This picture was taken on the Patio of the Morgano Hotel when I was on Capri. The Italian girls were hostesses. The officer in the middle I do not recall, but the officer on the left is Lt Walter Golba, who was a bombardier in the 745th at that time (later transferred to the 746th). I am the hotshot on the right.
The island is located 17 nautical miles west of Naples, Italy, in the bay of Naples at Latitude 40^ 33'N, Longitude 14^ 14'E. It is 3 3/4 miles long and its width varies from 1 3/4 to 3/4 miles. Its highest elevation is 1932 feet. Boats dock inside the breakwater called Grande Marina. The island has been occupied since the beginning of time and has been in the possession of the Greeks, Romans, French, Normans, English, and the Italians. It is composed of two villages, Capri (950 acres) and Ana Capri (1500 acres).
The emperor Tiberius ruled the Ancient World from here for the last 11 years of his life.
In 1806 the French occupied the Island and in the same year the English took it from them. In 1808 the French took it back and captured the English garrison along with their commander Col Hudson Lowe. Napoleon considered it to be such great victory that he had it inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe. Napoleon didn't know that Col Lowe would make up for his loss years later when he became the Governor of the island of Saint Helena and Napoleon would be exiled there in his care for the rest of his days.
In 1861 the Capri came under the control of Italy and so it was when I arrived there in early 1945. I will now explain what I was doing there.
Our bomber crew had completed 6 or 8 combat missions when we were told we were a jinxed crew and we would have to be better than the rest or we weren't going to make it. We would get shot-up and be late returning, as long as 6 days one time (Vis Island). Can you imagine anyone telling someone today that they were jinxed. The ACLU would be dragging you to court for saying it. I guess in those days everyone was a realist and today they are dreamers. Anyway, one of our officers decided to send us to Rest Camp to give us a new start.
Our first class ticket placed us in our reserved seating for the move across Italy to the Port of Naples. That happened to be the back of a canvas covered 6X6 army truck. It was cold, but the farther west we went, the farther we were from our Bomb Group and combat. We spent the night in Naples and my impression was that it was a dirty city. Maybe it was because of the war or is it that way still? I'll never know because I never went back except to catch the truck back to the Group.
The next morning we boarded a small passenger ferry boat for the 19 1/2 mile trip to Capri. It was an uneventful trip, but a long one. Upon arrival we were assigned to various high class hotels which had been taken over by the US Army. I was assigned to the Morganno and it was first class.
For seven days we were free of the war. A bomber would fly over once in a while to buzz the troops and jar us back into the real world. We met crews from other Bomb Groups and did some hanger flying. The guys from the only B-17 Group in Italy would pat us on the back and tell us how they liked to follow us over the target because their possibility of getting a hit was reduced. The B-24 service ceiling, with bomb load, turned out to be around 26,000 feet and the B-17 around 35,000 feet. As a result the anti-aircraft gunners aimed at the lower groups while the higher ones came in using our cover so to speak.
There was many places of interest for a tourist to see, but we were in our early, early, twenties and ancient ruins, etc wasn't our cup of tea. We did get much needed rest by not having to be awakened in the early hours for a combat mission. We divorced ourselves from unwanted mental anxieties, such as: Do you think the mission today will be one of the hot spots? What are our chances today? Will we clear the ground OK? How is the weather ahead? Will we run into uncharted flak? Will our fighters meet us as scheduled? Will they clear the sky of enemy fighters? Will the target be cloud covered so we can drop by radar thereby cutting flak losses? If I get hit, will it be a slow death? Is today the day we take the big hit? Will I get my chute on in time? If the plane blows will I survive? Will I get free of the plane as it falls? Will the chute open? Will I be captured as I land? Will my captors be the good guys or the bad guys? If the plane is crippled will we be able to bring it home or can we land in a safe area? Once on the ground in enemy territory what will be our escape chances?
We ate good meals, even fresh eggs for breakfast and the food was great. The waiters would slip us extra eggs if our appetite dictated. When the bar was closed, in the day time, we had a case of beer delivered to the patio. We enjoyed the beer on the sun drenched patio in the company of volunteer hostesses. We talked and talked, after all we had a seven day reprieve on our possible death sentence. One of the hostesses was a girl named Adrianna and she was a beauty by anyone standards, but no one could turn on her switch. I'm sure she was the nightly companion of one of the officers stationed there.
One of the girls was an American by birth. She lived in Ana Capri which was located on the top of the island. She lived there with her sister and mother. Their father worked for the New York City Port and claimed they had been stranded there when the war started. Anyway, she took me to their villa. We ascended by bus on a winding road that didn't seem to have any type of good protection to keep you from going into the sea if you lost control. In fact she told me about a bus full of Italian soldiers who did just that. At their villa I met mom, had cookies and tea and was escorted back to Capri.
There was a US Army captain in charge of the hotel and he was from Milwaukee as was our pilot. They hit it off and that made it better for us. We sat at his table for the evening meals and at the table was usually Count Bojanno and Countess Toy. The count had written a book called, "In The Wake of the Goosestep" and as a result had to go in hiding until the allies came. The countess was a beautiful tall red-head who lived in a villa which had 500 plus steps to the beach and I know not one of the officers who wouldn't have given his eye teeth to be able to crawl those steps if he knew she would be waiting at the top.
Time went fast and we visited some of the shops. Most of us bought the little "Bell of Saint Michele". It was rumored to keep the bearer from harm and we thought we could put it to good use. Who knows? Maybe it worked. We did visit one of the musical bars as the guest of our radio operator. He had heard a catchy tune there, located the song writer and thought it would go over big in the States.
The ferry would arrive once a day and then leave until the next day. Our pilot had arranged with the hotel captain to forget to put us on the departure list for a day or two and that way we could get a couple of extra days. It worked, but the time had arrived to leave. The pilot rounded up the officers, the night before departure, and told them to meet us at the dock in the morning.
The ferry was on time and as it departed the pilot realized the other two officers weren't on board. He flagged an Italian fisherman to come alongside. The pilot placed his foot over the rail and said he was going ashore. As he dropped into the boat I told him he hadn't gone on a mission without me and this wouldn't be the exception. With that I went over the rail to join him in the boat. We found the other two officers lying in bed enjoying life. We would have to wait until the next day to catch the ferry. The pilot contacted his captain friend and we had lodging for the night. We had a problem as our luggage with our class A uniforms was on the way to Naples. The hotel captain made an exception and we enjoyed the formal dinner that evening at his table wearing our OD sweaters.
We got back to the Squadron expecting a slap on the wrist for being several days late, but it was overlooked and the "Jinxed Crew" was back flying combat missions as scheduled. RWR - 9 Mar 1994
NOTE: I picked up some pictures after dad passed away. With them I found a brochure on the Isle of Capri. Several days ago I looked it over in preparation of this story. I had a meticulous grandfather, West, he had marked it as to who it was from, where I was stationed, including the date he received it. After he died mom took possession of it and it eventually came back to me.
