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.”

This clipping from a local San Benedetto Del Tronto (Marche, Italy) newspaper, commemorated the return, after two decades, of a favorite son—Nicola Lagalla, known to locals as “the earthquake.”

Nicola returned to San Benedetto when the hometown soccer team, Samb, was having a spectacular season.

Nicola’s daughter, Marida Parkes, in sending me the clipping, explained:

“When Samb climbed up the soccer ladder—because of their win—the town went berserk… they celebrated for weeks (as you do when you are Italian). Dad and mum flew to Italy for the festivities.

“Dad is fanatical about his soccer and Aussie Rules football. To this day he does not miss a match and will get up at all hours to watch.”

Sanbenedettese, the name for a person who is born in San Benedetto Del Tronto, is also the name of the soccer team—or Samb for short. Red and Blue are the Samb team colors.

Translation of the article:

NICOLA LAGALLA (earthquake)

“Today amongst us, we have chosen an enthusiastic, fanatical pureblooded Sanbenedettese who, from such a distance, has maintained his love not only for his soccer team, Samb, but also that of his hometown.

“He immigrated to Australia 20 years ago. With such distance between them, he missed his family and he has also missed his beloved team—Samb. The only comfort, as the newspaper reported on Tuesday, was that the Red & Blue team was promoted on the football ladder. Upon hearing this, he could not ignore the call to return to his roots and returned to San Benedetto Del Tronto for the festivities.

“He [Nicola] will remain here with us until the beginning of the next season/championship.”

Continue reading →

Marida describes the photo above: “This is of dad and myself—yes, with a ‘boy coif.’ I was two years old and dad would then have been 29 years old. It was taken at San Benedetto, opposite the port.”

Below right: Nicola Lagalla in recent years.

I asked Mariada Parkes this week if her father, Nicola Lagalla, and his brother Liberato ever returned to San Benedetto del Tronto after their transport of the British POWs down the Adriatic coast. (See “Nicola and Liberato Lagalla—Rescue by Sea” for the full story.)

She replied, “Papà tells me that after he and his brother delivered the POWs to safety, their boats were tied up alongside an American ship in Termoli for approximately one month.

“The boats used to assist the POWs were the San Nicola—built by my nonno [grandfather] and named after my dad—and the Luigi Primo. My nonno purchased the second boat, which had already been named.

“Dad and uncle had no money and no diesel for the boats.

“After a while, the Americans supplied them with diesel so that they could take the boats out fishing. They fished off the shores of Termoli, Molfetta, and Barletta. They sold the fish at the fish markets in these towns and then returned to the ship in Termoli.

“There was a curfew at the time—and so, dad and uncle returned to Termoli every day no later than 5 p.m.

“A little twist—in Barletta, dad met a man who had previously been a POW in Tobruk for two years. This fellow was allowed to help dad as a deck hand.

Continue reading →