II

  THE WAR YEARS

Adolf Hitler with his dubious accomplices and the Nazi party (National-Socialist) took full power by force in Germany in 1936. They immediately began to rearm Germany and to practice very aggressive political and military actions. The first World War had come to an end only 18 years before (november 1918) and the dark clouds of the second World War already appeared on the horizon. This is another striking example of political decisions which produce results just the opposite of those planned and expected. At the Versailles treaty negotiations in 1919 the allies, especially France, demanded that Germany pay exorbitant reparations. In order to pay them, Germany developed its heavy industry and its capacity to develop and manufacture all types of arms. These efforts resulted in an uncontrollable inflation, all of which favored the rise of the Nazi party. Adolph Hitler became "der Führer and chancellor" and the third Reich was inaugurated, a highly centralized dictatorship based upon a unique political party, a secret police (the gestapo) and a strong army. The new regime lost no time in applying a program of rapid rearmament and aggressive and racist political actions. Their program of extermination of the jews and other minority races began.

 

After World War One, the american government and especially the people were fiercely non-interventionist and pacifist. We wanted nothing to do with the ancient quarrels amongst the decadent nations of Europe. We liked to believe that the World War of 1914-1918, with the creation of the League of Nations, was the last. But the american congress refused to join the organization. Besides, the country was busy beginning to recover from the worst economic depression it had ever known.

 

But the march of History (like so-called Progress) cannot be stopped and the entire nation as well as I and my three brothers were quickly engulfed in the whirlpool of history and the war. I remember the key events as if they had occurred only yesterday. A brief resumé will show us the rapidity with which they arrived to make involuntary warriors and unsung heroes of four young basically pacifist Americans and how the timorous appeasement of France and Great Britain only served to stir up the appetite and audacity of Hitler and his Nazi's :

  - June of 1938 the occupation of the Ruhr by the german army. (I was about to begin my first year at Ursinus college.)

  - 28 september 1938 a peace treaty signed by France, Great Britain, Germany and Italy which resulted in the evacuation of the Czech population from the Sudete territory and its occupation by german troops. It was rather a capitulation by France and England.

  - 1 september 1939 the German Nazi troops invaded Poland and shared the territory with the Soviet Union with whom Germany had signed a peace treaty. (I had just begun my second year at Ursinus college. I remember being intrigued by the warlike speeches of Hitler we occasionally listened to on the radio.

  - On the same day, France and Great Britain declared war against Nazi Germany. The United States remained neutral but we began to send material help to Great Britain and many intrepid young Americans of my age went to Canada to volunteer for the Royal Air Force.

  - On 10 June 1940 fascist Italy under dictator Mussolini entered the war on the side of Germany. On the 24th of June 1940 France signed an armistice with Germany after the Blitz Krieg by their tank divisions and Stuka dive bombers, German troops then occupied the northern half of France. We, the USA, still insisted on remaining neutral but the american public mentality was changing rapidly.

  - On 18 June 1940 the French general Charles de Gaulle broadcast his famous call to arms to the French resistance from London.

  - On 11 March 1941 president Roosevelt convinced Congress to adopt the lend-lease law and the massive material aid for the British began.

  - On 22 June 1941 Germany broke its alliance with the Soviet Union, invaded the country and was able to quickly advance as far east as Moscow and Stalingrad where she was stopped by the ferocious resistance of the Red Army in june 1943 (a slaughter of just a million or so poor souls). I began my fourth and last year at Ursinus college.

  - On 7 December 1941 the Japanese Navy launched its surprise attack on the large US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The USA immediately declared war against imperialist Japan, Nazi Germany and fascist Italy The Second World War, the most widespread, murderous and destructive of all the many wars in the history of mankind had become worldwide.

 

At the beginning of 1942 the outlook for the United States and our principal ally, Great Britain, was far from brilliant or not at all enviable. The aggressive Japanese continued their rapid expansion in Asia and through the Pacific islands. France had capitulated and Great Britain was being bombarded by the Luftwaffe. We the United States were preparing our forces rapidly but we were far from being able to counterattack the Nazi ground and air forces on the european continent. To make matters worse, the Nazi submarines were taking a terrible toll among our ships in the Atlantic. We were beginning to aid Great Britain massively in materials and food, and our troops were beginning to arrive in the long preparation for the invasion and the liberation of the european continent: "The longest day!".

 

In the meantime, the British and Nazi armies were battling in Eygpt. The Nazi armor and desert troops were menacing Cairo and Alexandria in their push toward the stratigic Suez canal. The allies knew that it was time to mount an offensive action in order to alleviate the pressure of the Nazi armies upon our Soviet ally. It was under these circumstances that president Roosevelt and prime minister Churchill made the decision to undertake a vast operation in Morocco, Algeria and Italy, the soft underbelly of Nazi Europe. We will see later how we, the four brothers, participated directly in these historical events.

 

The armed services draft law establishing compulsory military service for all males between the age of 18 and 40 entered into force in the spring of 1941 and in the beginning it was by lottery. Brother Henry entered military service in the month of July 1941 and John volunteered for the US Navy several months later. Stanley was only seventeen. The draft law was fairly liberal so I was exempt to be able to finish my last year of college. It was the beginning of the contribution of four unsung heroes to the winning of a war they did not want. Brother Henry's first assignment was an infantry camp in northern New York near the Canadian border. During the month of august 1941, we, the three brothers, drove his car to pay him a short visit. At the same time we were able to visit the spectacular Niagara Falls and to cross the border to pay a short visit to Ottawa, the capital of Canada. This was unfortunately my first and only visit to this vast and interesting country.

