Assignment to Hell

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Assignment to Hell Page 55

by Timothy M. Gay


  35. Letter from Hal Boyle to his mother, April 30, 1943.

  36. Boyle note in personal papers, undated.

  37. Referenced in Sigma Phi Epsilon Journal, circa 1945, in AP archives, New York.

  38. Believed to be from the Columbia (MO) Daily Tribune, in AP archives, New York.

  39. Letter from Hal Boyle to Frances Boyle, June 9, 1944.

  40. Letter from Hal to Frances, August 29, 1943.

  41. Interview with Kate Cronkite, May 2010.

  42. Cronkite, A Reporter’s Life, p. 31.

  43. Cronkite and Carleton, Conversations, p. 12.

  44. Ibid., p. 17.

  45. Cronkite, A Reporter’s Life, p. 73.

  46. Hamill, p. 21.

  47. Sokolov, pp. 94–95.

  48. Ibid., p. 125.

  49. Ibid., p. 127.

  50. Hamill, p. 59.

  51. New Yorker, April 27, 1940.

  52. Letter from Liebling to his mother, May 14, 1940.

  53. Letter from Liebling to his mother, May 29, 1940.

  54. Letter from Paris, New Yorker, May 18, 1940, pp. 36–40.

  55. Letter from Liebling to his mother, June 5, 1940.

  56. Sokolov, p. 140.

  57. Ibid.

  58. Ibid., p. 141

  59. Ibid., pp. 141–42.

  60. Remnick, page xx.

  61. Ibid., page xxi.

  62. New Yorker, February 22, 1941.

  CHAPTER 2

  “All Sorts of Horrors”—Crossing Torpedo Junction

  1. Quoted in Wade, p. xxi.

  2. Kansas City Star, September 1, 1944. (Many of Boyle’s Kansas City Star references come from the scrapbook kept by his sister-in-law, Monica Murphy Boyle, who did not record the dates the articles appeared in the newspaper. When available, the dates listed come from Boyle’s dateline, which generally was a day or two before the articles were actually published.)

  3. Wade, p. xx.

  4. Chester Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe, p. 17.

  5. AP Boyle article, November 7, 1942.

  6. Wilmot, p. 18.

  7. Quoted in Miller, The Story of World War II, p. 167.

  8. Rooney, My War, p. 41.

  9. AP Boyle article, November 7, 1942.

  10. Ibid.

  11. Rooney, My War, p. 42.

  12. www.uboat.net.

  13. Referenced in Dore’s 1995 Cronkite Remembers script notes.

  14. Cronkite and Carleton, Conversations, p. 34.

  15. Cronkite, A Reporter’s Life, p. 81.

  16. Cronkite and Carleton, Conversations, p. 33.

  17. Interview with Charles Kuralt, CBS News documentary.

  18. Cronkite, A Reporter’s Life, p. 81.

  19. Hamill, p. 212.

  20. Cronkite, A Reporter’s Life, p. 82.

  21. Cronkite uniform on display in LBJ Library museum exhibit, University of Texas at Austin.

  22. Dore interview notes.

  23. Cronkite and Carleton, Conversations, p. 34.

  24. Cronkite USS Arkansas diary, August 1942.

  25. Ibid.

  26. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenock_Blitz.

  27. Cronkite and Carleton, Conversations, p. 36.

  28. Cronkite told Don Carleton that the Dieppe controversy occurred after he’d taken a second trip to London in the summer of 1942. But Cronkite must have been mistaken: The Dieppe debacle happened during his maiden trip.

  29. Statistic referenced at Imperial War Museum exhibit in London.

  30. September 12, 1942.

  31. Ibid.

  32. Ibid., September 10, 1942.

  33. Cronkite, A Reporter’s Life, p. 83.

  34. Ward and Burns, The War, p. 166.

  35. Cronkite and Carleton, Conversations, pp. 36–37.

  36. Ibid.

  37. Ibid.

  38. Rooney, My War, p. 44.

  39. Ibid., pp. 48–56.

  40. www.memory.loc.gov/ammem/sgphtml/sashtml/history.html.

