26. A Pass to Naples and Softball Games

Sunday, April 9, 1944
Schuster hauls French troops. I have day of rest. Sunrise Easter church service, but I don't get up in time. Six men transferred, Ambrosh, Milroy, Paghsite, Pytel, McClarrity and Malody. Radio reports Russians in Czechoslovakia. Starts raining in afternoon and is still raining now 9:30 p.m.

Monday, April 10, 1944
Work on truck in forenoon. Cloudy weather.

Tuesday, April 11, 1944
Rain last nite. I go on ammo run 0410 to 0424. Leave 3 a.m., get back at noon.

Wednesday, April 12, 1944
Truck is out. Warm weather. See movie (Frank Sinatra). Our company wins softball 9 to 8 over 55th Q.M.

Thursday, April 13, 1944
1,000 mile check on truck. Wash truck. Weather same.

Friday, April 14, 1944
Rain last nite. I got on trip at 7:15 a.m. Aversa to Q 422. Back in camp at 3 p.m. Blanton backs into my truck and bends grill. Our company defeats 55th Q.M. in softball 3 to 0, then our second team loses 5 to 1. After game, I go to 175th Engineers and see movie, Eddie Cantor in "Thank Your Lucky Stars."

A driver's accident report had to be filled out and submitted with any type of damage to our vehicles.

Thank Your Lucky Stars, starring Humphrey Bogart, Eddie Cantor and Bette Davis. [courtesy: www.45thdivision.com]

Saturday, April 15, 1944
Weather the same. Idle today. Play ball. See good newsreel in evening, but don't stay for main feature.

Sunday, April 16, 1944
I make haul, Aversa to 0422. Start at 12 noon, get back after 8 p.m.

Monday, April 17, 1944
Rigsby goes home. We see Pat Lane in person.

Tuesday, April 18, 1944
I go to Naples on pass, my first pass since I have been in Italy. Buy souvenirs, our company loses in softball to 55th Q.M., score 10 to 4.



Photos taken while on pass in Naples, April 18, 1944.


Wednesday, April 19, 1944
Clean machine gun, see show. Our company beats 56th Evac 11 to 3. Send package home.

Thursday, April 20, 1944
Truck goes out. I received two packages from home. I get my head shaved (for fun). Company loses ball game 9 to 1 to shower units. Radio broadcast from our battalion theater (5th Army Expenditionary Station).

Friday, April 21, 1944
Our company wins 9 to 6 in softball over 95th Evac. Lose volleyball game to 56th Med.

Satuday, April 22, 1944
I make trip Q55 Sparinese to Q 525. All done at 1 p.m. Softball team loses to 56th Med., score 4 to 1. See movie "Submarine Base."

Submarine Base, starring John Litel and Alan Baxter. [courtesy: www.cduniverse.com]

Sunday, April 23, 1944
Truck is out. Our company wins ball game from 3330 Q.M. company (colored), score 1 to 0 (8 innings). First league game.

Monday, April 24, 1944
Idle day. Windy weather. Ball team wins from shower unit 1 to 0. Air raid over Naples 9:20 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Plenty fireworks.

True Story: I knew a soldier who was very fond of eggs. He found a native who had some chickens and he could buy some eggs. He always kept them in his helmet so they wouldn't break. One day we suddenly had an air raid. He made a mad dash for his tent, grabbed his rifle and slammed the helmet full of eggs on his head. After that he kept his eggs in a different place.

25. Springtime Comes to Italy

Area of operations.

Tuesday, February 29, 1944
We are supposed to start sending men to rest camp at Caserta. We draw three stars for our campaign ribbons.

BACK IN THE WORLD: March 2, 1944. Academy Award Winners: Best Picture, Casablanca; Best Actor: Paul Lukas (Watch on the Rhine); Best Actress: Jennifer Jones (The Song of Bernadette); Song of the Year: "You'll Never Know," by Dick Haymes and the Song Spinners (Hello, Frisco, Hello).

