About the trust
And the Trust’s origins
The Trust was founded in 1989 by J. Keith Killby, a former prisoner of war in Italy, and other ex-PoWs, to acknowledge the courage and sacrifice of the Italian country people who rescued many of the 50,000 Allied servicemen who were on the run from camps after the Armistice in September 1943. They were attempting to rejoin Allied forces.
Why we were founded
The founder, J. Keith Killby, was one of approximately 50,000 Allied servicemen who escaped from PoW camps after the Armistice with Italy in September 1943. These men threw themselves on the mercy of thousands of ordinary Italians, mainly country people (contadini), in their attempts to rejoin the Allies and escape recapture by the Germans and Italian Fascists while doing so.
Killby escaped from PG59 PoW camp at Servigliano in Le Marche and, like many of his comrades from that camp, was hidden by local contadini. After the war he determined to acknowledge the bravery and sacrifice of these people, and others throughout north and central Italy, who gave food and shelter even though they had very few possessions and little food of their own. Along with other veterans in 1989 he founded the Trust, a registered charity based in the UK, “to pay something back”.
“The courage of those Italians who were ready to risk their lives to help British soldiers in danger is a glowing example of the moral strength that allowed Italy to redeem itself from the tragedy of the Second World War.”
Giorgio Napolitano, President of Italy
What we do
Our principal activity is to award four-week English language study bursaries to Italians aged 18 to 25. Since 1989 we have granted more than 700, many of them to descendants of Italians who rescued escapers, although this is not a condition of entry. The Trust pays for tuition at schools in London (Wimbledon) and Oxford (Wheatley) and provides accommodation in family homes assigned by the schools. Students may arrive at a time of their choosing and come from all over Italy but principally from the regions of Le Marche, Emilia-Romagna and Abruzzo, where the largest PoW camps were concentrated.
The Trust has a valuable archive of 200 PoW memoirs which is lodged with the Italian department of Cambridge University. This can be accessed on one of the Trust’s two websites.
We are very active in promoting research into the Allied presence in wartime Italy, in particular the PoW story. We assist investigations by academics and also by families who wish to trace the escapes of their ancestors and contact the descendants of their helpers. Together with Istituto Nazionale Ferruccio Parri, the esteemed Milan-based contemporary history institute, we created the Allies in Italy website that has information on about 60 Italian PoW camps. We also partner the National Archives in Washington DC in its project to digitise and make accessible thousands of files of the post-war Allied Screening Commission, which was set up to compensate Italians who had sheltered escapers.
In conjunction with the WW2 Escape Lines Memorial Society we run an annual Freedom Trail in Italy. The Trust holds an annual lunch and produces newsletters.
The Trust is run almost entirely by volunteers and is funded totally by donations.
For enquiries please contact Letitia Blake (Hon, Sec) or David Kettle (Administrator) at info@msmtrust.org.uk
How your donations help
The Trust is almost entirely run by volunteers and is dependent upon the generosity of its supporters, many of them the descendants of escapers. Donations contribute to the cost of the student bursaries and help finance our other projects.
If you would like to make a donation, please go to our donation page. Alternatively, if you would like to give by cheque, or in any other way, please write to our Hon. Treasurer:
Christopher Woodhead
Follyfield House
St Mary’s Walk
North Aston
Oxfordshire
OX25 6AA.
Your generous support, however large or small, will be greatly appreciated.
If you would like to remember the Trust in your Will please email info@msmtrust.org.uk.
Our trustees
Philip Cooke
Chairman from 2024
Philip (Phil) Cooke is Professor of Italian History and Culture at the University of Strathclyde. He was born in Windlesham (Surrey) on 25th April 1965, exactly 20 years after the Liberation of Italy. He grew up in Staines where his father was an independent travel agent. He took a degree in Italian and Russian Studies at the University of Edinburgh, followed by a PhD on the Italian writer and partisan Beppe Fenoglio. He was co-editor of the journal Modern Italy from 2010-2015 and Chair of the Association for the Study of Modern Italy (ASMI) from 2019-2025. For his services to Italian Culture he was in 2006 made a Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy. He likes to watch and play sport (now limited to cycling and basketball) and cooking.
