Felice “Phil” Vacca attended services at this church with the Virgilis, even while the area was controlled by the Germans.
The church was the landmark that Tony used to find the Virgili family in 1968. He knew that it was just down the hill and across the river from the Virgili home, where his father had found shelter after his escape from Camp 59.
This post is the third and final installment of the story of Camp 59 survivor Felice “Phil Vacca, which began with “Part 1—Off to War,” and “Part 2—Camp 59 and Escape.”
“We landed at Boston, Massachusetts, on August 2, 1944. From there we were shipped to Camp Upton, Long Island, New York. At that time we were given a thirty-day vacation. After 30 days, on August 31, 1944, I reported to Camp Butner, North Carolina, for duty.”
There was a rule in force at that time that forbade Ex-POWs from returning to the same theater of action once repatriated. The military had the choice of sending Phil to the Pacific theater or keeping him in the U.S. He became a guard at the White House.
Phil standing guard in front of the Treasury Building, September 1945
“At that time I was picked out by Captain Minns, from the 250th Military Police (SP),” Phil explained, “[and we were] stationed at 17th and E behind the State Department in Washington, D.C. We had four machine guns—two that were located on the grounds in front of the White House near the Washington Monument, and one each on the East and West Wings.
Mario Vacca shared the following leaflet with me.
His father, Felice “Phil” Vacca, an escapee from Camp 59, later described distribution of the leaflets over the Italian countryside:
“…American planes dropped [these] leaflets by the thousands in the area, offering 5,000 lire to any Italian who would help hide and care for the escapees. There were so many leaflets it looked as though it had snowed.”
Shown below are the leaflet’s front and back sides and translation into English.
ITALIANS UNDER THE GERMAN YOKE!
Throughout Italy’s roads, forests, and mountains partisan soldiers are in battle against the Germans.
Day and night from their shops, the railways, and fields, they continue to sabotage the oppressors.
Beyond their active struggle is work that everyone—regardless of age or gender—can do: help the English and American prisoners escape from the Germans.
Private First Class Felice Vacca
I first heard about Felice “Phil” Vacca when his son Mario wrote to me last January:
“My father, Felice Vacca, escaped from PG 59 along with Peter Calvagno, Edmond Petrelli, Joe Mandese and Tony Spicola. I have visited the camp twice. I do have some history if you are interested.”
When I wrote back that of course I was very interested, Mario then sent me a long, detailed account of Phil’s experiences.
Mario had clearly invested a great deal of thought and effort into recording his father’s story. The format he chose was that of a scholarly research paper, complete with extensive footnotes, cross references to historical accounts of the war in North Africa (where Phil was captured), and links to web resources.
What I am posting here, with Mario’s permission, has been taken from that larger paper. Although I’ve removed the notes and references to external sources, the posts contain Phil’s full account of his experiences as well as additional details provided by Mario’s brother Jim.
Mario’s brother Tony was a resource for the paper, too. It was Tony who, when stationed in Italy during the 1960s, found the Virgili family—Phil’s protectors after his escape from Camp 59.
Phil Vacca escaped from Camp 59 with four other prisoners, shown in this photograph. At rear (left to right) are Peter Calvagno, Edmond Petrelli, and Joe Mandese. In front (left to right) are Tony Spicola, and Phil Vacca.
This post is the second installment of the story of Camp 59 survivor Felice “Phil Vacca, which began with “Part 1—Off to War.”
“In January of 1943, we were taken by passenger car to Rome, Camp P.G. 50. Approximately 20 of us American-Italians spent about a month there being interrogated. The questions they asked were the same as before (and they already had the answers to them). There was a German planted among us who spoke American English quite fluently. The interrogators were an Italian Calvary and Mountain Troops (The Alpine Post). While I was there, I saw Mussolini’s Arabian horse. It was a beautiful horse.
“Our group of American Italians remained together for the rest of our trip by passenger car to Camp P.G. 59.
“When we were captured, we had regular uniform on. We had our heavy coats, since the nights were cool, even in North Africa. After our arrival at our permanent camp, P.G. 59, we were given gray jackets with a red 4 x 4-inch patch on the right side of the back of the jacket. On the pants they had sewed on another 4 x 4-inch red patch between the knee and hip. They let us keep our uniform, except for the gray jacket, which was theirs.”
Camp P.G. 59 had wood frame buildings for barracks, with windows and two doors—one at each end of the building. The barracks were intact, but with no heat of any kind. The windows were open to the outside. Bugs and lice were plentiful.
