12/3/43 Mission:
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Twelfth Air Force): The Twelfth Air Force transfers its entire II Air Service Area Command with all of its subordinate units to the Fifteenth Air Force, where it shortly becomes the XV Air Force Service Command. This is a major step toward making the Fifteenth a separate, self-sufficient air force. B-25's bomb harbor and marshalling yard at Sibenik, Yugoslavia. In Italy, fighter-bombers, along with RAF Desert Air Force (DAF) airplanes, hit tanks and trucks in the Guardiagrele-Lanciano areas. Other fighter-bombers attack a vessel at Sibenik, Yugoslavia and vehicles and trains N of Rome. Anzio and Nettuno, Italy are also bombed. [Source:http://www.milhist.net/usaaf/mto43b.html]
12/4/43 Mission:
MTO: The Second Cairo conference, Operation SEXTANT, opens and lasts until 6 Dec. President Franklin D Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston S Churchill, and President Ismet Inonu of Turkey attend. Churchill discusses the possibility of Turkey entering the war; the plan for the amphibious assault in the Bay of Bengal is cancelled; A tentative timetable is set up for Pacific offensive; and a unified Command is established in the Mediterranean effective 10 Dec.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Twelfth Air Force): Weather grounds Twelfth Air Force elements of Northwest African Tactical Air Force (NATAF).
12/5/43 Mission:
MTO: At the Cairo Conference, President Roosevelt decides on General Dwight D Eisenhower as the Supreme Allied Commander for Operation OVERLORD, the invasion of W Europe. The CCS issue a directive for the organization of the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces (MAAF) consolidating British and US forces of the Mediterranean Air Command (MAC) and Northwest African Air Force (NAAF).
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Twelfth Air Force): Weather hampers medium bomber operations, but B-25's manage to bomb a bridge at Pescara, Italy and marshalling yard and shipyards at Split, Yugoslavia. In Italy, US fighter- bombers and fighters (and a number of other Allied airplanes) hit gun positions S of Chieti, Italy, a vessel in Poljud, Yugoslavia harbor (near Split), trains and trucks W of Aquino, bridges near Mignano and Ladispoli, the town of Arezzo, airfields at Piombino and Aviano, and building S of Garda Lake. HQ Twelfth Air Force transfers from Tunisia to Italy.
12/6/43 Mission:
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Twelfth Air Force): In Italy, P-40 and A-36 fighter- bombers bomb bridges at Ceprano and W of Mignano; weather cancels other operations.
12/6/43 V-Mail, Italy
Marfy:
Your letter of Nov. 23 arrived and had in it the best news I’ve seen for months. Now that you & Doc Sheaff got together, I feel lots better.
The club sounds good. Ethel Ellen used to be a honey and a swell kid. I spent the better part of 6 years looking at her but never got enough nerve to ever ask for a date. No, Burt hasn’t said anything about the twins—in fact, I haven’t heard from him for some time. I’m a little worried.
Your dry storage on baby is wise. So you like your silk socks. That is the first time I’ve heard you got them. All in all, I’ve sent about nine pair home. Jerry seems to have pretty well cleaned out this part of the world, but I shall try to find some more now that I know you like them.
Honey, your saving our money the way you do is most appreciated. It may look like a lot now, but I doubt if the dollar will be worth more than two bits in value after the war. So all we can hang on to will be in the right direction. I guess you’ve gotten my letter on the Bonds & Savings accounts by now. Why don’t you give me a rough total of checking account, amount of bonds (not including those I added) and savings account total about once a month?
Now that winter is here, it is cold, and the bugs are going away. My hair is back to normal length. As Mother would say, if I didn’t look so much like a horse, I would be good-looking.
Well, mia bellissima ragazza D’America, just keep on having fun and writing me letters like the one I just got and I’ll be able to get through the next year much easier than the last one. I love you. Cy.