicate the track directions to Fermo and Amandola)

The above list, typed for me by Camp 59 ex-prisoner Neil Torssell on an old manual typewriter, is a a record of men he knew in the camp.

Thirteen of these men are new to my list of Camp 59 prisoners. They are noted below as “first reference.”

Men who were prisoners of war at Camp 59, Servigliano, Italy, September 1944

Note: Neil must have meant September 1943, the month he and the other prisoners escaped.

Joseph W. Mack
R #1
Nowata, Oklahoma (deceased)
First reference

There is no reference for Joseph W. Mack in the U.S. National Archives database of WW II POWs.

William M. Wilson
Fox Hall Plains
Dover, Delaware
or
2100 19th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C.
First reference

William M. Wilson
Serial Number—15042897
Sergeant

U.S. Army, Infantry—Armored Force

State of Residence—unlisted
Source: U.S. National Archives, World War II Prisoners of War Data Files, documenting the period December 7, 1941–November 19, 1946 (Returned to Military Control, Liberated or Repatriated from Stalag 3B Furstenberg Brandenburg, Prussia (Also KDOS [USA] #1-5; ARB BTNS 225-255) 52-14)

Leonard Rock
7220 Stevens Avenue
Minneapolis, Minnesota
First reference

Leonard N. Rock
Serial Number—20707130
Sergeant

U.S. Army, Infantry—Rifle

State of Residence—Minnesota
Source: U.S. National Archives, World War II Prisoners of War Data Files, documenting the period December 7, 1941–November 19, 1946 (Returned to Military Control, Liberated or Repatriated from Stalag 3B Furstenberg Brandenburg, Prussia (Also KDOS [USA] #1-5; ARB BTNS 225-255) 52-14)

Laverne Sparks
Corydon, Kentucky

Listed in the U.S. National Archives database as having escaped from Camp 59. See the Prisoner List.

Claude A. Peters
Chuctry, Tennessee
First reference

Claude A. Peters
Serial Number—34288586
Private

U.S. Army, Infantry—Rifle

State of Residence—Tennessee
Source: U.S. National Archives, World War II Prisoners of War Data Files, documenting the period December 7, 1941–November 19, 1946 (Returned to Military Control, Liberated or Repatriated—no camp listed)

Edward T. Dzierzynski
20 Crown Street
New Briton, Connecticut

Listed in the U.S. National Archives database as having escaped from Camp 59. See the Prisoner List.

Jimmy Sorrentino
40 Powell Street
Brooklyn, New York
First reference

Agostino J. Sorrentino (serial number 32220859)
Enlistment records indicate residence is Kings County, New York, which is where Brooklyn is located.

A. J. Sorrentino
Serial Number—32220859
Sergeant

U.S. Army, Coast Artillery Corps—Automatic Weapons, Anti-Aircraft Semi-Mobile
State of Residence—Unlisted
Source: U.S. National Archives, World War II Prisoners of War Data Files, documenting the period December 7, 1941–November 19, 1946 (Returned to Military Control, Liberated or Repatriated from Stalag 3B Furstenberg Brandenburg, Prussia (Also KDOS [USA] #1-5; ARB BTNS 225-255) 52-14)

Johnnie C. Moore
Utica, Mississippi
First reference

Johnnie C. Moore
Serial Number— 14031503
Sergeant

U.S. Army, Infantry
State of Residence—Mississippi
Source: U.S. National Archives, World War II Prisoners of War Data Files, documenting the period December 7, 1941–November 19, 1946 (Returned to Military Control, Liberated or Repatriated Transit Camp Feld Post #319797 Location Unknown)

Larry D. Barlow
Burke, South Dakota (deceased)
First reference

No records for Larry Barlow in the U.S. National Archives enlistment or POW databases.

