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 disposal, 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. Life, 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
such as I saw only served to whet my appetite. I killed nobody.
There were still 5 or 6 million Germans dirtying up the earth. It
seemed a long way to go and a big job, this bastard extermination.
And all we were doing was training some more.