 

Another big event of the summer of 1941 was the marriage of my favorite cousin Francis to John Csop. It was a real old fashion wedding ceremony in which I served as Best Man. It was followed by two days of festivities attended by the members of both families and many relatives and friends. Francis and John left on the second day of the festivities on their honeymoon. Less than a year later their first child, a girl, was born. This birth was quickly followed by those of three boys. My dear cousin confessed to me one day that sex was invented to have children. Obviously she had never enjoyed the act. Father John was a strict disciplinarian and a firm believer in higher education. All four of his children attended Penn State University and all did well later in their respective professions but not all so well in their marriages.

 

The atmosphere at the wedding was only slightly darkened by the general feeling that we, the USA, would soon be at war against Nazi Germany but few were prepared for the event which precipitated our entry: the Japanese surprise attack on the strategic USA military base of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 december 1941. The american people finally accepted tha fact that we live in a real, cruel and dangerous world but few suspected that the USA was destined to quickly become the only superpower in a war devastated world.

 

We know, but often refuse to admit, that since the history of man began, that man is by nature and instinct a hunter and a killer. We know that especially the young like to play at war and that it is the young who are sent to fight and die in the wars. Even today, in the armed conflicts occurring daily in the third world countries we find soldiers at age thirteen. Another social phenomenon which was a direct result of the second world war was the massive entry of women into the labor market. With millions of men enrolled in the armed forces the women replaced them in the factories and offices, and a women's corps, the WAC was created. The ultra liberation of the american female sex had begun!

 

Until the age of 22 I had traveled very little, the furtherist was to the beaches on the New Jersey coast and trips to New York City. What great soothsayer could have foreseen that I and my three brothers would take active part in a World War and that I would become a globetrotter who would travel to all the continents, and many Islands, except the Antarctic. But even there, I can say that I visited it by proxy through my Belgian friend, Frank Bastin, the chief of the Belgian Antarctic expedition in 1959, who I had helped organize and train the Belgian Armed Forces Meteorological Service in 1952-53.

 

I began my active military career with an impressive, surprising and unusually long train trip. I was a newly commissioned second lieutenant in 1943. I received orders to join my first base of assignment, a special training base in the semi-desert middle of the state of Oregon. Until this long trip all my trips by train were rather short. This one was a cross continent trip in three phases. I took the train in New York City to Buffalo, where in the winter the snow from Canada carried by the northwest wind across lake Erie can reach a depth of 12 feet. I visited the family of a friend and the next day I took another train to Chicago, a trip of 12 hours. There was a stopover in Chicago of eight hours during which I had the time to see the film "For whom the bell tolls". The stars in the film were Ingrid Bergman and Gary Cooper. It was an excellent and realistic film based upon the novel by Hemingway concerning the spanish civil war of 1936-1939. It was the war which brought the dictatorial fascist regime of General Franco into power. A repressive regime which lasted until the death of Franco in 1975. Since, Spain has become a modern democratic nation and a staunch member of the european community. Little did I realize that after the war I would be visiting and working in Spain fairly often most of my adult life.

 

My voyage by train from Chicago to Portland, Oregon took three days and four nights, time to fight and win a battle. Although I was a member of the US Air Force, I did not have a high enough priority to travel by plane even though America was manufacturing all sorts of airplanes by the thousands for the military. One consolation for a young american soldier: for a young russian soldier to go from Moscow to Vladivostok it took six days and seven nights. The train was comfortable, the food excellent and the scenery, especially through the Rocky Mountains, was splendid. To help pass the time I was fortunate to have met a friendly mother with her two pretty daughters. They were traveling to a new town in the the state of Washington where one of the daughters was to marry an engineer.

 

I learned several years later that it was the town where the top secret factory was being built to extract the basic material for the first atomic bomb being developed in the White Sands desert of New Mexico and successfully tested in early 1945. A few months later, on 6 August 1945 the first atomic bomb was dropped over the city of Hiroshima, Japan killing in one stroke about 140,000 people. I have never seen a number giving the number of domestic animals killed. This was followed by a second atomic bomb on the 9th of August 1945 on the city of Nagasaki which claimed only(!) 70,000 victims. The chief pilot of the bomber which delivered the bombs was Colonel Tibbetts. He was the older brother of a college classmate of mine. The name of the plane was "Iona Gray", the name of his wife. On the 14th of August Japan capitulated. The most atrocious, destructive and murderous war in the history of mankind had come to an end after more than five years of collective human folly. But unfortunately it was not the end of human folly which continues to ravage our cursed planet.

