I received word this morning from Marida Parks that her father, Nicola Lagalla, passed away yesterday, February 15th, in Perth, Western Australia, at the age of 98.
Visitors to this site may be familiar with the story of Nicola and his brother Liberato’s heroic sea transport of POWs through reading “Nicola and Liberato Lagalla—Rescue by Sea.”
Among the soldiers aboard the boats navigated by the young Lagallas was Captain J. H. Derek Millar, PG 59’s chief medical officer and—at the time of the camp breakout—the camp’s commanding officer. (Read “Captain Millar—Valor in the Hour of Crisis.”)
After the camp breakout in September 1943, Captain Millar and Corporal Howard Jones, along with Italian Lino Papiri, led a dozen or more escapees to the Adriatic port of San Benedetto del Tronto. There the men were loaded onto two diesel-powered fishing boats that were owned by the Lagalla family.
Captain Millar wrote in his memoirs, “no one knew how to work a diesel engine, until we got a 16 year old Italian boy who said he could do it ….”
That boy and his brother, Nicola and Liberato Lagalla, skippered the prisoners along the coast to the safety of Allied-controlled Termoli.
After the war the brothers were awarded the British Bronze Medal for Civilian Bravery.
Nicola had a zest for life and a rich sense of humor.
Marida once wrote to me, “Dad & Liberato were clowns & somewhat different to the rigid Italian way of thinking, especially in San Benedetto. They would often get up to no good. Playing tricks on both family & strangers.
“I can tell you without hesitation, that the one to start it would’ve been dad. A rebel his entire life, which I think may have served him well at the time of the escape.”
Last July, Marida wrote, “You would wonder how dad is doing? He’s been amazing given what he’s had to endure. One thing about this man, he’s determined, relentlessly compelled to overcome obstacles.
“Dad feels deeply. Yet, has finite processes—you can see the cogs turning. Not much different to the boy back then, to the man he is today. Resilient.
“Dad never passes up the opportunity to sing and dance during festa time at the residences. Did you know he was an amazing Boogie Woogie dancer? That he has an amazing voice?”
Preceded in death by his wife and their son Robert, Nicola left life in the way he certainly would have wished—with his loving children, Marida, Sabrina, and Paul, by his side.
His story is a legacy we will continue to treasure. Read also “Nicola Lagalla—After the Rescue.”
Camp 59 Survivors 