Category Archives: Prisoners—Camp 59

Ray Kestner—Still Behind Enemy Lines

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Raymond Kestner with family

The letters in this post, saved by Ray Kestner’s sister, are posted here courtesy of Ray’s granddaughter Jessica Kestner McMahon.

In one of his letters, Marshall Wells makes reference to Ray’s wounded arm. Ray had been shot in the left arm before capture and was treated by the Italians.

The sensitive correspondence between strangers in this post calls to my mind the sharing of news concerning Albert Rosenblum’s capture described in “Kind Strangers—Relays from Radio Rome” and the news of Willman King recorded in “Heard over Shortwave.”

For more on Ray Kestner, see “Local News Articles—Raymond Kestner” and “Ray Kestner—Letters and Postcards.

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Willman King’s Addresses

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Above: American soldier Willman King superimposed against a page of his address list.

Like Clifford Houben, Charles Simmons, and many other POWs, Willman King kept a list of men he met while a prisoner.

Like Clifford Houben, Willman recorded his addresses on traced dog tags.

Because there are no notations in this list and because Willman was recaptured after escape from Camp 59 and sent to Germany, we can’t be sure which names and addresses were gathered in Camp 59 and which were collected later.

All the same, it’s good to have this document for future cross reference. Thanks to Willman’s son Joseph King for sharing this list.

R. B. Lipps
410 Ninth St. [street address is unclear]
Marshalltown
Iowa

Ernest Kimbrel
6252 South Spalding
Chicago
Illinois

Eugene Hockenbery
RR #1
Waynesboro
Pennsylvania

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Clifford Houben’s Address List

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According to Wayne Houben (Clifford Houben’s son), Clifford escaped from Camp 59 and was given refuge by Italians; he was later recaptured and sent to Stalag 2B in Germany.

While in the Italian and German camps, Clifford accumulated a long address list of men he met. The list is comprised of nine full pages.

Roughly half of the addresses are written within the shapes of dog tags, and the traced holes of several of the tags cleverly contain camp numbers or crosses that likely indicate medical or pastoral affiliation.

Only the following 11 servicemen were noted as having been interned in Camp 59:

Keith Argraves, James A. Coccoran, Thomas C. Cronin, Edmund H. Cote, Milton Bunz, Marion P. Barone, Jack Kirkpatrick, Anthony Primac, Gene Schull, John A. Silborski, and Maholan J. Black

I checked many of the other names in the U.S. National Archives database of WW II POWS. Overwhelmingly, these other men were listed as having been freed from camps in Germany. How many were in Camp 59 and were recaptured after escaping—like Clifford Houben—I have no way of knowing. Some of the men, like Richard and Henry Kane, I know from other sources to have been in Camp 59.

I hope that relatives of any of the men listed below who read this post will contact me (hilld@indiana.edu) in order to help to resolve a bit of this puzzle.

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Ray Kestner—Letters and Postcards

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Ray Kestner

Jessica Kestner McMahon shared the following letters and postcards that her grandfather sent home while in the service. Ray Kestner was interned at Camp 59 in 1943 from March 1 to September 14.

On December 17, newspaper articles about Ray were posted to this site.

LETTER

[Fort Knox, Kentucky]

Dear Pappy, Mamy, and kids,

We finally arrived in Fort Knox at about 7:00 pm Fri. It took 39 hours to get here. While we were on the train we ate out of our mess kits. We had plenty to eat. The kitchen was in the baggage car.

It’s kool and cloudy here today. It sure rained hard last night. The ground is all red here except where there are trees. It’s kinda hilly around here and the buildings we are in are all new the same as at Snelling [Fort Snelling, Minnesota].

We have off from Sat. noon to Mon. morning, so I am just listening to the radio.

Yours with Love
Pvt. Raymond Kestner
Co. A, 10th Battalion
A.F.R.T.C., 4th Platoon
Fort Knox, Kentucky

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Matt Brazil Recuperating

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The U.S. National Archives database of WW II POWs lists Matt Brazil as having been a prisoner, but the record doesn’t include a camp name.

A couple of things mentioned in Laura Rawson’s article, “The Story of Sergeant Matt Brazil….,” and the Fog Horn article seem to reinforce that he was in Camp 59:

The article above mentions two British doctors. The two British doctors in Camp 59 were J. H. Derek Millar and Adrian Duff, both Scottish. The article also mentions a dentist—who was named Hogson, according to Giuseppe Millozzi.

Matt mentions getting mail regularly, which was not true in all camps.

Camp 59, though not in Ancona, is near to it. Matt’s estimate of their being around 1,300 prisoners (about 1,100 British and 200 Americans) in camp is close. The number in Camp 59 at the time of the escape is generally estimated at 2,000. Giuseppe Millozzi refers to Italian military authority records in giving the count of prisoners in March 1943—close to the time Matt would have arrived there—as 1,445 British and 464 Americans.

