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US navy sailors in Pompeii, 1944

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Pompeii, Italy

Travels, Sightseeing, Vintage Postcards

Photographs taken by US Navy sailors in WW2

By , April, 2010. Updated March 22, 2012.

Pompeii is a ruined and partially buried Roman town-city near Naples, Italy. Along with Herculaneum, its sister city, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during an eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

The volcano collapsed higher roof-lines and buried Pompeii under 20 meter of ash and pumice, and it was lost for nearly 1,600 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1592. Since then, its excavation has provided an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city at the height of the Roman Empire. Today, it is one of the most popular tourist attractions of Italy, with approximately 2,500,000 visitors every year.

The Mediterranean and Italy suffered a lot in WW2. When my father traveled there with the US Navy in 1944, much of Pompeii had been bombed out, but the famous old Roman ruins still attracted the sailors on sightseeing trips. His memoirs, which we pick up here, focus more on the circumstances of war-torn Italy than on the ruins themselves.

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If indelible memories were neckties, we all would have needed at least six large steamer trunks to keep them in. That means only those memories that we wished to hang onto. Following are some of our recollections of Pompeii. Not many are pretty:

- The sight of Mt. Vesuvius with its ever-present wisp of smoke, across the bay of Naples.

- The trip to Pompeii on the Toonerville trolley-like railroad. When coming to a station, the motormen would poke his head out of the window, place a cow horn to his lips and blow a tin-horn sounding shriek to warn the swarm of people that were spilling over and onto the tracks.

- The ride back from Pompeii and the packed in crowd of sailors and jostling Italians, standing room only. The fat greasy unkempt young woman that seemed to keep on crowding and pushing against me. There was much laughter all around us. There was also a young Italian guy nearby that could speak some Engllish so I said to him, "What the hell is going on here?" He replied sheepishly, "Hey Joe, y'wanna (beep) onna train?"

- The never ending chant of the kids, "Hey Joe, y'wanna eat? y'wanna drink? y'wanna dance Joe"? and in a lowered voice, "Hey Joe, ya wanna eat spaghetti, Joe?"

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Postcards of Pompeii

Pompeii Santuario Pompeii Santuario
Pompeii Santuario with Mt. Vesuvius Pompeii Santuario with Mt. Vesuvius
Pompeii Santuario interior Pompeii Santuario interior

Photographs of Pompeii

boarding the train to Pompeii boarding the train to Pompeii
Mount Vesuvius Mount Vesuvius
street scene street scene in modern Pompeii
piazza in modern Pompeii piazza in modern Pompeii
street urchin in Pompeii

street urchin in Pompeii, "Hey, Joe!"

ruins of ancient Pompeii ruins of ancient Pompeii
ruins of ancient Pompeii ruins of ancient Pompeii
ruins of ancient Pompeii ruins of ancient Pompeii
ruins of ancient Pompeii ruins of ancient Pompeii
ruins of ancient Pompeii ruins of ancient Pompeii
ruins of ancient Pompeii ruins of ancient Pompeii, probably the exterior of the amphitheater
ruins of ancient Pompeii ruins of ancient Pompeii
ruins of ancient Pompeii ruins of ancient Pompeii
ruins of ancient Pompeii ruins of ancient Pompeii
ruins of ancient amphitheater in Pompeii

amphitheater in Pompeii

ruins of ancient Pompeii ruins of ancient Pompeii

Sources:

Memoirs and photographs of Milton W. Sherman (1919-2010). He served in the U.S. Navy during WW2, on board the USS Denebola, AD-12, when he was in mid-twenties. On board the Denebola, he sailed to Pompeii in late 1944, where he bought these vintage postcards from street vendors and the photos from the ship's photographer. You might enjoy reading a fuller version of his travels in the Denebola.