Late in the year, we were alerted for the Italian campaign and just after Christmas, we moved to the staging area located a few miles east of Termini, to a town famous for its beaches, Mondello. Although we set up our hospital here, we tore it down within two weeks and prepared for our next boat trip which was to take us to Italy.
January 19th found us ready and waiting at the pier in Palermo, the same one on which we landed four months previous. We had enjoyed our stay in Sicily, but were happy to leave for more important duty. Four months in one place is more than enough for any soldier.
We left Sicily in a Liberty Ship, the Daniel H. Lownsdale, which proved ideal as a troopship and freighter. These boats were perfect for wartime purposes as they economized on space and yet there was sufficient room for the troops on board. This wasn't true on our previous ocean trips. Considering the speed with which these boats were produced, they were a credit to American genius and productive skill. The trip was very calm and warm. We had for our protection one small size Italian corvette which evidently had seen better days before she was assigned to convoy the Ninth Evac across the Tyrrhenean Sea. The phosphorescent glow below the surface of the water reminded one of the same effect that the waters off Puget Sound have during the summertime. Coming into Naples harbor, we passed an outbound convoy which proved to be, later in the day, the same one which made the original invasion landings at Anzio. Like a gang of ants heading for a piece of food, LSTs, LCIs, troopships and heavy protective ships formed a straight line out of the harbor as far as the eye could see.
Naples harbor was filled with sunken ships and it was impossible for our boat to unload. Some of the men on board were transferred to an LCI and landed on the beach while the remainder stayed on board that night in the harbor. Like a bright beacon on a clear night, Mt. Vesuvius poured forth a red glow. Quite often, sparks and flames could be seen coming from the crater. The rest of the men on board landed the following morning on the side of a sunken Italian destroyer which served as a pier on which to land our gangplank. All the piers in the port had been wrecked by former air attacks of the Allies and by the Germans before they departed, but American engineers were at work repairing the damage.
Arriving on the mainland of Europe on January 22nd, we drove five miles northwest of Naples to a small suburb of the city called Bagnoli, which formerly housed the area on which the Italian World's Fair was to be held but after remaining open for only two months, was closed because of the outbreak of war in 1940. The complete area was an ideal setup for a medical center and the American Medical Corps took advantage of the beautiful landscape and large buildings, first notifying the Germans that the area was to be used for such a purpose. The medical center was full of modernistic buildings, a beautifully planned lagoon, tropical trees which were brought over from Africa, amusement areas, a modern swimming pool, and air-conditioned theatre, and many other new and attractive facilities. Several of these buildings were destroyed by the Germans before they left. In spite of that, however, this area was without a doubt the most beautiful and most modern of any in Italy, if not in Europe.
Late in January, we set up a hospital to treat the French wounded and their allies, the Arabs, Goums, Senegalese, native African blacks and other colonials. We were the only American hospital which treated only French patients. This was the second time we had contact with these people as we also treated them during the African campaign.
Naples was just coming out of its shelters and many of its inhabitants were returning to their homes hopeful that this time they would not be forced to move out because of air raids and a passing army. The city itself was "off limits" to U.S. troops because of a supposed typhus epidemic, but it was generally believed that the real reason was a very high venereal rate among its people. Obviously, the latter could not be given as a reason and the typhus story persisted in official circles although there were no new cases of typhus reported during the month of January, and not one among U.S. troops during the whole Italian campaign. The venereal rate among Italian women at this time was 90%.
Living conditions among the people were quite bad at this time. Children were roaming the streets in gangs, most of them barely clothed, hungry and barefoot. Many a G.I. gave these kids their only meals and provided a place in which to sleep. Naples harbor was filled with rafts and dirt left over from the previous bombings but the city of one million people was doing business as usual in January, 1944. Prices for jewelry and trinkets were very expensive, about ten times the price of pre-war Italy and about twice as much as several months previous.
The Naples subway was still running and offered the New York subway some keen competition. From the suburbs of the city every day came these trains overflowing with humanity who occupied every available inch on the train including the locomotive and every step on the cars. These were the "black marketeers" who travelled into Naples daily and returned with their haul every afternoon. A ride on the subway revealed many human interest stories, however. In one section of the underground, whole families could be seen living in the stations despite the fact that train service was being run on schedule. Beds, chairs, kitchen sets and household furniture lined the walls. Wood and charcoal fires were used in the corners of the stations to cook meals. Children played hide and seek across the tracks while mothers fed their babies, uninterested in what was going on around them. Through all of this period, no one seemed to bother these guests of the subway and the amazing feature was the fact that there were no deaths on the railroad.
Although famous as the second most beautiful city in Europe, Naples was far from the town it was cracked up to be, after giving due consideration to the circumstances surrounding our stay in Italy. The town was filthy and despite the war, couldn't have been much better before the war. Its people were dirty, a condition which could not be excused. Certainly there was water with which to clean and soap was available at any army post. These people, in the past, supplied the gangsters of Italian extraction in America. They were the criminals of Italy and were responsible for the terrible conditions which befell their country. These people were like children and seems to be in a daze, unable to take care of themselves and refusing to take any responsibility for themselves. They were selfish and didn't care for the suffering and hardships of their fellow countrymen. It seemed to us that they should try to solve their own problems before looking to America for help. These was no doubt that these people were not ready for a democratic form of government. They had to be educated first, or rather diseducated form their former ways of thinking.
Nightly air raids were not an uncommon occurrence and the anti-aircraft boys weren't much help in keeping them away. Their aim was poor and were a sad comparison with the boys who "sweated out" the raids over Bizerte after the African campaign.
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