Hergla was and probably still is a barren expanse of sand and thistles.  It was close to the sea and in the background, we had mountain range at the foot of which lies Enfidaville the last hold-out of the 90th Light which we like to think we had a hand in blasting out.  There were nice cool breezes from the sea when they weren't nice hot breezes from the desert.

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Life at Hergla wasn't too dull. In the mornings the gnats drove us crazy; during the day, flies, lizards, giant grasshoppers, tarantulas, scorpions and mice contested for every inch of space and at night, malaria laden mosquito gave close support to desert rats on patrol.  A

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After supper one night, the group softened up Lampedusa and the next day, the NAvy swam in and took over.  With some help from the RAF and the rest of the AAF, we cleaned up Africa and Pantelleria right on the button and now Lampedusa.  It was time for a breather.  For the next three weeks, we worked hard at eating watermelon at a buck a throw, putting in sack time and listening to rumors of the great concentration of ships and men all up and down the ecoast.

 

On July 2nd, TBF let us in on the secret -- we were to start in working again, with Sicily as the target.  SO on the third, we inaugurated the Sicilian Shuttle Service and on successive days, staged a Roman holiday over Comiso airdrome, making hideous skeletons of the buildings and plowing up the runways.  Nobody told us that a month later, we'd have to clean up the mess or we might have been less enthusiastic.

 

While we rustled eggs and melons and cursed the blowing sand and lack of mail, the bomb line was creeping across Sicily and promising another Cap Bon at Messina.  So to be nearer out targets as well as to the foods we heard was plentiful in Sicily, we packed up and moved again.