Lot 966

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Description:

WORLD WAR II NAVY DIVER AT PALERMO AND NAPLES
Rare diary with superb content belonging to technical sergeant and Navy diver James Kelly, serving with the 1051st Engineers Port Construction and Repair Group. The 1051st deployed to Palermo and then the Port of Naples as part of the Allied advance through Italy in the summer of 1943; their mission was to repair the completely devastated ports and make them serviceable for the Allied war effort. Kelly's 8vo., 80pp. lined journal records his deployment as part of the 1051st, their efforts to clear the ports' waters and salvage anything possible, and the constant danger of underwater work. Kelly's diary entries begin in Palermo, reading in part: "(8-6-43) ...Raid this morning at 0430. Very busy clearing port area. Placing charges in sunken hulls, surveying piers and the condition of the bottom. Prisoners man the hand pumps... (8-16-43)... Surveyed sunken cargo ship. Caught in pocket beneath keel. Freed myself before charge was set...(8-20-43)... At 1530 a magazine blast in a sunken Germ. barge raised hell the next pier. Clark's demolition charge had set it off...two men were killed...(8-23-43)...Air raid 0430...Two sub-chasers lost, one entire crew and part of another...(8/25/43)...Two more bodies recovered from water. Various parts of bodies were fished out...(8-30-43)... removed body not formerly found by navy divers. The sailor had been trapped in radio room...(9-3-43) Rumors of Italian invasion...(9-5-43)...Effective today: we are no longer attached to the 7th Army...(9-6-43)...Another body, pinned under gun, floated up...(9/10/43)...Have in my possession an Italian's .44 revolver and 9 m.m. Beretta automatic...". Kelly's journal then transitions to Naples as the Allied war plan for Italy plays out, in part: "...(10-5-43) ...Vesuvius and Pompeii at 2 o'clock off bow with Naples dead ahead as we edge our way through mine field... from here on in it was inch by inch...It is rumored that the enemy is but a few miles north of here. Snipers are still hidden throughout the city...(10-7-43) Land mine exploded today killing G-I's and civilians. Believed to be a time bomb left by the Jerries. Final count of the dead is fifty-eight....(10-10-43)... A mine exploding before noon under the quarters of an airborne outfit. Some of our bull-dozers unearthed the bodies...(10-20-43)...Another blast. A body went twisting through the air above the smoke, a hundred feet or more...A young fellow and girl were strolling by, their hands were still clasped though the girl's body was in shreds...(10-23-43)...Drilled holes in submerged foundation blocks to prepare for blasting...(10-31-43)...Today the entire population has evacuated the city. They have been warned that the city's electric power is to be turned on between 1200 and 1400. German mines are expected to go off...". The superb content in Kelly's diary continues until 1-28-44, while he continued to dive, build LST berths, and avoid German booby traps and bombing runs. A rare up-close look at the horrors of war and the continuation of war by other means beyond the battle lines.

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June 4, 2010 11:00 AM EDT
Stamford, CT, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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