Who is Simon Henley from A Thread of Grace and what is their importance?

A young British boy, Simon Henley joins the paratroopers, because he thinks he will be attractive to women. When he drops into Italy from a plane, missing his targeted area as the plane has an engine on fire, he is taken in by the partisans and stays on with them, still a British soldier. Henley becomes an integral part of the resistance while he is in Italy and, when he leaves, makes sure that the area receives copious air drops of ammunition, food and supplies.