Don Bennett's War - Chapter 5

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Don Bennett's War

Chapter 5 - The Mediterranean

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The next day we awoke to the calmest sea we had since leaving New York. The Mediterranean was calm as glass, with only a few ripples here and there on the water. We could see a few hills of Spain through the haze on our left, but nothing on our right. On the next day, however, that smooth water became a churning mass of short, choppy waves as a Mediterranean storm hit us. Many who did not become seasick in the Atlantic storm, now became very ill. As we walked down ladders into the bunk deck, many men were coming up toward the latrine, with their breakfast gurgling out of their mouths onto the ladders and floors. When going to the latrine to perform duties usually performed there, the places to perform these duties were occupied by men vomiting their stomachs out. On the afternoon of the third day from Gibraltar, the storm abated and we could see the Island of Corsica on our right.
Ed Note: This would be impossible since Corsica is not visible from the shipping lanes to Marseilles. It probably was the Island of Mallorca of the Balearic Islands. (Spain)
The next day was also a good day and at noon we began to sight more land. As we became closer, the destroyer escort left us and the troop carriers formed in a single line and headed straight toward land. As we moved closer, we could make out a small harbor, a city and a few small brown hills behind them. We picked up a pilot and he guided the ship in past the tan rocky bluff on our right, then past the famed old stone fort on our left, and around the sunken ships in the harbor (we counted the masts of 32 of them of which only the masts were visible). The outstanding point of this city of Marseilles (which didn't seem to look like a city of nearly a million people) which lay before us, was the castle which stood high atop a pinnacle and seemed almost inaccessible.

We were guided in past the many demolished docks and warehouses and into dock "C". This dock was blocked with a German hospital ship on its side and about three fourths submerged, but we tied up alongside and unloaded over it. We went below, put on our packs and picked our rifles and equipment, and waited for our turn to be called for unloading. At about four o'clock that afternoon of October 20, we walked down the gangplank over the sunken ship and onto French soil. We formed our companies out on the dock street and began our 17 mile march out to the staging area. On the way out French boys and girls tagged along at our heels, begging for "chocolet", "chew gum" and "cigarette per Papa." Having little chewing gum or candy, we gave them cigarettes, which they smoked themselves instead of taking them home to their "Papas".

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