YOUNG, Leslie C.

One of the first “finds” that I had when I started researching my father’s wartime story was shortly after I had come across the Monte San Martino Trust and, after telling my brother Graham about the Trust, he very soon responded after he decided to use their Search Engine and had typed in willis:-

One of the first documents that he came across and read, as shown in his e-mail below, was that of Patrick Goldingham. The first document in the list related to a Leslie Nathanson but, on searching that document, it referred to a Derek Willis so I then discounted that entry.

But the 2nd entry in the Search brought up an account submitted for Young, Leslie …..

“Major LC Young, 2nd Battalion Beds and Herts Regiment, was captured in Tunisia on 13th April 1943. He was taken to a POW Camp in Capua before later being transferred to Fontanellato in May 1943. During his time as a POW, Young took part in numerous camp activities; giving lectures, attending plays, studying construction, and playing card games with other POWs. He escaped camp on September 9th 1943, meeting up with Dickinson, an RAF pilot, who he would travel with for the next month. Along the way, the two met many other POWs, including Peter Stericker, Peter Watson and Captain Gatenby. The latter would remain with Young for the rest of their time ‘on the run’. In early February 1944, Young and Gatenby reached Norma, which overlooked the battlefield of the Anzio beachhead. During this time, some of their fellow companions were captured by German forces after a nearby village was raided. Young, Captain Gatenby, 2 Italian officers, and the sister of one officer, then decided to make an attempt to get through to the Allied lines. This proved to be most difficult – the party were fired upon repeatedly as they tried to advance.

After two failed efforts, the group unanimously agreed to attempt to cross one last time. This final try was a success, though Captain Gatenby and the sister of the Italian officer were both wounded in the struggle. The girl later died as a result of her injuries, while Gatenby was immediately put on a hospital ship for transfer. Full details of the escape are included in Young’s debriefing, which is included at the end of his diary.“

Many years later Nick Young posted this very emotional video after he had stumbled upon this document that was in the process of being digitised at N.A.R.A.

On continuing a further search within the document that my brother and I had unearthed on the Monte San Martino Trust website, then identified the two entries for Willis as being ….

After carrying out a little analysis in relation to this Willis being our father, I was prompted to write my first Blog Post – How it all Started…

But the story for Leslie Young doesn’t stop there as not only does this Diary provide great detail about the events surrounding this extraordinary period in time, but his son Nick Young not only writes a book about his father’s wartime experiences entitled “Escaping with his Life“, but he also undertakes a journey to follow in his father’s footsteps as documented in a series of posts entitled Travel Blog 1 and Travel Blog 2.

So Nick, with his wife Helen, retraced the escape of his father, Leslie, from Fontanellato POW camp, near Parma, after the Armistice with Italy on September 8th 1943. Their journey, undertaken in autumn 2017, is by car in three stages. As they travel south to Anzio, their final destination, they leave letters in the villages where Leslie hid, thanking the local people for sheltering him and risking retribution from the Germans and Fascists. Their journey is full of heart-warming and emotional incidents. (To be Cont.)