  41. Miller, Masters of the Air, p. 121.

  42. Stars and Stripes, December 8, 1942, p. 2.

  43. Stars and Stripes, December 14, 1942.

  44. Wade, pp. 5–7; also New York Herald Tribune, January 19, 1943.

  45. Stars and Stripes, July 10, 1943, p. 2.

  46. Wade, p. 7; also New York Herald Tribune, January 19, 1943.

  47. www.warsailors.com.

  CHAPTER 3

  North Africa’s Lipless Kiss

  1. New York Times, November 16, 1942, p. 1.

  2. Letter from Hal Boyle to his mother, November 28, 1943.

  3. Ibid.

  4. Ibid.

  5. AP World, Summer 1947, article by Don Whitehead.

  6. Rick Atkinson, An Army at Dawn, p. 3.

  7. David Nichols, Ernie’s War, pp. 64–65.

  8. Atkinson, An Army at Dawn, pp. 33–41.

  9. Ibid., p. 102.

  10. Cronkite USS Texas diary, October–November 1942, in Cronkite’s personal papers.

  11. Cronkite and Carleton, Conversations, p. 38.

  12. Cronkite Texas diary, October 20, 1942.

  13. Ibid.

  14. www.warsailors.org.

  15. Cronkite Texas diary, October 24, 1942.

  16. Ibid.

  17. Atkinson, An Army at Dawn, pp. 42–43.

  18. Cronkite, A Reporter’s Life, p. 85.

  19. Cronkite spelled it “Sebu” in his dispatches; the river’s name is generally spelled “Sebou” today.

  20. Kansas City Kansan, November 28, 1942, p. 1.

  21. AP Boyle article, datelined November 9, 1942.

  22. Atkinson, An Army at Dawn, p. 147.

  23. Cronkite, A Reporter’s Life, p. 89.

  24. Ibid., p. 90.

  25. Hamill, p. 217.

  26. Ibid., pp. 217–18.

  27. Ibid., p. 222.

  28. Atkinson, An Army at Dawn, pp. 251–52.

  29. Ibid.

  30. Ibid., pp. 251–58.

  31. Article by Don Whitehead, AP World, Summer 1947.

  32. Calvin Trillin tribute to Boyle, New Yorker, April 1974, reprinted in Kansas City Star, May 2, 1974.

  33. Nichols, p. 8.

  34. Hamill, pp. 751–52.

  35. John Hohenberg, Foreign Correspondence: The Great Reporters and Their Times, p. 358.

  36. Atlanta Constitution, December 12, 1943, Pyle’s column, p. 5D.

  37. Washington Post, December 24, 1942.

  CHAPTER 4

  Angry Meteors in Tunisia

  1. Quoted in Sokolov, pp. 154–55.

  2. Ibid., p. 155.

  3. Ibid.

  4. Bradley, A General’s Life, p. 195.

  5. Hamill, p. 301.

  6. Ibid.

  7. Sokolov, pp. 156–57.

  8. Miller and Commager, The Story of World War II, p. 162.

  9. Hamill, p. 765.

  10. Ward and Burns, The War, p. 72.

  11. Miller and Commager, The Story of World War II, p. 162.

  12. Ward and Burns, The War, p. 76.

  13. Miller and Commager, p. 163.

  14. Bradley, A General’s Life, p. 128.

  15. Ibid.

  16. Ward and Burns, The War, p. 78.

  17. Miller and Commager, The Story of World War II, p. 163.

  18. Ibid., p. 164.

  19. Ibid.

  20. Washington Post, January 27, 1943, p. 8.

  21. Ibid.

  22. An abbreviated account of this article appears in Boyle’s Help, Help!, pp. 54–56; this account, however, is taken from Boyle’s raw AP copy, datelined January 25, 1943, in his personal papers.