 

Few people remember that it was the genial Albert Einstein who in a letter to President Roosevelt in 1941 encouraged him to undertake the project of developing an atomic bomb. At the time he was teaching and doing reseach at Princeton. Although a pacifist, he feared that the Nazi scientists were working on a similar project. It was Einstein who discovered the basic and all important formula which relates matter to energy, that is: Energy is equal to Mass of matter multipled by the speed of light (C) squared: E=MC2 ! That simple equation indicated that if we could transform a few kilograms of matter into its fundamental energy we would have an atomic bomb of extraordinary power. One well placed bomb would be enought to destroy an entire city. It was the brilliant physisist Julius Oppenheimer who played the principle role in the nucleur research and in the development and construction of the first atomic bomb. By 1945, after a secret gigantic industrial effort, it was done and two Japanese cities and their inhabitants were obliterated by single bombs delivered by an american bomber in the month of august 1945. The Japonese immediately capitualed. It signaled the end of the most murderous and savage war in the history of mankind. Several years later the USSR exploded its first atomic bomb and was soon followed by other countries. The era of the possibility of a nuclear apocalypse had begun. Today, over fifty years later, many countries have developped nuclear weapons. Fortunately mutual fear among the nations of the consequences of the use of such weapons is such that a nuclear war is improbable. However there always exists the possibility of a lunatic and bloody dictator such as Saddam Hussein or some muslim fanatics using such a bomb.

 

I undertook the return voyage from Oregon to the east coast several months later. Once again I changed trains at Chicago for the trip to Philadelphia to spend ten days leave before reporting to a military camp in North Carolina to join a convoy of ships to an unnamed destination in the Mediterranean. I received a pleasant surprise. Traveling with me in the same car was John McElhenny and his wife Geraldine Walters both friends and classmates of mine at Ursinus college. John was studying for his doctorate in nuclear physics at the University of Chicago where he was able to work on the first atomic pile. John had a brilliant career in this speciality after the war. His great success as a scientist was no surprise for me, for he was the most brilliant student in my class at Ursinus college.

 

II

  Now the real war as experienced by four brothers.
Or how four pacifist brothers became four hardened warriors.

Of the four brothers, it was without a doubt Henry who participated most directly and heroically in the front line war from 1941-1945. After being one of the first to be drafted, he took part in the first american landings in Algeria on 11 november 1942 as a young sergeant in a fighter-bomber squadron of the 15th Air Force. As a mere low grade sergeant he already had an important and responsible job. He drove a Jeep equipped with powerful radio equipment and was positioned just behind the front. His job was to pass messages from the command post on the front to the fighter-bombers in the air to direct their attacks against the enemy positions and tanks. It was not a position without danger nor were the living conditions very comfortable.

 

By the end of 1942 three major military events indicated that the fortunes of war were finally turning in our favor. Hitler's armies were beginning to lose a war which until then had been to their advantage. The first was the battle of El Alemein which lasted for a week. There the british army commanded by general Montgomery stopped Rommel's army advancing toward the highly strategic positions in Egypt and the Suez canal. The second important event was the landing of the Anglo-American forces in Morocco and Algeria. The third and most important event was the battle of Stalingrad from september 1942 to february 1943 with the total destruction of the city and two million dead. Not bad for one battle. It wasn't long before we were able to do much better. Two and one half years later with the atomic bombs we had the capacity of killing as many or even more with one well placed bomb and all that in less than a second. Much better than fighting like savages for six months. Now that's progress !

 

The advance of the american troops across Algeria to Tunisia was relatively easy and rapid but once engaged in Tunisia they encountered a formidable adversary : the Desert Fox, Marshal Rommel and his Africa Korps. Rommel and his troops were installed in Libya which at that time was still a colony of his italian ally. He had regrouped there after his defeat by the british troops under Marshal Montgomery at El Alemein in his attempt to take Egypt and the Suez canal. He quickly mounted a counter-offensive against the american troops with his famous armored tanks and was able to force the american forces (brother Henry and his jeep included) to retreat on the road to Constantine, Algeria. There our forces regrouped and won the battle of Kassarine Pass on the tunisian border. It was the end of the famous Africa Korps of Rommel. On 7 may 1943 Tunis was liberated and the campaign for the liberation of Italy was able to begin. It was the end of the African adventure of brother Henry and brother Stanley and I were soon to join him in the italian campaign.

 

The italian campaign of the allied forces began immediately and the advances, although at times bloody, were fairly rapid and aided by the fact that the italian government and the army were beginning to abandon their German ally. The italian people were frankly pro-american. The primary opposition to our advances came from the sectors of the front defended by the german troops. For example, our forces landing on the beaches at Anzio were almost pushed back on the sea and the ferocious battle of Monte Cassino lasted from 18 January to 18 May 1944. After these two battles the allied advances to the north were fairly rapid and the Nazi troops retreated northward into the Po valley on the north side of the Apennines.

 

An interesting side note concerning Libya: I was in Libya for my first and only visit to the US Air Force base near Tripoli in 1959 with a team of Air Force inspectors. My wife Mary was there at the same time to visit with friends, the Coopers. Harold Cooper was the military attaché to the government of king Idris 1. Idris was named king in 1951 after the forced departure of the Italians from their colony. He did not reign for very long. In 1969 a young army captain only 27 years old named Kadhafi disposed him and established a military dictatorship. Over 33 years later Kadhafi is still in power. Of course, we were no longer welcome at the air base nor elsewhere in the country. His deep rooted anti-american sentiments and his exaggerated political ambitions became rapidly evident using the dollars from the oil furnished by the wells developed by the Americans. The almost continuous open conflict between Kadhafi and the USA continues after all these years. Several dramatic incidents come to mind; for example the USA bomber attack on his residence in which several members of his family were killed and he was wounded. As an act of reprisal several members of his government planned and executed the explosion of an american airliner over Scotland causing the death of 250 innocent people.

