Some people, it's not easy to get into a conversation and talk about your war experience

Greg Lanza

History 297W

Professors Stave and Frank

May 3, 2001

Narrative for Joseph Civitillo

Joseph Civitillo was born in Italy on May 20, 1924. His father was already an American citizen when Joe was born, but went back and forth between the two countries to make his living. "In those days you made a couple of bucks here and then you went back. They all had the idea of making a lot of money and going back to Italy and living like a king, but he liked this country better." So, in 1936 the whole family came to New York and, later, unable to find enough work as a mason there, moved to Hartford, Connecticut in 1941. Pearl Harbor was "devastating" for Joe yet, maybe "just being a kid," the attack seemed to confirm why "the Japs...were known to be sneaky." Joe continued to work at D&D Market until he was drafted in March of 1943.

At boot camp in Camp Shelby, Mississippi, he became a technical specialist in water purification and was attached to Headquarters Company, 296^th Combat Engineers. Unlike his father, Joe was not a citizen but the draft board told him, "Don't you worry about it, we'll make you one." So, while in the service he acquired citizenship, the papers for which read 'Acquired in Paris, France.' After 6 months in Mississippi, they shipped out to England on "a very scary trip" with worries of U-boats. Plus, sleeping in shifts on a passenger liner filled to double capacity and being "sicker than hell" only added to the discomfort. Finally, after further training in England, his unit landed in France on D+16.

Being attached to Headquarters Company was "lucky." It "was always towards the back of the lines," but they were usually "in the middle of the woods" and since the four man unit "didn't even have a vehicle, if any enemy actually came all we could do was hope for the best." To supply water to hospitals, kitchens and front line troops, they had a portable unit that pumped water into a 3000 gallon tank. "We'd go up to the river and...just keep pumping water all the time." To keep up with the Allied advance, the 296^th was forever packing up and moving out, going wherever they were needed. They were even attached to the British Army for a brief time.

When the Battle of the Bulge began, Joe was stationed in Eupen, near Bastogne. Sleeping in the attic of a school house, his unit was awaken very in the morning and told there had been a breakthrough. They grabbed their rifles and "everybody went up and down the roads trying to find Germans." As Germany teetered on the brink of defeat, the 296^th "were some of the first troops to enter Berlin." But because the Russians were supposed to enter Berlin first, they had move back across the Elbe. After the armistice, he stayed on in Berlin for six months as part of the occupation force.

There they "saw quite a bit of the Russians - they were common soldiers like us, rougher than we were I think, but they were all right." There was a thriving black market as well. The Russians were paid in script that became useless as soon as they left the service. "So, whatever they could get their hands on whether it was a watch, cigarettes, jewelry, silk socks, anything, they would buy it...you could make anywhere from 300 to 350 dollars for a carton of cigarettes. A 26 dollar watch, we got 300 dollars for it...it was good." He also met some Germans who warned him about the Russians. They say, "Remember...you beat us, but you did not win the war. You're gonna have trouble with the Russians some day." Despite fighting in Europe, he felt"the Japanese were more of an enemy...when we ran into a German soldier, we figured they were there for the same reason that we were, they were defending their country. So, we didn't hold any grudge against them."

After 34 months from home, he left the service on December 19, 1945. As he explains, "We traveled 1800 miles from Liverpool to Berlin, 1800 miles in 622 days. That's moving, right?" Returning to Connecticut he " loafed for about a month" then resumed working at D&D. In hindsight he sometimes regrets not making a career out of the Army. "To me the Army wasn't that bad. To me, it was doing a day's work and you did what you had to do and that's it." But, "once you came home...I forgot about [the Army]." Still, "it doesn't leave you. You go to sleep at night sometimes you still dream what went on. In your dreams you say, "Where's my rifle? Where's my helmet? Where's my...?" It never leaves you."

Excerpts from Interview with Joseph Civitillo

...it's not easy to get into a conversation and talk about your war experience. There's always that touchy moment that gets you. And some people don't even want to talk about it, period.

I'd go in for maybe a week or two weeks, a month, whatever it was, a water point somewhere, they'd pull me in for a couple of days, go somewhere else, set up somewhere else. We moved. We traveled 1800 miles from Liverpool to Berlin, 1800 miles in 622 days. That's moving, right?

...when I...went to the draft board and I said to the guy..."You know, I can't go into the service" and he says, "Why not?" I says, "I'm an Italian, I'm not even an American citizen." He says, "Don't you worry about it, we'll make you one."...so while I was in the service I applied for my American citizenship...my citizen's paper says "Acquired in Paris, France ." And that's where I got my citizen's papers. So I killed two birds at the same time, I served my country and I got my papers.

