7 MAY 1944 – 22 MAY 1944
R and R leave on Capri
Our whole crew has completed at least twenty-five missions so we are eligible for leave on the fabled Isola di Capri at the entrance of the bay of Naples. For one war-free week we get to lie on the beaches of the idyllic little island, take a boat to the beautiful Blue Grotto, visit the Roman ruins, and sit at a sidewalk café sipping vino and eyeing the lovely signorinas.
Capri Grottos 1944
I saw some of Naples, but not much, because we went right through the town fast; but when we got to Capri; that's where I got to see the sights. It was a beautiful place. There was an English woman there, she had been there since 1929 and she knew the island well, she became our tour guide. Now, the island itself was nothing more than a little city sitting on top of a hill. From the waterfront, we took a tram up the side of the mountain and it clanked all the way to the top. She took us to the far north end and then pointed down at the shoreline, at the bottom of the cliff, there were slabs of marble, beautiful marble that was set up like little rooms. They were the rooms that the Romans used for their bathhouses. In the days of the Romans, I imagine, it would have been really beautiful. A lot of what remained was crumbled. What remained up was beautiful. They had all the different olive groves and all kinds of grape vines. Then we went down to the shoreline and got into a boat. It was a rowboat, like our common rowboats we have here, and there were two of us plus the guide, a local Italian, rowing the boat that took us on a trip almost completely around the island. We went to a grotto, you can only get into it by boat, but you have to wait until the swell of the wave goes down for the opening, then you had to go in real fast, otherwise, you'd get pinned to the doorway. So, our guide would position us just outside and when the time was right, he told us to lie down; we had to lay down flat in the boat, and he would paddle like mad to get to the opening and get us through. Inside the grotto was the most beautiful scenery, sparkles, green, blue, all kinds of colors. It was magnificent in there … beautiful. Then there were cafés in Capri where we all got drunk and acted like kids. We had our good times. Then, it was time to go back to reality and we went back.