 

After his defeat in Libya Marshal Rommel returned to Germany and it was he who commanded the german army on the Normandy coast on the day of the Allied landings on 6 June 1944 (The Longest Day). But several months later, his connections with the conspirators in the attempt on the life of Adolph Hitler resulted in his arrest and his suicide ordered by der Führer. The allied landings were originally planned to occur on the 4th of June 1944 and the troops were ready, but the weather and the conditions of the sea over the English Channel and along the French coast were extremely severe and the team of meteorologists did not forecast an improvement until the 6th of June with a rapid deterioration to occur soon after. So, general Eisenhower made the decision to go ahead on the 6th of June 1944. Once again I was indirectly represented in a momentous event. One of the members of the team of meteorologists was captain Bundegard a classmate of mine.

 

The italian campaign began with the invasion of Sicily on 10 July 1943. Our forces were joined by our allies, the british Tommies under the command of general Montgomery and the french army recomposed of troops from Africa under the command of general Juin. In order to prepare the invasion of an island still firmly controlled by the Mafia even in the presence of german troops, the american army used the services of Lucky Luciano, a New York Mafia chief who they released from prison and landed secretly on the island a few weeks before the invasion by allied troops. His mission was to prepare his family of Mafiosies, the resistance and the people for the landings and the liberation. Among the american GI's there were many who were the sons of italian immigrants.

 

The allied advance was not extremely rapid but Rome was finally taken in April 1944. Soon after, on 6 June 1944, "The longest day", the allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy, France. The liberation of Europe had begun. The Italian Government capitulated on 8 september 1944. During the Italian campagne our ground and air forces faced a much weaker resistance than that faced by those in France against a strong and firmly entrenched Nazi army.

 

An interesting episode concerning the Italian campaign: In February 1944 as a young lieutenant I was in a military camp in North Carolina preparing for my departure with a convoy of a hundred or so ships transporting troops and supplies to North Africa in preparation for the invasion of Italy. On board my ship there was an infantry battalion formed of Nissai volunteers (first generation Japanese from California). The anti-japanese sentiment was so strong after the japanese attack of Pearl Harbor that the majority of their parents were interned in concentration camps until the end of the war against Japan. The US government made a formal apology for this act after the war. I had the pleasant surprise of meeting among these troops a sergeant who I had met as a student at Ursinus college. In April 1944 they took part in the terrible battle of Cassino, 18 January - 18 May 1944. A few months after this battle I was in Rome where by pure chance I met one of the lieutenants belonging to the batallion. He had been badly wounded and he told me that the battalion had sustained losses of over 50%.

 

During my missions between Italy, Algeria and Corsica in the summer months of 1944, I had noticed that the activities on the airports and sea ports was unusually intense and there was a remarkable increase in the number of troops in the camps. At the time I had a lieutenant friend named James Hill who spoke fluent French and was assiigned to the Secret Service. After the war he became a well known Hollywood film director. We were able to have dinner together occassionally when he was on a mission at my base, but he never spoke about his activities. On the 10th of august 1944 he left on a very secret mission. On the morning of 15 august 1944 the extremely well guarded secret was abruptly revealed. An allied armada, mobilizing more means in men and material than those in the colossal "Overlord" operation on the Normandy coast some two months earlier on the 6th of june 1944...

 

In this gigantic operation more than 300 000 troops landed on the beaches of the French Riviera coast (more than the number landed on the beaches of Normandy). More than 60% of those taking part in the operation were french troops commanded by general de Lattre de Tassigny. Most were native colonial troops from Africa. Some had combat experience in the Italian campagne. An interesting comparison: only 6% of the troops who took part in the Normandy landings on the 6th of june 1944 were french troops.

 

The allied operation under the code name "Dragoon" encountered relatively weak resistance by the german army. They began a rapid retreat to join their embattled comrades retreating before the power of the american and british armies in the north. Less than a month after the landings the two joined forces in Burgandy. The advance of the allied armies toward Germany began in earnest. The Rhine river was crossd in early march of 1945. The end of the war in Europe was only a few months away: The Germans capitulated on the 6th of may 1945, During these momentous historical events, I continued my humble participation in the campagne of northern Italy, bivouacking in a well heated first class hotel in the lovely city of Florence. The front was on the crest of the Apennines just a few miles north of the city. Such are the fortunes of war.

 

Where were my three brothers during this turmoil? Henry was taking an active part in the advances up the Italian peninsula with his radio Jeep. Stanley was sailing across the Atlantic and the Mediterranean as second officer on one of the hundreds of "liberty ships", the hastily built cargo carriers, which were easy targets for the Nazi submarines except when well escorted by the US Navy.

 

As for brother John he was somewhere on the high seas on an aircraft carrier. I received letters occasionally from all three but because of military censorship we were not allowed to indicate where we were nor with what unit. I learned later that Stanley was on one of the liberty ships delivering ammunition to Naples for the american troops fighting on the front just to the north on the beaches near Anzio just south of Rome.

