The Sole Surviving Son
Journal Excerpts
1943
Aboard the S.S. Mexico transport ship from New York to Africa
May 7: New moon & mighty pretty. Feel somewhat lonely tonight. Again re-reading old letters from Mildred.
May 8: Attacked by submarines. On alert for hours. Presumably sank at least one. Hurrah!
May 9: Mother’s Day. Went to church services. Listened to recordings. Another sub attack. Escaped O.K.
Arrival at Palermo, Sicily
Aug. 6: Arrived at Palermo 7:20 p.m. Staying on boat tonight. No raids. Thank goodness.
Aug. 7: Docked at 7 a.m. Unloaded equipment at staging area. Lots of Italian machine guns & cannons.
Aug. 8: I have three Italian pistols: two .45s, one .48 & one Italian rifle. Also ammunition.
Aug. 9: We are digging in in an Italian A.A. location. They even left their h-finder & director. They were routed out only 10 days ago.
Protecting the submarine & PT base on La Maddalena, Sardinia
Nov. 24: At 7:15 P.M. we had a raid. 25 German planes. We shot down 3, B-2, C-1, & D-1. One crashed about 2 mi. from our position. It was a 2-motor H.E.-111. It was blown to Hell.