I think the Japanese were more of an enemy. As a matter of fact there was a time that we thought that even the Russians weren't really our Allies...I met some Germans and they told me..."Remember, you won the war here, you beat us, but you did not win the war. You're gonna have trouble with the Russians some day."

During the Bulge...we were stationed in this town Eupen. We occupied a big...school house, and we were sleeping way up top in the attic...So they wake up us up...about 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning and they tell us there's a breakthrough, the Germans have broke through and everybody get dressed and get your hut and get your helmet and get your rifle and off we went looking for Germans.

...the engineers was a tough outfit and they were to build a bridge under enemy fire. They had to keep going, there was no stopping. If they had to do it, they had to do it, that's it. We didn't get as much credit as we should have gotten.

I hope in school today that there is more people who get involved and talk about World War II and let the young generation know what war is, how horrible it really is...I went to see Saving Private Ryan and, I'll tell you, it brought back a lot of memories. It was a good movie...a lot of what you see are facts, true facts.

(Even) Full(er) Narrative for Joseph Civitillo

I was born in Italy, May 20, 1924. I came to New York in 1936 with my mother and my two brothers and a sister. My father had been a resident of this country for many years, and this is where he made his living. In those days you went back and forth. You made a couple of bucks here and then you went back. That's the way it was in the olden days. They all had the idea of making a lot of money and going back to Italy and living like a king, but he liked this country better, so he came back. I lived in New York, the Bronx, for five years and after that in 1941 New York was lacking work for my father so he decided to come to Connecticut, in Hartford.

When you heard about Pearl Harbor what was your reaction?

Well, it was devastating, I mean, I couldn't believe it, so many people getting killed for no reason whatsoever. I couldn't understand why it happened. But, for some reason or another, just being a kid, you always kind of were afraid of the Japs because they were known to be sneaky and stuff like that.

I was drafted in March, 1943...and in a way I'm happy I went in, I got a lot of experience. I'm glad that we are here to talk about it. That's the main thing. For me being drafted at 18, 18-1/2 years of age was something different because I had never been out of the house, I'd never been away from home...when I...went to the draft board and I said to the guy..."You know, I can't go into the service" and he says, "Why not?" I says, "I'm an Italian, I'm not even an American citizen." He says, "Don't you worry about it, we'll make you one."...so while I was in the service I applied for my American citizenship...my citizen's paper says "Acquired in Paris, France." And that's where I got my citizen's papers. So I killed two birds at the same time, I served my country and I got my papers.

I did basic training at Camp Shelby in Mississippi. The weather was rotten. We had what they called jiggabites, they were mosquito bites, and I'll tell you one thing once they got under the skin they were tough. It was humid hot down there. Thank god we were there for only 6 months...most of what you learn in basic training is discipline. But you did a bit of training, you marched, you hiked, you went on forced marches and actually shooting the rifle was very important because if you couldn't shoot the rifle you're in trouble if you went overseas...the cadre one time told us, "Remember one thing that I'm not gonna go overseas, you guys are gonna go overseas you've gotta be prepared for what you've gotta do and what you're gonna be up against and what the enemies are like and what to look for. And this is what they try to teach you, to be on alert all the time...we were pretty well prepared...our battalion commander was proud, he was tough, but he was tough for a reason, he didn't do it for his skin, he did it for your own purpose to prepare you for what you were going into.

I was very lucky to be...a water technician...I was involved in purifying water for the front troops or any troops that were stationed around you. I was a technician and I got to learn something. I was a T5. Technician, 5^th Grade...similar to a corporal. A specialty. I was in the states for about 6 months...then we went to England and we did the rest of the training in England...we sailed out of Boston and it was a very scary trip. Because, number one we were on a ship...during peace time was more or less a passenger ship and it held I think maybe only 1500 people, but when we went overseas there must have been maybe 3000 people on this ship. And the most horrible thing about it was we never had our own bunk to sleep on...we were in the bunks for so many hours then the other crew would go down and take turns to sleep so we were on deck for the rest of the time. So we had a swing shift. But the most horrible thing was most of the way over I was sicker than hell. It was really scary out there in the middle of the ocean. All you see is water. And naturally you're thinking about 'Are we going to get sunk? Are we going to get hit by a submarine or something?'

And then in 1944 we went to France for the D-Day invasion. My outfit was the 296 Combat Engineers. The 296 Combat Engineers was attached to wherever they needed us. It could have been the [1011^th] Corps, the 5^th Corps, there was a time when were also attached to the English Army. And wherever they needed us we went. The combat engineers, you know what a combat engineer is? It's like a glorified infantry. We built bridges, we built roads, you blow up bridges, you blow up roads. That's what we did...the engineers was a tough outfit and they were to build a bridge under enemy fire. They had to keep going, there was no stopping. If they had to do it, they had to do it, that's it. We didn't get as much credit as we should have gotten.

