 The forty-fifth departed Oran on 4 July 1943, with little attention paid to the fact that it was Independence Day. The six-day trip to Sicily was smooth at first, then turned fairly rough, with seasickness prevalent among the troops. The weather calmed as several troop ships rendezvoused near the town of Scoglitti, on the western side of Sicily's south coast. At 2 a.m. on 10 July the landing craft were filled with infantrymen, and as the craft approached the shoreline, the Navy opened up with a volley of preparatory fire. The primary mission of the Forty-fifth was to capture two airfields needed for Allied aircraft. Comiso Airfield, about eleven miles from the shore, was captured in a day and was being used by American planes the next day. It took four days for the division to capture Biscari Airfield, about twelve miles inland.
