September 11, 1944

I made the trip to Rome. Very interesting - passed through Cassino - what there was left of it. Never saw anything so completely destroyed. Nothing but a mass of building, stone, lumber - duds, abandoned trucks, tanks, guns & acres of land mines.

Saw many interesting things in Rome, among them the Pope Pius XII - his great church - St. Peter's - the Vatican City - St. John, St. Paul - Panchion - Appian Way - St. Sebastian - the Catacombs - Mussolini's balcony - Coliseum - memorial to Victor Emanuel, father of his country, and scores of beautiful women.

September 9, 1944

He left.

Sept. 6, 1944, after a long search Moser & I got together - he was in Napoli on a 72 for rest. He came aboard & we were together for three days. What a good time we had gabbing & taking pics & seeing the sights together.

Sept. 1, 1944
Anchored out in the Bay of Naples. For the following 10 days very few wanted to go ashore, so I took advantage of it and saw all the important sights including Pompeii & a trip to Rome.

Aug 28, 1944

Anchored - St. Tropez & St. Maxime again- Loaded patients - 131 kraut heads & 31 yanks - at 1920 - Set sail again for Naples.

Aug 26 (Sat) 1944 – Sailed from Naples

Debarked patients Aug 24 - I went ashore - Naples.

(blogger's note: the following was found on another page in the diary. Evidently the soldier decided to write more about that day later on)

Went ashore in Naples-

Aug 24 1944 - Many bldgs bombed, I never saw so many people begging - the whole city is a mess. Tiny kids begging in all the streets. Every other door a barber shop. Basket merchants & jewelry vendors with boxes of junk. Mt. Vesuvius belched a little smoke to let us know she wasn't dead and still could cloud up and rain plenty of hell. The Isle of Capri was solely rock - not at all as I had it pictured. Both trips to the beachhead were nice and smooth - with beautiful sunny weather.