Thursday, March 2, 1944
Air raid over Naples. We draw three Cokes, our first in 18 months.

Friday, March 3, 1944
Trucks haul vino (wine) from Aversa to Venafro for French. Big drunk in camp.

Saturday, March 4, 1944
Paint our barracks bags and only one bag now. Get new truck, old truck had 31,000 miles on it. See John Garfield in person.

John Garfield starred in films such as The Postman Always Rings Twice, Gentleman's Agreement and Four Daughters. [courtesy: www.listverse.com]

Wednesday, March 15, 1944
Air raid over Naples, Aversa, Caserta and Capera. Planes fly so low they nearly tear top of our tents off. Wave after wave of our planes bomb Cassino.


If you look closely at the modern satellite image of Monte Cassino (click to enlarge), scars from bomb craters have become a permanent part of the landscape after the intense bombing campaign over 60 years ago.

Friday, March 17, 1944
Turn in our M1's and draw carbines.

A vintage WW II carbine. [courtesy: www.bigredone.pl]

Sunday, March 19, 1944
Move to new area near Sparinese. Mount Vesuvius erupts.

I took this photo of Mount Vesuvius, located just six miles east of Naples, as it came to life in March 1944. This was the same volcano responsible for the destruction of Pompeii 1,865 years earlier.

Wednesday, March 22, 1944
Crow and Kuda come back from their detached service at Naples.

Thursday, March 30, 1944
14 more good conduct ribbons given out. Not working very hard. Have nice camp in grain field. Nice spring weather, occasional rain.

Thursday, April 6, 1944
Louie Quast goes back to the "States." He's the 4th man we have sent. Durban, English and Lt. Johnson are ahead of him. Schuster is out on 36 hour pass. I haul 3 loads of bread from the 110 QM bakery to dump Q 53.

Friday, April 7, 1944
Beautiful day. Truck goes on haul, Aversa to 0423, comes in at noon. In afternoon goes on run to Sparinese. I loaf all day.

Saturday, April 8, 1944
I go on haul. Leave 7 a.m., make two trips from Q 536 Venafro to Q 52 Tiano. Haul wine barrels and wine. Get back 3 p.m. Change oil and grease truck. In evening see Joe E. Brown movie.

24. Monte Cassino Is Attacked

Area of operations.

Saturday, January 1, 1944
Put anti-freeze in trucks.

Tuesday-Wednesday, January 4-5, 1944
Russians cross Polish border. Still hauling gravel for company area when we have no other work.

Thursday January 13, 1944
We are supposed to be about to take Cassino. Rumor that all men overseas for 18 months get to go home.

WAR UPDATE: January 17, 1944. Allied forces launch attack on Cassino, Italy. The Battle of Monte Cassino begins, one of the bloodiest battles of World War II.

The Battle of Monte Cassino was one of the pivotal battles of the Italian Campaign. The Germans held the high ground and the battle to drive them out was long and bloody. This was the enemy's last line of defense before Rome and the fight was fierce. [courtesy: www.lonesentry.com]

Friday, January 21, 1944
I turn 29 today.

Saturday, January 22, 1944
Hauling ammo to dump 0420. Germans shell the dump for several hours. I unload my own truck under shell fire.

Tuesday, February 1, 1944
Haul Italians from 0414 to staging area near Naples.

Saturday, February 5, 1944
Send $50 home.

Tuesday, February 8, 1944
Move out of the woods into a field. More gravel hauling and ditch digging. Still plenty of rain but not so bad.

Sunday, February 13, 1944
Haul British ammo to Caira, go within 2,000 yards of Germans.

The route (in red) we took to get to the northern front during the Battle of Monte Cassino.

Tuesday, February 15, 1944
Monastery is bombed [the abbey atop Monte Cassino]. We are making trips up there every day.

The abbey atop Monte Cassino as it appears today. [courtesy: www.italianvisits.com]

Wednesday, February 16, 1944
Haul British Indians to near Caira.

