216545 Fus. Jack C. Tilley British Army 2nd Btn. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers On 28th January 1944 at the Orvieto North railway bridge at Allerona, Italy, a train full of Allied prisoners, most of whom had come from Camp P.G. 54, Fara in Sabina, north of Rome, was hit by friendly fire from the American 320th Bombardment Group. U.S. Army member Richard Morris was on the train and wrote that the journey was stopped on the bridge over the river, and that the German guards fled as soon as the bombs struck. The prisoners were left locked inside the carriages. Many, including Jack Tilley, managed to escape through holes in the boxcars caused by the bombing, and jumped into the river below. It was a great tragedy of the war resulting in the deaths of hundreds of men.
Jack had survived the train wreck with a possible forearm fracture, yet was captured at Garigliano and sent to POW camp Stalag 344 Lamsdorf, Poland.
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