Monte San Martino Trust
The Monte San Martino Trust was founded by J. Keith Killby in 1989 to acknowledge the bravery of Italian people who hid Allied servicemen on the run from prisoner of war camps after the Armistice with Italy in 1943. It grants educational bursaries in the UK to young Italians, funds research, supports Freedom Trails and has an online archive of PoW memoirs. It is a registered charity.
2025 June Newsletter
The content updates supporters on Trust activities since our last issue in December, including changes to the Board. We open with an address by our new Chair, Prof Phil Cooke, report on 80th anniversary commemorations of the end of the war in Europe, and tell stories about escapees.
Educational bursaries
Italians aged 18-25 are eligible for four-week English language study courses at London or Oxford. More than 700 bursaries have been granted.
Research
The Trust has two websites, one of which is an archive containing 200 memoirs by former PoWs. The Trust stimulates research into the Allied presence in wartime Italy by families seeking to discover more about an ancestor’s experience as a PoW, and also by academics. It works closely with the Milan-based Parri Institute and the Italian faculty of Cambridge University and supports the digitisation of Allied Screening Commission files in Washington DC to make them accessible.
Freedom trails
With its sister organisation, the WW2 Escape Lines Memorial Society, the Trust conducts walks in Italy along routes taken by escaping PoWs and commemorates the bravery of their rescuers. It also supports efforts to reconstruct PoW camps.
Donate to our work
The Trust is entirely dependent upon the generosity of the public and is run by volunteers. We have several ways you can support the charity and become part of our community.
Celebrating bravery
Other Trust activities
Freedom trails
annual luncheons
media centre
youtube channel
Our latest news
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Sulmona trail 2025
The Sulmona freedom trail (Sentiero della Libertà) will take place on April 25-27, 2025, celebrating its tradition since 2001. Participants, mainly students, pay a 75 euro fee to walk the 50km route that honors WWII escapees aided by Sulmona locals. The event symbolizes bravery, solidarity, and the ongoing fight for freedom.
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Exhibition in Oxford
An exhibition in Oxford, organized by the Trust and the Casa della Memoria, showcases rare photographs of rural Italy, highlighting contadini rather than typical landscapes. These individuals were crucial in sheltering Allied escapers during the war. Some images will later feature at the International Photographic Festival FORMAT in Derby.
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December 2024 Newsletter
The content includes an update of Trust activities since our last issue in June and fascinating articles from supporters retracing the steps of family members in wartime Italy. We open with an account of the annual luncheon on November 20th, at which the MSMT “family” was present in force to say an emotional thank-you to…
Meet Nermina
Former student and current trustee
“I must say that it was one of the most amazing experiences in my entire life. It largely enriched me, not only from a cultural point of view thanks to the excellent lessons of the English course, but also for many other aspects, starting with meeting a fabulous host family that made me feel home since the first day, cultivating new friendships with people from all around the world (now I have a friend from Mexico, isn’t it crazy?) and visiting a lot of interesting places…”
Our online archive
The memoirs of Allied servicemen on the run in wartime Italy, accounts of the brave Italians who hid them, and information about the PoW camps are all to be found in the Trust’s invaluable archive.
Join our community
Get updates on the Trust’s events, projects, book releases and PoW archive uploads.
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“I find the charity’s research fascinating and it’s great to be a part of passing on knowledge to the younger generations.”
– Beth S.
“I like tuning into the online events and going on the annual walks”
– Mason D.