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To War, History

1944 Apr 22: Shelby to Virginia

When the last board had been nailed across the last latrine door on April 22, 1944 the Combat Team boarded trucks and rolled down to the mixed assortment of Pullmans and coaches waiting to take them to Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia. The trip was uneventful, except for large quantities of folding money which changed hands en route. Staggering wearily off the trains at the staging area, officers and men were greeted by a barrage of instructions from a loudspeaker mounted on the station platform. Quickly they formed ranks and marched to their assigned barracks. When the men left Shelby they were told that all the things not available in the Post Exchange there could be bought in the staging area Post Exchange. Accordingly everyone made...

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To War, History

1944 Jun 6: On to Anzio

On June 6 the Combat Team left Naples for Anzio aboard LSTs and LCIs, leaving Company E behind to await the arrival of the rest of the 2nd Battalion from Oran. The small fleet put into Anzio harbor the morning of June 7, but not before 75 percent of the personnel aboard had become violently ill. Ground swells were heavy and the landing craft displaced about as much water as an over-sized bathtub; the effect produced was about equal to the effect a cyclone would have on a larger ship. Debarking in the rubble of Anzio the troops marched about five miles to a bivouac outside the city, arriving in a state of collapse. Weeks at sea had gotten the men into terrible physical condition....

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To War, History

1944 Jun 9: Second Battle of Rome

On June 9 the Combat Team began one of its most memorable convoys, better known as “The Second Battle of Rome.” Moving out of Anzio late that afternoon the first march unit hit Rome in daylight and made it through with only minor deviations from course. All that night, however, serial commanders looked frantically for their reconnaissance officers and vice versa. Columns of trucks wandered around the walls of the Vatican City, looking for the road north. Most of them finally found it, but not before the officers and drivers were on the verge of hysteria. One befuddled march unit commander and his troops tried three different routes out of Rome. Each time they ended up in front of the great Dome of St. Peter’s....

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To War, History

1944 Mar 15: Prepare for Movement

“Beware of the Ides of March” could certainly be applied in the case of the 442nd Combat Team. March 15 saw officers and noncoms rushing around like so many mad hatters looking for all available regulations on “POM,” preparation for overseas movement. First came the initial regulations, then the first clarification, then the clarification of the clarification. At this point the regimental and battalion staffs were considering the advantages of opium. Finally, the Combat Team was furnished with a new set of instructions which rescinded all previous instructions, and everybody rushed down to the post utilities office to secure the grease, waterproof paper, crates, and the numerous other items which the regulations firmly stated were necessary to the packing and crating of supplies and equipment....

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To War, History

1944 May 1: Embarking for the Theater of War

Came time to head for the ships. On May 1, 1944, the Combat Team boarded a collection of coaches that most of the men felt had probably carried troops in the Civil War. The trains carried them straight to the piers at Hampton Roads, where there was a band playing “Over There” and some of the older favorites from the last war. Red Cross ladies passed out doughnuts while the men waited to board ships. Finally, the long lines were formed in alphabetical order and the men moved up the gang planks, singing out their first names in answer as the checker on the pier called their last names from his roster. The smaller men were very nearly invisible under their heavy packs and steel...

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To War, History

1944 May 2: Four Weeks at Sea

Once at sea, sealed orders were opened. Before long everyone had contrived to find out that the eventual destination was Italy. Although no one would say so in so many words, it was also fairly conclusive that the ships would dock at Naples, since the Liberties were not making the Anzio run with the troops at that time. Inevitably, many of the men and many of the officers were seasick, even though the weather was nearly perfect during the entire crossing. One company commander, Captain Ralph J. Graham, was stretched out on his bunk talking to one of his lieutenants between periods of wondering whether he was going to live or die when a terrific explosion shook the ship followed by a series of smaller...

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To War, History

1944 May 28: Welcome to Italy

The Combat Team debarked and found a ruined city. The panorama of the Bay of Naples was still breath-taking, but the port itself was a shell. Demolished buildings and gutted interiors were all that was left of the waterfront. Yet for all this, Naples was busy. Hundreds of GI trucks of all sizes, shapes and descriptions raced to and from the port. It was worth the man’s life to cross a street intersection within a half a mile of the waterfront. Some units marched to the railroad station, loaded aboard little inner-urban trains, and rattled and rocked the ten miles or so to Staging Area #4 at Bagnoli. Others moved out in trucks. Immediately everyone went to work uncrating all the equipment that had been...

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