A Death in San Pietro
Page 24
3. Palmer, p. 15.
4. Miller, p. 294.
5. Pyle, Brave Men, p. 117.
6. Pyle, Brave Men, p. 141.
7. Ibid, p. 141.
CHAPTER 14
1. Walker, p. 278.
2. 36th Historical Quarterly, winter 1990, Lee Fletcher.
3. 36th Historical Quarterly, spring 1981, Jack Clover.
4. AAR, Operations in Italy, 143rd Infantry, November 1943.
5. “Friend Writes to Mexia Family of How Son Killed,” Mexia Herald, 2/11/44 p. 4.
6. “Jack B Gibson Is Reported Killed in Italian Action,” Mexia Herald, 12/10/43.
7. Palmer, p. 20.
8. Tidwell interview.
9. Alban Reid, Thanksgiving 1943, Nov. 23, 2002 from 36th memo board.
CHAPTER 15
1. Les Leggett, Thanksgiving 1943, Nov. 24, 2005, 36th memo board.
2. See photos in “They Called it Purple Heart Valley,” Bourke-White.
3. Ambler, p. 192.
4. Hustion, An Open Book, p. 107.
5. Maslowski, p. 83.
6. Ambler, p. 193.
7. “Report on Motion Picture Progress,” 12/31/43 p. 27.
8. Ambler, p. 194.
9. “Report on photographic activities,” 12/31/43, pp. 1–2.
CHAPTER 16
1. Wagner, p. 68.
2. Ibid, p. 68.
3. Atkinson, p. 339.
4. Blumenson, p. 276.
5. AAR Op. Dec. p. 2.
6. Various sources, including the Mexia Daily News, 5/4/74. The complete Last Will and Testament was held by the family until 1959, when it was given to the Temple Telegram for publication.
CHAPTER 17
1. Whitehead, p. 83.
2. Wagner, p. 74.
3. Journal 143rd CT 12/8/43.
4. Atkinson 341.
5. AAR p. 4.
6. Clover, Jack, “San pietro do you read me?” 36th Division Association, texasmilitaryforcesmuseum.org/gallery/36div.htm.
7. Alvin Amelunk, Personal Account of the B of San P, spring 1993, 36th H. Quarterly.
8. Clover, “San Pietro, Do You Read Me?”
9. Ibid.
10. AAR p. 5.
11. “Texas Doubletalk,” San Antonio Express, Dec. 31, 1943, p. 3 (no byline).
12. Palmer, p. 21.
13. Pyle, Brave Men, p. 142.
14. AAR p. 5.
15. Vannatta, Lem, “Lucky #13,” 36th Historical Quarterly, undated.
16. Pyle, Brave Men, p. 152.
17. Miller, p. 295
18. Pyle, Brave Men, pp. 153–154
CHAPTER 18
1. Sweeney, Sec. 10.
2. “The Waskow Legend,” Winter 1984, Michael Lanning, 36th Military History Quarterly.
3. Tidwell interview.
4. Mexia Weekly Herald, Slaughter to reporter, May 5, 1944.
5. 143rd Journal CT, Dec. 13.
6. Lanning 36th Quarterly.
7. Tidwell Interview.
8. Tidwell, The Galveston News, Monday April 13, 1959.
9. Tidwell interview to end of chapter.
10. Tidwell interview.
CHAPTER 19
1. Huston, p. 110.
2. Wagner, p. 81.
3. AAR pp. 7–8.
4. Amelunke, Alvin, “Personal Account of the Battle of San Pietro, Italy,” 36th Historical Quarterly, Spring 1993.
5. Wagner, pp. 82–83.
6. AAR, p. 8.
7. Bigart, Forward Position, p. 33.
8. Ibid, p. 34.
9. Tidwell interview.
10. Pyle, Brave Men, p. 155.
CHAPTER 20
1. Bigart, p. 28.
2. Ibid, p. 28.
3. Ibid, p. 29.
4. Ibid, p. 29.
5. Ibid, p. 30.
6. Whitehead, p. 82.
7. There is some dispute about when Huston first shot footage of San Pietro and the battlefield. Though sketchy on specific dates, his autobiography suggests that Huston and his team followed the tanks on December 15, when they “. . . crept forward and photographed the disastrous results . . . These shots were in the original uncut version of the film.” (Huston, An Open Book, p. 110.) Ambler, also sketchy on the dates, implies that their first trip into San Pietro was at least a day after the Germans had left the village.
