Category Archives: Armie Hill

Ben Farley’s Ultimate Sacrifice

The grave of Private B. F. Farley, 1923–1945, in the Farley Cemetery, Hatfield, Kentucky (USA). Apparently Ben Farley is buried beside his father, Bertran “Bert” Farley, and his maternal grandmother.

It’s Memorial Day in the United States, a national holiday set aside for the honoring of military personnel who died in service of their country.

I am remembering and honoring one soldier in particular: Private Benjamin F. Farley.

The name Ben Farley has been one I’ve known for nearly all my life. My father, Sergeant Armie Hill, a former PG 59 POW, used to tell my brothers, sister, and me stories about how he escaped from the camp in September 1943, and how he and Ben paired up together outside the camp walls that night and resolved to stick together during their flight. They headed south and 30 days later were among the first escapees to cross the Allied lines.

Armie recorded the story of his and Ben’s escape in two audio sessions that are posted on Camp 59 Survivors: “Escape—Armie Hill’s First Account” and “Escape—Armie Hill’s Second Account.’’

In PG 59, Armie, was designated a section sergeant (or orderly sergeant) and put in charge of a section of 35 men (Hut 4–Section 11). As Ben was among the men in his section, Armie would have gotten to know him well in the camp.

Ben could be feisty. “He and I hadn’t gotten along especially well earlier,” Armie said. “He was kind of a little cocky guy.”

He was short—5’6″ tall, and weighed 119 pounds.

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Don Giuseppe Ciabattoni—A Hero of Faith

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Don Giuseppe Ciabattoni (left), on a 1936 visit to the ninth-century church of Santa Maria di Scalelle; most likely he is accompanied by aspirants of the Catholic Action Youth

I am profoundly grateful to several individuals who have made possible access to the information for this post.

First, a hearty thanks to my friend Gian Paolo Ferretti of Ascoli Piceno, Italy. Paolo contacted me last November about his great grandfather Antonio Ferretti who, on his property in Falciano, sheltered several American POWs who had escaped from PG 59.

In emails with Paolo, I shared a few details about my father’s time on the run after his escape from PG 59. I explained that Angela Bianchini had protected my father (Armie Hill) and his friend Ben Farley in Roccafluvione.

In 2010, I had visited Roccafluvione hoping to learn more about Angela, and I wrote about that visit afterward (see “In Search of Armie’s Italian Angels”). It was during the trip to Roccafluvione that I learned the name of Don Giuseppe Ciabattoni.

Paolo surprised me with news that he had arranged a meeting with Guido Ianni, deputy mayor of Roccafluvione, to discuss our quest. The deputy mayor was eager to help us learn more about Angela and Don Giuseppe Ciabattoni, and during Paolo’s meeting with him he was introduced to Antonio Ferretti, a young man working on a research project in the comune archives.

Antonio immediately began to hunt for information.

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To Talk or Not To Talk

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Tomorrow is my father’s birthday. He died in 2000, but had he lived, he would have been 100 years old. He was born on February 9, 1918, to Finnish immigrants in a lumber camp in Michigan’s heavily forested Upper Peninsula.

I’m dedicating this post to his memory.

The document pictured above, issued by the U.S. War Department, entitled “Amended Instructions Concerning Publicity in Connection with Escaped Prisoners of War, to Include Evaders of Capture in Enemy or Enemy-Occupied Territory and Internees in Neutral Countries,” is dated August 6, 1943.

The document stresses the need for secrecy about information relating to the POW experience, and it lays down guidelines.

It states, “Information about your escape or your evasion from capture would be useful to the enemy and a danger to your friends. It is therefore SECRET.”

Former prisoners, on their repatriation, were required to sign the form.

The poor condition of this copy suggests my dad carried it folded in his pocket or wallet for some time after his return to freedom.

The form instructs servicemen to not disclose, except to certain military personnel, the following information:

(1) The names of those who helped you.
(2) The method by which you escaped for evaded.
(3) The route you followed.
(4) Any other facts concerning your experience.

“You must be particularly on your guard with persons representing the press,” it says, and “give no account of your experiences in books, newspapers, periodicals, or in broadcasts or in lectures.”

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Lost U.S. Military Records

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Official letter concerning Armie Hill’s destroyed military records

An inquirer to this site wrote to me last fall that in his search for military records concerning his father, he had come up short. He explained, “I do have a copy of the SF-180, but since the fire in 1973 his official army records may never be known.”

In 1991, my own father, Armie Hill, learned of that fire when, in response to my family’s urging, he wrote to Congressional representative Toby Roth about possible eligibility for a medal he had not received but might be entitled to—the Silver Star.

When I interviewed my dad about his war experiences in 1976, he had told me that after leaving Camp 59, he and fellow escapee Ben Farley were among the first to reach the Allied line—having traveled some 300 miles from Servigliano through the mountains of central Italy to Termoli in just 31 days.

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A Southward Migration

This undated newspaper photo was clipped and saved by British former prisoner-of-war Denis Crooks.

The source, the Evening Standard, is evidently the London Evening Standard.

The caption reads:

“‘Welcome Home’ Sign in Italy

“So many Allied officers and men are escaping through the enemy lines to the Eighth Army that directional signs have been put up for them. One of the signs in the village of Vinchiaturo.”

[The stenciled sign in the photo reads “ALLIED EX POW REPORT HERE.”]

Two Transfer of Personnel Documents

Document No. 1—November 3, 1943

The following “transfer of personnel” document—my father Sergeant Armie Hill’s “ticket home” after reunion with the Allied forces following his escape—was framed and proudly displayed on our living room wall for many years when I was a child.

