Gino's Birthday

Today is my Italian "brother" Gino's 49th birthday.

Gino never knew his father as he died a few months before he was born.

Gino was the youngest of three children born to Gino and Maria Ciccone.

In the war, Gino senior, who was a child at the time, took turns to deliver food to my father, Dallas Allardice and his friend John MacKay, who were hiding in caves and holes in the ground in the terrible winter of 1943. They were behind the enemy lines and Gino and his family were risking their lives to protect them.

After the war, my father visited the family, my aunt sent them supplies and I went to visit them with my sister Lorna and later, a few times with my family.

The bond is strong and the emotional story of Gino and his sister Tiziana's visit to Scotland is included in my father's autobiography.

                                                Dallas and Pat Allardice (my parents)


My father's autobiography:

Friendship in a Time of War