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Chapter 4
Sicily
We invaded Sicily on July 10, 1943. It was thirty days of fighting and no one was relieved. I was ordered to take my squad and clear the beach. The Italians had a bunker in a sand dune and I sent Fitzpatrick and another Joe up. An Italian threw a hand grenade that glanced off Fitz’s helmet. Well, Fitz threw a grenade. I came up and Fitz grabbed a grenade out of my hand and he threw it and an Italian overcoat flew out. I called the B.A.R. man and he shot into the bunker. The Italians came out of there. When the one that threw the grenade came out, Fitz kicked him in the ass. The Italians were a scared bunch. They would fall on their knees and pray.
The German tanks made an attack against the beachhead. Some of the tanks got within 100 yards of the beach before the battleships knocked them out. That night we started to move inland. I could hear the machine guns and the mortars. The forward company called back and said that they had captured a prisoner and didn’t know what to do with him. They called back and said if he is still kicking to hit him again. Our regimental objective was some high ground surrounding Gela Airport. We were pinned down in a small valley. We had a lieutenant from artillery and he told our captain that we should charge them.
The captain said to pass the word for everyone to fix bayonets and charge and make plenty of noise. We charged, making noise and yelling and we never stopped until we had the high ground around Gela Airport. The Third Battalion got beat up pretty bad and they asked for replacements. They sent Fitzpatrick and some other misfits. So I lost Fitz. Then they sent up word for us to go up Mount Etna to attack Tronia, Sicily. When that mountain rumbled I got nervous. We took Tronia and kept pushing. I took a patrol out and we spotted a company of Italians in a big house. I told the colonel that there were too many for me and I had to have help. So we went back. He had a soldier that spoke Italian and he told them to surrender. In the meantime, he had the artillery firing over the house with each shell getting closer. The Italians almost ran away from us trying to get away from there. We pushed the Germans right into the sea. After that, they put us into a rest camp.
I got the Sicilian crud. My hands broke out in sores and blisters. I had to stay in the hospital for two weeks. Sicily was very dirty. So, as I stayed in the hospital, the Big Red One moved back to old England. Soon I was put on a ship to England. All we had to eat was beef tongue.
When I got back to the outfit they were billeted in an old, large hotel, the A.T.S. Girls were billeted across the street. How nice. One weekend, when some of my men were on pass, one of the men brought his girl friend and stayed all night. I gave her my room and I slept in another bed, for I knew that they were in love and we would soon be going back into combat.
Well, they soon let us know that they were planning something big and we were going to spearhead it. They put us through some tough training. We went on boat landings in Scotland. We went on a night training mission. We marched up to the English Channel and dug in. I lay down in my foxhole and covered up with my blanket. I heard artillery fire and I looked out and flares had it bright as day. The lieutenant came around the next morning and told us that German submarines were shelling a radar station. He said to get the men in their foxholes. The colonel was coming. Well, the colonel saw me and he said, "Wilson, haven’t they killed you yet?" I saluted and said, "No sir, it takes a good man to get me." It was Captain Kelaher who was now a colonel. I asked him where he got those pigeons on his shoulders. He said it wasn’t easy. Well, we went to Camp Raleigh at Plymouth, England, on the English Channel. The camp was sealed and no one could get in our out. While there, they laid it on the line. We were going to invade Normandy Beach on June the 6th, 1944.
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