An Alabama Family in World War II, Part 34

by Glenn N. Holliman

Invasion Day at Gela Beach, Sicily - 10 July 1943

It was the greatest invasion fleet in world history - greater even than D-Day 1944.  More than 3,000 allied ships and boat of all sizes carried or escorted seven divisions of British and American troops.  These men stormed the beaches of Sicily and seized the first bit of European territory from Italian and German fascism.  

One of those ships, the USS Butler, a 1942 destroyer carrying submarine depth charges, torpedoes, 5 inch guns, and over 200 young sailors, one being my father, Bishop Holliman, provided anti-submarine and anti-aircraft protection for this massive fleet. The deck guns would be called upon to shell Herman Goring's crack German Division at Gela Beach. 

The Butler to the right.

For my father, and hundreds of thousands of others, it was a baptism of fire and fear. Here are more of his words written in August 1943 and mailed surreptitiously to avoid censorship to his niece, Mary Daly (Herrin) in Irondale, Alabama.  Caught up in describing those days in July 1943, he moves back and forth from past to present tense.  I have done some minor editing for clarification.


For historical background, I am using Rick Atkinson's excellent work, The Day of Battle, the War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944.  When appropriate, I add notes from this work in red amplifying my father's narrative.

H. Bishop Holliman, b 1919, writes:

"Arriving there (Bizerte), there seemed to be hundreds of ships - all kinds-transports, landing barges, British, American, etc. There were several sunken ships at the harbor entrance. There was hardly a building in the city that had not been damaged or totally destroyed. The city looked like a cyclone had swept through. Moreover there were many farm houses which seemed to escaped the bombs.  It was terribly hot (t)here."

Bizerte had been evacuated by the Germans in May 1943, but not before scuttling a dozen ships at the narrow neck of the Bizerti bay.  Navy divers had worked feverishly to clear the channel. What my father saw was 'a solid forest of masts, and many species of amphibious vessels ready to transport the 1st and 3rd Infantry Divisions to Sicily.

"On Monday night (5 July 1943) we fueled up from a tanker in the harbor and tied up there for the rest of the night.  All of us remarked how dangerous it would be to have an air raid while we were tied up there.  I went on watch at 2 a.m. the next morning (6 July 1943) and as fate would have it at 3:30 a.m. the Germans came over.  The shore batteries and guns of other ships started firing before we did. Simply because the officer on watch thought 'It was target practice', my job, during battle is the same as the other work I do, copying code. So I have to sit there at the  typewriter typing away as if nothing were happening.  There are about six others so we are able to relived each other from time to time.  The raid lasted about an hour.  But no bombs fell close to me.  There were hits on other ships.  Two fellows were killed on one, and a destroyer was hit. We not able to tell how many of the planes were shot down."

Atkinson writes "Luftwaffe raiders sometimes sneaked across the Sicilian Strait before dawn...alarms wailed, smoke generators churned out a thick gray blanket to hide the ships, and searchlight batteries impaled the planes on their beams as hundreds of antiaircraft guns threw up fountains of fire...."

"On Thursday morning (8 July 1943) we left for Sicily where the captain had told us the afternoon before we were to take. On Friday he gave out all the information - how many ships, time and place of the attack, who the leaders were, etc.

He also said he expected to fight the ship to the very last.  There would be no giving up or thoughts of abandoning ship!

Friday noon and night (9 July 1943) we were fed as much as we could eat, such as it was. There was very little concern or unnecessary excitement.  There were many ships in view, arranged in convoy units.

Early Friday afternoon the sea began to get rough, and I was off watch so I lay down part of the time. But the sea got rougher.  There were no clouds for rain, but the wind blew strong. Believe it or not this was the only rough weather we had encountered up to that time.  By supper time the ship was rolling and almost impossible to eat.  I went on watch at 5 pm and I got sick, and I mean sick.  There were many others in the same fix.  It was not a comforting thought to be going into battle so sick you could not raise a finger to protect yourself and furthermore you don't care."

Atkinson writes that a polar cold front briefly collided with a secondary cold wave over the Mediterranean hemmed in by a low mass of air over Yugoslavia.  The results were 37 knot winds and very heavy seas for over 12 hours.  The troops and sailors suffered mightily from the storm.  US Naval Vice Admiral Henry K. Hewitt on the flagship Monrovia even considered calling off the invasion during the height of the storm, but trusting his meteorologist continued on.  The storm abated around 2 a.m. on 10 July 1943, Invasion Day.

"My watch was over at 9:30 pm and we were scheduled to take our battle stations at 11 p.m. zero hour being 2:45 a.m. (Saturday, (10 July 1943) so I lay down on the deck in the radio shack where my station is and tried to sleep until then.  I blew up my life jacket and used it for a pillow.

