Monthly Archives: November 2008

“Servigliano Calling” Camp Poem #9

dickinson_diary_angle_2001

“To Mother and Dad” is one of three poems by Denis Crooks recorded in Robert Dickinson’s diary, “Servigliano Calling.”

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To Mother and Dad

All my thoughts are for you, dear Mother and Dad,
And I dream of you both day and night;
Our our little white home
And the old sitting room,
And the things that are now gone from sight.

Of a night spent at home by the old fireside
With the wireless, a book and you two,
Of all the good things
And all the kind love
That you’ve always given me too.

And I pray every night to the good God above
To comfort you, not make you sad;
That one day quite soon
He’ll send me back home
To old England, my Mother and Dad.

A Timeline of Armie Hill’s Service

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The above mimeographed certificate indicates that Armie Hill was deloused on March 29, 1943. At the time Armie was being held in Le Bardo, a Tunisian city west of Tunis in North Africa. He had been at the camp since March 3, and on the day after the delousing, March 30, he was flown to Camp 98 on Sicily.

Translated from German, the certificate reads:

“Prisoner-of-War Camp Le Bardo
The prisoner-of-war Sgt. Hill
was on 29.3.43 deloused
[signature] Camp Commander [signature] Camp Doctor”

Timeline

Here is a timeline of Armie Hill’s service in the United States Army, from induction to discharge:

1941

January 20—accepted for active military service at Induction Center, Milwaukee, and sent to Reception Center, Fort Sheridan, Illinois

January 23—assigned to 19th Engineer Corps, Fort Ord, California

Continue reading →

Huts and Sections

Italian historian Giuseppe Millozzi, in his dissertation Allied Prisoners of War in the Region of the Marche and Prison Camp at Servigliano, offers this description of Camp 59 as recorded in the Swiss Red Cross inspection report of May 1, 1942:

“The camp is formed of 16 wooden huts on concrete foundations. The rooves are tiled. Of those 16 huts (30m. X 10m.) 14 are occupied as dormitories, one as a store house, and another for recreation […] There are also three brick buildings; one used as a sick bay, another for shower baths and the third as a kitchen.”

Millozzi goes on to say, “Dormitories were sufficiently lighted thanks to 14 shutter windows, they had electric lights but there was no means of heating. Other ranks dormitories had 70 bunk beds, those for NCOs [non-commissioned officers] had 62 bunk beds. Each prisoner received a pillow, sheet (washed once a month in laundry), three blankets and a straw mattress which was regularly changed.”

From Armie Hill’s record of the men in Hut 4–Section 11, we can deduce:

There were 36 men in a section (including one man who was given the responsibility of overseeing the other 35). Men in the huts, or dormitories, were identified by “B. No.” (which might indicate bed number). Armie’s section numbering starts at 361, which is evidence that each of the preceding 10 sections were composed of 36 men.

The Red Cross report indicates the camp had a capacity of 2,000 men.

Men of Hut 4–Section 11

As I mentioned in earlier posts, my father, Armie Hill, was put in charge of a section of 35 men (Hut 4–Section 11) in Camp 59. The first page of his camp notebook contains a roll of the men.

Armie listed them according to B. No. (perhaps an abbreviation for bunk or bed number), Rate (rank), Surname–First Name–Middle Initial, and Serial Number.

Interestingly, I noticed that three of the men (Edgar J. Curttright, Allen A. Coombs, and Claude J. Cole) had consecutive serial numbers. On investigation, I learned that the three were inducted at Cedar Rapids, Iowa on the same day—February 10, 1941—into the Army National Guard Infantry. I assume they knew each other, served in the same unit in North Africa, and were captured together.

All 35 men are listed in the U.S. National Archives WW II POW records. Armie’s address book contains addresses for a number of them. In future individual posts I will document all I know about each of these men.

B. No. 361—Sergeant Armie S. Hill—Serial No. 36200720
B. No. 362—Sergeant Kenneth E. Gaddy—Serial No. 20701847
B. No. 363—Corporal Michael M. Sterm—Serial No. 2703555
B. No. 364—Private Morris Scianna—Serial No. 33147188
B. No. 364—Private Rochester F. Nettles—Serial No. 34059817
B. No. 366—Private Joe Maly—Serial No. 16000460
B. No. 367—Corporal William S. Kornrumph—Serial No. 12020628
B. No. 368—Private First Class William W. Hurley—Serial No. 38064103
B. No. 369—Private First Class Gilbert D. Loonam—Serial No. 32019660
B. No. 370—Corporal Warron A. Colver—Serial No. 20705564
B. No. 371—Private First Class Lawrence F. Hunt—Serial No. 14038487
B. No. 372—Private First Class James Guillary—Serial No. 6959286
B. No. 373—Private First Class Earl C. Linaweaver—Serial No. 13023638
B. No. 374—Corporal Edgar J. Curttright—Serial No. 20701885
B. No. 375—Corporal Les J. Cratty—Serial No. 10600080
B. No. 376—Corporal Robert D. Chandler—Serial No. 15059956
B. No. 377—Private First Class Ray W. Dentler—Serial No. 37073082
B. No. 378—Private First Class Allen A. Coombs—Serial No. 20701884
B. No. 379—Private First Class James Collins—Serial No. 13022149
B. No. 380—Private First Class Claude J. Cole—Serial No. 20701883
B. No. 381—Private First Class Willis Largent—Serial No. 13023021
B. No. 382—Private First Class Alvie D. Cochran—Serial No. 15055130
B. No. 383—Private First Class Fredric G. Busky [Frederick G. Buske]—
Serial No.37038102
B. No. 384—Private John E. Buchanan—Serial No. 20701816
B. No. 385—Private First Class Stanley Bentley—Serial No. 15055095
B. No. 386—Private First Class Harold S. Arneson—Serial No. 39602619
B. No. 387—Private First Class Dillard W. Anderson—Serial No. 33090088
B. No. 388—Private First Class Arnold L. Anderson—Serial No. 20714955
B. No. 389—Private First Class Harold Adkins—Serial No. 33090536
B. No. 390—Private Anthony P. Fiore—Serial No. 32003230
B. No. 391—Private Ray Felcle [Felchle]—Serial No. 37025587
B. No. 392—Private Benjamin F. Farley—Serial No. 15054958
B. No. 393—Private Chris J. Facchina—Serial No. 33189164
B. No. 394—Private First Class John O. Everett—Serial No. 34138090
B. No. 395—Private August C. Erdbrink—Serial No. 33067286
B. No. 396—Private Billy V. England—Serial No. 6956161