Advertisement
P.G. Camp 57
From the photo in the album in the church at ex Camp 57 It's been so hot, all I could think of was a nice cool swim, so we factored that into our ride into town. It was Market Day so the town was abuzz with activity. I wanted to see the Paleontological Museum and again and have a good look. However, we managed to get ourselves completely disoriented and couldn't find the Park where the building was. Finally found, I had a very good time of viewing fossils slowly. Then to find the bikes. Once again, streets jammed with people and stalls and we could no longer orient ourselves by the town hall square. Finally found, we biked of to the baths for a swim only to find them closed!! Hot and bothered we biked home for a cool shower.
The afternoon turned out to be more interesting than expected. We went off to find the town of Grupignano just out of Udine. This is the location of Campo 57 where Uncle Percy, father of Pierina, grandfather of Diego, was held between 1941 and 1943 in a POW camp run by the Italians (initially). We found the town and stopped to ask people where the camp might have been. We struck gold
The Church at Camp 57
The rebuilt church at Camp 57 holding all the information about the site with a man who was working outside his property and came with us to show us where the camp was. Actually at Premariacco/San Mauro not Grupignano as mentioned in the books we've read. There is a church left remaining at the site. Some people who look after the property and caretake the church were also conveniently there and let us into the building. Inside was a book of photos of the camp, a cabinet with a book written on the camp and information about a NZ man who had worked on the church during the war and became a priest - Fth Ambrose Loughnam from Oamaru. The caretaker man's daugther then turned up and she could speak English and was able to tell us a lot more about the camp. Suffice it to say that it was huge and covered many square kilometers. Inside were 1800 Kiwis, 2000 Australians, and 1000 others. 5000 in all.
On the back of the Cross at the front of the church are the signatures of those people in the Camp who helped to restore the church. Percy was not one of them.
I was able to take photos from the photos of the camp and the daugther gave us a photo copy of the translated booklet about the camp. It is being reprinted and updated so Diego will receive a copy. She is also intending to set up a website for people to add anything they know about the location.
We then took a drive down what was originally the main road through the camp. It is now only a track and you cannot see anything of what used to be. It is just farmland now planted in crops. From information given it used to be a totally barren landscaped sitting at the base of the foothills leading to the mountains. On the way back on this track we stopped at a house which was supposed to be that of the Camp Interpreter. A lady was there and she had been a child when the camp was operating. It was "wind her up, and let her go". She lived in Scotland and London and goes there for a quiet time but she really had a bone to pick about the people now running and owning the land! She didn't believe people were given the true facts about the camp and the conditions and she had a lot to say about the terrible life she had had. She was not a happy camper and we found her very funny. A hard lady to get away from but interesting all the same.
A very interesting day all round especially since we had not expected to find much. Many people have also visited the location for the same reason as us - to find out more about the place. There were several NZ names in the visitor book.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.611s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 15; qc: 63; dbt: 0.3753s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb