Sicily Invaded

The small islands in the Mediterranean were being softened up for the eventual invasion of Europe and we were ordered to set up and prepare to receive a tremendous amount of patients, casualties of the coming Sicilian invasion. Set up as a clearing station to handle patients who were to be flown in from the front, we were prepared to receive 10,000 per week for the first few weeks. Ferryville suburbs were selected for our hospital area, which overlooked the town and Lake Bizerte. The campaign was so successful that we received only 25 patients the first week, 250 the first two weeks and only 3,000 for the total campaign of 38 days. This represented 30% of the total American casualties. Events were moving fast. With Sicily gone, Mussolini moved out and the invasion of the mainland was about to begin.

Large formations of German planes attacked Bizerte harbor night and day and for the first time since the start of the African campaign, we were in danger of being hit by shrapnel and flak from our own anti-aircraft fire as well as by bombs from the German planes. Several times during these raids ships were hit and sunk. The most thrilling (although not the safest) sight was one in which our searchlights caught an enemy plane and followed it across the sky until our anti-aircraft boys shot it down. One night, we counted thirteen planes falling to the ground. If there were any atheists among us, or anyone who though that the medics were a non-combat outfit, he changed his mind during those raids. However, we realized that our boys up at the front were experiencing these same episodes night and day.

Although we spent the entire summer in Ferryville, we never were bothered by the weather as such. Occasionally, a hot, dusty sirocco would force us to wash, but never were we uncomfortable from the so-called heat of Africa. Malaria was wiped out among the Army troops by September 1st, a great tribute to the excellent work of the Army Medical Corps and the malarial control units of the Army.

The Allies invaded the mainland of Italy on September 3rd and five days later, she surrendered unconditionally. On September 5th, we were alerted and packed and crated in a hurry for another boat trip. Because of motor trouble on the ship, however, we were delayed several days, during which Bizerte was given its worst pounding of the war from German planes. We were thankful that our ship did have motor trouble as we would no doubt have been on the receiving end of those bombs that night. By September 9th, the motor was repaired and the Ninth Evac was again on its way.

Our boat, a British hospital ship, the Leinster, proved to be the best one on which we sailed. Furnished with soft beds, good hot food, hot and cold running water and with its light on all night, we were treated to a Mediterranean cruise enjoyed by very few people during this war. Unfortunately, the trip lasted only one day. Sicily, as approached from the water, was blasted by the Allied Navy and Air Corps and its docks were wrecked. But the American Army, particularly the Corps of Engineers, was hard at work building and repairing those docks for future use.

We dropped anchor and to our surprise someone else was there to do the work for us. Large Italian labor gangs unloaded the boat, a task we thankfully and diligently avoided. Driven by truck to a staging area near Palermo airfield, we pup-tented it for the night and moved to another staging area, forty miles away, near Termini. We remained here for several days during which time we went swimming in the Tyrrhenian Sea and became acquainted with our new neighbors. They were glad to see us as we came as saviors, freeing them from the Fascistic yolk which brought them into war with the Allies against their will. Here, as everywhere else, the Germans had taken as much with them as they possibly could. Fortunately, they left quickly and we were thereby enabled to share in the "good pickings" from the peach trees, grape vines and tomato patches.

With the surrender of the Italian Navy and the capture of Sardinia and Corsica, the Ninth Evac again moved, this time to Cerda, about fifteen miles east of Termini. The hospital area was situated on two hills, separated by an innocent looking ravine. We later found the purpose of the ravine. During a heavy rainstorm, a flood was caused by the overflowing of a dam several miles up in the mountains. The flood nearly swept away the hospital, carrying with it several bridges which we had previously built. However, it subsided as quickly as it came, the ravine again dried up and again presented an innocent-looking hole.

Our bivouac area was situated within a ten-minute walk to the sea, in which we swam daily. The water was the clearest, calmest and bluest which we had ever seen.

Sicily, at this time, was the ideal spot for sightseeing. The main coastal road running along the northern tip of the island from Palermo to Messina was very beautiful. San Stefano, deserted after many hard months of battle was populated by a few women and children. The most amazing town on the island was Pollina, situated on a rocky hill twelve miles up from the main coastal highway. Built in 1,000 B.C., it took 600 years to be completed. The population, mostly old women and children, numbered 3,000. Every day, a group of men on muleback went down to the town and brought up food and water for the population. There were no industries in town nor was the land suitable for cultivation. It was built only for protection.

Cafalu was a quiet town, untouched by the way, and characterized by many stored charging exorbitant prices for hand-made articles. Termini, a ghost town with wide streets, no food and very poor living conditions, was another example of a city wiped out by the war. Palermo, except for its bombed out docks and its resultant slums, resembled any modern city in Europe. The important points of interest in Palermo still remained -- the catacombs, an ancient indoor cemetery situated under the church of Palermo, Palermo Cathedral, Monreale Cathedral, Modello Lido and the Opera House.

The morale of our troops was high and many projects were begun in this area which lasted for a long time. A theatre guild was organized and it sponsored two shows: "Oh, My Rugged Back" and "Take It Or Leave It", which were very well received. A unit newspaper, "Nine Times", was started and it proved highly popular. A three day trip to Taormina was most interesting. A tourist town during peacetime, specializing in had made jewelry during wartime, Taormina was a convalescent camp for the British Army. Mt. Etna could be seen from the town. An ancient Greek theatre had been preserved and was still standing, a living tribute to the people who originally settled in the town.

Christmas was spent in an old-time American manner. Christmas dinner contained everything a civilian would have dreamed of and then some. For the first time since we came into the Army, there were no complaints about the food. But like all good things, this situation did not last long.