We built bridges [in] Sedan [over the Meuse river], we built bridges in Bastogne, we built the bridges in several different towns. That was mostly the essential thing that we did. Without the bridge you couldn't go across the water. So we had to do it...the old process of building a Bailey bridge, like for instance, a Bailey bridge is steel bridge and you have to put it together section by section. So, what you have to do is if you have a span, say across 30 or 40 feet, in order to push that thing out across there you have to make it heavy on this other end so you've got to put maybe another couple of sections on the ground so when you push it through the end on the ground will hold it down, it won't dip into the stream or river. So...if you're pushing a bridge across a river...you've got to have another 2 sections on the back of that to hold it down so it won't tip over when you push it across. It was all done manually. Just pushing, pushing it right across. You put it up section by section. As you put up a section you push it across, and keep pushing it across...We had to cut our own lumber and everything else...in Germany, we put together one of the longest bridges that was ever built by the engineers. It was a triple-decker. As a matter of fact two guys got killed on it because they were going on reconnaissance, but they didn't know that this bridge was blown out. And so we had to rebuild that bridge [the Hoener-Pollack Bridge], part of it. And it was all done with wood, it was not a steel bridge.

We were lucky...my outfit, we were not too close and not too far back or in between enemy lines and...I was in Headquarters Company. Now in the engineers you've got Headquarters Company, A, B and C. A, B and C do most of the construction, most of the demolition, and those are the ones who build the bridges. Headquarters Company was a technician company where you probably had to bring the supplies to them. Or we would supply all the intelligence about what was going on. Stuff like that...with my water purification, I was always towards the back of the lines so I can be set up somewhere where I wouldn't be recognized where I was because without the water they couldn't do anything...we were supplying water to hospitals, kitchens, troops, anyone who was close to us. The only unfortunate thing was that we were in the middle of the woods, there was only four of us and we didn't even have a vehicle so if any enemy actually came all we could do was hope for the best, we couldn't even take off...you went to sleep at night and you didn't know if you were going to get up the next morning or not. So it was kind of frightening. You know, bombs come over and you don't know if they are going to land on top of you or not. And you don't know whether a German is going to sneak up on you and stab you in the back. You know, some of these guys that were right up front were and there were ambushes and stuff like that. It was tough. When you fought in France, and I guess you must have heard they had a lot of hedgerows and these were maybe 6, 7 feet in the air and maybe 6, 7 feet in depth and you never knew what was on the other side...there was no relief, like going on furlough or anything like that.

We had a portable unit... we'd go up to the river and...just run a hose down there up and you pump it up to your unit...we had a big tank that held 3000 gallons of water and you just keep pumping water in there all the time, you just pumping it in and pumping it out. The purification process was we had a filter that weighed about 350 pounds, I think it was, and was full with sand and gravel and the water went through the sand and gravel and took most of the dirt out of the water and then it went to another unit where you has soda ash and chlorine. That's what chlorinated the water to make it drinkable... So, everybody was equipped in a different way. But the hospitals, they used a lot of water.

I'd go in for maybe a week or two weeks, a month, whatever it was, a water point somewhere, they'd pull me in for a couple of days, go somewhere else, set up somewhere else. You know, we moved. We moved. See, I have a map downstairs. We traveled 1800 miles from Liverpool to Berlin, 1800 miles in 622 days. That's moving, right? You have a couple days and then you move, you have a couple days and you move...it was a skilled job because you had to know how much chlorine to add, you had to test your water everyday, and sometimes 3, 4 times a day to make sure the right amount of chlorine was in there because if you put too much chlorine in there you know what's going to happen. You'll have a lot of sick soldiers out there...you get the runs, plus you get that flavor to it too.

How did you test it?

We had something like a camera that you put the water in, you put drops of chlorine something or other, I forgot the name, it was chlorine something, you put so many drops in the water when it reaches a certain color on that chart that's when you know you if had enough or too much. So, then if you didn't have enough you'd open up your unit and add a little more chlorine or shut it down, whatever, you could control it as much as you wanted, or as little a you want.

During the Bulge I'll never forget it we were stationed in this town Eupen. We occupied a big, I think it was a school house, and we were sleeping way up top in the attic, way up there and we never went to sleep, we went to sleep with our clothes on. So they wake up us up early in the morning, about 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning and they tell us there's a breakthrough, the Germans have broke through and everybody get dressed and get your hut and get your helmet and get your rifle and off we went looking for Germans. I remember that very well. So we went up and down the roads trying to find Germans and they told us that a lot of the German soldiers has killed some Americans and they took their uniforms, and they spoke very well English so they only way they were caught was by not knowing the password. Otherwise, it could have been a disaster.

