10/5/43 mission:
Lieutenant General James H Doolittle assumes command of the Twelfth Air Force during the absence of General Carl Spaatz. In Italy, XII Bomber Command B-17's hit the Bologna marshalling yard; B-25's and B-26's bomb the Formia road, a road loop N of Mignano, and Isernia chokepoint; NATBF, XII Air Support Command, and RAF Desert Air Force (DAF) aircraft bomb numerous targets in and N of the battle area, including heavy traffic in the Isernia area, gasoline dumps at Alfedena, trains at Termoli, and towns of Venafro and Isolella.
10/6/43 Mission:
NATBF planes on road- blocking missions hit targets at Teano, at Alfedena, between Cassino and Capua, and near Sessa Aurunca; XII Air Support Command P-40's and A-36's attack roads and vehicles N of the US Fifth Army battle zone and patrol the Naples area. The US Fifth Army reaches the S bank of the Volturno River; Capua falls to British units.
10/6/43
“Somewhere in Italy”
Hi Darling:
It has been fun these last few days. I’ve seen a lot of the country, and had a lot of interesting experiences. Then I got your letter of September 15. If I don’t get back towards civilization I won’t be able to send money back. I hope to be able to contact a finance office and send you about $300 this month. How’s the bank account coming?
The cheeses arrived yesterday and are gone. Salt water got in and the cardboard and V-Mails molded, but after cutting off the outer part we had real fun. Burt is very fond of the Wisconsin snappy (as am I) so I gave it to him. Actually I’ve eaten most of it.
Then, to top off everything, my first daily news arrived. Boy, what fun.
Hey! Your pictures of Sept. 19 are swell, but I can top them. Take a look at the enclosure.* That was taken just before a mission at someplace. Don’t I show overwork, under-nourishment, and war nerves? Boy, war is really hell. Sometimes we don’t even get chicken on Sunday.
I shall send the negative if I can’t get it in time to go with this. What I want you to do is make up a Christmas card with this snap of me and one of you. Better do it quick as it will be hard to get towards Christmas.
As a suggestion, how’s about below:
Maybe that’s too complicated but figure out something.
What a time we had last night and then this morning. They pulled a surprise problem out of the bag in the middle of the night. This was followed this morning by rain—and I don’t mean maybe. I finally got to bed at about 8 a.m. Just as I got to sleep, down came the tent and everything. The mosquito nets, false roof (for protection against sun), and all of our clothes were hung on the damn thing. You should have seen Burt & I frantically driving pegs while Jackson held up the tent. It will be days before I feel dry.
I went swimming again today. The coast is rocky an quite different from a beach.
If BBC and the Jerries don’t quit playing classical music, I’ll go nuts. There are about 2 good programs a day, and 3 real good ones per week. The hell of it is we never know what day it is and unless someone accidentally tunes in at the right time and yells the info around the camp, we miss same.
I just took the C D News [Chicago Daily News] to Arthur Dixon, who was overjoyed. 2 months old, but yet good. Red Streak edition too.
Well, Honey, time to admit again that I’m lonesome as hell and wish this damn were over. I am having as much fun as I can for it is a sterling opportunity to see the world, but I miss you too much.
Love, toots. Your Cy
P.S. Send some V-Mail banks in an envelope air mail.
P.S. #2 Oh boy—I’ve got a damn good orchestra (no recording—in person) on standard wave from Jerryland.
P.S. #3 I love you some more
*I did not find the photograph that Cy is referring to in this letter.
Cy had sent a number of post cards to Marty from Bari, Italy, which was on the Adriatic coast, a bit north of Grottaglie where he was stationed at this time.