"British Indians," also known as Sikhs, at Monte Cassino, 1944. [courtesy: Discovery Channel]

Friday, February 18, 1944
We hear a troop ship is sunk. 10,000 men lost.

Sunday, February 20, 1944
Our 1st Sgt. is transferred.

Monday, February 21, 1944
Sgt. Gietzel is our official acting 1st Sgt.

Tuesday, February 22, 1944
Start turning in our folding cots.

Friday, February 25, 1944
Haul Italian pack mules from Maddeloni to above Venafro. I lose mule out back of truck. Mikeski runs into ditch and gets hurt.

The pack mule was often the only means of transporting supplies in the rugged countryside of south-central Italy. This photo was taken near Venafro, 1944. [courtesy: www.45thdivision.com]

23. Rain! Rain! Rain!

Area outlined in red is the general area of operations.

Sunday, November 7, 1943
I work for ration dump [supply depot]. Air raid at 9 p.m. (strafing and bombing). In afternoon enemy shells hit around dump. Homblad and I got back to camp. Having lots of rain and cold, bad weather.

Tuesday, November 9, 1943
I get bad case of tonsilitis and go to hospital (36th Division Clearing Co. near Capua, Italy).

Friday, November 12, 1943
I get back to camp in afternoon.

Sunday, November 14, 1943
Enemy shells falling all around our bivouac area. Rain! Rain! Rain! Mud and slippery.

I snapped this picture of friends Raymond Snyder and Lee Payne. I stayed in contact with both of them after the war. We were truly a band of brothers. (Notice the boots, mud and more mud... and my shadow in the foreground.)

Sunday, November 21, 1943
I start to work again [after tonsilitis] and we move to new area over by Varaina.

Friday, November 26, 1943
Air raid at Naples and ack-ack [anti-aircraft] barrage over our bivouac area. We are hauling from Pignato rail head. Very busy. Rain! Rain! Flat tires all the time. Mud knee deep.




Rain! Rain! Mud! Mud! The weather was horrible in November and December, but it was nothing compared to the constant air raids. [courtesy: top - www.nzetc.com; middle - National Archives; bottom - www.history.army.mil]

WAR UPDATE: November 28, 1943. Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin meet at the Tehran Conference.


Monday, December 6, 1943

Postcard home. This marks my second Christmas overseas.

Wednesday, December 8, 1943
I sent $80 home.

Saturday, December 18, 1943
Our outfit is changed to 235 Quartermaster Battalion, Company 3640.

This is me with friend John Dockum in Italy, 1943.

Tuesday, December 21, 1943 Several men transferred to new company which is being formed out of our battalion. Our area is very muddy. We are doing lots of gravel hauling to fill in mud holes.

BACK IN THE WORLD: December 26, 1943. The Chicago Bears defeat the Washington Redskins 41-21 to the NFL Championship game.

Tuesday, December 28, 1943
Articles of war are read to us again.

Friday, December 31, 1943
On New Years Eve I go to pick up 3rd Infantry Division. Stay in truck all nite in snow storm. Next morning take them to staging area near Naples.

22. Across The Water To Italy

Saturday, October 2, 1943
Get back from hospital today [a total of 16 days spent in hospital with yellow jaundice]. We have received orders to deploy to Italy in one week.

Tuesday, October 5, 1943
We move staging area at 3 p.m.

Friday, October 8, 1943
Load on boat (LST).

A very rare color photograph of a LST being loaded for the journey from Tunisia across the Tyrrhenian Sea to Italy. [public domain]

Saturday, October 9, 1943
Start for Italy.

BACK IN THE WORLD: New York Yankees win the World Series, defeating the St. Louis Cardinals four games to one.

Editor's note: despite earlier rumors that Howard's company would lose their trucks, they remained a transport outfit and retained their vehicles as they transferred to Italy.

