 They arrived in Palermo on 20 July, and Murphy was sidelined by illness for a week. Allied capture of the transit port of Messina was crucial to taking Sicily from the Axis. En route there, Company B was assigned to a hillside location protecting a machine-gun emplacement, while the rest of the 3rd Infantry Division fought at San Fratello. The Axis began their evacuation of Messina on 27 July. Although the 3rd Infantry Division's 7th Infantry Regiment secured the port on 17 August, the Axis had already completed their evacuation hours before. During the fighting in Sicily, Murphy became realistic about military duty: "I have seen war as it actually is, and I do not like it. But I will go on fighting."
