British POWS hidden by Italians in Lucca Province 1943-44

[italy1944]

ON behalf of Dr Silvia Angelini of the Institute of the History of the Resistance in Lucca, italy I am looking for contacts to the families of the following POWs who were hidden by Signor Modesto Damiani in the village of Antelmini and Lucignana in 1943-44. I give their last known home address in 1944.

Lt Peter Marshall Army No 187914 Royal Artillery  Newcastle under Lyme Staffs
James Daveney Army No. 2987472 ( unit unknown) Glasgow
Ralph Driver  South African Defence Force No.79012  Benoni S.A.
Ray Harris Australian Expeditionary Force  Shenton Park S.W.Australia
Corporal M.A.Knight Australian EF , West Brunswick Melbourne
R.C.Smith,  Australian EF, Bairnsdale Victoria
Lt E.T.H Reith Forgan  Cheshire Regt No.140058 , Wervin Hall Chester.
Capt A.W.Jamieson  Royal Artillery No.134462  Edinburgh
Capt A.D.Moyle  RASC No.108225  Maresfield Sussex
Lt John M.P.Walker EC1283 Indian Army   lloyds Bank calcutta india
Idwin Eeren  Aberdare, Glamorgan wales
George Ashley  Master Built Radio Cabinet Works Johannesburg South Africa
Bert Hitchin  Ketley Wellington Shropshire

Many thanks

[Ruskie]

Welcome to rootschat italy1944. 

I'm sure you will get a lot of help here, however this is not a forum for finding the living and we are not allowed to mention the names of anyone living for privacy reasons.

A way around this may be if you make a couple more posts here (just reply to this a couple of times), then people can contact you via the Personal Messaging system if they are able to help you, as I'm sure many would like to do.

May I ask why Dr Angelini wishes to contact families of these men?

[a-l]

This sounds a very interesting story that we may all enjoy.

[italy1944]

Dear Ruskie
I am confused by your message. None of the people I listed will still be alive. How does one search for links to people now dead if one is not allowed to mention their names ?
 
Dr Angelini is researching the stories of escaped prisoners of war hidden by  Italians. She is doing this as part of her work for the Institute.

[Ruskie]

Thank you Italy.

Of course we can reasearch these men who are deceased, however as you said you were looking for "contacts to the families" of the POWs, I thought that meant you were looking for their descendants.

Did I misunderstand?

[ScouseBoy]

A long time has elapsed, I wonder what the best starting point is?
I wonder whether an approach to an Army museum might meet with favourable results.
or the Imperial War Museum?
I suppose that we could search for the date of death of each man, then get the name of his children for one line of enquiry.

[Greensleeves]

I am wondering if this thread might be better in the Common Room?   I am sure a lot of RCers might either recognise some of the names or be happy to  research them, but might not necessarily look on the Military Boards regularly.  Links to the regional/Australian/South African etc boards might be useful too.

Regards
GS

[ScouseBoy]

I wonder if there are any books published in the UK on this topic?

[italy1944]

Thanks to everyone.
To Ruskie : My apologies I did not learn the rules  of the site sufficiently well. Dr Angelini did want to make contact with descendants for the purposes of inviting them to the annual commemorations in Lucca province. I will drop this line of enquiry.  She does also want to collect more info on them for the purposes of an archive project.

Re the question as to books published in the UK : yes - the main source book is Roger Absalom's A Strange Alliance , pub 1991, an academic study of the impact of the ex-POWS on their host communities of mountain villages in the Appenines and Abruzzi. POW by Adrian Gilbert has a chapter on Italians sheltering escapers. There are numerous personal memoirs.
If anyone wants other book titles or website links in English or Italian, please contact me directly.