I woke up a little before 11 and the captain was talking over the loud speaker.  We were approaching our place of rendezvous (that's the place where all the ships were to assemble, Vena). The captain was telling us of what he expected and the usual line of talk, also he read a few verses from the Bible, some religious poems and prayed the Lord's Prayer.  He had wanted to have a religious service that night, he said, but was impossible due to the rough sea."

Vena was Bishop's oldest sister, married to Robert W. Daly, Sr. and mother of Mary Daly Herrin and Robert W. Daly, Jr.  The rendezvous of hundreds of ships, sixty miles long and a mile wide,  took place just east of Malta before turning toward Sicily during the night.

The captain was Lt. Commander Michell Dudley Matthews (1903-1985) who retired in 1957 as a Rear Admiral.  It was a young man's war with many ships and too few trained officers.

"The rest of the night some of us would lie down on the deck and snooze while others would copy and then exchange.  The sea had become much smoother around 2 a.m. but I think the invasion was held up about an hour. There was very little action until 3 or 4 a.m. An officer from the deck describes what is going (on) through the loud speaker.  Otherwise the men below deck would not have any idea what is going on.

After the troop ships unloaded and landed, there was considerable firing on the beach. Many fires but no opposition to speak of. This is at Gela, Sicily where the American troops landed." 

Below, the US 7th Army landings under General George Patton at Gela Beaches.  The 1st Infantry landed on the middle beach on 10 July 1943 and overcame some Italian resistance. The next day and the arrival of German tanks would be another story.

Unloading the ships began at 3:30 a.m. at Gela with confusion and courage.  There was more opposition at Gela than my father, with his limited view at the time, knew. Mines were the major danger and some shore guns. The 1st Infantry secured the beach but with casualties. The Italian defenders soon were overcome.  The real test was on 11 July 1943 when German tanks moved on the beach head.

"No one was frightened and it seemed just like a drill. Our ship's job was to act as part of anti-submarine patrol. However, we got word we could expect an attack at dawn. Over thirty planes were supposed to be coming. At dawn everyone was tired and worn out.  Until the tension slacks off you do not realize the strain you have been under.  All we had for breakfast was orange juice and two boiled eggs.

All day Saturday I was at watch or at General Quarters (Battle Stations). There was firing from the beach and firing from some of the ships.  There was so much going on I was never able to remember just what all was taking place.  The only thing I remember doing that day was eating breakfast.

Early Saturday morning the captain announced the (censored)  had been sunk with only 69 survivors.  He seemed pretty shaken up about it and it made us all realize there had been more danger than we had suspected.  At that time no one knew what had sunk her."

                  

The unfortunate ship was the USS Maddox, serving as a destroyer screen as was the USS Butler for German U-boats.  One German airplane dropped two bombs and within a few minutes the ship sank dragging down 212 men. A tug rescued only 74 survivors.

There were personal reasons for the young captain Matthews of the Butler to be upset.  Above left, the photograph taken from the USS Thorn (647) shows in the background the Butler  (636) right moored in Brooklyn harbor next to the USS Maddox (622), left in the fall of 1942.  The two captains would have known each other.  The Maddox captain went down with the ship. Above right, the USS Maddox on sea trials.

The Battle for Sicily against 300,000 Italians and a very determined two German divisions would continue until late August, and the USS Butler would face more enemy fire....to be continued.

An Alabama Family during WW II, Part 33

by Glenn N. Holliman

My Father, Bishop Holliman, a young sailor from Irondale, Alabama, wrote a long document in August 1943 detailing his experiences in the Allied invasion of Sicily the previous month.  So fresh were his memories that he moves his writing back and forth from present to past tense.

Moving to the Front

June 1943, the USS Butler, a one year old destroyer crewed by freshmen sailors, joined a convoy of transports and warships in Hampton Roads, Virginia and crossed the Atlantic on a course to the Mediterranean.  The objective was to invade Italy's island of Sicily, a stepping stone to Adolph Hitler's Fortress Europe.  Under dictator Bineto Mussolini, Italy had allied itself with Nazi Germany, part of the famed Pact of Steel, the Axis of Germany, Italy and Japan.

Upper right, the port of Oran in 1943.  U.S. and British troops on November 8, 1942 invaded North Africa to engage Vichy French, Italian and German forces.  In May 1943 in Tunisia the last Axis forces surrendered to the British, USA and Free French.  North Africa, cleared of German power, became the staging point for the attack on Italy and additional German divisions.  Just like the USS Butler, the US Army and Navy were 'new', filled largely with troops and sailors who were serving in combat for the first time and commanders who were learning how to command massive numbers of men, war assets and supplies.  

Fresh from radio code school in Maine, Bishop Holliman's first war cruise was also his first trip across the Atlantic.  And it was a voyage into combat.  Below are his words from a letter he wrote in August 1943 after arriving back in the States.

