Vezio Tommasinelli

At the beginning of October 1943, Vezio, a dentist, learned that a group of escaped English PoWs was hiding in the hills near Gassino. The group included Ernest Frith, George Repper, and Geoffrey Roberts (the latter two were later recaptured by the Germans), all of whom had escaped from PG. 112/4 after the Armistice. He gave them medical assistance, a small amount of money, and some clothing, housing them at his mother-in-law’s home (near Castiglione Torinese).

Thanks to another helper, Giacomo Benedetto, he learned that another group of escapees (Albert George Drew, Walter Payne, Oliver Sidney, and John Grasby) were hiding at Raimondo Gilardi’s home but were looking to contact the local partisans for protection. With Major Ezio Berardinone, a Medical Officer, Vezio led the four men to Barge (Cuneo), where they managed to contact “Barbato” (Pompeo Colajanni, who later became Commander of the 1st Piedmont Garibaldi Division).

I crossed Turin, and, passing the German airfield of Airasca, I reached Pinerolo with them. Then they were handed over to the Medical Major of the Military Hospital, who, given that he was already in contact with the partisan formations of the Valle Po, took them in another car to the partisans of Barge.

During the following days, Vezio learned about three more escapees hiding in the woods near San Raffaele Cimena. Those were Horace Martin, John Richardson, and John Arnold (“Giovanni”). He visited them multiple times, bringing them money and food.

Thanks to the aid of Renato Cigarini (a lawyer and a member of the Clnai), Vezio managed to obtain a forged ID card for John Arnold, as he was sick and needed treatment at the Mauriziano Hospital (today the Umberto I Hospital, in Turin). Arnold stayed in the hospital for a few months, until the end of the war.

In the meantime, Vezio continued to aid Arnold’s companions, Martin and Richardson, providing money and food, until their departure from the area.