 

Even though the allied advances toward the north were sometimes spectacular and relatively rapid, the Nazi troops occasionally offered a lot of resistance by taking advantage of the difficult mountainous terrain. The Fifth Army commanded by Lt General Mark Clark and composed of american, french, south african and italian troops advanced along the west coast of the italian peninsula. The VIII Army commanded by General Montgomery and composed of British, canadian, polish, greek, indian and jewish troops advanced along the east coast.

 

Our lives are full of coincidences and chance encounters which often astound us and which teach us a lot about life. In 1944 when I was on special assignment to La Senia, the military airport of Oran, Algeria. I became friends with a pilot and his copilot of a DC3 (Dakota). They made the run between the airport of Ghisonaccia in Corsica, which had recently been liberated, and Algers to pick up supplies for the american troops stationed on the base. The pilot had an armenian name and was from California, one of the states where there were quite a number of armenian immigrants. At that time I had never heard of the genocide perpetuated against the Armenians in 1915. In the month of june 1946, I shipped on a military transport from Leghorn, Italy for New York. On the ten day trip I had time to read and to reflect and by chance I found a book in the ship's library concerning this tragedy in which over 1.500 000 Armenians we slaughtered by the Turks. Name me another mammal capable of such an atrocity. There are none! Homo sapiens-sapiens is all but sapiens and he continues to massacre and slaughter his own kind by the millions ! Most often they are perpetrated in the name of a loving God who does not exist. We know that the real cause and motivation are merely basic animal instinct.

 

During my short assignment at Oran, Algeria, I had the opportunity and pleasure of getting to know some men of the Royal Air force (RAF) and the French Foreign Legion. One day I made a trip with my jeep from Oran to Oujda where I spent a few days at the airport used jointly by the US Air Force and the RAF. One evening the commander of the base took me on a tour of the town which included a stop at the brothel frequented by the american, british and french soldiers (and officers). It was strictly controlled by the military authorities. The commander and I limited our visit to enjoyed a refreshing drink at the bar. On the return trip to Oran, I stopped for a short visit with the French Foreign Legion at Sidi Bel Abbes. This city was the headquarters of the famous Legion from 1842 until 1962, the year the Algerians forced the French out of their country after a long and bloody conflict. Several years later when I was stationed on Orly airfield, I was able to use my knowledge of the french language, the French Foreign Legion and the French administration to assist a well known american reporter/writer. In the 1950's he was well known for a series of articles he prepared for Life magazine entitled "I was there!" I served as his interpreter on his visits to the French authorities to obtain his authorization and instructions for the visit with the French Foreign Legion at Sidi Bel Abbes.

 

My lifelong intimate relationship with the French and there lovely country, France, began in the summer of 1944. I was stationned with my small unit on La Senia the french military airport near Oran, Algeria. The long awaited allied landings on the Normandy coast began on the 6th of June 1944. Our advances across France on the long hard road to Berlin were fairly rapid considering the stubborn german resistance encountered by our forces. Paris was liberated on 25 august 1944 and the first incursions into Germany ocurred in mid december 1944. Our forces in the Mediterranean had already landed on the beaches of the southern coast of France on the 15th of August and were able to advance rapidly north as the relatively weak german forces in the south retreated to the north.

 

My first visit to France ocurred soon after these momentous events, on the 15th of september 1944 when I accompanied a C-47 crew delivering supplies to some of our units on the airport at Marseilles. With my basic but rapidly improving french language I was able to serve as an interpreter. We were able to buy some french perfumes we used to seduce the girls back in Oran. Who could have foreseen that this was only a short initial visit and that it would be followed by a lifelong association with the country, with the french people and the french language. My second visit to France did not occur until seven months later when I was in Paris on the 6th of may 1945, V.E. day. This was followed by a weeks stay at the hotel Martinez in july of 1945 on a leave from my base in Florence, Italy. Except for our military vehicles there was little traffic on the roads, so I was able to visit the lovely area by bicycle. After seven months of complete immersion in the italian language, I was surprised that I could still get along well with my french. Really not too surprising since the two languages are close cousins. Later I was able to add another close cousin, the spanish language. I soon noted that, a Spaniard when speaking his native tongue and an Italian his, they had little trouble in understanding each other.

 

Now lets get back to the events concerning the four rascals and their war. I arrived on my first visit to the Naples airport of Capodoccino from North Africa in the month of june 1944. I was surprised and pleased to find that the italian population had greeted us as liberators. The 12th Air Force Headquarters was at Casserta, a chateau a few miles north of Naples. Naples had been liberated just a few months previously. There was little damage and life quickly returned to normal, and the black market flourished. In Naples life was lived in the streets, and still is, the bordellos were full of soldiers and the Naples Opera quickly began its splendid presentations. Being a music lover and reading and speaking a bit of Italian I attended several times. My interesting stay in Naples did not last very long.

 

After the liberation of Rome on 4 June 1944 by the troops of general Mark Clark, the allied advance to the north was fairly rapid. On 8 September 1944 the Italian government capitulated and the German troops retreated to the Po valley on the north side of the Apennines. The 15th Air Force headquarters was installed in the city of Florence in November 1944. The city was not bombed, however all the bridges across the Arno river except the historic Ponte Vecchio were destroyed by the retreating German troops or by american bombers. At certain times the officers of the Wehrmacht (army) showed that they had a heart and a bit of appreciation of history. However in their retreat to the north from Sicily they and our aviation had destroyed all the many bridges. But in the end that action served little purpose. It did not slow down our advances up the italian peninsula, for our army engineers quickly installed temporary bridges.