"On June 22, we entered the Med. and saw land for the first time in two weeks. My greatest desire was to get a view of the Rock of Gibraltar, but unfortunately I was asleep or on watch when we went by.  However, we could get a view of the Spanish and African coasts.  We arrived in Oran (Algeria)...our stopover...for the purpose of refueling.  There was plenty of evidence of the USA there - army jeeps, guns, ships, etc." 

Below, a map of the western Mediterranean Sea during Operation Torch.  On November 8, 1942, USA and British forces invaded Morocco and Algeria, at that time French colonies.  Oran was taken by the American First Infantry Division which took casualties before subduing French forces who believed they were defending against hostile invaders. Oran became an important port for the clearing of North Africa in the winter and spring 1943 and the invasion of Sicily in July 1943.

"We proceeded on to Algiers, 24  hours away.  Upon arrival...we did not go into port immediately but spent another 24 hours on maneuvers with landing barges and other craft.  We knew then the time and place were drawing near.

The harbor was filled with Allied ships of all kinds.  It seems impossible that the Italians or Germans did not expect an invasion of some kind.  There was no reason whey they could not find out about the equipment and ships at these Med. ports.   

The first to do at Algiers was to get the mail off-and that we did-my first card had been mailed back at Oran.  We also had church services in the mess hall-on the way over too-conducted by one of the officers.


A couple of days after arriving, liberty was granted.  I went ashore on Sunday afternoon- the Sunday before the Fourth. There were many modern buildings in the city but most of the places were filthy and unattractive.  There was no place to buy any refreshments or food. The place was filled with army trucks, jeeps, cars and there were thousands of soldiers and sailors from every allied country including native Africans and Free French.

The only place Americans could go was to the Red Cross building where they were able to get ice cream at certain hours, and which wasn't any good. and something they called sandwiches.  They also have movies there, but the place is so crowded we can hardly move about.  It is the only place for the boys to go.  It is pitiful to see the boys walking around with nothing to do. 

I talked to one soldier from Iowa, who had been over there since November.  He said the mail was about the only thing they had to look forward to.  However, he seemed to be pretty well satisfied and not going hungry.  Probably getting better food than we were on the ship.  I told one fellow I had not tasted a Coca Cola in over a month.  He said he had not had one in a year.  So it isn't the service men who are getting all the drinks.

Up until about the 7th of July we did patrol work around the Algiers' area.  Each day we hoped that would be the day to get started to wherever we were to go.  During our stay here there were rumors to the effect that there had been air raids, but were not concerned. All this time weather was very hot in the day and cool at night.  In the crew quarters though it was always too hot to sleep."

Right, Algiers during a 1943 air raid.

"On Sunday afternoon, we left Algiers to move 'closer' to the front so the captain said...to Bizerte"...to be continued.

The Invasion of Sicily - An Alabama Family at War - Part 32

A Son under Fire!
by Glenn N. Holliman

By the summer of 1943, three sons and a son-in-law of Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman of Irondale, Alabama were in uniform serving in World War II.  One son went into battle that July, H. Bishop Holliman, a radioman on the USS Butler, a destroyer escorting transports and warships during the Allied invasion of the island of Sicily.  The ship's guns supported the American infantry facing the German crack Herman Goring Division.  Later in the battle the Butler fired on German bombers that attacked the ship.

By May 1943, Generals Eisenhower and Montgomery had pinned Nazi and Italian forces in a vice in Tunisia forcing the surrender of almost 250,000 troops.  The Americans and British now turned their energies on the island of Sicily, a part of Italy as their entry into Occupied Europe.  

Sicily is in red below, a triangle shaped island 

seemingly about to be kicked by the Italian boot.

Bishop Holliman, fresh from radio school, crossed the Atlantic for the first time and found himself part of the greatest invasion yet in world history, the taking of Sicily by Eisenhower's forces.  Upon returning to the States, unharmed in August 1943, he typed an 11 page synopsis of the engagement and mailed it to his niece, Mary Daly Herrin. I am quoting liberally from that document which can be found at www.bholliman.com. Click on the Records page and insert and click Sicily in the Search box.


Right 1943, Mary Daly Herrin and her Uncle Walter Cornelius in Army uniform at her home in Irondale, 2300 block of 3rd Avenue North.  Walter had married Virginia Holliman in 1942.

Below is page one of his transcript, typed on Navy time and paper. While faint of ink now, he writes of returning to the ship in Norfolk, and being advised to send home his 'blues' and other non-essential items.  The ship dispersed to the Chesapeake Bay and waited for several days for escort duty.  All liberty was cancelled and rumors flew fast.

"We pulled out on Tuesday June 8th, and the group were about 25 freighters, troops, etc, 15 destroyers and 3 cruisers. While in the Atlantic the captain announced this was a 'high speed' convoy.