  23. Washington Post, February 3, 1943, p. 2.

  24. Washington Post, February 8, 1943, p. 3.

  25. Washington Post, February 20, 1943, p. 2.

  26. Ibid.

  27. AP Boyle article, January 3, 1943.

  28. Ibid.

  29. AP Boyle article, April 13, 1943.

  30. AP Boyle article, April 1, 19
43.

  31. Ibid.

  32. Kansas City Star, datelined March 2, 1943.

  33. Ibid.

  34. AP Boyle article, November 10, 1943.

  35. Ibid.

  36. Atkinson, An Army at Dawn, p. 434.

  37. Ibid., p. 443.

  38. Ibid.

  39. AP Boyle article, November 10, 1943.

  40. Interview with Tracy Boyle Gesas, March 2010.

  41. Hamill, p. 327.

  42. Ibid., p. 333.

  43. Ibid., p. 341.

  44. Ibid., p. 342.

  45. Rooney, My War, pp. 91–92.

  46. Wade, Forward Positions, p. xi.

  47. Ibid.

  48. Rooney, My War, pp. 120–21.

  49. AP World, Summer 1947, article by Don Whitehead.

  50. Hamill, p. 344.

  51. Atlanta Constitution, December 12, 1943, Ernie Pyle column, p. 5D.

  52. Hamill, p. 345.

  CHAPTER 5

  Bombing Germany with the Writing 69th

  1. Stars and Stripes, February 27, 1943, p. 1.

  2. Ibid.

  3. Ibid.; plus Rooney provided historian Don Miller with a detailed account of the Wilhelmshaven mission, Masters of the Air, pp. 114–17.