 

When I arrived for my new assignment on the Florence airport I found that most of the buildings had been destroyed or badly damaged. With my team we installed our mobile unit near the runway which the engineers had quickly repaired. A portion of my team installed their radio equipment and their living quarters in a lovely villa on a hill not far from the airport. I was billeted in a first class hotel in the center of Florence beside the Arno river and had my jeep to make the daily run to the airport. A squadron of Spitfires was stationed on the airport. Their mission was to attack German positions in the Po valley on the other side of the Apennines. It was my first direct working contact with the fantastic Royal Air Force pilots (the RAF) !

 

During a mission briefing on the 20 th of february 1945, we were interrupted to hear the sad news of the death of president Franklin D. Roosevelt. In January 1945 he had begun his third four year term as president of the United States of America. He had returned from the november 1944 Yalta conference with Churchill and Stalin where the trio had finished agreeing on the post war partition of Germany into four occupation zones : American, British, French and Soviet. In the newspaper photographs President Roosevelt was always shown seated. Most people did not know or had forgotten that he was a victim of polio at the age of 36. He was a great politician and a great and courageous Human being.

 

I don't recall how I had learned that brother Henry with his eternal Jeep was attached to the advance headquarters of the 15th Air Force on the main road through the Apennines leading to the Po valley. Most of the personnel were working and living in mobile units. Henry was bivouaking in a tent next to his Jeep and there was still snow on the ground. By contrast, I was living in a well heated first class hotel situated on a lovely square by the Arno river in the lovely city of Florence . In the month of february 1945 I was able to drive my trusty Jeep up the main national road across the mountains to pay him a short visit. On the way I accompanied many trucks carrying American soldiers to the front and passed others full of Italian prisoners of war descending the road to Florence. While the German soldiers were hastily retreating toward Austria through the Brenner Pass, the Italian soldiers were willingly surrendering. Curious to note that five years later, I recieved orders to report to the Allied commission in Vienna, Austria. At the last minute the orders were canceled because my dear wife was ill and the medical facilities available for us in post war Vienna were considered to be inadequate.

 

The fortunes of war are not the same for all willing, and unwilling, participants. For example, I and my three brothers took an active part in the second World War, probably the most devastating and murderous in the history of mankind, yet all four of us survived. This brings to my mind a drama which occurred in the US naval war against the Japanese in the Pacific ocean. On board of one of the american war ships were five young sailors from the same family, the Sullivans. The ship was sunk by a japanese torpedo and there were no survivors. The naval authorities quickly issued a new regulation which forbid the assigning of members of the same family on a combat vessel. Since, the US Navy has honored their memory by baptizing a new naval vessel with the name of Sullivan. Incidently, the family name of my brother Henry's first wife was Sullivan.

 

Very quickly as spring approached, the Italian Fascist troops gave up the fight in the Po valley and the German troops withdrew rapidly via the Brenner Pass into Austria. The Italian resistance forces immediately took power and began their purges. A great majority of the partisans belonged to the Communist party and many had joined the red army and some were with the soviet troops advancing toward Berlin. Twenty years later I met some of them in Moscow when I was working for Univac. Mussolini, the Italian dictator, was disowned and arrested by the Fascist leaders in 1943, but he was freed by german parachutists and set up an Italian Socialist Republic in the town of Salo. In march of 1945 the Po valley was already controlled by the partisans and the city of Milan was ready for an insurrection. We were helping them by parachuting weapons and supplies. The British forces advanced rapidly on the east coast of the italian peninsula and quickly took control of the main cities of Bologna and Venice and the American Army quickly descended the Apennines into the Po valley.

 

On 28 April 1945, one week before the official end of the war in Europe, Mussolini was recognized by the partisans as he was trying to escape into Switzerland. He and his mistress, Clara Petacci were immediately executed. The two bodies were hung head down in a service station in the center of Milan. Several weeks later I passed by the station in my Jeep. Once again I missed being a direct witness of a dramatic historical incident!? I drove on from Milano to Venise where I paid a visit to my British officer friends at a first class hotel on place St-Marc where for the first time in my life I enjoyed british kippered herring at breakfast.

 

Who could have predicted that my wartime contacts with the city of Milan, the Po valley and Italy in general was merely a prelude to my lifelong admiration and contact with this marvelous city and country. In 1946 I visited Milan for the second time on my way to my first, but far from last, visit of one week of Switzerland with a group of officers from our base in Foggia. We had flown to the airport of Milan in a medium Bomber, a B-25. My next visit to Milan did not take place until five years later in the summer of 1951 when my dear wife, our niece and I made a grand tour of Italy in our merry Oldsmobile. My next visit was a solo visit eight years later, in 1959, with an Air Force inspection team to our base near the city of Udine north of Venice. This base is still an active US Air Force Base as a part of NATO and is used primarily as an intermediate base in the conflicts in the Middle East. Later during my years with Univac and ITT, 1968 through 1985, I had the immense pleasure of frequently revisiting Rome and Milan on official business. During my visits to Milan I had the pleasure of being able to visit with a good friend, Renzo Frigeri, the distributor of Jean Claude de Givenchy's perfume line. Today he is retired and living in Nice, France. Jean claude is retired and living near Grasse, France. I am also retired and living in Cannes, France, Italy is only a hours drive away by car. We go there fairly frequently to enjoy our favorite italian dishes. Our lives are always full of unusual coincidences and pleasant surprises.