This is what it looked like from a landing craft loaded with trucks, supplies and men as we crossed the Tyrrhenian Sea, heading northeast to Italy and into a new theatre of operations. The voyage was approximately 340 miles and took 48 hours to travel. [(c) Time, Inc]

Monday, October 11, 1943
Land at Salerno, Italy, and go to bivouac area.

We streamed into Salerno, Italy, on October 11, 1943. [(c) Time, Inc.]

WAR UPDATE: October 13, 1943. Official Italian government declares war on Germany.

Thursday, October 14, 1943
Our troops are suppose to be crossing Valturno River. I start working again about this time. It took me a month to recover from yellow jaundice.

Friday, October 15, 1943
We move to Maddeloni.

The yellow dots indicate our transit to Salerno. From there we moved to Maddeloni, northeast of Naples.

Saturday, October 16, 1943
I get trip to Naples.

Thursday, October 21, 1943
Air raid Naples (30 min.)

Saturday, October 23, 1943
Air raid at Naples 7 p.m.

Monday, November 1, 1943
40 min. air raid over Naples. Plenty of fireworks.

The remnants of a rail head in Naples, Italy, after a Luftwaffe air raid in 1943. [public domain]

Friday, November 5, 1943
Pull out at 3 a.m., move to new area near 0414 ammo dump, across Volturno River.

21. Operation Avalanche and Air Raids

Saturday, July 24, 1943
See rodeo put on by 175th Engineers.

WAR UPDATE: July 25, 1943. Mussolini's Fascist government overthrown.

Monday, July 26, 1943
We hear that Mussolini has quit his job.

True Story: A GI was asleep in a foxhole in Italy when someone nudged him and woke him up. It was an Italian soldier. The Italian said, "Please capture me!" He was tired of fighting and wanted to be taken prisoner.

Saturday, July 31, 1943
Some of our boys get drunk and raise cane all night in our day room.

Friday, August 6, 1943
Battalion puts on a party to celebrate our first year overseas.

Saturday, August 7, 1943
Terrific air raid at 3:30 to 5 a.m. We get our campaign ribbons. Sent $40 home.

Thursday, August 12, 1943
We move into big tents.

Monday, August 16, 1943
See Bob Hope in person. Air raid 9 p.m.

The legendary Bob Hope during a USO performance in 1943. [photo by David E. Scherman]

Tuesday, August 17, 1943
Rumor that Sicily has fell. Air raid at 9 p.m. Four of our boys slightly injured.

Wednesday, August 18, 1943
Air raid alerts at 4 and 5 a.m.

Sunday, August 22, 1943
Three alerts (air raid).

Thursday, August 26, 1943
Another alert.

Friday, August 27, 1943
Start drawing machine gun mounts for trucks.

A 50-caliber machine gun similar to the type we are now mounting to our trucks. [courtesy: www.imfdb.com]

Saturday, August 28, 1943

A letter home written on a Saturday. Raymond Stokes is an old friend from my home town of Hewitt, Minnesota.

Dear Folkes,

I got the package today. The glasses and combs came through in good shape altho it took two months for it to get here. I hope you have the package I sent by now. I heard from Raymond Stokes a few days ago. He is in Sicily now and is in a different outfit than he was.

About those bonds. The ones which haven't been sent home are the ones I got when they were taking out a little from my pay each month for bonds. I probably won't get them for some time, maybe after the war. I also had my insurance raised to ten thousand dollars on account of you could only get a few dollars per month with five thousand but with ten thousand you could get fifty per month until you had drew ten thousand.

I got to see Bob Hope and Frances Langford. They put on a show here. This will be all for now. Thanks for the package.

Love, Howard

WAR UPDATE: September 3, 1943. Italy surrenders to Allied forces, signs armistice.

Tuesday, September 7, 1943
Air raid. Seven planes shot down. On alert for paratroopers.

Hitler's Luftwaffe was a constant danger at night and
we all learned to function on little sleep. [(c) HowStuffWorks, Inc.]

