Italy Part 3

This formation was held at our 32nd Station Hospital, Caserta, Italy, in 1944, during the terrible months our  men fought at Anzio.  We are awarding The Purple Heart to each one; 1st/Lt Herman C. Needles, our registrar, has his back to the camera; I am to his left holding the clip board with the manes of the recipients; our Commander, Col Harold Goss is pinning the medals.  We had many of these Purple Heart formations.
 
 
 
 
 

Click on image to enlarge On the back of this picture is written "xmas 1993, patients ward" . This was at our complex at Caserta, Italy.  Note the wood stove in the middle; we had no plumbing or electricity when we arrived here. Water was hauled into the area with tank trucks.  Enlisted personnel classified as ward men carried water to the wards and also arranged to heat the water, when needed, at the mess hall.  The duties of a ward man was to keep the wards clean and provide disposal of the many items used to treat patients.  In addition, these men had to deliver all the food from the mess haul to the litter patients.  In addition, these ward men were required to assist the nurses and doctors in taking care of the needs of all bed patients. (administer medications as directed by the ward Officer; bathe bed patients, help them at meal time, change bed linen, assist patients to our labs, etrc..)

Click on image to enlarge Here you see nurse Ann Barone decorating a makeshift tree for Christmas.  The note on the back states, "Patients' ward, Caserta, Italy, 1943".   We started to get very busy here when on January 22, 19944, the invason of Anzio was started.  We received many battle casualties and a great number of men with upper respirtory infectons.
 
 
 
 
 

Click on image to enlarge In these two pictures you see some typical Italian wartime kids.  They seemed happy in spite of their dress.This was near Naples.  I was there and the Italian children took a "terrible beating"; lack of food and clothing, a warm place to live, many in broken homes was their lot.  We were not allowed to give any food to these people, but we tried our best to help them   Any civilians at this time if they had some money, there was nothing in the stores for them to buy.  Some small towns were completely destroyed by military activities. I know of one town, San Pedro, near Cassino, was completely wipped off the map.. Almost all Italian males were taken by the Italian military and when Italy capitulated in September, 1943, the German military authorities took most of the Italian army as prisoners.  Many were murdered or shipped to other countries; many were sent to concentration camps in Germany.  Very few returned to their families.
 
 

Click on image to enlarge This is a roster dated 1 May 1944, of our nurses when we were on duty at Caserta, Italy..  Almost all were with us when the 32nd Station Hospital was organized. back in the states. Click on the image to en-large.

Click on image to enlarge We had Irving Berlin appear in person just a short distance up the road from Caserta at Santa Maria.  I have the complete program; in the beginning it states that the entire production is staged under the personal direction of Mr Irvng Berlin.  Note the date, 24 April 1944; this was near the front lines..  Rome was not liberated until 4 June 1944.

Here you see our janitor, an elderly Italian gentleman, standing in front of our headquarters; he let us know that he was wearing the suit he bought in New York city before the war.