Martin Majeski
605 Landford Street
Anerson, South Carolina
(Germans shot him on the Osso River near San Vittoria, Italy, March 9 or 10, 1944)

Listed in the U.S. National Archives database as having died as a POW of Camp 59. See Prisoner List.
Other sources—Robert A. Newton and Filippo Ieranò

Warren C. Lowry
542 Cottage Grove
South Bend, Indiana
First reference

Warren C. Lowry
Serial Number—37170166
Sergeant

U.S. Army, Air Corps—Transport or Transport Command
State of Residence—Minnesota [this may be an error, or perhaps Warren was stationed in Minnesota before going overseas]
Source: U.S. National Archives, World War II Prisoners of War Data Files, documenting the period December 7, 1941–November 19, 1946 (Returned to Military Control, Liberated or Repatriated—no camp listed)

J. B. Withrow
R #4
Grand Junction, Colorado
First reference

John B. Withrow, Jr.
Serial Number—18046617
Technical Sergeant

U.S. Army, Air Corps—Bombardment, Medium
State of Residence—unlisted
Source: U.S. National Archives, World War II Prisoners of War Data Files, documenting the period December 7, 1941–November 19, 1946 (Returned to Military Control, Liberated or Repatriated from Stalag Luft 4 Gross-Tychow (formerly Heydekrug) Pomerania, Prussia (moved to Wobbelin Bei Ludwigslust) (To Usedom Bei Savenmunde) 54-16)

Albert W. Sorce
1364 Denniston Street
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania
First reference

Albert W. Sorce
Serial Number—13038386
Technical Sergeant

U.S. Army, Air Corps—Bombardment, Medium
State of Residence—Pennsylvania
Source: U.S. National Archives, World War II Prisoners of War Data Files, documenting the period December 7, 1941–November 19, 1946 (Returned to Military Control, Liberated or Repatriated from Stalag Luft 4 Gross-Tychow (formerly Heydekrug) Pomerania, Prussia (moved to Wobbelin Bei Ludwigslust) (To Usedom Bei Savenmunde) 54-16)

William Jackson
Dunbar, Oklahoma
First reference

There are 16 William Jacksons listed in the U.S. National Archives POW database (all active in the North African or European theatres). I cross-referencing them with online enlistment records, but I could not identify a William Jackson who was from Oklahoma.

Virgil Jarvis Jr.
523 N. Third Street
Central City, Kentucky

Listed in the U.S. National Archives database as having escaped from Camp 59. See the Prisoner List.
Other source—Luther Shields’ deck of card address system

Charles R. Martin
c/o Martub Funeral Home
Lake City, Tennessee
Other source—Luther Shields’ deck of card address system (address listed c/o Martin Funeral Home in Lake City, Tennessee)

Earl Johnson
712 E. Market Street
Louisville, Kentucky
First reference

There are two possibilities for Earl Johnson:

1) Earl Johnson
Serial Number—6839131
Sergeant

U.S. Army, Infantry—Armored Forces
State of Residence—Unlisted [However the state of residence for this Earl Johnson (SN 6839131) is listed as Jefferson County, Kentucky in the U.S. National Archives enlistment records, and Louisville is in Jefferson County]
Source: U.S. National Archives, World War II Prisoners of War Data Files, documenting the period December 7, 1941–November 19, 1946 (Returned to Military Control, Liberated or Repatriated from Stalag 7A Moosburg Bavaria 48-12 (Work Camps 3324-46 Krumbachstrasse 48011, Work Camp 3368 Munich 48-11)

2) Earl E. Johnson
Serial Number— 35795204
Private

U.S. Army, Infantry
State of Residence—Kentucky
Source: U.S. National Archives, World War II Prisoners of War Data Files, documenting the period December 7, 1941–November 19, 1946 (Returned to Military Control, Liberated or Repatriated from Stalag 2B Hammerstein (99 work camps in vicinity of Koslin & Stolp) West Prussia 53-17)

Tim Timer
R #5
Grand Junction, Colorado
First reference

There is no reference to Tim or Timothy Timer in the U.S. National Archives database of WW II POWs.

Charles H. McLaughlin
19601 W. Warren Avenue
Detroit, Michigan

Claude H. McLaughlin (resident of Michigan is listed in the U.S. National Archives database as having escaped from Camp 59. It seems possible this is the same person. See the Prisoner List.