Wednesday, September 8, 1943
Italy unconditionally surrenders. Our boys coming down with jaundice. I'm working hard, feeling poorly.

WAR UPDATE: September 9, 1943. Operation Avalanche begins: the Allied invasion of the Italian mainland, which is still defended by German forces.

One of the spearheads into Italy originated from Bizerte, Tunisia (highlighted in red). Taking Italy would prove to be a hard, bloody fight as the Third Reich was slowly destroyed, piece by piece.

Thursday, September 16, 1943
About this time I come down with jaundice. I go to hospital [Bizerte, Tunisia].

20. Operation Husky Begins

Wednesday, May 26, 1943
We have to buy our PX rations again.

Thursday, May 27, 1943
Air raid at Bizerte.

Friday, May 28, 1943
We have orders to dig foxholes.

Sunday, May 30, 1943
Some of our boys go to Bone [also known as Annaba] and draw new trucks.

Tuesday, June 1, 1943

A letter home.

Dear Folkes,
Just a few lines this morning to let you know I am alright. I got some mail yesterday, three letters from you and they were all V letters. The latest one was dated May 11th. By the way your letters read, you must have written some letters that I haven't gotten yet. How much defense bonds have you bought for me now? And how much in the bank? I can buy defense bonds over here now and I have already bought an eighteen dollar one. You should get it pretty soon. From now on I would like to have you put all my money in the bank and I will buy the bonds over here.
Who did you get the horses from? And what do they look like? And say, did Bert get alright or how is he?
Guess I will close for now. I am fine.
Love, Howard

Wednesday, June 2, 1943
We move to Ferryville [also known as Menzel-Bourguiba]. Rumored that we will lose our trucks and become dock workers.

Friday, June 4, 1943
I go to Bizerte to learn how to operate winch on ship. Company moves to Bizerte. Sent $50 home about this time.


We are poised at the very northern tip of Tunisia. Just 1o0 miles to the northeast, across the Mediterranean, is Sicily which is still very much in enemy hands.

Editor's note: During the summer of 1943, the port of Bizerte, Tunisia, was a vitally important staging area for the preparation of the Allied invasion of Sicily, the heavily fortified outpost of Hitler's "Fortress Europe." As a result, Bizerte was subject to air raids almost nightly by the German Luftwaffe in an attempt to destroy these Allied efforts.

Tuesday, June 8, 1943
Start hauling from Bizerte docks

Saturday, June 12, 1943
Turn in our wool clothing. Air raid at 8:15 p.m. No damage.

Monday, June 14, 1943
Go through gas chamber. Working all summer hauling from docks. Trucks run 24 hours per day. Very tiresome work. Weather is awfully hot and dry.


Work on the docks at Bizerte was a backbreaking, twenty-four hour a day job subject to nightly air raids. We were preparing for another invasion. [Allen, 77]

Tuesday, July 6, 1943
Air raid at 4 a.m. Send $50 home.

True Story: During the summer of 1943 we were hauling to and from the docks of Bizerte. One nite there was a bad air raid. An American was guarding a bunch of German prisoners who were on a work detail on the docks. The guard went nuts and was running around like he was crazy. The guard had been in combat and he had a case of war nerves, or whatever they call it when your nerves are shot. He dropped his rifle and the prisoners went chasing after the guard. They didn't want to be separated from their guard. They had no desire to escape.

WAR UPDATE: July 10, 1943. Operation Husky begins: the Allied invasion of Sicily.

Tuesday, July 13, 1943
See prisoners brought in from Sicily.

Wednesday, July 14, 1943

As you can tell by this letter, money was a constant concern.