All the way over there were lectures on what to do if captured by the enemy, etc. what to say.  And also information on injuries, how to protect yourself from certain woulds, First Aid Stations on the ship, etc. The expectation of seeing action kept the time from being dull."

 

Above Bishop home at 2300 3rd Avenue North, Irondale, Alabama after the war. With a new bride and the G.I. Bill, he returned to his interruped education at Birmingham-Southern College.

Below is a three day watch schedule as lived by Bishop in 1943 in which he writes this was one of the easier schedules on the ship!  He was earning his $77 a month!

Below the USS Butler at sea.  The ship was commissioned at Philadelphia in 1942 and quickly decommissioned after hostilities in 1946.  The ship was broken up for scrap by 1948 after dodging bombs in both the Mediterranean and Pacific. War is expensive and wasteful.

Next posting arriving in the Mediterranean, shore leave and then the invasion.

After 46 Years...a Trip Back in Time, Part 11

By Glenn N. Holliman

In 2015, I returned to Viet Nam with my daughter, Grace Holliman, and two cousins, Dr. Jim and Karen Holliman.  My reflections continue....

Two generations have been born since my year in the Vietnam-American War, January 1969 to January 1970.  My service was with the 1st Infantry Division, a storied outfit that fought during World War II in North Africa, Sicily and stormed the beaches at Normandy.  In 1943 at the beach head in Gela, Sicily, my father's destroyer lay off shore and plummeted the German armor that came close to pushing the Big Red One into the sea.

Above in Lai Khe, Vietnam, 2015, left to right - Jim and Glenn Holliman and Grace and Karen Holliman. Below, a Fire Support Base, Aachan II in May 1969 near Lai Khe. The 'fire' from the 105 artillery pieces supported companies on patrol.

Now his son, born three years after his Sicily battle, would spend time at Fire Support Base Gela, named after the earlier battle. When I arrived in 1969, the division had been in country four years, basically sticking to base camps and night defensive positions, patrolling the bush and setting ambushes at night. The Americans and the South Vietnamese owned the day; the North Vietnamese and South Vietnamese communists (Viet Cong in the vernacular of the time) controlled the night.

During the darkness, the enemy would leave their tunnels at Chu Chi, tote rocket propelled explosives outside our Lai Khe base and fire them at random. Most of the time they missed but too often they destroyed people and property. The picture shows clean up after a direct hit on a Lai Khe bunker.

Most Americans living today have little idea how traumatic the 1960s were to our country. An undigested long overdue Civil Rights movement roiled the nation. Peaceful protests demanding greater freedom for African-Americans shook the halls of Congress and led to the destruction of racial segregation.  Unfortunately rage in the inner cities resulted in riot after riot during the warmer months of those years.  

Right below summer 1966, the Rev. Ralph Abernathy, assistant to Martin Luther King, prays during a march through Mississippi at signs demanding the impeachment of Earl Warren, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and another criticizing King.

Ironically, black and white soldiers fought together in Southeast Asia, as the USA tried to live into a great meaning of freedom for its minority citizens.  It was a turbulent, polarizing time. Divisions in the early 21st Century in this country are tame by comparison.

Below, 1st Infantry military police in Lai Khe passing a bunker, 1969.

We are born in to a time and place in history, and my time has been that of the post World War II era, the Cold War and now a protracted conflict with Islamic extremism.  My brother- in-laws and I served in the Cold War era (of which Vietnam was a part), and my nephews in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

U.S. interventions such as Vietnam and Iraq have not been wise, both conflicts self-selected by the American government in response to perceived threats.  Certainly in the case of Vietnam in the 1960s there was an over reaction to communist ideology and not enough confidence that the capitalistic system would prevail over centrally directed economic autocracies. And not enough knowledge of the long history of an ancient culture and peoples.

Below right a 1969 ambush on Highway 13 north of Lai Khe.  We called it Thunder Road, an unpaved dirt strip in 1969.  Compare if you will the same road in 2015, lined with business parks, sidewalks and lush fields.  The highway toward Cambodia is now paved with traffic lights and development.  The killing fields I knew have blessedly turned into homes and industry.

Over 55,000 Americans died in Vietnam and an estimated 1 million North and South Vietnamese.  For those of us, the 3 million plus Americans who rotated in and out of the long running conflict - 1963 to 1975, the time in country has been seared into our consciousness.  

The veterans of that war are thinning out as Mother Nature takes her toll.  Here is more of my story, one of millions. May future governments think very hard before they send young men and women into harm's way.  Many support wars when they begin; many fewer do so when the conflicts go on and on and on.

Above, fire, destruction and American G.I.s on Thunder Road, 1969

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To know more on this conflict, one might read Patrick J. Hearden's well-named 2005 publication, The Tragedy of Vietnam.

Next post, more 1969 and 2015 photographs of one old soldier's memories....