Luigi Palmoni

Iginia and Luigi Palmoni (Source: Camp 59 Survivors)

After September 8, 1943, American soldier Luther Shields, who escaped from POW Camp 59 in Servigliano, took refuge in the surrounding area, hiding in the vegetation and moving under the cover of darkness: “We never knew if an Italian we met was a Fascist sympathiser or a friend of the Allies.” It is with this uncertainty that, a few days later, Luther approached Luigi Palmoni, a sharecropper, who was working in the fields with his sons Marino (ten years old) and Gino (five). Luther was looking for food and, despite not knowing Italian, managed to convey that he was hungry.

Luigi immediately asked his son Marino to return home and fetch something to eat. The boy soon came back with some bread and cheese: the Palmonis were a large, poor family, and this was the little food they could share. As Luigi approached the edge of the woods to deliver the food, he noticed that other men were hidden behind bushes and rocks. For some time, the farmer continued to bring supplies to them in the forest. Then, as autumn drew near, some of the Allied soldiers, including Luther himself, began coming into Luigi’s home for a warm meal; in the evenings, however, they returned to the woods to avoid putting the family in danger.

With the arrival of colder weather, living among the trees became impossible, so the four prisoners—Luther Shields, Louis VanSlooten, and two unidentified British soldiers—moved into the Palmoni household, where more than twenty people were living at the time. They slept in the stable, nestled in the hay, and, in return for the family’s hospitality, they helped with the farm work. On rainy days, they remained indoors, weaving wicker baskets, repairing tools, and playing with the children. Marino taught them a few words of Italian.

Iginia, Luigi’s wife, gave them new clothes, while their neighbour Enzo replaced the worn-out soles of their shoes. When Luther fell ill, Iginia set up a bed inside the house, on the landing above the stairs, so that he could stay warm.

Thanks also to the medicines Luigi managed to obtain through the town’s doctor—a Fascist, but an old friend—the English soldier recovered in a few days.

A few days before Christmas, the two British prisoners decided to leave. Iginia prepared some food for them to take on their journey.

The Fascists and local authorities had requisitioned the granary in front of the Palmoni house. Here, several quintals of grain were stored, intended to supply the Nazi-fascist forces. On the night of 1 February 1944, groups of local partisans attacked the building, trying to distribute the grain among the starving population; however, at first light, the mayor and Fascist militias arrived, firing their weapons. Amid the commotion, Luther and Louis fled into the woods and later took refuge with the Corradini family in the nearby village of Smerillo.

The two companions visited the Palmoni family several times, but with the arrival of spring, they realised it was time to leave and try to rejoin their army. They finally came back home to the United States on 1 August 1944.

Over the years, Luther wrote to the Palmoni family many times, and in 1983, he returned to Montefalcone to reunite with the family who had saved him. Reflecting on that meeting, Antonello, Marino’s son and the grandson of Luigi and Iginia, recalled: “My father and uncle were overjoyed, my grandmother was deeply moved, and I, who was 16 at the time, remember with great emotion that Luther called my grandmother Iginia ‘Mama.’”

Louis J. Van Slooten’s son also visited the Palmoni family in 2023.