Chapter 6 -- Naples -- Shower of Frogs

And we return to The Shower of Frogs by William J Stigall, Jr.

http://www.amazon.com/Shower-Frogs-World-War-Memoir/dp/0533135354/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261548494&sr=1-1

Naples, Part One: October-November, the First Month

My first contact with the great city of Naples came somewhere near its very heart, the contact a few muffled voices in the gloomy dark sometime after midnight. The words were Italian. The voices came from faces in barely discernible bodies huddled beside dark buildings. My jeep came to a halt at a street crossing. There was silence. Then, "Americano?""Si"

The bodies came to the side of the jeep. We spoke no Italian, they little English, but enough was exchanged to learn that the few remaining Germans had left the city early in the morning. In their leaving the Germans had heaped upon their former ally a burden of senseless destruction and heartless hunger.


At that moment and for the next two months I experienced a mixture of emotions about the Neapolitans. The mixture was manyleveled, many-sided. It led to a confusion of reactions, a condition I shared with many American soldiers. On the one hand, the Italians deserved this punishment. They had cheered and strutted to a fat and pompous Mussolini. They had joined fates with Hitler. They had been our mortal enemy in North Africa and Sicily and were still fighting against us in Italy to the north of Naples. On the other hand, forgiveness seemed the larger need. In defeat, in humbled poverty, what canone do but present one's worstself7 Ifsome of the actions we were to witness in the days to come seemed like prideless beggary, if the life they lived seemed dirty and undisciplined, it was countered by a warmth of humanity, a wealth of smiles, and a vibrancy and passion for life not visible in every American.