Following Luther and Jimmie Shield’s 1983 visit to the Palmoni family, Luther sent an affectionate thank you note to Iginia “Mama” Palmoni and her family. This letter was scanned by Antonello Palmoni (Marino Palmoni’s son), and sent to Luther’s daughter Cindy Jackson 25 years later, on December 29, 2008.
The text of the letter, both in Italian and translated into English, follows.
BY SUSAN SHIELDS
Cortez [Colorado] Journal, circa April 1983
(EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is the first part of a two-part account of the capture, internment in a prison camp, and ultimate escape of Luther Shields in a World War II battle which took him from north Africa to Italy during the height of intensive fighting.)
December 8, 1941: The United States declares war on the Axis countries. Private Luther Shields of Goodman Point had already been through training for the U.S. Army at Fort Bliss, and had written home to his parents, “I don’t think the army is so bad after all.”
On May 19, 1942, Private Shields would again be writing to the folks back home from Northern Ireland, where he and thousands of other American troops were engaged in serious training maneuvers, ostensibly, in preparation for thwarting the German Wehrmacht’s assault on Russia.
“The Mirage” is one of eight poems by Cpl. D. Nevitt in Robert Dickinson’s Camp 59 journal, “Servigliano Calling.”
T’was in a lonely desert outpost,
Where a sunburnt sentry lay,
Looking o’er towards the Jerries,
Not so very far away.
The flies for ever buzzing,
Converged upon that spot,
And the burning sun above him,
Made those yellow sands quite hot.
For hours he lay there watching,
But he didn’t mind that day.
For he’d just received a letter,
From a thousand miles away.
For thirteen weeks he’d waited,
Waited so patiently,
And now at last it had arrived,
That note from oversea.
Robert Dickinson at home.
This letter from Robert to his brother Jim and Jim’s wife Olive must have been sent after September 1944, as the breakout from Camp 59 was on September 14, 1943, and Robert writes that he has not been a POW for over a year.
Jim must have been glad to receive the letter, as he had not been in contact with Robert since he left camp.
Eve, who is mentioned, is Olive’s sister. Known in the family as Auntie Eve, she turned 90 in 2008.
Ida was Robert’s girlfriend. It is to Ida that he dedicated his journal, “Servigliano Calling.” Had Robert returned home, he and Ida would likely have married.
On this set of American Red Cross “Aviator” playing cards Luther Shields recorded the names and addresses of his friends in Camp 59. Most of them are likely from his camp section.
He carried this “address deck” with him when he escaped.
Note that a couple of the cards bear colorful descriptions: “Hill Billy Sheep Hearder” and “Honkey Tonk (Kid).”
There are 55 addresses in all. They are:
James L. Rogers
R.R. #1
Madison, Indiana
(U.S. National Archives on-line POW database indicates Pvt. James L. Rogers, Army Infantry, of Indiana was returned to military control, liberated or repatriated from CC 59 Ascoli Picenzo Italy 43-13.)
Gus Teel
507 S. Richardson
Roswell, New Mex.
(U.S. National Archives on-line POW database indicates Pvt. Guss O. Teel, Army Corps of Engineers, of New Mexico was returned to military control, liberated or repatriated from a POW camp, but no camp name is indicated.)
Paul Wakeland
601 Walnut Street
Dawson Springs, Ky.
(U.S. National Archives on-line POW database indicates Sgt. Paul I. Wakefield, Army Infantry, of Kentucky was returned to military control, liberated or repatriated from CC 59 Ascoli Picenzo Italy 43-1.)
The last few pages of Robert Dickinson’s journal, “Servigliano Calling,” contain calendars for the years 1941–44. Each of these calendars is meticulously drawn and accurate; the 1944 calendar includes February 29th, as it was a leap year.
On each of the four calendars one date has a heavy outline, February 28—Robert’s sweetheart Ida’s birthday. Robert’s journal entry for February 28, 1944 reads:
“Feb 28th—Ida’s Birthday; Oh for a letter.”
The strikes-throughs marking each passing day begin on Sunday, November 23rd, the day Robert was captured by the Germans. The last strike was through June 6, 1944. But, curiously, Robert continued to record daily events in his journal through September 3, 1944. Why did he decide to stop marking out the days?
His entry for the last struck-though date is:
“Jun 6th—The invasion is on; news of big landings in France!!”
The following article by Graham Kislingbury, entitled “Escape from Nazis in Italy Close Call for D-1 Soldier,” appeared in the Thursday, April 26, 1945 edition of The Bealiner. The Bealiner is the newspaper of the Beal Air Force Base in Yuba County, California.
Capture in North Africa, escape from Italy, and a game of hide-and-seek from the enemy in the high mountains of northern Italy is but a small portion of the adventure story told by Pfc. Luther C. Shields, 25, of D-1, PRD.
I was with the 16th Combat Engineers, attached to the First Armored Division in North Africa, when captured in Dec. 10, 1942,” said Shields. “My platoon was building a road block about 18 miles west of Tunesia to delay the enemy counter attack, when a whole German Panzer Division moved in on us, with their tanks sweeping right by. The few of us that lived were surrounded by German Infantry and had to give up.”
Prior to being drafted, I attended Garrett Ridge High School in the Cortez area of Colorado during my freshman and sophomore years. My mom and dad had no money to pay tuition for me to finish high school, so I went to Kuna, Idaho where I lived with my granddad and grandma Walker. I milked cows in Boise, Idaho. My granddad had an old radio in the barn that he played when milking cows. He swore the cows gave more milk when the radio was playing.
I was drafted in fall of 1941 to serve one year. Beginning in September 1941, I spent 13 weeks in basic training at Fort Knox in Kentucky, and I also trained at Fort Bliss in Texas.
Then Pearl Harbor was attacked in December 7, 1941 and World War II broke out.
World War II was everywhere. Yugoslavia and Greece had fallen to Nazi troops, Russia was being heavily attacked by powerful German artillery, American forces had whipped a Japanese fleet in the Coral Sea, and Mussolini was fighting for control over Italy in an alignment with Hitler. By November of 1942, most of the Allies’ concentration was on the European theater. Rommel masterminded a series of surprise advances in North Africa. On November 8th, our 16th Combat Engineers were attached to the First Armored Division of the U.S. Second Corps.
“To Mother and Dad” is one of three poems by Denis Crooks recorded in Robert Dickinson’s diary, “Servigliano Calling.”
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.
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”
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
Camp 59 Survivors 
You must be logged in to post a comment.