Robert Dickinson’s “Campo 59 Cookery”

During this time of year, as we devote time in our kitchens to preparation of holiday meals and mouthwatering pastries and desserts, consider for a moment how our imprisoned soldiers craved their favorite foods from home—probably more during this season than at any other time of year.

It is any surprise that the prisoners attempted to recreate some of these dishes, using their daily camp rations and items from the precious Red Cross parcels?

Three pages of Robert Dickinson’s journal, “Servigliano Calling,” are devoted to recipes, ranging from a compote and spreads to pies and fig pudding.

The situation called for some invention—fruit pie crust made of a paste of grated bread mixed with margarine for example.

Cooking was done handily on the camp cook stoves built by fellow prisoners from scraps of tin and shoelaces.

Although Robert titled this section of his journal “Campo 59 Cookery,” the last recipe, “Campo 53 Rarebit,” is evidence that the culinary experiments continued after his transfer to Camp 53 Sforzacosta in January 1943.

One of the poems in Robert’s journal, “Thoughts,” by C. G. Hooper-Rogers, contains a list of sorely missed foods from home. Of his yearnings, Hooper-Rogers writes:

“All I’ve got to do is think, / Of all I used to eat and drink, / And the phantom foods I used to like, / Haunt me all the blinking night.”

Red Cross Compòte

½ loaf
¼ spoonful of sugar
1 spoonful of milk powder
2 spoonfuls of cocoa
(Custard or jelly powder can be added)

Break up the bread into coffeé mug and just cover with water. Soak well until soft. Add other items separately; stirring in well. When finished allow to set (if possible!!) Sugar may be added as desired.

Chocolate Spread

1 spoonful cocoa
1 spoonful milk powder
½ spoonful sugar

Mix the milk powder and the cocoa in the coffeé mug and add water, stirring well into a stiff paste add sugar.

Coffeé Spread (Method as for Chocolate Spread.)

1 spoonful coffeé
1 spoonful sugar
3 spoonfuls milk powder

Continue reading →

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

Continue reading →

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.
Continue reading →

“Servigliano Calling”—A Return to Camp 59

Robert Dickinson kept a diary, titled “Servigliano Calling,” from the date of his capture by the Germans until six months before his death (November 23, 1941 to September 3, 1944).

Robert arrived at Camp 59 on January 18, 1942, and a year later—on January 24, 1943—he was transferred to Camp 53 in Sforzacosta.

Robert’s log for his year in Servigliano is a fascinating, candid record of daily life and events in the camp.

I first learned about “Servigliano Calling” though e-mails from Robert’s nephew Steve Dickinson in April 2008.

Referring to Camp 59, Steve wrote:

“My uncle spent some time there during WW2, but was later transferred to another camp in Northern Italy. At the time of the armistice he walked out of that camp and fought with the Italian partisans until his death towards the end of the Italian Campaign.

“However, during his stay at Servigliano he kept a diary like many of the POW’s. This was found during renovations in a farmhouse [in Gassino, Italy] where the partisans had been hiding him some time after the war and returned to the family. It details the day to day events in Servigliano, football matches, escape attempts, cooking recipes, poetry, etc….”

Continue reading →

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.

Continue reading →

A Kind Letter from the Past

This letter, from the town of Oleggio in northern Italy, dated May 5, 1947, was most likely sent to Bob Smith’s mother from the family whom he stayed with in Italy before his escape.

(The other two pages of the letter are at the bottom of this post.)

According to Bob’s niece, Carole Procter, “It was obviously a farm and I think it was probably the one he was allocated to from the POW camp, rather than the one he hid in when he first escaped, although that is only a feeling—no proof either way.

“The name at the end of the letter looks like J Roselli and on the Oleggio website it does say that Roselli is an old Oleggio name, with members of the family still living there.

Continue reading →

Bob Smith—Convalescence at Leysin

Shown here are two of three pictures taken of Bob Smith on March 18, 1945 in Leysin, Switzerland.

Regarding these portraits, Bob’s niece, Carole Procter, says:

“I think these photos are really quite sad as they show very clearly how quickly Bob became ill. He looks to have lost a lot of weight in the 9 months since the last lot were taken and although he is smiling in two of them he looks quite gaunt.”

After escape from Axis-occupied northern Italy into Switzerland, Bob was sent to the Camp D’Internement Militaire at Bürglen in the canton of Thurgau.

In a letter from the camp, dated March 20, 1944, Bob explains, “I leave this week for a winter sports camp.”

Carol says, “I assume that’s Adelboden as the ski photo is April 44.” (See posts British Rifleman Robert Smith and Bob Smith’s Adelboden Album.)

Bob spent the spring and summer at Adelboden. Then, in October 1944, having been diagnosed with tuberculosis, he was transferred to a sanatorium in Leysin, Switzerland.

Continue reading →

A Salute to Dick Kane

Caption for top image: “Former prisoners of war pictured with former congressman Ben Gilman, center, are, from left, Harvey Horn, Ken Knapp, Ray Mellin, Richard Kane, Bill Stratis, and Jack Grunin.”

Times Herald-Reporter (Middletown, New York)
October 1, 2010

Reporter Barbara Bedell covered this annual September veterans Day of Remembrance ceremony for the Times Herald-Record of Middletown, New York.

The article begins with a tribute to six former POWs:

“Six former World War II prisoner of war were recognized by more than 400 veterans and their guests during the recent annual Orange County Veterans Coalition POW/MIA Day of Remembrance. It was conducted in the Town of Goshen Park.

Continue reading →

Postcards from Bob Smith


Here are two postcards Bob Smith sent while a prisoner at two camps in Italy.

Bob’s neice Carole Proctor explains, “I have 10 postcards written by him, the first 6 being from Campo 59 written to his sisters, one of whom was my mother who died in 2005. The first date on the postcards [from Campo 59] is 5.8.42 and the last is 23.12.42. The next postcard is dated 31.7.43 and the address is Lavoro Base No. 133/xvii. PM3100. He is still there on 4.7.43 but a card dated 15.8.43 he says he is in a new camp—No.133/iii.”

Continue reading →

Clarence “Tom” Cronin

This photo of Clarence T. Cronin, sent to me by his son Ed, is of “my Dad and mother before he shipped out over seas.”

Clarence went by the name of Tom, which was his middle name. He sailed on the Queen Mary a few months after the wedding.

Tom was interned at Camp 59 and escaped in September 1943. “He was on the run for several months before he made it back to the lines.” Ed explains, “Like many in your stories, he was in an emaciated condition. My mother states he weighed 90 lbs. when he got home to the States.”

Tom passed away in 1996.