Frederick W. Solberg
34 Vine Street
Medford, Massachusetts

Listed in the U.S. National Archives database as having escaped from Camp 59. See the Prisoner List.
Other source—Frederick’s son Andrew Solberg

Key fragment of the Fyrtle Myrtle recovered by the Salerno Air Finders.

Last Flight of the Fyrtle Myrtle

Research into the crash by the Salerno Air Finders

The Salerno Air Finders is a group of volunteers from the Italian organization Salerno 1943 who are dedicated to investigation of crashes in Campania and neighboring regions of Italy during WW II, and preservation of the memory of the airmen who lost their lives in the line of duty.

Many thanks to Matteo Pierro for allowing me post a translation of the report on the Fyrtle Myrtle from the Salerno 1943 site on the Camp 59 Survivors site.

Here is the report:

Plane: Bomber B-24, No. 44,
The Fyrtle Myrtle (Army Air Force serial number 42-40236)

Nationality: U.S.A.

Date of crash: July 16, 1943

Location: 94 km east from Salerno

Remarks: Identification confirmed

Ordine di local. 19°

On the morning of Friday, July 16, 1943 a formation of B-24 bombers took off from Berka, near Benghazi, Libya. They belonged to the 513th Bomb Squadron of the 376th Heavy Bombardment Group of the United States Air Force.

Among the planes was one called the Fyrtle Myrtle by members of its crew. Unfortunately, this was to be its last mission.

The objective of the big bombers was the airport facilities at Bari. Allies had landed in Sicily. Now they aimed to destroy the attacking potential of the Axis forces and to prevent the Axis planes leaving Puglia airports that could cause damage to Operation Husky. After dropping their bombs the planes headed back, but they were attacked by Italian and German fighter planes that had risen from nearby airports.

What happened to the Myrtle Fyrtle is clear from the testimony given by airmen from the returning bombers who returned to the base and from the records of the crewmembers who survived. This information is contained in the Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) procured by indefatigable aviation archaeologist Dino Pagano.

The MACR reports indicates the squadron was subjected to fierce attacks by numerous German fighters and the Italian Royal Air Force (Regia Aeronautica). One in particular targeted bomber 44 of the squadron, firing several shots toward engine number 3, which caught fire after a few moments. At this point the plane’s commander, Charlie G. Hinson, began to lose speed and altitude. The plane, in leaving the formation, became the target of other fighters who, noticing its distress, rushed against it.

The first to be hit was Patrick F. Shea, the dorsal turret gunner. The shots also caused a fire in the fuselage. The flames engulfed the parachute of radioman Lloyd E Kile, rendering it useless. The situation became untenable, and the captain gave the order to abandon the aircraft. Only three men managed to do so, while others could not as they were injured or trapped by the flames in the front of the aircraft. Flight engineer Cyrus F. Johnson Jr., side gunner Robert E. Dulac, and tail gunner Edward T. Dzierzynski jumped. Remaining on board, in addition to pilot Charlie G. Hinson, the dorsal turret gunner, and the radio operator, were co-pilot Orval H. Jorgensen, navigator Richard P. Greenawalt, bombardier Joseph M. Prendergast, and observer Don R. Willey.

The last attack on the aircraft was by Heinrich Steis, an ace of the Luftwaffe, in his Messerschmitt Bf 109G. In the end, the Fyrtle Myrtle began to spiral and it exploded just before touching ground.

Michael Power, then a child in Pietragalla, was an eyewitness to the air combat. That morning he was participating with his family and other children in the procession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Hearing the sound of gunfire, Michael looked to the sky and saw the big plane in flames explode in the air and fall a few meters from the village. One of the airmen who lost his life fell on his father’s land. That episode so deeply impressed young Michael, that since childhood he had wanted to bring the tragic event to light and learn about its unfortunate crew.

Almost 70 years since that tragic Friday, Michael learned of Salerno Air Finders. We promptly organized a survey of the point of impact. Daniel Jewel along with Michael and two of his friends—Michael Favullo and Clement Fratusco—who had also witnessed the event, visited the area of the crash with us. There we recovered fragments of the aircraft.