“You’d go in for delousing and come out worse than when you went in.” Phil said. “We passed time with bed bugs and body lice.
After I added the post on Giovina Fioravanti to the Camp 59 Survivors site this week, I heard from Joely Carter. Giovina is her husband’s grandmother. On her blog, iwishiwasalandgirl.wordpress.com, she has shared some personal reminiscences:
“My husband’s grandmother, Bella, has always been larger than life. A typical Italian matriarch, she is fiery and protective, and always wants to feed you! When I first met her around 7 years ago, I was struck by how beautiful and elegant she was, and couldn’t believe it when she told me she was 86! Bella is a term of endearment, her real name being Giovina Fioravanti. Originally, Bella aspired to be an actress however on the outbreak of World War II Bella volunteered her services to her country. Over the years, Bella has shared many stories with me, the most memorable being that during a boat crossing from Albania back to Italy, a Bulgarian man had taken a bullet for her using his body as a shield. When I first went to her house, I was proudly shown a certificate, which was hanging in the dining room. Bella explained that this was for bravery during the War, but never elaborated on what she had done to obtain this. It was always assumed that this was an award given to all Italians who played their part in the War.
Giovina Fioravanti, circa 1940s, and a more recently photo on the Isle of Wight
I received an e-mail late last month from Isabelle Burberry on the Isle of Wight on the south coast of England.
She wrote, “I am in possession of the Certificate of Gratitude signed by Field-Marshall H.R. Alexander awarded to my Mother, Fioravanti Giovina. My Mother is extremely proud of said Certificate and would show it off to all and sundry even to this day. However, I was completely unaware of the story behind the Certificate until a search on the internet led me to your site.”
“I’m not really sure exactly what it was that my mother did, but presume it was to provide help. I know that she was with the Red Cross, and I seem to remember that she had been in Albania and was travelling back down from the North to the South of Italy to be reunited with her family.”
Giovina’s family lived about an hour south of Rome.
The certificates, signed by Field Marshal Harold Alexander, commander of Allied forces in Italy, were issued to a select group of Italians who had risked their lives to protect escaped British POWs and evaders (soldiers evading capture in enemy territory) during German occupation of their homeland.
Below is a list of 24 British servicemen who escaped from Camp 59 in September 1943. Of these names, 22 are new to this site. I felt great satisfaction in adding them to the master Prisoner List page last night.
All of these escapees traveled south from the camp and safely reached the Allied lines.
The list is courtesy of British researcher Brian Sims. Brian’s father, T/221204 Dvr W. H. Sims, died at sea as a POW in November 1942. Brian’s accessing of records about the sinking of the S.S. Scillin by a British submarine as it carried POWs from Libya to Italy launched his over his over 20 years of research into POW records at the UK National Archives.
The two names that are not new to this site are H. Schofield and Howard F. Jones (H. F. Jones below).
Giuseppe Millozzi, in Allied Prisoners of War in the Region of the Marche and Prison Camp at Servigliano has written that H. Schofield was among the first to escape through the hole in the camp’s west wall, with fellow SAS soldier J. G. Whitlow on September 14, 1943.
Captain J. H. D. Millar, the British officer who was responsible for the evacuation of Camp 59 on September 14, 1943, said in his memoir that he left the camp with Howard F. Jones that night.
Since I posted Roland Rakow’s story to this site on July 30, 2008, I’ve gained access to additional information about the crash and outcomes for the crew of Roland’s B-25 bomber.
The plane was shot down on September 1, 1942 over North Africa. Roland, who served as the radio operator and lower turret gunner on the plane, was eventually interned in Camp 59.
November 2011, I heard from Jurine Biers, the widow of 2nd Lt. Irving Biers, co-pilot of the plane. Irving Biers passed away in 1996 at the age of 78.
When Jurine learned through the post on this site that Roland was still living, she contacted him. She and her grandson have has since visited him at his home in Florida.
On the 2008 post, Roland explained, “… as our B-25 was returning from its second completed mission—dropping its bomb load on tanks, trucks, and troops on the front line at El Alamein—it was struck by a German anti-aircraft 88 mm shell on the left side of the aircraft, adjacent to the top turret gun position. The shell made a gaping hole, which caused the aircraft to break open and go into a 30-or 40-degree dive.
“The bombardier, navigator, and the top turret gunner were unable to leave the aircraft. The pilot, co-pilot, and I (the radio operator) parachuted to the ground. We sustained wounds and injuries.
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:
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.
Camp 59 Survivors 