| Citation: Italy. MBE Citation: In July 1944 counterfeit Allied Military Currency in denominations of 500 and 1,000 Lira appeared in ROME. Soon it became apparent that considerable sums were being circulated amongst Allied personnel and civilians and that the situation was becoming extremely serious. WOII TUBBY L. was assigned to the task of locating the source of these spurious notes, which was thought to be in ROME, and to arrest the offenders. From the day he received his orders until March 1945, when he had arrested 15 civilians, now known to be cunning and determined criminals, this Warrant Officer visited all military and civil organisations where such money might be passed and all were regimented to tender information spontaneously. He sifted, compared and examined hundreds of spurious notes; checked and re-checked the stories of absentees and deserters until finally, through his own untiring efforts he single handed tracked down and seized the printing presses on which the notes were made, together with all the paraphernalia for counterfeiting. He recovered 2,500,000 Lira in counterfeit Allied Military Currency which must have, otherwise seriously threatened the currency now in use. Finally he presented such a weight of evidence that the first two counterfeiters to be tried by an Allied court chose to plead guilty. In the midst of these investigations, he also successfully solved the reported murder of an allied soldier in FROSINONE in which no corpse could be found at the outset. He located, retrieved, and identified the body as that of a Canadian soldier, for the murder of whom he arrested and brought to trial four Italian civilians. Lt Col G White DPM Rome Area. Alban Low, Brigadier British Troops Rome, Lt Col Geoffrey White PM. Major General Commander No2 District. National Archive WO 373/73. |
