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This story was submitted To the People's War site by Helen Oram, Scotland csv on behalf of the Earl of Dalhousie and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

In 1943 my father, Simon Ramsay, a Captain in the Black Watch,was captured after the Battle of Alamein and sent to a POW camp in Italy.

When the Italians surrendered in 1944, my father escaped along with a friend, Dermott Daley. They headed north into the hills. The people living in the hills were Italian peasant farmers eking out a subsistence living, with little to give away. Italian families would have been under the threat of death if found to be sheltering British soldiers. Despite this, peasant families risked their lives by welcoming in my father and his friend, feeding and sheltering them. They lived in the Appenninnes for nearly five months. Having travelled north, they found out that the Allies were positioned in the south.

Having no map, they had a dispute about which way to go. They separated. One took one route round the mountains and the other took another. Two days later, surprisingly they met up in a farm shed. There was much nervousness about who was entering the shed - friend or foe? They were much amused to see one another.

Eventually they made it back to the Allied lines and were sent home.

My father rejoined the Black Watch after D Day and returned to active service just as the Allies were entering Germany.

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