Lewis Hancock (DD 675) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 46 text:

25TH JULY- 1ST AUGUST On July 25th we arrived at Venice, the Queen of the Adriatic, our best liberty port since de- parture from the States. Spirits were raised by the prospects of receiving mail and the fact that we were to moor downtown in the middle of the main street — the Grand Canal. The first two days were spent in frantically prettying up the ship due to the insistent demands of SOPA, but then half of the crew was allowed to go ashore, and at last we began to see Venice as the wonderful city we had heard about. There seemed to be an equal number of tourists and natives. Many dates were made with the beautiful Italian women and with the seemingly hundreds of American college girls there on vacation. Lido beach soon became the place to spend an afternoon and in the even- ings San Marco Square was the rendezvous where everyone gathered to feed the pigeons and listen to the beautiful violin music. If we didn ' t choose to walk on the cobblestoned streets we could travel by vaporetta (water-bus) or rent a gondola. Almost everyone ate in the outdoor cafes, but we were surprised to find that pizza is not as well known there as it is at home. While in Venice eight men went on a three day tour to Rome and returned without a lire between them, testify- ing to the wonderful time they had. Others took leave to visit relatives they had never seen be- fore. Finally we left the fleet landing for the last time and after a wonderful visit we were under- way for fleet operations and then Barcelona, Spain.

Page 45 text:

WW Spurkle sparkled as Salome. 1J» Raw sex. Short timers. Oh! there you are.

Page 47 text:

.m r % V..« £ . A . Mil Italian Army. Local bus. Cathedral and Bell Tower. San Giorgio. Feed the pigeons, please! u