64 years later Son meets Son

mirafioriman's memory of 30th August 2007

In September/October 1943 Daniel (Jack) Hobbs an escaping British POW in Italy was sheltered and helped by Orlandi Luigi in the village of Reginaldo/Roccamontepiano (CH).
On 30th August 2007 Robert Hobbs (son of Daniel ) and family visits family of Luigi in the village of Reginaldo and meets Carlo (son of Luigi )
WHAT A DAY!!!

It all started after my Father died in 1989.
My Mother gave me a hand written diary that my Father had kept during his journey from a prison camp in Italy to meeting up with advancing Allied Troops.
My Father rarely talked about the war and never did about Italy.

Over the following years my wife and I tried to find out more. The Army Records Office could not give us any information nor could we find anything out from the various agencies that we contacted. A mini breakthrough came via the Red Cross in Switzerland who had records of my Father being taken to Brindisi, Italy after capture in Tobruk.

No other information was found and I still do not know when and where he was moved to in Northern Italy. I know he must have been moved as he was travelling south from a point north of Teramo. In his diary he had written about staying in Roccamontepiano- near Pescara and Sulmona.
Hours were spent searching on the internet to try and find out about Roccamontepiano in the war years with very limited success. Nothing could be found about British POW’s in this area.

In 2005 as a family,(myself , my wife Cynthia and son David) decided to go to Sulmona on holiday in the summer of 2006 as it looked a very nice place and maybe we could see the area that my Father had been in all those years ago. We drove from Carlisle to Sulmona via Hull,then ferry overnight to Rotterdam, travelling then to Heidleburg, Germany, Verona, Italy then on to Sulmona.
We had a super holiday and also managed to find and visit Roccamontepiano.
Unfortunately the day we visited was the Festival of San Rocco and the town was shut off and nothing was open. I tried speaking to some of the local inhabitants but had no success with regards to the war years. Anyway we had found the town,taken some photographs and felt reasonably happy with our achievements.

On returning to England more time was spent searching the internet to try and gain more specific information about POW’s in Italy but with no real success. Time went by and when our holiday for 2007 was discussed we chose to return to Italy again.

The apartment we had rented in 2006 was available but a little later this year so plans were made to do the trip a second time but included two nights in Lindau, Bavaria and two nights in Venice instead of Verona.
As we only had one week in Sulmona we planned to re-visit Roccamontepiano on the Tuesday before leaving for our homeward journey on Thursday. This time we managed to go into the town and found the Comune Di Roccamontepiano (Town Hall) but it was closed until 3.30pm some two hours away. We returned at 3.30pm hoping that there may be records of the war years from which we could find out more about POW’s.
The person I met did not speak English and my Italian could be written on a small postage stamp!However he made a phone call to his wife who spoke excellent English. After explaining what we were trying to do she asked me to return that evening at 8pm and speak to the Sindaco (mayor) who would be very helpful. We returned at 8pm after visiting the beach at Francavilla al Mare on the Adriatic coast to fill in some time.

Leaving my wife and son in the car park I went to meet the Mayor,Adamo Carulli. He was a very pleasant man in his mid 30’s and it transpired that he was writing about the history of Roccamontepiano from 1914 to 1948-hence an interest in my story. Unfortunately he did not speak English but found a young lady in the building who could. I was with these people for about an hour, I showed them my Fathers diary and explained that I was trying to find out more about his three-week stay in the area. He discussed the contents of the diary-sometimes with difficulty because of the language-well me not speaking Italian! He picked up on the name of Luigi Orlandi whose name was written in the diary. He then made a few phone calls,which I could not understand then told me that Luigi the person who had helped my father was now dead but his son and grandson were still living in the area and would I like to meet them. Fantastic!! Could this be happening. Arrangements were made for us to return to his office on Thursday morning at 10.00am, he also arranged for an interpreter to be present. It seemed that Wednesday (which would have been better for us as we were leaving to start our journey home on Thursday) was not possible, so it was agreed that we would call in on Thursday-on our way to Sirmione on lake Garda.
I rejoined my wife and son. My wife asked me if I had found anything out. I replied “ If meeting Luigi’s son and grandson on Thursday counts then YES!!
We arrived at the Town Hall a little after 10am on Thursday in time to see the Mayor leaving, we were asked to wait. I received a phone call from Carmelina our interpreter to be to tell us that she would meet us in about 15 minutes. When she arrived she asked if we knew where the Mayor had gone, we didn’t but I thought to myself he may have gone to collect the people we were to meet. He returned a little later alone and we were asked to follow him and Carmelina by car which we did.

We arrived at the village of Reginaldo (I had previously thought this was a persons name ) and were taken to the house of 82 year old Giovina Basciani who warmly welcomed us and took us inside her house, where she brought out drinks and home-made biscuits for us.
We were there for about 45 minutes asking and answering questions about the British POW’s who had stayed in the village in 1943. Carmelina showed her the photograph of my Father, which had been taken in December 1943 on his return to England. She said she remembered about the British soldiers. What a feeling!! Photographs were taken and on leaving she gave us a book of stories and poems which she had written.

On our way to our next meeting we passed some men who remembered hiding in the hills with the British soldiers. We were shown a part of the village where houses once stood and told that my Father and his comrades had stayed in these buildings. On arriving at the next house we were greeted by Luigi’s son Carlo, his wife Rosa, their son Luigi and his son and daughter. What a meeting!!

For the next 4 1/2 hours or so we talked about the happenings of September/October 1943 , there were so many stories recounted, Carlo being 10 years old at the time could remember so much. We had a super 6-course meal and were made to feel like family. We were given every hospitality and wine made in 1939 was brought out and we were told that my Father had also had this to drink. Carlo gave me a bottle of this wine, which will be kept for Christmas Day.

We were shown documents from Allied Command thanking Luigi Orlando for helping British servicemen to escape detection from the Germans.

Luigi (grandson) brought out a safety razor, which his Grandfather had passed on to him which had been my Father's and insisted that I keep it. It was like a fairy tale but this was really happening. Many photographs were taken before we left Carlo and his family.

Just as we thought we were leaving we were taken to the home of Michele Orlandi a 91-year-old man and his family, who also remembered my Father and his 5 comrades. More food and drink was produced and many more stories told. We were invited to dinnner and also stay the night but as we had to be in Lake Garda that evening we had to decline. Another bottle of wine was given to us as we said our goodbye’s and then Adamo and Carmelina took us to the auto strada to start our journey north. Some 6 hours late we arrived at our hotel!

So much happened in such a short space of time and so many stories that I have yet to put into writing but will do at a later date.
1 German Troops
2 Drinking too much (Dad)
3 Mending clocks and shotguns
4 Luigi Orlandi (in his 50’s ) returned from N.Y. spoke English
5 Luigi’s family
6 The Mayor
7 The Interpreter
8 Hiding with villagers
9 Clothes washed, mended and ironed
10 Us only ones to go to village since war

If these people had not helped my Father I might not be here today!

Having found these very special people we must return to find out more and thank them properly.

More memories from mirafioriman

This memory was added 14th October 2007

Keywords: italy bbc cumbria Prisoner of War in Italy

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