248139 Pte. David Lewis Jacobs New Zealand Expeditionary Forces 20th Battalion from:Hinds, New Zealand My father Dave Jacobs entered Burnham Military Camp, Canterbury New Zealand on the 17th May 1940. As a member of the 20th Battalion he embarked on 13th September 1941 for Egypt. The battalion moved to Syria in April to prepare a defensive position covering the Bekka valley but by July the battalion was back in Africa fighting. During the battle on Ruweisat Ridge Dave was wounded and taken a prisoner of war. He spent some time in Caserta Hospital in Naples before being transferred to Campo 57 in November 1942. It was only then that his family back in New Zealand knew that he was alive. He had been missing presumed dead for several months. His stay in Campo 57 was only for about 6 months as he was then transferred to P.G.106/20, a prison work camp at Arro in the province of Biella. A week after the Armistice was signed on the 3rd September 1943, Dave and a fellow New Zealander Clarry Peagram decided to make their escape from P.G. 106/20. They were fortunate enough to be hidden by a family, meet up with a pro-British Italian who organised guides to help them cross over Monte Rosa into Switzerland on the 19th September 1943. David moved from Zermatt to Adelboden where he spent the next twelve months before being shipped home to NZ via Naples and Melbourne.
In 1989 I had the privilege of accompanying my father back to Switzerland for the first time since he left in 1944. It was an emotional time for both of us. In 2002 after receiving correspondence from the Italian family who had hidden Dave and Clarry in 1943 six members of our family made the visit to Biella to meet the descendants of the family who helped Dave and Clarry escape and thank them for taking that risk. That too was a very emotional time for us all and an experience we will never forget. We are still contact with our Italian family.
To his family our Dad was an extraordinary man who often played down his life experiences and said he was "just lucky."
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