Chapter 11: Scotland and England

Chapter 11
Scotland and England, Early Spring

For fifteen years I've wanted to come to this country, to this England.
For months I've wanted to hear music. For days I've wanted to see
shows, eat at tables, and talk to English-speaking men and women.
Now I've come to England. I've heard some music, seen some plays,
been to dances, eaten at tables, conversed in English. In fact I've tried
desperately to have a good time. And I have failed miserably. I have
no heart for it-now that I've got it. I've no mind for it. it isn't the
thing or they are not the things that satisfy my desires-the interest
of my heart and mind. What I want is what I left in the mountains of
Italy-satisfaction of something accomplished, something concrete,
something real, something to eat up this tremendous desire to get on
with the business of exterminating Germans.

So I wrote in a letter from Leicester, England, February 21,1944.

Contentment was no one's lot; then, perhaps it never is. Certainly
there was much to give me joy, if I just didn't have to return to military
life. I came to England by jeep from the north. We ferried the
North Channel into what I know now is the Firth of Clyde. We
probably went through Stranraer and stayed overnight in Dumfries.
We had a day and a night in Scotland. From our British barracks
in the evening I hurried into whatever city it was to mingle
with civilians, British soldiers, Land Girls, and the small number of
American soldiers from our advance party.

Moving from North Ireland through Scotland to Leicester in
the Midlands was like traveling back through one's reading. Little
did I know of North Irish literature, but some I knew of Scotland.
The country I sped through, whether lowlands, highlands, or
moors, suggested those literary landscapes I had read about since
childhood, Conversation in the jeep was certainly negligible, so that
my mind ran off to the songs of Burns, the castles and abbeys of

77

Naples, Part Two: The Second Month

Shower of Frogs, William J Stigall, Jr. page 52

Naples, Part Two: The Second Month

After a month Naples began to recover from the Nazis/ occupation/ systematic rape/ and violent departure. Time ran out on the delayed-action bombs. Immediate mass starvation was halted. The electric and water systems were put in order. Civilian transportation/ sewage disposat and telephone exchanges were repaired. The harbor was miraculously cleared. Air raids were infrequent and not seriously destructive. The war moved fifty miles to the north. Pulsating life and a little gaiety returned to Naples. Shops and restaurants found some supplies with which to operate. Excursions to the ancient city of Pompeii and the storied Isle of Capri were offered soldiers. Refugees/ such as the Puccini lover/ returned to the city. Something was done about former Fascisti. Fraternization took over. The medics set up round-the-clock prophylactic stations. We began training again. A few companies left the division and joined the Fifth Army on the Volturno River. Officers requested jeeps and jeep drivers to get them to and from their evening dates with nurses. The celebrated and magnificent Neapolitan weather turned wet/ cold/ and dark. Uk for me/ deteriorated into disappointment. After twenty months of army life/I had seen about one week of socalled combat. Bitterness and sourness seeped into my life/ and there were long second thoughts about my place in the army/ the effort of the United States in the war/ the problem of loneliness/ the mental and emotional confusion caused by the contrasting nature of the Neapolitans/ and the possible effect on all of us of the ugliness/ destruction/ dirt/ filth/ decay/ and stagnation.

The Eighty-second Division was given the job of patrolling the city of Naples, first great city to fall to the Allies. After a month we were able to turn this job over to the civilians and return to training. I was particularly irritated because of this. The few days of combat