8. Ambler, p. 200.
9. Huston, p. 110.
10. Ambler, p. 202.
11. Huston, p. 111.
12. Ambler, p. 206.
13. Ibid, p. 209.
14. Huston, p. 112. Ambler suggests otherwise—that the camera was just grabbed and taken directly to the jeep.
15. Ibid.
CHAPTER 21
1. Tobin, p. 132.
2. Wagner, p. 288.
3. Walker, p. 290.
4. Ibid, p. 289.
5. Ibid, p. 292.
6. Fletcher, Lee, “San Pietro Memories,” 36th Historical Quarterly, Winter 1990.
7. Clover, Fall 1981.
8. Wagner, p. 90.
CHAPTER 22
1. Miller, p. 295.
2. Ibid, p. 297.
3. Miller, p. 302.
4. Tobin, p. 137.
5. Pyle, Brave Men, pp. 154–156.
CHAPTER 23
1. Report on Motion Picture Progress, 12/25/43.
2. There is some question about whether or not this footage was recreated, too. See Armed with Cameras, p. 90.
3. Huston, p. 114.
4. Ambler, p. 211.
5. Bertelsen, section 3.
6. Archives shot lists, “Captain Huston’s Team Coverage,” San Pietro, Italy 12/31/1943, National Archives RG 111: Records of the Chief Chief Signal Officer.
7. Tidwell interview.
8. Sweeney, section 3.
9. Belton Journal, Jan 6, 1944, p. 1.
10. Sweeney, section 11. Sweeney interviewed Mary Lee and got the story of her mother’s reaction to Henry’s death. Mary Lee Waskow Barr passed away in 2012.
11. Editorial Column, Belton Journal, Jan 21, 44, p. 2.
12. Not until 1959 would the family allow it to be published in full.
13. Miller, p. 305.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid, p. 312.
CHAPTER 24
1. Walker, “General Walker’s . . . Rapido Crossing” 36th Historical Association, texasmilitaryforcesmuseum.org/gallery/36div.htm.
2. Ibid.
3. Clayton Laurie, Mil. History, The Rapido River Disaster, 2000.
4. Walker, p. 404.
CHAPTER 25
1. John Huston collection, Academy of Motionn Picture Arts and Sciences, Margaret Herrick Library, Los Angeles, CA, August 5 1944 memo
2. Huston, An Open Book, p. 119.
3. Ibid, p. 119.
4. Office of the Chief Signal Officer memo (from Huston collection in LA) Dec 22. 1944.
5. Huston Collection LA March 14, 1945 letter to Zanuck.
6. Huston, Open Book, p. 119.
7. See Bertelsen for discussion of San Pietro and Westbrooks thoughts
8. See Armed with Cameras for criticism of Huston.
9. San Antonio Express, May 7, 1948.
10. Abilene Reporter News, Sept. 22, 1944.
11. Miller, p. 369.
12. Ibid, p. 327.
13. Ibid, p. 400.
14. Miller, pp. 373–379.
15. Miller, p. 425.
16. Humphrey, Walter, “Home Town, Comrades Pay Tribute to Hero,” El Paso Herald Post, Feb. 24, 1944, p. 1.
17. See “National World War II Monument Groundbreaking,” Nov. 11, 2000 http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/160418-1.
SOURCES
Atkinson, Rick, The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943–1944, Henry Holt and Company, New York 2007
Ambler, Eric, Here Lies, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London 1985
Baedeker, Karl, Baedeker’s Southern Italy and Sicily, Chas. Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1930
Barzini, Luigi, The Italians, Atheneu
m, New York 1964
Bertelsen, Lance, “San Pietro and the Art of War,” Southwest Review, v. 24, no. 3, Spring 1989, pp 230-256
Bigart, Homer, Forward Positions: The War Correspondence of Homer Bigart, ed. Betsy Wade, The University of Arkansas Press, Fayetteville, 1992
Blumenson, Martin, The United States Army in World War II: The Mediterranean Theater of Operations: Salerno to Cassino, Center of Military History, Washington, D.C. 1993
Boomhower, Ray E. , The Soldier’s Friend: A Life of Ernie Pyle, Indiana Historical Society Press, Indianapolis, 2006
Bourke-White, Margaret, They Called It “Purple Heart Valley”: A Combat Chronicle of the War in Italy, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1944
Capra, Frank, The Name Above the Title, The MacMillan Company, New York, NY 1971
Coyne, Kevin, Columbia Journalism Review, Jan.–Feb., 2012.
