"We learned later that when we left Norfolk, we ran straight into a hurricane that had passed the East coast of North Carolina. We had over 900 sick men all trying to get some fresh air and hanging onto a ship that was rolling almost full over sideways, while it pitched fore and aft, diving through the waves. A lot of us had some serious talks with God, and renewed our relationships with Him.
The only good thing that happened was the storm kept the German submarines at a distance. Our convoy had 50 ships to begin with--all spaced about 1,000 feet apart--trying to maintain position during the storm that night. We had a tanker carrying aviation fuel just ahead of us. Next morning, this tanker was behind us and to the right. The sailors could not explain how we passed in the night without blowing some of us up.
The rough water lasted about 10 days. In about 3 weeks we were in the Mediterranean Sea, and we heard that the Allies had not captured a port suitable for us to dock anywhere in Italy. They parked us in the Bay of Tunis for a week, so they could make the Bay of Naples suitable. We docked next to a ship that was sunk on its side at the dock in Naples. They placed two 2x12 timbers side by side for a catwalk. We each had to carry two barracks bags between these ships without falling between them. In our seasick conditions, we were all afraid, but had no choice."
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