Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Story of John Ernest Messenger

John, known as Jack to his family & friends & aka Titch to his Army buddies, was born in Brisbane on 11 Mar 1905, the son of John Ernest Messenger (1878–1947) & Elizabeth Catherine Freese (1880– 1938) & was married to Gladys Muriel Ellis

A roads labourer at the age of 36 & standing just 5’2”, enlisted into the AIF on 25 Jun 1940, taking his oath of enlistment on 1 Jul

He was allocated to the 2/15th Infantry Battalion, Headquarters Company, Medical Section as an orderly/stretcher bearer

2/15th spent a short period of time in Darwin Jul-Nov 1940 before departing Brisbane on 26 Dec bound for the Middle East

Sailing via Colombo, the 2/15th arrived at El Kantara, Egypt on 3 Feb 1941 & by early Mar 1941, they moved to Mersa Matruh, as the 9th Division began to relieve the 6th Division along the front line in the Western Desert

A few days later the 2/15th was moved to Tobruk & from there moved by road in captured Italian vehicles to Derna and on to Tochra, then Benghazi & eventually Barce

Throughout early Apr, the 2/15th became involved in the large-scale withdrawal that followed the landing of German forces around Tripoli as part of Axis efforts to reinforce the Italians in North Africa following British gains in western Egypt & Cyrenaica

The 2/15th was involved in the withdrawal of British forces to Tobruk, referred to as the “Benghazi handicap”. The withdrawal cost the battalion heavily, where at El Gazala, the commanding officer, second in command & 154 men (including Messenger) were captured & transported across the Mediterranean to POW camps in Italy

Words from Research by Katrina Kittle (author of Shooting Through, Escaped POWs in Wartime Italy) - In Apr, after a stint in a POW hospital, Messenger was transferred to Campo 57 located near Grupignano. In Sep he was transferred to Campo 106 rice farm near Salussola which was then in the province of Vercelli
While at a working farm, Messenger became aware of the shooting of a fellow POW by an Italian guard & would later give an affidavit to War Crimes Investigators about this incident

Words by Katrina Kittle (author of Shooting Through, Escaped POWs in Wartime Italy) - In Sep 1943, Italy capitulated to the Allies. Seizing the moment, Australian & New Zealander POWs (including Messenger) walked out of captivity at Italian rice farms dotted across the Piedmont plain west of Milan
Escape, for most, was easy. But what came next, the evasion part of their war – the weeks & months on the loose, foot-slogging to the frontier, identifying friend from foe, scraping up a feed, weighing up needs for shelter & the dangers for Italian helpers, discovering the breadth of the Italian Resistance – was in all likelihood more taxing & nagging on their resilience than the longer periods spent within prison camps
Escaped prisoners trekked northward to cross the Swiss Alps through high mountain passes or border lakes. Others trudged south towards Allied lines. But not all POWs made safe home runs. Ten Australians were killed by fascists or German troops in 1943 to 1944

Following his escape, Messenger became involved with the Italian anti-fascist resistance fighters, known as the partigiani (partisans) who fought a guerra di liberazione nazionale ('national liberation war'), against invading Nazi German forces. The anti-fascist partigiani of the Italian resistance also simultaneously participated in the Italian Civil War (8 Sep 1943 – 2 May 1945), in which the Resistance, a loose coalition of Italian anti-fascist parties, independent resistance fighters, partisan brigades & militias, fought against the Italian Fascists

Messenger, who was now posing as Captain & Doctor of the Red Cross was, re-captured on 29 Dec 1943 during a Gestapo raid in Sulmona

The SS, who were in a plot to track down Italian Communists & Partisans, had “loaded him with wine” & thus, he told them all they wanted to know. On New Years Eve 1944, he led a party of Germans around the town pointing out houses hiding escapers

The Germans arrested the lot, including the somewhat famous Lieutenant's John Furman & Bill Simpson of The Royal Artillery & Private Pollak, a Czechoslovakian Jew of the Royal Army Medical Corps who were all taken to POW Transit Camp 102 near Aquila, though Furman managed to escape & return to Rome after jumping from a train while being moved North

Messenger was transported to Stalag XI-A near Altengrabow in Southern Dörnitz, Germany until they were liberated by the Russian Army on 4 May 1945. He returned to the UK on the 9th & to Australia, arriving in Sydney on 29 Sep

Messenger discharged from the AIF on 6 Nov 1945
Post war, Messenger Gladys moved to Bundaberg QLD where he passed away on 7 Jun 1976 at the age of 72
Lots of help with research on this one including the book A Vatican Lifeline “44 by William “Bill” Simpson & from Katrina Kittel & her book Shooting Through