Desmond, Robert W., Tides of War: World News Reporting 1940–1945, University of Iowa Press, Iowa City 1984
Huff, Richard A., Staff Sergeant, The Fighting 36th: A Pictorial History, The Texas Division in Combat, ed. Ray Merriam, Merriam Press, Bennington, Vermont 2012
Huston, John, John Huston: An Open Book, Alfred A. Knopf, New York 1980
Kershaw, Alex, Blood and Champagne: The Life and Times of Robert Capa, Thomas Dunne Books, New York, 2002
Knightley, Phillip, The First Casualty: From the Crimea to Vietnam: The War Correspondent as Hero, Propagandist, and Myth Maker, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York 1975
Mander, Mary S., Pen and Sword: American War Correspondents, 1898–1975, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield 2010
Marshall, Katherine Tupper, Together, Annals of an Army Wife, Tupper and Love, Inc. New York, Atlanta 1946
Maslowski, Peter, Armed with Cameras: The American Military Photographers of World War II, The Free Press, New York, 1993
McBride, Joseph, Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success, Simon & Schuster 1992
Miller, Lee G., The Story of Ernie Pyle, The Viking Press, New York, 1950
Palmer, Sr., Bennett J., The Hunter and the Hunted: A Combat Soldier’s Story, Bennett J. Palmer, Sr., Holland, NY (undated)
Poague, Leland, ed., Frank Capra Interviews, University of Mississippi Press, Jackson 2004
Pyle, Ernie, Brave Men, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln 2001
Pyle, Ernie, Here Is Your War, Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1943; Pyle, Ernie, Here Is Your War: The Story of G.I. Joe, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, 2004.
Snyder, Louis L., ed., Masterpieces of War Reporting: The Great Moments of World War II, New York, 1962
Steinbeck, John, Once There Was a War, Viking Press, New York, 1958
Sweeney, Michael, Ph.D, “Appointment at Hill 1205: Ernie Pyle and Henry T. Waskow,” Texas Military Forces Museum, Austin (submitted as a paper at Ohio University, 1995)
Tobin, James, Ernie Pyle’s War: America’s Eyewitness to World War II, The Free Press, New York, NY 1997
Wagner, Robert L., The Texas Army: A History of the 36th Division in the Italian Campaign, State House Press, Austin, Texas, 1991
Walker, Fred L., From Texas to Rome: A General’s Journey, Texas Publishing Company, Dallas, Texas, 1969
Whelan, Richard, Robert Capa, Alfred A. Knopf, New York 1985
Whitehead, Don, “Beachhead Don”: Reporting the War from the European Theater, 1942–1945, ed. John B. Romieser, Fordham University Press, New York 2004
Oral History Interview with Riley Tidwell, March 28, 1994, int. Jane Purtle, Cherokee County [Texas] Historical Commission, 1994
36th Division Historical Quarterly, various authors, The Texas Military Museum, Austin
36th=Infantry Division, Italian Campaign of World War II, September 1943 – June 1944, [originals at the National Archives and Records Administration], Microfilmed in 1965 by author Robert Wagner, now reposing in the Archives Division of the Texas State Library, Austin, Texas
Burrage, Richard, See Naples and Die, unpublished manuscript, 1988 (from the archives of the Texas Military Museum, Austin)
Designated here as 143rd Infantry Regiment AAR (After Action Reports) Operations Avalanche; Operations in Italy, November 1943; Operations in Italy, December 1943
George C. Marshall: Interviews and Reminiscences for Forrest C. Pogue, 1956–1957, Marshallfoundation.org
Hughes, Robert, ed., “The Courage of the Men, an Interview with John Huston,” from Film Book 2, Grove Press, New York 1962
APS, “Report of Photographic Activities” (Signal Section, Headquarters Fifth Army, Dec. 31, 1943), Records of the 163rd SPC, NA. 51 pp. RG407, Entry 427, Box 18365, Folder SGCO-163-0.1.
APS, “Report on Motion Picture Progress” (Signal Section, Headquarters Fifth Army, Dec. 25, 1943), Records of the 163rd SPC, NA. 5 pp. RG407, Entry 427, Box 18365, Folder SGCO-163-0.1.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to my agent, Farley Chase, who has been a stellar representative and advocate of my work from the day my writing first arrived on his desk. It’s always been a pleasure working with you, Farley, and I deeply appreciate your hard work and help.