Armie and his escape companion Ben Farley made it to the Allied lines in 31 days, having traveled an estimated 300 miles on foot through the mountains in order to evade recapture. They escaped on September 14 and arrived at the British Eighth Army line on October 15.

These eight men were the first prisoners to turn up, and Armie later said, “They didn’t know what to do with us.”

All eight escapees listed in this document escaped from Camp 59 in Servigliano.

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In Search of Armie’s Italian Angels

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Sergeant Armie S. Hill, circa 1943. I carried this photograph of my father with me to Roccafluvione and to the site of Camp 59, where he was a prisoner.

Strada Caserine winds up a mountainside westward from Roccafluvione. American servicemen Armie Hill and Ben Farley were led up this road by children to a farm where the family of Angela Bianchini offered them protection.

View into a rain-soaked valley from half way up Strada Caserine.

The story of how my father, Armie Hill, and Kentuckian Ben Farley were befriended in the town of Roccafluvione is recorded in an earlier post, “Armie’s Italian Angels.”

Take a moment to review Armie’s account, as it will help you appreciate the adventure described here—a September 2010 journey to Roccafluvione.

I had hoped to meet relatives of the Italians who had sheltered the two men. My friend Anne Bewicke-Copley said the way to get advance word out at Roccafluvione was to contact the town bars—the social hubs of the community.

In early August, I sent letters—translated into Italian—to the four bars in Roccafluvione. I also sent a letter to a city office—to the segreteria of the commune.

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A Camp with a View

Before traveling to Italy, I thought I had a good sense of what Camp 59 was like—the layout of the camp, construction of the buildings, and the encompassing brick walls.

Of course, no former POW’s story of how things were in the camp—or even actual photographs I had been sent of Camp 59—could convey so complete a sense of the place as I experienced on walking though the camp for the first time in September.

From within the walls, I could look in all directions, touch the soil, feel the autumn Italian sun on my skin, hear birds and see them flying overhead.

The camp today is a community park called Il Parco della Pace (the Park of Peace), with green lawns, shrubs, trees, and playing fields and courts for soccer, basketball, and other sports.

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Il Resto del Carlino on the Camp Visit

Camp 59 and the blog dedicated to it

Coming upon their POW relatives on the web leads these two to Servigliano

Il Resto del Carlino
Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Caption: Englishman Steve Dickins[on] and American Dennis Hill in front of the wall through which their uncle and father managed an escape. [Note: Steve’s uncle Robert was transferred from Camp 59 before the September 1943 escape; however, around that same time Robert escaped from the camp where he was held.]

MEMORIES—The meeting between an American and an Englishman, the son and nephew of two interned soldiers

They wanted news about the Servigliano refugee camp, from which their relatives fled in 1943. In doing research on the Internet, the two discovered the blog “Cam[p] 59,” dedicated to the prisoner of war camp in this town. That’s how Englishman Steve Dickinson and American Dennis Hill began a “virtual” friendship, which brought them to Servigliano yesterday—to share their family stories.

Steve’s uncle Robert, a British soldier, was captured in Africa and interned at Servigliano. “I found his diary—a sort of copybook of the Red Cross—where my uncle recorded all his activities through the war and until his death. I read those pages and decided to retrace his steps. When he arrived at Servigliano, on 18 January 1942, he described the landscape as charming, though he explained that hunger did not allow him to enjoy the place.

“At Servigliano he found consolations—his first shower in 24 days, and clean sheets. He escaped through the hole in the wall and headed north, aided people of the area. He became a partisan and settled in Gassino Torinese, which is where he died. His body rests in the Milan war cemetery.”

Armie Hill’s story is different. Dennis’ father was an American soldier who was captured in Africa in 1943 and transferred to Servigliano. “My father escaped through the hole in the wall caused by the bombing,” Dennis said, “But he headed south—to meet the Allies—and he returned home. He recalls in his story [receiving help from] Don Giuseppe Ciabattoni, the rector at Roccafluvione.

Alessio Carassai

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Celebrating Family Ties

A Dickinson family outing to the beach. At front are Robert, youngest brother Len on the lap of his mother, and his father. In back are brothers James and William.

On this occasion—the Thanksgiving weekend, when American families gather to feast, remember the past, and meditate on their blessings—I’ll pause for a moment to reflect on the universality of family ties.

Here are three families—British, American, and Italian—who have connections to prisoners from Camp 59. The stories of Robert Dickinson, Marino Palmoni, and Armie Hill are well-covered in a number of posts on this site.

In celebration of this holiday, here is an international family album.
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A Season for Visits

John Davison, his family, and new Italian friends explore the grounds of the old Cararola farm, where Norman Davison was at first assigned to work and where he later found shelter.

Steve Dickinson and Dennis Hill were among visitors to Camp 59, where Steve’s uncle Robert Dickinson and Dennis’ father Armie Hill were imprisoned. At center was the hole in the wall—since mortared shut—through which many prisoners escaped from the camp.

For three individuals who have an intimate family connection to the prisoner-of-war camp at Servigliano, this fall was a unique time for discovery.

John Davison this year made contact with descendants of Giovanni Bellazzi, the northern Italian farmer who sheltered his father, escaped prisoner G. Norman Davison. Giovanni and his friends helped to arrange for Norman’s safe passage to Switzerland.

Norman had been a prisoner at Camp 59 before he was transferred to camps farther north, where he was required to work on farms.

In early September, John and his family visited the town of Vigevano and experienced a thrilling welcome. (See posts In Their Fathers’ Footsteps, Part 1 and Part 2).

Then, at the end of September, Steve Dickinson and I were among visitors to Camp 59 in Servigliano, where Steve’s uncle Robert Dickinson and my father Armie Hill were interned.

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