As the LSTs loaded with paratroopers got under way, the Germans were dropping shells into the harbor, as though in some final frantic gesture to keep the 504 from leaving; like a murderer's last stab at his executioner. This had been a costly campaign for the 504 - but ten times as costly for the enemy. During the eight-week period, 120 paratroopers were killed, 410 wounded, and 60 missing in action. Many lessons had been learned at Anzio, and many men had been lost. It was a good place to bid farewell.

After one uneventful night on the water, the small convoy turned in toward the coast and before long the port of Pozzuoli, from which the regiment had sailed on the mission to Anzio, hove into sight. The big LSTs nudged their noses up to the beach, dropped their ramps, and the already entrucked troops rolled out onto land again.

Bagnoli, the bivouac area, was but fifteen minutes from the heart of Naples by way of the local railway system and was the site of the projected Italian World's Fair. Many fine buildings, statues, and other architectural features typical of this type of exhibition were in evidence. The 504 was quartered in the modern, and only recently constructed Italian University for the education of Ethiopian students. The buildings of the university were spacious and an excellent example of modern Italian designing.

Once firmly ensconced in their quarters at the university, the regiment fell into a daily routine which for the most part, consisted of very light training, turning in equipment, and taking off for Naples at every opportunity. General Clark reviewed the regiment at a ceremony held in honor of the 3rd Battalion and presented Col. Freeman, the battalion commander, with a Presidential Unit Citation for the battalion's outstanding performance at Carroceto.

It had been generally assumed that the 504 would leave Italy and sail to England to rejoin the 82nd Airborne Division; however, up until the last moment the hopeful rumor that the regiment was on the way back to the States could still be heard. On April 10, 1944, the Combat Team moved by train into Naples where they alighted at Garibaldi Station, marched down the Via Umberto to the water front, and boarded the Capetown Castle - a large British ship of streamlined appearance.

The following morning 504 men awoke to feel the throb of the ship's engines beneath them and with the knowledge that Italy, now obscured by a mist that hung against the horizon, its battles, its moments of sorrow and happiness, had become another chapter in the history of courage of the 504th Parachute Infantry.

Page 1 -	Page 2 -	Page 3 -	Page 4 -	Page 5
Page 6 -	Page 7 -	Page 8 -	Page 9 -	Page 10