 

At the end of the war in Europe, I remained in Italy with the US Air force until June of 1946. I was stationed in Florence, Italy until the end of the month of august 1945. It was the month the Imperial Japanese Army capitulated without conditions after the two terrible atomic bombs. On the first of september 1945 I transferred to the airport at Foggia, Italy in the southeast of the italian peninsula. It was the headquarters of what remained of the mighty 15th Air Force bomber command whose B17 Flying Fortress crews made a glorious name for themselves during their missions over Rumania to destroy the famous oil refineries at Polesti, which were a major source of oil and gasoline for the German armored forces and aviation. The area was highly protected by German anti-aircraft batteries and fighters which resulted in a rather high casualty rate among our B17 bomber crews.

 

During my 8 month stay at the airport of Foggia there was still a squadron of B17 bombers on the field which had participated in the raids against the oil refineries of Polesti, Rumania, I was also responsible for the delivery of special equipment to a small unit stationed near the city of Bari on the Adriatic coast south of Foggia. I usually drove there alone in my Jeep and spent the night in the officers hotel near the sea. One night I arrived during one of the wind storms which blows across the Adriatic sea from the Balkan mountains. The noise of the wind roared so loud that I was unable to sleep. I left the following evening in my trusty Jeep. As dusk arrived I noticed that my lights did not function. I was in the middle of nowhere and postwar traffic at night even on the main highway was practically nil. Lady luck was in my favor that night. A british lorry arrived and I was able to follow it closely to Foggia.

 

Occasionally I crossed the italian peninsula from Foggia to Naples with a 6X6 truck to pick up special equipment for my unit in Foggia. We had a simple but unusual problem. There were many steep hills and a loaded truck climbed them rather slowly. If I didn't have a guard on the back of the truck, youngsters would quickly climb on and throw items off before I could stop. Parking a truck or a jeep was always a problem. It was essential to park in a guarded lot otherwise when you returned you found a wheel or two missing. On one of the trips I had the pleasant surprise of being able to visit with my brother Stanley who had just arrived on his "liberty ship" after having delivered a cargo of wheat to Yugoslavia. We were able to pass the night together at the meteorological observatory on mount Vesuvius. In the year of our lord 59, mount Vesuvius produced its strongest eruption ever. It was the year that the roman city of Pompey was completely covered by volcanic ashes and most of the population was killed. A year after my stay on the volcano a mini eruption destroyed the observatory.

 

Another unexpected and interesting encounter which occurred during my 8 month stay in Florence, Italy is worthwhile recounting. The chauffeur of the commanding general of the 15th Air Force was a friendly young Sergeant of italian extraction from New York City. When he accompanied the general to the airport he would stop by to see me. We became friends and I soon learned that he spoke fluent italian. When he left Florence, he gave me the address of his family's restaurant in Manhattan and invited me to stop by when I could to enjoy a real italian pizza. Upon my return to the USA in month of june 1946 my ship landed in the port of Brooklyn, so I stopped by to pay them a visit. It was not long before I understood why he had become the general's chauffeur and had served as such since the landings in Sicily. The family was obviously a minor member of the New York Mafia.

 

III

  THE COLD WAR

Ed Maykut (right)
(Orly 1950)

At the end of the 2nd World War in august of 1945, the United States of America, with the collapse of all the former World Powers, became the most powerful nation in the world. Today, in the year 2003, the USA is without a rival economically , militarily and politically. After the end of the war the western alliance had underestimated the power of the Soviet Union and the international communist movement, a tentacular organization directed and financed by Moscow, a sworn and powerful enemy of capitalism and democracy. After the 1917 Bolshevik revolution the russian communists organized one of the most repressive and bloody regimes of modern times. The result was the killing of over 100 million people in the 70 years of the existence of their regime. All that by a system which claimed loud and strong that it was democratic and popular. Obviously it was neither one or the other. In the twentieth century the Soviet Union and world communism became the world's major problem. But slowly the true nature, perfidy and contradictions of the Soviet communist system began to undermine the regime and the soviet communist empire suddenly collapsed in 1990. Since, the Russian nation under the leadership of Mr. Putin, is having a difficult time in its attempt to develop a modern democratic system of government, a western style economy and to become a cooperative member of the western Democracies.

 

During the last six months of 1946, as a young captain, I was stationed at an Air Force base near Schweinfurt in occupied Germany. The city was partially destroyed during the allied bombings of the famous ball bearing factories located in the suburbs of the city. During the first few months after the end of the war on the 6th of May 1945, we, the occupation troops, were subject to a non-fraternization order. Of course enforcement of such a policy was strictly impossible and like an old soldier it just faded away. In my small detachment of a dozen men each had a a girl friend, liebchen fraulein. In fact many of the girl friends were fraus (married women) with husbands still prisoners in the USSR. The US Air Force headquarters for the area was installed at Bad Kissingen, a lovely bath town about 20 miles from our air base. I drove there fairly frequently on official business and at the same time I was able to enjoy a round of golf on the golf course just outside the town.

