James T. Lingg - WWII
Page 3 - Casablance (Port Lyautey), Tunis, and Sicily

I went to North Africa and the thing I remember most about North Africa, was the heat. It was terribly hot in the daytime. Then at night, it was terribly cold. We landed at Casablanca (Port Lyautey) on the 13^th of June 1943 and were awarded the European Theater of Operation Ribbon. My first piece of "Fruit Salad".

We were placed in a little camp area called the Second Replacement Depot. They had rows of pup tents at first. Then after some of the people moved from the squad tents to join their Divisions, we were allowed to move into the squad tents that held about six men.

During the daytime, unless we had the detail, which consisted of whatever work was assigned, we were allowed to run free, anyplace on the base. We had passes that would let us go into Casablanca. We weren't allowed to go into the native district. They had buses we could ride; it cost us nothing to be over there. The Red Cross had a place in the center of the French district, (I believe it was called the "American Club", or something like that), where we used to go and get donuts and coffee.

When we had detail, we normally hauled sand. It's hard to believe we could haul so much sand when we lived in sand, but we did. I don't know what it was all used for. I guess they just kept making sure the rocks didn't come up thorough the sand. We'd take trucks, load them up with sand, haul it back up to the area and spread it.

Lots of times we would stop and buy watermelons to take back with us. They were big watermelons. We could buy then for just a few French francs. We ate a lot of Spam, but the meals were not bad. We had real good cooks.

After we had been there from June to, maybe, July 1^st or 2^nd, they brought a bunch of trucks, Jeeps and weapons carriers over. I had a Jeep assigned to me and I drove that Jeep. I had an assistant driver with me. We drove that Jeep from Casablanca, which was in French Morocco, all the way to Tunis, which is in Tunisia. That is all the way across country. We went through Algeria, through the desert.

We had two attacks by aircraft on the way over. We had to unload in a hurry and hit the ditch. Some of the vehicles were lost, but not very many. They didn't catch us on a straight road. We were on a curvy road and it's hard to shoot the vehicles up on a curvy road apparently.

We finally got to Tunisia. In Tunisia, we were assigned to Co. H, 3^rd Bn., 1^st Replacement Depot. We sat around camp for a couple of days then we loaded aboard an LCT (Landing Craft Tank) and went to Sicily. At Gela, Sicily, we unloaded off the LCT and went into a little bivouac area where we refitted and trained.

I got into a scrap with one guy. He and I didn't like each other to start with. We bought fruit and things from the Sicilians when they came around with a cart full. He would help us eat everything. One Sicilian came by loaded with wine. This boy bought all the wine off that cart and he wouldn't share it with anybody except his little group. I called him a few names and we got into a little scrap. I don't think either of us won. I think we both got beat pretty bad but they finally broke us up.