Dad's WWII Poem In Italy

After landing at Naples, Italy, on March 27, 1944, my dad’s 85th “Custer” Infantry Division of the US Army headed north toward Minturno, a small village about 60 miles south of Rome, which became my dad’s troop’s introduction to combat. This defensive position was held for a month.

The below poem was written by First Lieutenant Paul Gorrell to his wife, Faith, on April 6, 1944, at Garigliano Bridge in Italy. At that time, she was six months pregnant (me.)

While sitting under an Olive tree,
I take my pen in hand,
To write to my dear wife
In a far-off land.

The moon is shining brightly.
The hour is half past ten,
I am now guarding a bridge
With a few of my men.

The weather is warm,
And the land is flat,
The Mosquitoes are big
But our “Skat” helps that.

With planes flying overhead
And vehicles all around.
It makes me wish that I were
Back in our old hometown.

I love my wife so dearly.
I know she loves me, too,
Our home shall be a wonderful one
When all this war is thru.

Grave days lie ahead,
The path will not be smooth,
But we are now quite safe,
Until our next move.

So until this war is over
We must put our trust in God.
And hope it won’t be too long
Until I can step on U. S. Sod.

Our travels have been far,
The experiences were very strange,
But I’ll still take pre-war life,
Without too much change.

My poetry is poor,
But the thoughts are true.
So until I see you once again,
May God Bless you.

On September 26, 2016, Howard, Steve Cole, and Don Jones posed with the replica of the Garigliano Bridge (behind) after Cole read "A Lonely Soldier." It was the first tour for the children/relatives of the soldiers of the 337th Infantry Regiment of the 85th Infantry Division of the Fifth Corp in the Italian Campaign (May 1944-May 1945.)

Under my guidance, the second tour visited the same spot three years later, on September 21, 2019. Becky Haskins (below) read "A Lonely Soldier" with two pauses (crying). She told me, “Too emotional.”

In this picture, they listened to an Italian (right) explaining the Bridge after her reading. Jay Casey (left), Gary Haskin, and Becky were the Americans wearing light blue shirts.

Members of both tours were credited to Mario Mirco Mendico, an official of the Municipality of Minturno, for guiding us around this Bridge and its surroundings.

Mendico is on the left. The other Italians were guides of the new War Museum Gustav Line Garigliano Front in Castelforte. Five Americans wore blue shirts.

As the poem mentions, the 337th men were guarding the Garigliano bridge while their superior officers were preparing for the offensive attack called “Operation Diadem,” the major push against the Gustav Line. [Note: I will write more later.]

At my father’s memorial service in 2013, Don Jones told the audience the closing below.

“The 337th lost almost 675 men in Italy…and we will NOT forget them. Through my research, I have met many other Americans who will not forget; I have met Italians who have said Thank You in their broken English for our father’s sacrifices.

We can do no less than say Thank You, and by our presence here today, we Honor all of these brave men and women - especially our parents.”

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Next year (probably around my dad’s 107th birthday on April 28), the original copy of “A Lonely Soldier” will be hung on the display wall next to my dad’s Eisenhower jacket at the Mountaineer Military Museum in Weston, West Virginia. The proud museum director is Barb McVaney. The picture was taken on May 31, 2021.

“I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.” Dwight D. Eisenhower