LST (491) - Naval Cruise Book

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MEDITERRANEAN ADVENTURE We sailed shortly for Naples on completion of our repairs, arriving there on September 29. Here we 'loaded half of the tank deck with steel strips for an air- field, and awaited further orders. 0ur next assignment was to proceed to the island of Elba. This trip proved to be most unusual and one to write home about. We were the only LST assigned on this duty and had one PC as our escort. Elba, where Napoleon lived in exile, was used by the Allied Forces to shell Pembennio, Italy, with the Big Toms. The people of Elba were a pathetic sight. Most of them were slowly starving to death. Their homes and villages had been leveled by the fighting when the island was taken from the Germans. Our car- go manifest was an interesting one - 115 mules, 6 horses, 12 goats, 24 sheep, 4 Big Tom guns, numerous ancient motor vehicles that had seen better days, a French Naval Artillery unit and about 300 French Colonial Troops. We had to load at two different places. The mules were loaded first and then because of a storm we had to lay at anchor for three days. The smell of the mules was of course terrific, but fortunately none of them became sea-sick. It was several weeks before we were free of the barn yard atmosphere. We arrived at Marseilles, France, on October 9 and managed to get rid of every- thing but the smell. This was our first trip to the fam- ous seaport which the retreating Nazis had left in ruins, that is, the port area including the docks, cranes, etc. The town itself was in pretty good shape. Many of the men aboard visited the beautiful Cathedral, which was located on top of the hill overlooking the anchorage. 35 5

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THE OL, DOUBLE TROUBLE . the 16th day of September and sailed late that evening, Ensign Danny Buterbaugh left the ship at this port so that he might board a plane for Naples. He was going on official business to pick up some much needed radio and radar spare parts for the ship. He intended tO fly via ATC Service and return to Cagliari and catch the ship on the next trip. We did not realize it at the time, but this was the last time we were to see Danny Buter- baugh. When we returned to Cagliari he did not re- port aboard. On September 29, when We arrived in Naples, Italy, we received the shocking news that the plane on which he was a passenger had crashed on its return trip to Cagliari. There were no survivors re- ported and the plane had not been recovered. On September 18 we arrived in Bastia in North- eastern Corsica. We carried a bomber group of the United States AAF from Cagliari. Un the 20th of Sep- tember we were back in Cagliari, Sardinia to load an- other group for Bastia. On completion of this run We were ordered to Palermo, Sicily for dry-docking, arriv- ing in that port on September 25. Naval Operating Base, Palermo, was a very well run base and our repairs were completed within a four-day period. Palermo was once a very beautiful and romantic city, the show place of the Mediterranean, and the city where the elite of Europe Went to rest and play. But now its beautiful old buildings were in shambles, and the populace were a miserable and suffering lot. The abundance of splen- dor, wealth, fun, and happiness of the past was now re- placed with poverty and disease. 34

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THE OL DOUBLE TROUBLE S. ,We salled from Marseilles on October 15 for zerte, Tunisia, carrying the 8th Beach Battalion anda number of other Naval personnel who were preparing to leave for the United States. We arrived on October 17, discharged part of the personnel, and then pro- ceeded to Oran, Africa for a new assignment. On Octo- ber 25, We departed for Marseilles, France loaded with heavy tanks and Army equipment. We also had aboard 700 former Italian prisoners who were going to France to work for the United States Army Quartermaster Corps. The trip from Oran to Marseilles usually takes about two and one-half days, but on this trip it took us about live daysas the Ol' Med was on a rampage. We arrived on October 30th, unloaded, and the follow- ing day we were on our way again. The ship was loaded during the night with U. S. Army vehicles and equip- ment for delivery to Leghorn, Italy, After oil-loading at Leghorn we proceeded to Bizerte, Tunisia, arriving on November 3. A .