Thursday · March 18, 1943
You might even see my picture.
Gafsa: an oasis, a minefield, and the news cameras.
March 18, 1943
My Darling Wife.
Another day in which I can get at my stationery and write.
Yesterday, St. Patrick’s day, we visited a beautiful Oasis—in the middle of the sandy desert. The tall palms reminded me of home, and the olive groves made an impressive sight growing in the middle of nothing.
You will have to read the papers and guess the rest. By chance you might even see my picture as I did happen to be in the background when news correspondents took lots of pictures. In the picture, the men in the front were on their knees digging out …
… mines.
We have received no news in some time and we believe big things have been going on. Perhaps this little campaign will be over soon.—Here’s hoping.
Last night—as was the case for the preceding nights—it rained.—only last night it poured. I think my handbag with blouse, etc is soaked.—as well as lots of stationery etc.
Yesterday a French Asst. Policeman was telling me about the people living in his oasis. When the Germans & Italians entered the Oasis, only French Jews remained—besides the greater number of Arabs. The Arabs would point out the Jews to the Germans who proceeded to take everything they owned from them. The people are skinny and have little food. They appear (the Jews) to be …
… very happy to see us.
I am quite an expert on mines & booby traps now. I have been studying them carefully and feel confident that using reasonable care I can disarm any of them without injury. Yesterday I walked through a whole bunch of them with an Engineer Officer & non-com and we entered the Oasis as the advance element. Finally we found a few Arabs—but no enemy. Don’t worry about me—they can’t do anything to me—I’ve got a lucky star over my head to see that I get home to you.
I hope you and Linda are well and getting along O.K. No mail has come in since January mail so I’m in the dark. However my love for my family is as ever and I’m thinking of you always.
All my love
Your John
About this letter
Three pages written the day after the 1st Division took Gafsa, Tunisia. The next day the Glendale News-Press ran his picture under the headline “Leads Yanks Into Gafsa.”
THE PICTURESixty years later he wrote that he, a reporter, a photographer and the mine-clearing platoon leader picked their way through the mines into Gafsa, and the pictures “were on the front page of every American newspaper.”
BEFORE YOU READHe repeats what a French official told him about the Jews of the oasis under German occupation. His words are kept exactly as written.
READING CLOSELY
“Don’t worry about me—they can’t do anything to me—I’ve got a lucky star over my head.” Written the day after the 1st Division took Gafsa.
The oasis is Gafsa. The censors didn’t allow him to name it.
A few crossed-out words are left off.
This scan appears to be made from a photocopy.
The Big Picture
Squeezing from two sides
In mid-March the Allies began to squeeze the Axis from two sides. On March 17 the 1st Division took Gafsa, which its Italian defenders had already left. On March 20 the British Eighth Army attacked the Mareth Line.
Patton’s orders were limited. His Americans were to threaten the Axis from behind and draw German troops away from the British. There would be no drive to the coast.
Where he was
Gafsa, Tunisia. The 1st Division attacked on March 17 and found the town abandoned by its Italian garrison. He walked in with the advance element through a minefield.
In this letter. The news photos he mentions were real. On March 19 the Glendale News-Press ran his portrait on the front page under the headline “Leads Yanks Into Gafsa.”