My grandfather passed away in 1975 at the age of 69. I was 12 at the time and only have vague recollections of him. The only solid memory I have of him was being in his house in Medford watching the funeral of Dwight D. Eisenhower. I knew my grandfather had something to do with the military because he was often referred to as the General. He took nitroglycerin pills for his heart. The thought of him taking explosives to cure his heart problems confused and delighted me for many years. For a long time, I had a folder of airplanes from World War 2 stashed in my dresser that he gave me.
Learning about the Book
When the family would go up to my Aunt Ida’s house, my grandfather’s sister, in San Francisco, the conversation would turn to my grandfather’s book and what happened to it. From these conversations, I learned that my grandfather had participated in World War 2 in some fashion or another. Being a self involved kid, I never questioned my father and my grand-aunt for more details. Only by chance would a few details lodge in my head. Specifically, the one time he came home from the war around Christmas time.
Missing Photos
What I did learn about the book was that all the pictures used to illustrate the book were missing. The book wasn’t any good without the pictures. The book and the pictures used to sit in files side by side in my grandfather’s desk. Until one day, when my father went to look for the book, most likely at the time of my grandfather’s passing, the pictures were missing. My father theorized the whole package went off to a book publisher and the pictures never returned.
My grandfather’s book was the great mystery of the family, talked about ad infinitum at family gatherings for decades. Just by osmosis, I got most of the details. But the story never really piqued my interest, just vague wondering what ever happened to the pictures?
The Book gathers Dust
But we did have the book. And at some point I was gifted a black vinyl covered copy from my father. My father still thought my grandfather’s book worthy of publishing and wanted a family member to take over the task. My father wanted someone to go through the book and edit it before sending it out. My father’s complaint was my grandfather only ever completed High School and probably wasn’t the best writer. I think he hoped my mother would take the hint. She was a writer, focused on Steinbeck, and an English teacher. Editing a manuscript was right up her alley. She could care less.
The manuscript sat in my desk for many years. I finally read it in the early 2000s to see what could be done about it. The least I could do was type the book into the computer for better editing.
Papa Screams
When I started on the project, I realized why the book had been rejected by publishers. The whole thing was typed in all-caps. Years of exposure to computers made me read all-caps typing as screaming. Having me type the book into the compute would be a mercy to readers everywhere.
Reading the Book
So, I learned the story of my grandfather’s exploits. He fought all across North Africa and up through Italy as part of the 64th Fighter Squadron/ 57th Fighter Group. He wasn’t a pilot. Instead he made sure the squadron had everything they needed to operate. He was first the adjutant and later the XO. He had a few adventures but most of the book was him telling about the mundane parts of fighting a war. It really could do with a few pictures.
Because of my work on the book, I became the keeper of my grandfather’s lore. I would be questioned by my cousins about when they would see the book finished and published. My rote response for years was that as soon as they found the pictures, I would get the book finished. My uncle Jimmy, my father’s brother, always believed the pictures were in his basement somewhere, hidden among decades of detritus that a family accumulates. There were half hearted searches over the years, but nothing definitive.
For decades the book languished. My cousins would ask for the book. I would ask for the pictures. My Uncle passed away in 2011. My father passed away in 2017. It nagged at me that my father’s wish to see the book finished never came to fruition.
Pictures Found
In 2020, my aunt Eileen, Jimmy’s wife, passed away. One of my cousins lived in their family home for a year, but they finally decided to sell. This necessitated going through all the family belongings and throwing out the junk.
It was probably around 2023, I got the call asking about the book. I of course said “Only when you find the pictures”. My cousin said, “Well, we have the pictures. We’ll ship them to you”Dammit. Now I had to finish the book.
Now, I don’t think these were the pictures the elders always talked about. They described loose pictures. What I received from my cousins was a scrapbook. The scrapbook showed all the places my grandfather had been including some pictures of a dead Mussolini. Dead Mussolini was another story I had heard.
Long story short, I scanned all the photos, slotted them in to finished edited book, and sent the package off to a publisher. The publisher then published the book. Easy. Job done. I felt I had honored my father which subsequently honored my grandfather.
A Documentary might be fun
I also had an interesting story that might be ripe for a documentary.
I have a written email agreement with Western Desert tours to travel to Egypt in October. I’m waiting for Ahmed Omar to actually bill me for the trip before I say everything is locked in. Although my paid for flight to Istanbul departs on Oct 14th. One way or another I will be in the desert in October.
In preparation for the trip, I’m doing a lot of reading. I love my grandfather, but he wasn’t big on the details of the war that rage around him. Granted, part of the documentary will be juxtaposing what he wrote with what was happening around him. From my beginning readings I have quickly realized that I little to nothing about what happened in North Africa during World War 2 except for some of the big names like Rommel and Montgomery. The first book I read or started was an Army at Dawn by Rick Atkinson. It’s a thick in depth look about the war. The only problem was it focused on the Americans involvement in Africa.
The focus, so far, is on the landings of Patton’s army in Algeria and Morocco. Not a lot about Egypt. So, I switched to reading Alamein by Jon Latimer, another really dense and good book. I’m just at the part of the book where the battle of El Alamein takes place. There has been a lot of build up, with a cast of hundreds. I am not keeping any of it straight at the moment. And don’t get me started on remembering the different brigade, units, corps, etc. But I do have some small idea of what I should be looking for when I arrive in Egypt and El Alamein in October.
Pre-Production Research
Currently, I have one researcher looking for the locations of the landing grounds of the 57th Fighter Group. Heather is all over the job. But is not having luck looking for the information. The first place she looked, I believe they were the Morning Reports, didn’t have the info. She is now waiting for another set of reports to come back that are on microfilm.
I’m still finalizing a plan with Dr. Kidd, a British based researcher. He’s busy and we are exchanging emails. I’m hoping he can dig through the records and find the British perspective on the 64th Fighter Squad. I am waiting on an agreement from him before he gets started. He did say in his email that he was very busy at the moment and wouldn’t get a chance at the material until October.
Next Steps
One of the big scary trips would be to follow my grandfather’s path through Libya. Every state department advisory says not to go to Libya. But I think it might not be as bad as all that. Or at least my deluded brain wants me to think that. There are travel companies that do trips through Libya and I have reached out to Palace Tours to see about a trip in February. I told them about my documentary plans and they were all for me going. They had plenty of questions about my grandfather and his locations. They do seem to think I might need media credentials for the trip. I am now looking into that. I sent them a long email with answers to their questions. I await their reply.
Other Work
I continue to transcribe my grandfather’s letters to my grandmother. At this point I am up to July 1944 and we are on Corsica. I occasionally find a letter in the pile to my Uncle Jimmy and my father. My grandfather is very concerned about where Jimmy is going to High School and what is my father’s fascination with snakes. My grandfather is also proud my father is “serving on the altar” The stack of letters is still pretty thick and I have thick file of 1945 to get through as well.