Sergeant Frederick T Lockett

Frederick Thomas Lockett enlisted into the North Staffordshire Regiment on the 3 May 1939.

He volunteered for Airborne Forces and went to Hardwick Hall in November 1941, where he was assigned to ‘A’ Company, 2nd Parachute Battalion. He was a Corporal when he volunteered but took a reduction in rank to Private.

He did parachute course No 3 at RAF Ringway, 5 – 13 December 1941.

By the time he went with the Battalion to North Africa, as part of Operation ‘TORCH’, in November 1942, he had been promoted to Sergeant. He took part in the parachute drop at Depienne, Tunisia, on the 29 November 1942, and the subsequent battle at Oudna, where he was captured on the 2 December 1942 by German troops.

Frederick was sent to an Italian Prisoner of War Camp, in Sicily – Camp 98 – where he remained until the 29 December 1942, when he was moved to Camp 66 at Capua. He remained there from the 1 January to the 5 February 1943. Then he was moved again to Camp 59 at Servigliano, arriving there on the 7 February. This was the camp he escaped from on the 15 September 1943.

Here is Tom Lockett’s account of the escape, taken from his interview for I.S.9. on the 25 January 1944.

Escape. From Camp 59, Servigliano on 15 Sep 1943.
The Germans were coming into the camp and Source got through a hole in the wall.

Source was with three others:
Sgt. Knight, T.H., 2 Hamps
Cpl. Jones, R.A.M.C.
Sgt. Edwards, 2 Hamps.

Cpl. Jones and Sgt. Edwards were left at Montefalcone.

From Servigliano they went on foot to San Vittorio [Santa Vittoria in Matenano] and Montefalcone [Montefalcone Appennino] where Source stayed with a farmer for two months as Sgt Edwards was ill with gastritis. The latter left Source and went to a Monastery. Source proceeded to Amandola and met British paratroopers (Capt. Powers and his batman) with whom they went to the beach at San Benedito [San Benedetto del Tronto] to get a fishing boat. None were available. Capt Miller [Millar], RAMC was in the party, and speaking Italian, he managed to find a Fascist Officer who told them where there was a motor boat. Eventually they got the engine of the boat going, with the assistance of two Italian youths and arrived at Termoli on 18 Nov 1943.”

The following account appeared in The [Cannock] Advertiser on Saturday, 18 December 1943.

Exciting Escape from Italy
Penkridge Man Hid in Oven from Germans

A SERGEANT IN THE PARATROOPERS, whose home is in Penkridge, and who was a prisoner in Italian hands for nearly a year, escaped from a camp in the north of Italy in September, and arrived home recently.

He is Sgt. Thomas Lockett, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. F. Lockett, of Teddesley-road, and when an “Advertiser” reporter interviewed him this week he was wearing physical training plimsoles. He explained that from the time he escaped until reaching the Allied lines he covered between six and seven hundred miles on foot. His feet were still too sore for him to be able to wear boots with any comfort.

This is how Sergt. Lockett told of his escape: “We heard on September 9 about the Allied armistice with Italy and on September 14 I and a pal of mine, whose home is in the Isle of Wight, made our escape only a few minutes before the German troops took over. The Italians had told us we must remain in the camp until the arrival of the Allies, and they fired at us when we escaped.”

Ten Week’s Trek.

He and his friend exchanged their battle dress for Italian civilian clothing, and then began their long trek southwards. “It took us ten weeks to reach the Allied lines, and three-quarters of our journey lay through mountainous country,” he continued. “We walked at night, finding our direction by the stars, and by day we slept mostly in the woods and barns. Ninety per cent. of the people gave us food if we asked for it. Some were quite friendly. But others would not help us for fear of German reprisals on themselves and their families.”

Hid in Bread Oven.

Sgt. Lockett described how one day the Germans searched the farmhouse in which he and his friend had sought refuge. “We hid in a bread oven. They only bake twice a month in Italy, and we happened to get in when the oven was cold.” The Germans were in the house two hours, and they ordered the householder to cook them some spaghetti. When they asked if there any British prisoners in the building and the Italians said ‘No’ and they called them liars, the women began to cry.

“I could hear my heart beating,” added Sergt. Lockett. The Germans must have been tipped off by the Fascists that we had been seen in the neighbourhood.” On several occasions they narrowly missed being captured by German patrols, and they had to cross no man’s land before reaching the Allied front line positions, but once in friendly hands it was only four days before he was on his way home.

Wounded Three Times.

Sgt Lockett was in the Territorial Arm before the war and was called up in September 1939. Serving first in the infantry, he volunteered for the paratroopers about three years ago. In October 1942, he was sent out to North Africa, and was captured by the Germans on December 2 the same year. “We were working behind the German lines,” he said, “and the unit was badly smashed up. In trying to get back to our own lines I was wounded three times by mortar shrapnel and could not move. We had fought against German paratroopers for five days, and when we were captured, they patted us on the back, and congratulated us on our fighting.”

He was sent to the German headquarters at Tunis, and then handed over to the Italians. After spending a month in a Sicilian prisoners of war camp, he was transferred first to a camp near Naples, and then to the one in North Italy from which he escaped. He said he was much better treated by the Germans than by the Italians.

While a prisoner, Sgt. Lockett met Trooper Barrie S N Anderson, a commando, in hospital. He was the only son of Dr G N Anderson, or Penkridge, and later died.

Sgt Lockett, who before the war was employed first by Mr Plant at the Central Supply Stores, Penkridge, and afterward at a Government site, is hoping to remain in the ‘paratroops’ if he is fit enough. He is twenty-two, and married, his wife being the daughter of Mr and Mrs H Webb, of Woodbank, Penkridge. He has a brother in the Royal Marines.

Frederick Thomas ‘Tom’ Lockett died in 1983, aged 63.

LINKS: https://camp59survivors.com/2019/06/23/tom-locketts-escape/

& https://camp59survivors.com/2015/02/14/tom-lockett-two-months-to-freedom/