...you know, war is horrible, but when we ran into a German soldier or whatever, we figured they were there for the same reason that we were, they were defending their country. So, we didn't hold any grudge against them, and, you know, it's too bad there is war, but we didn't feel any bad things about them. I think the Japanese were more of an enemy. As a matter of fact there was a time that we thought that even the Russians weren't really our Allies. And I still don't think they are. As I look at it now I met some Germans and they told me, he said, "Remember, you won the war here, you beat us, but you did not win the war. You're gonna have trouble with the Russians some day."

Did you communicate much with home?

I probably wrote a letter once a week, twice a week depending upon when you had a chance to. Even if you had to...we had what they called that V mail, even if it was just a couple of words. Seal it, and bango, that was it. Just to keep in touch. If you had more time you wrote a longer letter. I tried to tell them what was going on but by the time they got the letter home it was cut up. Like a puzzle. What I used to do most of the time was...my mother didn't speak or read in English, so I used to write a letter home in Italian and it used to be censored in a different place, I don't know there were a couple different locations, because all the letters that came home had to be censored and if you wrote anything in that letter that you weren't supposed to give information about they cut it right out. So, I used to sent letter like that and they didn't censor them as much as they did the other ones. But I didn’t write telling them...I didn't want to write home and say how tough it was for us because you didn't want your mother or father to worry about you.

...we met up with the Russians, because we were some of the first troops to enter Berlin. And the rules that Roosevelt made with the Russians that the Russians had to enter Berlin first. We were there before the Russians. We had to back up, I don't know how many days...we were in Berlin for six months after the war ended as an occupying army. So, we saw quite a bit of the Russians. They were common soldiers like us, you know, rougher than we were I think, but they were alright. They didn't bother us, we didn't bother them.

...after the war ended we, there was a lot of stuff that was being sold, there was a lot of cigarettes that were being sold...the Russian soldiers, they had so much invasion money...they could not change it into their own market money where the American troops they could take that money and turn it into market money. The Russians, they couldn’t do that. That money was only good to them while they were in the service. So, therefore, whatever they could get their hands on whether it was a watch, cigarettes, jewelry, silk socks, anything, they would buy it. And you know, it was a big market. And there was a lot of money, like I said, you could make anywhere from 300 to 350 dollars for a carton of cigarettes. A 26 dollar watch, we got 300 dollars for it...it was good. Until they caught up with us. When they caught up with us...if you made 50 dollars a month and you wanted to sell 300 dollars they asked, "Where'd you get this money?" Then after a while they said, "Hey, wait a minute, you can only sell up to 10 percent above what you're making" or something like that. The officers...They were doing the same thing, so they knew what was going on.

I was discharged December 19, I think it was, 1945...being away from home for 34 months, you know it wasn't that easy. There times when you kind of missed it. While the war was going on that was it...we had...a lot of the soldiers that hated being there, that hated the war, they hated being in uniform. But they did their job as well as they could do, but when they got out they didn't want to know nothing about the army, nothing about nothing. But to me the Army wasn't that bad. To me, it was doing a day's work and you did what you had to do and that's it. I didn't mind it. And many times I said, "I wish I had made a career out of it and stayed in." When we were in Berlin they were begging us to stay because they'd give you offers for opportunities to do this and do that and get ahead and get the better jobs. But like I said once you came home that was it. I forgot about it, but I'll tell you, mentally it doesn't leave you. You go to sleep at night sometimes you still dream what went on. In your dreams you say, "Where's my rifle? Where's my helmet? Where's my...?" It never leaves you, it stays with you...it's not easy to get into a conversation and talk about your war experience. There's always that touchy moment that gets you. And some people don't even want to talk about it, period.

Other than the experiences of the war, do you think the Army did anything for you?

I think it taught how to grow up and you learned a lot of things. And, I'll tell you, you'd be surprised, personally maybe with me not as much, but with a lot of guys that were in the engineers' battalion they learned to do things and they came home and they went into either a construction company or they made a living out of it. They became very successful.

There's nothing like being at home in your own country...it didn't take me much time to adjust to it. I came home and I loafed for about a month and then I went to work and that was it. It didn't bother me at all. I got adjusted to...very easy. Same thing going into the service. You know when you get up at 6 o'clock in the morning, the bugle blows you know you got to get up in the morning and you get up in the morning. It was kind of tough, but we did it.