 

At the time the famous (already forgotten) criminals of war trials against the former Nazi leaders was in full swing in the city of Nuremberg only an hours drive from my base at Schweinfurt. The city was especially known for its extravagant parades and meetings headed by Hitler during the glorious prewar days of the Reich. One day I drove to the city in my trusty Jeep and attended an afternoon session as a spectator. Hitler was not there for he and several other top Nazis' had committed suicide during the last days of the war. Other prominent leaders had taken refuge abroad, especially in South America. Herman Goring, who was Hitler's designated successer, was present at the trial. A few days later he committed suicide.

 

Once again strange coincidences played their role. Two years later, in Paris, I made friends with a young French doctor, Max Gouriou and a pretty german secretary who had taken part in those trials. They remained friends through all the following years. Max Gouriou passed away two years ago. I had the opportunity and pleasure to visit several other important cities in the US sector and was able to enjoy another of my favorite sports, skiing in the Bavarian Alps. The ski resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen is still used as a rest center for the american troops stationned in Europe as members of NATO...

 

In mid november of 1946 one the severest winters Germany had ever known began. The Main river was completely frozen over and remained so until the end of march. Its effect on the German population was severe because the coal with which they normally heated their houses was transported by barges on the Main river from the mines in eastern Germany. We, the occupying forces, had other means of supply, mainly from the mines in eastern France.. Before leaving Schweinfurt I was able to enjoy one of my favorite winter sports: ice skating on the frozen Main river.

 

In January 1947 I received orders to report for a new assignment at the Air Force headquarters in Wiesbaden. Once again I was able to use my Jeep to make the trip from Schweinfurt to Wiesbaden. On the way I passed through several cities almost completely destroyed by the Air Force bombings. The most impressive was the city of Würtsburg. On the top of a hill, on the road approaching the city, I looked down upon a city which seemed to be essentially intact. But to my surprise upon entering the city I discovered a phantom city, for most of the stone walls of the buildings were still standing but the insides had been burned out by the incendiary bombs dropped by our B17 (flying fortress) bombers. The scene reminded me of our fire bombings of the city of Dresden in february of 1945 which destroyed 90% of the city and killed over 35 000 poor souls, not bad for a classical bombing. Little did we realize that a mere six months later we would destroy a Japanise city and kill over 140 000 people in one swell swoop with the first atomic bomb.

 

I continued my route and upon arriving at Frankfurt am Main I found a city in somewhat better condition than Würtsburg. The General Headquarters of the US occupation forces was housed in the former Headquarters of I G Farben, the German industrial giant. I stopped over for a short visit with a friend I knew was stationed there. The following morning I continued my route to Wiesbaden which was only an hours drive away. Upon arrival I was surprised to find a lovely city essentially intact. I soon learned that the city had not been a bombing target because in the plans of the allied powers, this bad (bath) town with its numerous hotels, pensions and large comfortable villas was to serve as the headquarters town for the US Air Forces and some army units during the planned occupation of conquered Germany. I had the great pleasure and lucky privilege of enjoying for several months the baths of water from hot water springs and a room in a first class and well heated hotel. It was not the case, for most of the vanquished Germans, for the winter of 1946-47 was unusually severe. The Main river and the canals on which the coal from the mines in the east were transported were completed frozen over until the end of march. We, the occupying forces, were able to bring in coal from France which was not available for the occupied Germans.

 

During the first few years of our military occupation of Germany, the Deutsch Mark was essentially worthless for inflation was continual and uncontrollable. The markets were bare and the prices extremely high. The American occupying forces had their own stores and to be able to control the situation, a special occupation currency, the Script, was used by the American forces in place of the US dollar. The Germans did not have the right to have or use this currency. So of course, it was barter and the black market which flourished. The strangest aspect was the important role taken by the american cigarette. In order to survive, many Germans sold their precious jewelry and antiques for several packs of cigarettes. An american soldier (a GI) could have a pretty german girl for one or two packs and for several cartons of ten packs of Lucky Strike cigarettes you could buy a second hand Mercedes Benz. In spite of controls and a ration limited to ten packs of cigarettes per week, illegal selling on the so called Black Market flourished. It is probably difficult for someone who did not experience this strange period in a completely devastated country and economy to understand how the cigarette could replace the legal currency, the Deutsch Mark, as a means of payment.

 

The headquarters of the US Air Force was located in a large former Luftwaffe complex in a suburb of the lovely city of Wiesbaden. My squadron was located at the airport a few miles east of the city. I was a member of the team which prepared and presented the daily briefings for the commanding general and his staff. The city of Wiesbaden played an important role in the important events which took place in my life. It is there where I first met my future wife, Mary and made friends with several persons who remained my close friends and played important parts throughout my long life.

 

There was Lester Sherman who married a german girl and returned to New Jersey to run a successful business. Then there was Jean Claude de Givenchy, the older brother of the to become world famous fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy. Jean Claude worked in Wiesbaden as a photographer where he also met his future wife, Patricia, the daughter of a colonel. We had the present surprise to learn that General Edwards the US Air Force commander, was in the same squadron as Jean Claude's father as a young lieutenant during the 1918 war.

 

The US Air Force and the US Army still have several bases in West Germany but no longer as an occupation force but, like the new German Air Force, as a member of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). And since the collapse of the Soviet regime in 1990, East and West Germany have been unified and the relations with the new russian regime, especially under Mr. Putin, have become almost normal: the end of 55 years of cold war.