  4. Cronkite interview with Charles Kuralt, CBS News documentary.

  5. Stars and Stripes, February 27, 1943, p. 1.

  6. Miller, Masters of the Air, p. 5.

  7. Ward and Burns, The War, p. 115.

  8. Ibid.

  9. Quoted in Miller, Masters of the Air, p. 258.

  10. Rooney, My War, p. 132.

  11. Ibid., p. 78.

  12. Miller, Masters of the Air, p. 121.

  13. Miller and Commager, The Story of World War II, p. 257.

  14. Miller, Masters of the Air, pp. 6–7.

  15. Stars and Stripes, December 22, 1942, p. 1.

  16. Rooney, My War, p. 67.

  17. Ibid., p. 68.

  18. Ibid., p. 91.

  19. Unfinished letter(s) in Cronkite’s personal papers, December 1942.

  20. Letter from Walter to Betsy, January 9, 1943.

  21. Ibid.

  22. Letter from Walter to Betsy, January 25, 1943.

  23. Rooney, My War, p. 90.

  24. Miller, Masters of the Air, p. 115.

  25. Cronkite, A Reporter’s Life, pp. 96–97.

  26. Hamilton, p. 2.

  27. Ibid., p. 14.

  28. Ibid., p. 20.

  29. Ibid., p. 18.

  30. Miller, Masters of the Air, p. 114.

  31. Letter from Walter to Betsy, February 6, 1943 (Note: Rooney had no recollection of any “grip.”)

  32. Ibid.

  33. New York Herald Tribune, February 8, 1943.

  34. Letter from Walter to Betsy, February 6, 1943.

  35. New York Herald Tribune, February 8, 1943.

  36. Cronkite, A Reporter’s Life, p. 98.

  37. Hamilton, p. 51.

  38. Ibid., pp. 53–54.

  39. Letter from Walter to Betsy, February 6, 1943.

  40. Hamilton, p. 67.

  41. Cronkite, A Reporter’s Life, p. 99.

  42. New York Herald Tribune, February 27, 1943, p. 1.

  43. Hamilton, pp. 71–75.

  44. Letter from Walter to Betsy, March 8, 1943.

  45. New York World-Telegram, February 27, 1943, p. 4.

  46. Letter from Walter to Betsy, March 8, 1943.

  47. Ibid.

  48. Rooney, My War, p. 135.

  49. Letter from Walter to Betsy, March 8, 1943.

  50. Ibid.

  51. Interviews with Chip and Kate Cronkite, 2010–2011.

  52. Letter from Walter to Betsy, March 8, 1943.

  53. Quoted in Hamilton, pp. 117–20.

  54. Wade, pp. 13–14.

  CHAPTER 6

  Falling Like Dying Moths

  1. New York World-Telegram, March 20, 1943, p. 1.

  2. New York Herald Tribune, March 18, 1943, p. 1.

  3. New York World-Telegram, March 20, 1943, p. 1.

  4. www.303rdbg.com.

  5. www.sanangelotexas.org.

  6. Ibid.

  7. Miller, Masters of the Air, pp. 460–68.

  8. Ibid.

  9. Rooney, My War, p. 87.

  10. Cronkite, A Reporter’s Life, pp. 94–95.

  11. Oakland Tribune, June 1, 1944.

  12. Oakland Tribune, May 31, 1943.

  13. After the war, Stockton’s grave was transferred to the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial, where it remains today. The author visited Stockton’s grave on July 12, 2011.

  14. Oakland Tribune, June 1, 1944.

  15. Rooney, My War, p. 100.

  16. Ibid.

  17. Miller, Masters of the Air, p. 118.

  18. Rooney, My War, pp. 76–77.

  19. Letter from Walter to Betsy, May 18, 1943.

  20. Miller, Masters of the Air, p. 119.

  21. Cronkite, A Reporter’s Life, p. 97.

  22. Miller, Masters of the Air, p. 119.

  23. Cronkite, A Reporter’s Life, p. 97.

  24. Miller, Masters of the Air, p. 119.

  25. Ibid., p. 139.

  26. Ibid., p. 119.

  27. Rooney, My War, p. 77.

  28. Miller, Masters of the Air, p. 351.

  29. Rooney, My War, p. 81.

  30. Ibid., p. 101.

  31. Ibid.

  32. Miller, Masters of the Air, p. 227.

  33. Rooney, My War, p. 84.

  34. Washington Post, December 27, 1942.

  35. Ibid.

  36. www.airfieldinformationexchange.org.

  37. New York Herald Tribune, April 29, 1943, p. 1.

  38. New York Herald Tribune, June 20, 1943, p. 1.

  39. Ibid.

  40. www.91stbombardmentgroup.com.

  41. Hamill, p. 433.

  42. Ibid., p. 430.

  43. Quoted in Sokolov, p. 162.

  44. Hamill, p. 441.

  45. Ibid., p. 443.

  46. Ibid., pp. 446–47.

  47. Wilmot, pp. 222–23.

  48. Rooney’s original article referred to Weaver’s jalopy as a ’37 Ford; it was actually a ’33. Weaver’s buddies got it wrong.

  49. Stars and Stripes (special supplement), August 19, 1943.

  50. E-mail from Dana Chitwood, February 2011.

  51. www.americainwwii.com/stories/stalag17b.html.

  52. www.taphilo.com/history/8thaf.

  53. E-mail from Brenda Weaver, February 2011.

  CHAPTER 7

  Sicily—Darker Than a Witch’s Hat

  1. New York Herald Tribune, August 16, 1943, p. 1.

  2. Bradley, A General’s Life, p. 389.

  3. Ibid.

  4. Stars and Stripes, August 13, 1943, p. 2.

  5. Atkinson, Day of Battle, p. 163.

  6. New York Herald Tribune, August 16, 1943, p. 1.

  7. www.dogfacesoldiers.org.