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Freedom for Matt Brazil

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The Story of Sergeant Matt Brazil, Shot Down at Naples,
A Prisoner, Then Freedom

December 1943
By Laura Rawson

Sergeant Matthew Brazil, son of Mrs. Jennie Brazil of Santa Cruz, an aerial gunner who shot down [by] an enemy plane after it had disabled the Liberator on which he was a gunner over Naples December 11 of last year, and who escaped from an Italian prison camp less than three months ago, is bringing a happy ending to 1943 after all, for last Sunday he married Doris Greenquist of San Jose, to whom he became engaged before going overseas.

He will receive the purple heart and the air medal for his heroic efforts. His troubles are not entirely over yet, for he will undergo an operation to correct adhesions in the tendons of his injured leg soon. Sgt. Brazil is assigned to Hamilton Field when his 30-day furlough is over. He does not expect to be sent back to the European theatre but says, “I wouldn’t mind taking a look at the Japs.”

He says the most exciting moment was when he landed a short time ago on American soil in Newport News, Virginia. “I felt like getting down and kissing the ground,” Sgt. Brazil declared.

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Family Parcels

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This two-page memo from the U.S. War Department contains instructions for families on how to prepare packages to be sent to prisoners of war and civilian internees overseas.

The memo is from Matt Brazil and Bonnie Jacobsen (née Brazil), whose father, Staff Sgt. Matthew P. Brazil, was a POW at Camp 59. Matthew’s family undoubtedly used these guidelines in putting together parcels for him.

The parcels are the American equivalent of what British prisoner Robert Dickinson, in his camp journal, “Servigliano Calling,” called “next of kin” personal parcels.

Here is a transcription of the War Department memo:

WAR DEPARTMENT
Services of Supply
Office of the Provost Marshal General
Washington

March 11, 1943

The Provost Marshal General directs me to inclose a label which may be used within the date stamped thereon for the purpose of sending a prisoner of war or civilian internee parcel. Should you desire to use the label, it is suggested that the following mailing package instructions be strictly followed.

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Laurence Barker—Died for His Country

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Sgt. Laurence “Laurie” Sidney Barker, Royal Canadian Air Force

I received a note from Michael Laurence Barker of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on December 24.

He wrote, “I am the nephew of a Canadian POW who was, I believe, held at Servigliano, at least for part of his time as a POW.

“He escaped from prison camp and travelled with seven others before being discovered in a barn by the Nazis, near Pito. The Nazis set the barn on fire. When the men ran out, all, but for one, were shot. The date was March 11, 1944. The one man who escaped told the sad story to the families of the other seven men. I do not know his name.

“Laurence was buried locally by Pito villagers. Presumably the others were buried there as well.

“Laurence was later re-interred at Ancona War Cemetery.”

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Red Cross Parcels

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This list of contents for American Red Cross “Standard Package No. 8” was provided by Matt Brazil and Bonnie Jacobsen (née Brazil).

I am pleased to share it.

The Red Cross document above reads:

Form 1631-P
Feb. 1942

American Red Cross
STANDARD PACKAGE NO. 8
for
PRISONER OF WAR
___
FOOD

CONTENTS

Evaporated Milk, irradiated – 1 – 14 1/2 oz. can
Lunch Biscuit (hard-tack) – 1 – 8 oz. package
Cheese – 1 – 8 oz. package
Instant Cocoa – 1 – 8 oz. tin
Sardines – 1 – 15 oz. tin
Oleomargarine (Vitamin A) – 1 – 1 lb. tin
Corned Beef – 1 – 12 oz. tin
Sweet Chocolate – 2 – 5 1/2 oz. bars
Sugar, Granulated – 1 – 2 oz. package
Powdered orange concentrate (Vitamin C) – 1 – 7 oz. package
Soup (dehydrated) – 1 – 5 oz. package
Prunes – 1 – 16 oz. package
Instant Coffee – 1 – 4 oz. tin
Cigarettes – 2 – 20’s
Smoking Tobacco – 1 – 2 1/4 oz. package

The WW2 US Medical Research Centre website has some interesting details on Red Cross food and medical parcels and first aid kits, including photographs of contents.

Christmas in Captivity

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This V-mail Christmas card, dated November 22, 1941, was sent by Matthew Brazil to his sweetheart (and later wife) Doris Greenquist of San Jose, California.

On December 11, Matt’s plane was shot down near Naples while on a bombing run, and he was captured.

The following San Jose area newspaper articles, document the details of his disappearance and capture, and his mother’s first communications about him.

One of the articles mentions a Christmas card sent by Matt to his mother on the same day time he sent the V-mail card to his girlfriend.

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RETURNED._
Of hundreds of Xmas cards sent servicemen by CofC [presumable chain of command, the military organization from the individual soldier to President Roosevelt] only one has come back. Addressed to PFC Matthew P. Brazil of a bomber squadron in England or Africa, the cards was returned…ominously rubber stamped: “Missing in Action.” To make sure of it, these two endorsements were written on the envelope: “Missing in Action—Herbert B. Law, 2nd Lt. A. C.” & “Missing in Action—Robert R. Sewell, Capt. A. C.”

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