The Wyandotte news-herald. (Wyandotte, Mich.) 1943-1963, 1944-10-26
FIGHTER Pilot
Continued from Page 81

Continued from Page 81
all our American money today.
When we go ashore we were given
the corresponding amount in Italian
currency. It's against the law and Q
court martial offense to have q. s.
currency In your possession IN italy.
Somehow I always thought the
island of Sicily was very mountain
GUS but was wrong In that respect,
for from what I can see. the island
looks just about like West Texas.
From the sea the land slopes gently
upward for about eight miles, then
rises sharply into number of large
and small plateaus that look as If
someone had laid layer upon layer
of slate-like rock to make them.
Off to the south one can see Mt.
Aetna, on the toe Of Italy, rising
above the haze on the horizon. To
the North, a very short distance
from our ship, I can see the mast
of a ship that was sunk In the har-
bor, sticking out of the water.
This afternoon a number Of ma
tives In their small boats came out
to the various ships. One came near
our ship and we called 1t over. 1t
contained three very raggedly dres-
sed Sicilians. It appeared to be a
man and his two sons. Someone
dropped them package Of cigar
cites. The old man could speak a
little English. He wanted more
cigarettes, but was offering three
dollars in italian money for q car
ton. The fellows, thinking he was
joking, said they wanted s.. We
soon found out he wasn't fooling,
for he agreed to pay that and pulled
out a large roll Of money to pay
for them. Those who had cigarettes
gladly sold the 10 cent cartons for
five dollars. The old man soon
rowed away with 40 cartons Of Gig
aretteS and a smile on his face. Just
what his profit win be I don't
know, but there surely must be a
shortage Of cigarettes in Sicily.
The fact that We are near land
and will soon be off this ship has
spread a very happy mood over the
company. The Puerto Ricans have
been singing their native songs for
almost three hours tonight. No one
viii be sad to leave the ship.
'The straits are about 30 miles
long and we were about four hours
passing through them. The narrow.
est point Is two miles. Most Of the
buildings In the cities are alike.
Square gray stone buildings with
faded tile roofs. The town of Mes
sina, Sicily was pretty well bomb
torn. Over on the Italian side we
could see the vineyards and orchards
these were set in the sides Of the
hills-in terrace-like fashion. AS We
entered the narrowest part Of the
strait, hundreds of small boats came
out from either side to meet the
convoy. They were all sizes and some
had sails. Others were manned with
oars and some had both. They con-
tanned anywhere from two to IL
men and boys. In one boat there
were three small boys-all under
nine years. In another, two old men
with four boys, and so on-but they
were all there for one purpose
They would bring their
boats as close as they dared to our
moving ship. Then with q wild yell
and waving Of arms, they would |
cry, Americana cigaretteo-hey Joe,
AS the packages were
thrown into the water, they would
fish them out In nets. You could |
easily see thy had done this before
by the way they worked. On one Of
the boats was q woman. She was
showered with cigarettes. One of the
cooks threw loaf Of bread and the |
boat nearest dropped everything to !
retrieve this.
Last night I saw my first VOL
cano, tStrombole' and 1t was active