July 14, 1943
Dear Folkes,
I rec'd the V letter tonite, which you wrote on June 23. I was glad to get it as I haven't gotten many letters from you lately. That was the first one for quite a while. I have been getting more letters from Lois than from you for quite a while. I think it's because she sends me more V letters than anything else. I think the V letters are coming through lots faster and safer now. I haven't been sending harldy any V letters either so perhaps you aren't getting mine. I have been writing quite often. I sent you a picture of me a few weeks ago. I also sent you a package. I also sent you a fifty dollar money order not long ago. Now speaking of money, your letter puzzled me a little. You say I have $357 worth of bonds and certificates and ninety in the bank. On second thought tho, that may compare with my figures because you haven't gotten the last money order I sent and the July allotment hadn't got there yet when you wrote, and besides I have bought three eighteeen dollar bonds through the army. Since last August I have sent you one twenty-five dollar order, three fortys and three fiftys. That makes $295. Then by now you should have gotten ten 30 dollar allotments. That makes another three hundred and then my three eighteen dollar bonds from the army. That makes nearly 650 dollars according to my figures. Maybe your figures compare with mine by now. Howard

19. A Long Letter Home

Friday, May 21, 1943

When the North African campaign ended, I took the time to write long letters home. We had not been able to tell our families much at all over the last six months, but now we were given the okay to describe some of the places we'd seen and things we'd done. The following was published in the Fergus Falls Daily Journal. It was sent to my sister, Lois. If you've been following this blog, this is just a recap of the last 15 months of chaos.

18. North Africa Is Liberated

Area of operations.

Thursday, April 8, 1943
Do some firing, rifles, machine guns, for practice.

Saturday, April 10, 1943
Send $50 home.

Saturday, April 17, 1943
Pick up 18th Inf. and stay all nite with them.

Sunday, April 18, 1943
Camp with Inf. in LaCalle vicinity.

Monday, April 19, 1943
Take 18th Inf. beyond Beja.

Tuesday, April 20, 1943
Pull into new bivouac area near Tabarka. Haul around here from LaCalle to Beja, etc. Play ball, go swimming, don't work so terrible hard.

Modern day Tabarka, Tunisia [courtesy: www.lexicorient.com]

Friday, April 30, 1943
Turn in our bayonets.

Saturday, May 1, 1943
Some boys have their barracks bags stolen. We have close order drill.

Sunday, May 2, 1943
We start wearing leggings again. [Editor's note: The canvas leggings were not popular among soldiers, but was ordered by Lt. General George S. Patton, who took command of the II Corps, of which Howard was a part, in the spring of 1943.]

Monday, May 3, 1943
American forces take Mateur.

U.S. forces marching on Mateur, Tunisia. [courtesy: www.history.army.mil]

Friday, May 7, 1943
American forces on outskirts of Bizerte.

Saturday, May 8, 1943
Tunis and Bizerte fall.

Monday, May 10, 1943
We move to Mateur and start hauling from German ration dump.

WAR UPDATE: May 12, 1943. Surrender of Axis forces in North Africa.

Wednesday, May 12, 1943
We have to stand reveille the first time in a long while. War in Africa officially ends at 8:10 a.m. May 12, 1943.


I wrote this letter home on the day the war in North Africa ended. I still couldn't say much, as you can tell by the censored letter. I was correct in thinking the censor wouldn't like it. (click to enlarge)

True Story: An American had been captured by the Germans. He was in a prison camp in Tunis and was released when the Germans surrendered. This American said one day, when he was prisoner, a German officer was marching a bunch of them down the street. An Arab was standing there watching the prisoners go by and he spit on the American. The American socked the Arab a good one and knocked him flat. The officer in charge halted the detail right there and walked up to the American and shook his hand.

Another letter home. This time the censor allowed me to say I've seen lots of prisoners. (click to enlarge)

Sunday May 16, 1943
Haul 39th Inf. to near Constantine.

Tuesday, May 18, 1943
Truck rolls over (not my truck) and kills half a dozen infantry boys.

Thursday, May 20, 1943
Just got back from last trip.


A souvenir from a German prisoner, a Zwei Reichsmarck, exchanged for a cigarette.