Letter From World War II Sailor in Italy, aboard the USS Narragansett during invasion of Europe - Copied from the "Ladies AuxiliaryPage" of the Sherman, Texas newspaper, published January, 1944. - Newsletters - http://maxpages.com/ljwbthisweek/Letter_From

Letter from Across

When we reached Africa, we landed in Casa Blanca. We moved up the coast
stopping at most of the small places until we reached Algiers. We had a
job there which lasted until June 17th, after which we began to make plans
for the invasion of Sicily.

During the time we were at Algiers we had several large scale
air raids, however not any of our crew were injured.

July 7th--The big moment has arrived, the first step in the invasion of the
European Continent is under way. That was a very exciting time for us all:
up until that time I had never had a good look at a German plane. The Jerries
soon changed all that. I think they must have shown us their entire air force
in less time than it takes to tell you about it. We came out of that also
without any casualties. Our ship was banged up pretty bad by near misses
but we were still able to operate.

We stayed around Scoggoletto(that is where we invaded),until about the last of
August when we headed back for Africa.

There is one thing I forgot to tell you about:- The morning of the 25th of August
we were tied up in port at Palermo, Sicily: We were hit twice in less than ten
minutes with near misses (bombs): The first one killed two men in our
No.1 gun crew and I had just been taken off that crew when it happened.
The second one killed five of our fire fighters, bringing our casualties to seven.
Well you can imagine what a grim crew we were next day.

Now back to Africa:- We stayed there just long enough to load food and
ammunition then we headed for Salerno, Italy. I wish you could have seen the
size of the fleet we invaded with, however I don't know whether you would have
enjoyed it or not, but it would have given you an idea of what the Germans are
up against.

All I have to add to this is that we were lucky.The battle of Salerno will go down
in history as one of the hardest fought battles of the war. We towed the British
Cruiser Ugandi, the British battleship Warspite,and the American Cruiser Savanah to
Malta. They were all badly damaged by bombs. We lost a few ships but in
comparison to the fleet we had, it was a very small percent.

As I write this we are heading for Oran for seven days, after that I think we return
to Algiers possibly for the winter.

Now you know why I wrote you and told you to keep praying for me. There is a
guardian Angel riding the brow of this ship and I know it is the prayers of the folk
home that is keeping her there.

When some of my ship-mates make the remark about how lucky we are I feel like
posting the picture of the young people taken from the cover of "Our Voice" and
telling them that is the reason, that they are responsible for our safety by their prayers.

Francis Brown.
U.S.S. NARRAGANESETT.

ljwb@mail.com

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