Thanks to Bob Pigeon at Da Capo Press, a thorough, encouraging, and knowledgeable editor of this book. It’s been a thoroughly enjoyable process.
Thanks to Kevin Morrow, whose work on my behalf at the National Archives in Maryland, has been excellent and crucial to a pair of books.
Thanks to Lisa Sharik, Deputy Director the Texas Military Museum at Camp Mabry, Austin, Texas, for all of her help before, during, and after my visit to the museum. And thanks to the museum itself for offering such a wonderful archive for the 36th Division.
Thanks to Megan Cooney, Reference Archivist at the Texas State Library and Archives, for her help and guidance at this rich repository of information and materials.
Thanks to John Brady for his work digging through the John Huston collection at the Margaret Herrick Library at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science.
Thanks to the Scripps Howard Foundation for permission to print Ernie Pyle’s column, “The Death of Captain Waskow.”
Thanks to the many authors whose work I used for this book, most particularly James Tobin, for his excellent biography of Ernie Pyle; General Fred L. Walker, whose diary offers a crucial perspective on the invasion of Italy; and Robert Wagner, whose extensive research on “The Texas Army,” collected at the Texas State Library and Archives, is a first stop for anyone interested in the actions of the 36th Division in Italy.
Thanks, of course, go to Ernie Pyle himself, a magnificent writer and journalist. I hope I’ve done your work some justice.
Thanks to Sam and Hannah for being the best children ever.
Thanks to my wife, Susan, always my first and best reader—I can tell by the look on her face if a passage is working or not. And she is unerring in her assessment. Ti amo.
Thanks, finally, to all the GIs from whose stories, letters, and reminiscences I have borrowed to tell this story. Your sacrifice and service has been extraordinary and heroic.
INDEX
Photo section is indicated by p1–p8
Absent without leave (AWOL), 228
Academy Award, 246
Across the Pacific (film), 131
“After the fact” footage, shot by Huston, 224
Agee, James, 245, 246
Alcoholics Anonymous, 16
Alexander, Harold, 141
Allamon, Emmett, 186
Allied assault, in Mediterranean theater, 61–62
Altavilla
battles around, 82–83
as command post, 81–82
leveling of, 87
patrols along, 81
Texas Division and, 85
Ambler, Eric, 134
on Clark, 206
gunfire and mortars experienced by, 208–210
on San Pietro destruction, 209
on soldier’s remains, 208
Amelunke, Alvin, 196
American M
ercury (magazine), 132
American Office of War Information, 134
Amphibious assault
at Rapido River, 238
training for, 22, 26, 49
in Volturno River, 145–146
Appenine terrain, 144
Army Air Corps, 162
Army Pictorial Service, 243
Army Port of Embarkation, 23
Army Signal Corps, U.S., 119, 131, 162
arrival of, in San Pietro, 206
on photographic coverage, 128
Arsenic and Old Lace (play), 122
Associated Press, 162, 203
Astor, Mary, 132
Auto racing, Pyle’s fascination with, 12
AWOL. See Absent without leave
Baedeker’s, 66, 67, 114
BAR. See Browning Automatic Rifle
Barron, Gaines, 81
Battle of Britain, 33
“Battle of Chiunzi Pass,” 116
Battlefield fever, 52
Belden, Jack, 101
Belton, Texas
Army correspondence to get to, 230
casualties reported to, 113
Christmas preparations in, 2
war news in, 50
Waskow, Henry’s, death announcement at, 230–231
Belton Journal (newspaper), 232
Berlin, Irving, 2, 162
Bernhardt Line (first Winter Line), 138, 142
Mt. Sammurco as linchpin of, 169
success of, 143, 153
Berry, Jack, 47, 96, 113, 156
death of, 190, 192
Best Supporting Actor award, 246
Bigart, Homer, 162
on body retrieval, 203–204
San Pietro aftermath viewed by, 203
on war death, 204
Whitehead’s life saved by, 204
The Black Cat Band, 2
Blue Grotto, 114
Body retrieval
Bigart on, 203–204
Clover on, 214
Fletcher on, 213–214
of Waskow, Henry, 201
Bogart, Humphrey, 132, 133, 225
Book-of-the-Month Club, 129
Bragaw, Henry, 198
Brave Men (Pyle), 248
Brazil (ship)
accommodations on, 23–24
pin-up style sketches and, 24
British Film Unit, 225
British Ministry of Information, 134
British X Corps, 90
Brooke, Alan, 62
Broun, Heywood, 15