Anne Copley
At the celebration in Servigliano, in Le Marche, of the 80th anniversary of the Italian Armistice and concomitant breakout of Allied PoWs, Marco Ercoli from the village of Smerillo recounted the story of his search for the American airman sheltered by his grandmother Letizia del Gobbo from September 1943 until June 1944. Although the airman made a return visit in 1990, his name had got lost over time.
Recovering the identity required forensic research by Dennis Hill and the full story can be found on his remarkable website, Camp 59 Survivors. Dennis obtained Letizia’s file from the American National Archives in Washington (NARA), which identified the airman as William Fleischauer (Bill) from Delaware.
Further research ended in contact being made with Bill’s descendants, and in June 2026 Karen Andes, Bill’s granddaughter, and her husband Lee spent four days exploring Smerillo and the surrounding countryside, following in the footsteps of her grandfather “Pop Pop”.
They visited the house in which Letizia sheltered him and others, the grotto where he hid from the Germans during a raid and the prison camp in Servigliano where her grandfather spent two months before escaping at the Armistice. They were guided both by Franco and Giulio del Gobbo, Letizia’s grandsons, and by myself. I had the pleasure of hosting Karen and Lee at my house in Montefalcone Appennino, the neighbour to Smerillo.
Karen says: “Pop Pop was one of the kindest and gentlest of men, a pillar of his local community, working for the US Postal Service as well as founding a church and running a funeral home. He was always ready for a great adventure, which prompted his decision in 1990 to return to Smerillo to thank those who had sheltered him so bravely. Our own trip was a wonderful journey of discovery of the Italian countryside and the kindness of the Italian people, as well as helping me understand what it had been like for Pop Pop all those years ago. To stand in the same places he had stood was an unforgettable experience.”
There is a photo of Bill and his wife Nadine standing with Letizia’s son Antonio and his wife Viola, taken on Bill’s return visit in 1990. Now another exists, of Karen and Lee in the exact same spot, this time with Franco and Giulio, 36 years later.
Karen’s visit coincided with a talk that I gave at the technical school in Amandola – one previously often visited by Keith Killby, MSMT’s founder A wonderful opportunity to provide living evidence of this unique history, and for Karen to extend her thanks personally to the Italian people and to point out that without their forefathers’ courage and compassion she and her family might never have existed.
At the end of the talk, I was approached by a pupil whose great-great grandparents sheltered American airmen in Sarnano. I was asked to help trace any living descendants, so as one story happily concludes, another one begins…
