Italian POW's held in the uk WW2

[Pompey1947]

Hi, my father was a POW based in Lichfield at the Rugely POW camp, he worked for Boltons Farm throughout most of thre war and immediately after, he did not arrive back in Italy until early 1947 (exact date unknown). I believe he may have been in a relationship and may have had a child before returning to Italy in 1947. When we emigrated back to England in 1949 we lived with one of dads wartime friend who had not returned to italy and his family but stayed in England with a new partner and child. If my father was in a relationship and had a child your date could be around that time, he and his friends used to travel around the area, he used to cycle as far as the dog track which was 20 miles or more. I am trying to piece to together my fathers time as a POW. I have located a local (now in his 80's) man Charles who remembered my Dad, his family would invite dad and his friends to sunday lunch as his mum was Italian. Hope this is some help, i live in Melbourne, Australia, your welcome to contact me, my email is - peter.carlino1@outlook.com Regards Peter Carlino

[MarieJosephine]

Hi Paolo, I got your e-mail thankyou as its been some time since i was last here i had to change my account name although it was poppyandlucky i've had to put poppyandlucky4 as a new name.

Its great to hear from you i'm not sure what help you would like but i will help you all i can, as i said in the first posting i'm from Stafford, England and this is where my Gran came from and where she met this man as from what i have found out recently there where POW'S working on farms in around Stafford, and there was a POW camp at Shugborough where German POW'S were held too, there were around 40,000 people held there from what has been said to me.

I do have photo's of my dad as a young boy and i'm sure that he would look like his natural father, my dad has half brother's but there is no real resemblance to them and my younger brother is a double of my dad perhap's i could send them to you to looke at.

I have been told by my step mom that when she was to marry my dad that a woman who knew my gran and the man in question said that he was an Italian POW but never gave his name i think my step mom regrets asking this lady, i don't know why my gran never told her family this man's name i can only assume she did'nt want to get him onto trouble or to be sent away, i know that POW'S where still held in the UK for sometime after the war had finished and if he were still here i'm sure that this man would have known about my dad.

After my dad was born my gran married a man who took on my dad as his own but he never gave his surname to my my dad.
I'm not sure what else to say at the moment but it would be great to hear back from you.

Take care from kathy

I do I get in touch with the person who wrote this?

[AngelaGrace56]

Hi Paolo, I got your e-mail thankyou as its been some time since i was last here i had to change my account name although it was poppyandlucky i've had to put poppyandlucky4 as a new name.

Its great to hear from you i'm not sure what help you would like but i will help you all i can, as i said in the first posting i'm from Stafford, England and this is where my Gran came from and where she met this man as from what i have found out recently there where POW'S working on farms in around Stafford, and there was a POW camp at Shugborough where German POW'S were held too, there were around 40,000 people held there from what has been said to me.

I do have photo's of my dad as a young boy and i'm sure that he would look like his natural father, my dad has half brother's but there is no real resemblance to them and my younger brother is a double of my dad perhap's i could send them to you to looke at.

I have been told by my step mom that when she was to marry my dad that a woman who knew my gran and the man in question said that he was an Italian POW but never gave his name i think my step mom regrets asking this lady, i don't know why my gran never told her family this man's name i can only assume she did'nt want to get him onto trouble or to be sent away, i know that POW'S where still held in the UK for sometime after the war had finished and if he were still here i'm sure that this man would have known about my dad.

After my dad was born my gran married a man who took on my dad as his own but he never gave his surname to my my dad.
I'm not sure what else to say at the moment but it would be great to hear back from you.

Take care from kathy

I do I get in touch with the person who wrote this?

You could try sending a private message. Just click on the user name "poppyandlucky4" and the details for this user will come up, then click on "send a private message" or "send a pm". All the best to you with that.

Angela

[fitzzy2009]

I think that my father was an Italian POW based in the Forest of Dean he helped on my grandmothers small holding when I joined the army I had to get a birth certificate and when it arrived it was father unknown when back on leave I questioned my mother who was very upset so I left it and I only continued after my mother had died

I always remember that in my grandmothers home there was only two wall pictures one of my mother with me on her knee and above an Italian sailor I asked who he was I was told he was called Sefan/ Stefano who helped on my grandmothers small holding I was about eleven at the time and did not take much notice believing the story my mother had told me that my father had died in the early part of WW11

Much later I would visit my grandmother and I asked my grandmother who my father was and she replied that she had a photograph of my father up in her bedside cabinet ( she had moved houses by then ) being my mother was alive I did not pursue the matter, shortly afterwards my grandmother died and them mother passed on. How I wished I had seen that photograph but the thought of hurting my mother was always in the background

I had a DNA taken and the results were my father came from Central/ Western Europe other clues that follow up that I have found out I was baptised in a Catholic church my family were all chapel my mother had praying beads I do remember when my mother left the Forest of Dean the lived in Gloucester and finally Cheltenham ( sadly !!!!) when I commenced school my teacher was from the Forest of Dean and my mother went to speak to him and from then onwards he always monitored my progress closely

My big drawback is that I do not know if the name Stefan, Stefano is a Christian name or a surname and all POW,s records were returned from the National Archives in 1968 to Italy and Germany and most of my aunties and uncles are dead and their children have no details, being my mother abandoned her family when she left the Forest of Dean except her mother I have contacted the Italian Ministry of Defence in Rome but never received a reply I have even written to the Pope but again no reply

If there is anyone who can help me I would be most delighted

[Roy Tasker]

Hi Fitzzy, my story is almost identical to yours, I hope you have more luck than I have had. I understand that the Red Cross records in Geneva will be accessible online from this Month so I am going to explore this avenue.
Good Luck

Roy Tasker

[Roy Tasker]

Hi Fitzzy, my story is almost identical to yours, I hope you have more luck than I have had. I understand that the Red Cross records in Geneva will be accessible online from this Month so I am going to explore this avenue.
Good Luck

Roy Tasker