Hon. Letitia Blake
Secretary
Daughter of historian Lord Blake who escaped from Sulmona and reached Allied Lines after nine weeks. Her many duties include selecting students for the Trust’s programme which grants four-week English language study bursaries at colleges in London and Oxford. Letitia visits Italy frequently and speaks Italian. She is a co-translator of Antigone nella Valle del Tenna by Filippo Ieranò, published by the Trust as A People’s Courage.
John Simkins
Trustee
John began a second term as trustee in 2022 after serving as Administrator for 10 years. A retired journalist, he is an Italian speaker and frequent visitor to Italy. He is the son of Anthony Simkins, a PoW at Sulmona, Montalbo and Fontanellato, and in Germany. John recruits students for the bursary programme and, along with Nermina Delic, works with Istituto Nazionale Ferruccio Parri on joint projects with MSMT, one of which was to create the website entitled “Italy and the Allies”.
Anne Bewicke-Copley
Trustee
The niece of a Fontanellato PoW, Anne is a retired lawyer and divides her time between homes in Oxford and the Marche. She researches PoW history and was guest speaker at the annual luncheon in 2014 and again in 2021 when she spoke on her particular interest – the experiences of the Other Ranks and how…
Julia MacKenzie
Trustee
A fascination with the walks down Italy undertaken by PoWs led Julia to the work of the Trust. In 2017, she undertook her own 250-mile trek from Tuscany to Rome. Julia’s career was as a senior editor in art publishing and she currently works as a freelance London Blue Badge tourist guide. She is the compiler of the Trust’s comprehensive bibliography on books relating to PoWs in Italy. She became a trustee in 2019.
Christopher Woodhead
Trustee
Grandson of Lt. Col. H. G. de Burgh, Senior British Officer at PG49 Fontanellato. Christopher worked in publishing including periods at Pan Macmillan, Harper Collins and a university press in Buckingham. He runs a literary festival. Christopher became a trustee in 2019 and treasurer in 2021.
David Kettle
Student coordinator/Administrator
David took over the role of Student Coordinator in 2019 and Administrator from John Simkins in 2022. He is responsible for the day to day running of the Trust and its communications and social media.
His background is in theatre as a performer, director and producer in the West End (London) . His love for Italy was born through his work in theatre and opera houses throughout Italy.
Justin De meo
Trustee
With an Italian father, he was brought up in Italy and the UK. He is a frequent visitor to Italy from his home in Wiltshire. He retired after a career in business, specialising in the acquisition and development of residential buildings. Justin succeeded Nicholas Gent as Treasurer and held the role for seven years before handing over to Christopher Woodhead in 2021. He is an Italian speaker.
Nermina Delic
Trustee
In 2007, at 19, I received a bursary from the Monte San Martino Trust for a month in London, a city bursting with diversity and opportunities. Initially overwhelmed without modern navigation tools, I quickly adapted, exploring the city’s…
omar Bucchioni
Trustee
Omar is the Italian-born nephew of Major General Dany Bucchioni OBE, King’s Medal, a partisan leader and the organiser of a successful escape route for ex-PoWs from northern Tuscany through the Gothic Line to Allied territory. Omar joined the Trust as a student in 2003 and qualified as a barrister in 2006. Since then, he has been practising law both in London and internationally.
From 2005 to 2012, Omar served as Trail Manager for a number of MSMT Freedom Trails in northern Tuscany, including the 20th anniversary Freedom Trail in 2009, the last attended by the founder J. Keith Killby. Omar became a trustee in 2013 and a British citizen in 2016. Since 2017, he has been serving as a governor of Kensington Wade, an award-winning, immersive bilingual nursery and prep school in West London.
Research
Freedom Trails
