Dad's Navy Days: September 1943 - Italy (15)

"I remember one of the many refugees of war,

a barefoot lady dressed in a black sleeveless

dress, carrying a huge black trunk on her head."

Doug Harrison, Leading Seaman Coxswain

["Navy boys in Cairo, 1943, with a young guide, Omar"]

Fortunately my father wrote down many recollections about his time in Sicily and Italy during WW2. Many events he experienced were horrendous. Others, related to refugees of war, were solemn. And a few fall under the heading 'boys will be boys'.

About living life occasionally on the edge of some type of law he writes:

     One evening an officer and I went on a short foray and
     acquired a few chickens. The officer had a cook, and I thought
     of home as I enjoyed a couple of drumsticks in payment for my
     part in the acquisition. (Oh! We left some chickens for the
     owner.) [1992, The Norwich Gazette]

Sounds harmless enough doesn't it? However, in hand-written memoirs composed in 1975, he goes into a bit more detail:

     We weren’t too busy and the officers (who ate separately but
     had the same food as us) were growing tired of the diet, the
     same as we were, even though they had a Sicilian cook and we
     didn’t. An officer by the name of Wedd asked me if I knew where
     there were some chickens or something. I said, “Chickens, yes.”

["My father knew how to handle chickens"]

     When he said, “how be we put on some sneakers and gaffle them”
     I said, “Okay by me. Right then, tonight at dark we’ll go, but I
     get a portion for my part of the deal.” He agreed and later we
     got every chicken in the coop, rung their necks, and then took
     them to the house and had the Sicilian cook prepare them. I got
     a couple of drum sticks out the window. Next morning, the Sicilian
     cook came in as mad as hell. Someone had stole his chickens. Little
     did he know at the time he cooked them that they were his own
     because his wife looked after them. [Pg. 36, "DAD, WELL DONE"]

["Doug's hand-written notes from 1975"]

In the above telling of the story it appears the earlier note, i.e., "we left some chickens for the owner", was included so he didn't seem like a weasel to his hometown audience. If in fact he was a weasel at times, some of his concluding comments about his 30 days in Sicily and Italy reveal he was a soft-hearted one. About one aspect of his departure for Malta again he says the following:

     I learned quite a bit of the Sicilian language under Pietro's
     tutelage. He did all my errands and I would have sure liked to
     have brought him home. It broke my heart to leave him.
     ["DAD, WELL DONE"]

And for his hometown audience he writes:

     After about a month Do-go had a tearful goodbye with his
     friend Peepo. He stood on the beach and I on my landing craft,
     waving our goodbyes. What a strange war. I have thought of
     him often. [The Norwich Gazette]

["Peepo, are you still alive and well in Messina, Sicily?"]

I think of Peepo myself on occasion, as an 83 or 84-year-old man walking the streets of Messina, Sicily with a few memories of his own about WW2, the time he acted as a guide and errand-boy for a young Canadian sailor. If I ever travel to Sicily, I'll make an effort to find him. Father's notes hold some of his memories but more may still be out there.

More to follow.

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Please click here to read Dad's Navy Days: September 1943 - Italy (14)