ASCOLI PICENO -- A British veteran Eric Batteson recently donated his savings to Italian earthquake victims, designating the money to rebuilding the town where he was hidden during the Second World War, Batteson said Tuesday.

 The British veteran, aged 97 from Chester, was rescued and hidden during the Second World War by the people of Colleregnone, a small town recently hit by the earthquake in central Italy.

 After seeing the images of the devastated town over 70 years later, he decided to collect as much money as he could from his large family and add this to his savings, which he donated as a lump sum towards rebuilding the small town -- “an important sum,” said those who received the money, Il Corriere della sera reports.

 Batteson undertook this generous gesture in honour of his infinite gratitude to the people of this town who risked their lives to save his during the horror of the Second World War.

 During September 1943, the British soldier was taken prisoner in Libya, and taken from there to the Sforzacosta prison camp in Macerata. He managed to escape the camp with two other fellow soldiers, hiding away in woods and mountains around the Italian Marche region.

 They came across refuge by surprise in a crumbling cabin used by farmers on a plateau that was the rural small town of Colleregnone, in the province of Ascoli Piceno. The inhabitants of the town decided to help them, feeding them, providing clothes, shelter in their own homes during the winter months, and protection, despite knowing that their lives would be put at risk.

 In return, the fugitive war prisoners would help out with daily chores, and with the animals on their farms. Batteson said he remembers every single detail of those few months -- “it was a beautiful winter,” he said.

 The granddaughter of the couple that took him in called Batteson to thank him personally for his donation.

 nkd