The pieces we found confirmed that it was indeed the crash site of the B-24. In fact, several labeled fragments bear the prefix 32, indication of precisely this type of aircraft in the U.S. Army Air Force numbering system of the time.

Of special note, Daniel found a fragment of a leather glove used by American airmen—a solemn testimony to those who lost their lives that day.

Research in the United States archives has revealed that four members of the crew are buried in a common grave in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri. They are Greenawalt, Hinson, Prendergast, and Shea. Evidently, their remains could not be identified. Lloyd E. Kile, who was 24 years old, is buried in Prairie Lawn Cemetery in Wellington, Kansas. Orval H. Jorgensen is buried in the American cemetery at Nettuno, Italy.

More information was available on Don Ray Willey. He was born on October 29, 1920 in Brookings, South Dakota, to Lloyd and Pearl Willey. After graduating from Brookings High School, he was preparing to enter college when the Second World War began. Since the U.S. was not yet involved in the conflict, Don joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in June 1941. He was transferred in the U.S. Army Air Force on May 26, 1942 and assigned as a lieutenant in the 513th Bomb Squadron. He is buried at the American cemetery at Nettuno. When communicating news of his death to family members, Don’s commander, Frederick W. Nesbilt Jr., wrote, “Your son has been a member of this organization for four months and was respected and loved by all those with whom he came in contact. My entire command joins me in extending our most heartfelt closeness at this time.”

Edward T. Dzierzynski died on April 19, 1966 at the age of 50 years. It buried in the Fairview Cemetery in Connecticut. Cyrus F. Johnson Jr. passed away on April 19, 1985 at the age of 73. His grave is located at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver, Colorado. [Actually, Cyrus died at the age of 62—he was born June 6, 1922.]

We hope to reconstruct the stories of all crewmembers and perhaps, in tracing their families, offer them a few fragments of the plane on which their loved ones flew.

Michael hopes that one day a monument in Pietragalla will serve as a reminder of that tragic day during the war and of those who lost their lives.

Participants in this research:

Michele Favullo
Clement Fratusco
Daniel Jewel
Matteo Pierro
Michael Power

Crew of the Fyrtle Myrtle

Charlie G. Hinson, 0-791107, 1st lieutenant, pilot kia
Orval H. Jorgensen, 0-675350, 2nd lieutenant, co-pilot kia
Richard P. Greenawalt, 0-730258, 2nd lieutenant, navigator kia
Joseph M. Prendergast, 0-730818, 2nd lieutenant, bombardier kia
Don R. Willey, 0-664357, 1st lieutenant, observer kia
Cyrus F. Johnson Jr., 19013120, staff sergeant, engineer rtd
Lloyd E. Kile, 37146695, technical sergeant, radio operator kia
Patrick F. Shea, 11053556, staff sergeant, waist gunner kia
Robert E. Dulac, 39181897, staff sergeant, waist gunner rmc
Edward T. Dzierzynski, 31140926, staff sergeant, tail gunner, rtd

kia—killed in action, rtd—returned to duty, rmc—returned to military control

Additional Details from the MACR

Cyrus Johnson’s son Ron Johnson shared a copy of the Missing Air Crew Report with me. In the MACR, Edward Dzierzynski and Cyrus F. Johnson Jr. filled out casual questionnaires regarding the crash and fate of the comrades.

In describing the crash, Edward noted the plane was at 23,000 feet and “lagging far behind” when it left formation. Concerning his bail out, he wrote, “I was thrown clear after the plane exploded.”

After his listing of seven crewmembers who, he said, “were supposed to have gone down with the plane, Edward was asked, “When, where, and in what condition did you last see any members not described above?” His reply was, “S/Sgt. R.E. Dulac—at a hospital in Potenza, Italy—was badly injured about the eyes – head. S/Sgt. C. F. Johnson at Potenza, Italy. We there boarded the same train for P.O.W. camp. Johnson was in good condition.”

Cyrus Johnson also recorded the plane was at 23,000 feet, and that it was struck at “2 o’clock afternoon.” He said navigator Richard Greenawalt announced, “We have been hit” before the plane “blew up in mid air.” He reported, “I saw other chutes of the other two on my crew.”

