John 'Jackie' Ward

Jackie's Story

John William Oliver Ward was my Great, Great Uncle. He was known in the family as Jackie.

He was born in 1915 and as soon as he was old enough, he left school and joined the army. As he was a trained soldier he was sent to the front when war was declared in 1939. Unfortunately, he was captured while fighting in Italy and taken prisoner.

After a while, the prisoners were boarded onto a train ready to be moved to a new prison. During that time, he and his friend managed to escape.  They had no choice but to hide in the mountains. Fortunately, a kind Italian farmer risked his own life to take food to them (Italy was on the same side as Germany in World War 2). It was bitterly cold in the mountains and because it was wintertime the farmer did not always manage to take them food every day. The farmer put his life in jeopardy to help the soldiers, who were Italy’s enemies.

On January 3 1944 the farmer went with food for the soldiers as usual, but discovered that both of the men were dead because they had got so cold.  The farmer somehow managed to write a letter to Jackie’s parents in England explaining what had happened. My great, great grandmother (who was his sister) had to find someone who could translate the letter from Italian into English. This was not an easy task. After the war had ended Jackie’s body was found and he is now buried in a war cemetery in Ancona in Italy.

Told by Zack and Frances Foley