  8. Los Angeles Times, August 16, 1943, p. 1.

  9. Atkinson, Day of Battle, p. 163.

  10. Los Angeles Times, August 16, 1943, p. 1.

  11. Atkinson, Day of Battle, p. 163.

  12. Bigart’s original article referred to the mountain as “Crioli” but it is now commonly referred to as “Cipolla.”

  13. New York Herald Tribune, August 16, 1943, p. 1.

  14. Atkinson, Day of Battle, p. 163.

  15. Los Angeles Times, August 16, 1943, p. 1.

  16. New York Herald Tribune, August 16, 1943, p. 1.

  17. Los Angeles Times, August 16, 1943, p. 1.

  18. Ibid.

  19. Atkinson, Day of Battle, p. 163.

  20. New York Herald Tribune, August 16, 1943, p. 1.

  21. Atkinson, Day of Battle, p. 164.

  22. New York Herald Tribune, August 17, 1943, p. 1.

  23. Los Angeles Times, August 16, 1943, p. 1.

  24. New York Herald Tribune, August 17, 1943, p. 1.

  25. Carlo D’Este,World War II in the
Mediterranean, p. 73.

  26. New York Herald Tribune, August 17, 1943, p. 1.

  27. Ibid.

  28. Atkinson, Day of Battle, p. 164.

  29. Bradley, A General’s Life, p. 197.

  30. Atkinson, Day of Battle, p. 164.

  31. New York Herald Tribune, August 16, 1943, p. 1.

  32. Stars and Stripes, August 13, 1943, p. 2.

  33. Ibid.

  34. Washington Post, August 17, 1943, p. 3.

  35. Miller and Commager, The Story of World War II, pp. 214–15.

  36. New York Herald Tribune, July 9, 1943, p. 1.

  37. Wade, p. 16.

  38. AP Boyle article, July 4, 1943.

  39. Macintyre, Operation Mincemeat, pp. 148-49.

  40. New York Herald Tribune, July 10, 1943, p. 1.

  41. AP Boyle column, July 10, 1943.

  42. Ibid.

  43. Ibid.

  44. Ibid.

  45. Stars and Stripes, July 17, 1943.

  46. Atkinson, Day of Battle, p. 78.

  47. Ibid., pp. 107–9.

  48. Ibid., p. 112.

  49. Atlanta Constitution, July 15, 1943, p. 17.

  50. Wade, p. 16.

  51. AP Boyle column, July 23, 1943.

  52. Ibid.

  53. Ibid.

  54. AP Boyle memo, July 20, 1943.

  55. AP Boyle column, July 24, 1943.

  56. Ibid.

  57. New York Herald Tribune, July 31, 1943, p. 1.

  58. Ibid.

  59. Ibid., August 3, 1943, p. 1.

  60. Ibid., August 6, 1943, p. 1.

  61. Ibid., August 7, 1943, p. 1.

  62. Cronkite, A Reporter’s Life, pp. 96–97.

  63. New York Herald Tribune, August 12, 1943, p. 1.

  64. Ibid.

  65. Ibid.

  66. Atkinson, Day of Battle, pp. 164–68.

  67. Ibid., p. 167.

  68. Ibid., pp. 116–19.

  69. Ibid., p. 167.

  70. Ibid., pp. 167–72.

  71. Washington Post, August 22, 1943, p. M14.

  72. Ibid.

  CHAPTER 8

  White Crosses Along the Red Rapido

  1. Los Angeles Times, January 30, 1944, p. 9; and AP Boyle article, datelined January 27, 1944.

  2. Ward and Burns, The War, pp. 158–59.

  3. www.texasmilitaryforcesmuseum.org/36division/archives.htm.

  4. Atkinson, Day of Battle, p. 331.

  5. Ward and Burns, The War, pp. 158–59.

  6. Chicago Daily Tribune, January 25, 1944, p. 4; and AP Boyle article, datelined January 23, 1944.

  7. “Volkswagon” was Boyle’s spelling.

  8. Atlanta Constitution, February 1, 1944, p. 6.

  9. Los Angeles Times, January 30, 1944, p. 9; and AP Boyle article, datelined January 27, 1944.

  10. Hamill, p. 763.

  11. New York Herald Tribune, March 27, 1944, p. 1.

  12. Miller and Commager, The Story of World War II, p. 236.

 

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