Also contained in the MACR are two eyewitness accounts of the crash:

“Just before making turn on target, ship No. 44 was attacked by one fighter coming out of the sun.
Ship was hit but stayed in formation for short distance, then peeled off to right with No. 3 engine on fire. When losing altitude I saw one parachute open and followed a short time later by another.”

—S/Sgt. S. O. Skrovig

“As section was making turn to go on target, I saw ship No. 44 with No. 3 engine on fire. It started losing altitude, leveling off twice but finally went into slow spin and exploded. During all this time, top and rear turrets were firing at fighters. Just before going into spin, saw three parachutes open.”

—S/Sgt. Richard Lipps

The Three Survivors

Last December I heard from Ron Johnson, who is one of Cyrus Johnson’s two sons.

Ron wrote, “Upon reading the names in Simmons’ address book, I ran across my father, Cyrus F. Johnson of Denver, Colorado. I have very limited knowledge about him, as my parents divorced and I left Denver when I was about 2.5 years of age.”

Ron directed me to the crash report on the Salerno 1943 website. He also introduced me to Salerno 1943 researcher Matteo Pierro.

Interestingly, the MACR includes the dates the three survivors were reunited with Allied forces:

Cyrus F. Johnson Jr., returned to duty, June 28, 1944

Edward T. Dzierzynski, returned to duty, June 28, 1944

Robert E. Dulac, returned to military control, April 29, 1945 (the date The U.S. 14th Armored Division liberated Stalag VII-A, the camp Robert had apparently been moved to from Stalag Luft III)

Referring again to Edward’s statement in the MACR, “S/Sgt. R.E. Dulac—at a hospital in Potenza, Italy—was badly injured about the eyes – head. S/Sgt. C. F. Johnson at Potenza, Italy. We there boarded the same train for P.O.W. camp. Johnson was in good condition.”

The POW database of the U.S. National Archives indicated Robert Dulac was “returned to military control, liberated, or repatriated” from Stalag Luft 3 Sagan-Silesia Bavaria (Moved to Nuremberg-Langwasser) 49-11.

The database indicates Edward returned from CC 59 Ascoli Picenzo Italy 43-13. Cyrus is included in the POW database, but no camp is listed on his record.

That the dates for Cyrus and Edward returning to Allied forces are identical suggests they escaped from Camp 59 hid out together during the winter, and in the spring found a way to reach the Allies.

We may never have the full picture, but I am glad to have so many pieces to this incomplete puzzle.

Cyrus Johnson with his sisters. Ron Johnson believes this photo was taken 10 or 15 years after the war. Cyrus died in 1985.

In a quiet 27-acre cemetery in Carthage, Tunisia, rest 2,841 individuals who gave their lives in military service.

Their headstones, set in straight lines, are subdivided by wide paths into nine rectangular plots, with a decorative pool at each of the paths’ intersections.

Along one edge of the burial area, bordering a tree-lined terrace, is a Wall of the Missing, upon which 3,724 names are engraved. Rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified.

Most honored in the North Africa American Cemetery and Memorial lost their lives in World War II in military activities ranging from North Africa to the Persian Gulf.

Among the buried soldiers is Phil Vacca’s cousin Battista “Bucky” Linico Jr.

Bucky was like a little brother to Phil. He and Phil had enlisted under the “buddy system” on January 3, 1941. They served together in North Africa, and Phil witnessed Bucky’s death at the battle for St. Cloud on November 10, 1942. Bucky was 21 years old.

Phil was captured the following month at Longstop Hill. He was eventually interned at Camp 59. Phil’s full story will be shared in upcoming posts.

Bucky’s death was announced in the (Lambertville, New Jersey) Beacon:

Reported Killed

Private “Bucky” Linico
As reported in last week’s Beacon, Private Battista Linico, son of Mr. and Mrs. Battista Linico, of 38 Coryell Street, Lambertville, was killed in action in the “Western European area.” Information of his death was given in a telegram received by Mrs. Linico, Jr., of Phillipsburg.