Prompt: Witness to History                                                                                 January 18,2024

World War II, indeed, was a global conflict that had a profound and lasting impact on the world we live in today. From 1939 to 1945, millions of people were killed, cities were destroyed, and the political landscape of the world was forever changed.  

The war was fought on land, sea, and air, with major battles taking place in Europe, Asia, and Africa.  Some of the most well-known battles include the Battle of Iwo Jima, the D-Day invasion, and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

We've all seen movies, read books and heard stories. But there were those who lived and partook in this history. 

Biagio "Bennie" Philip Vampatella was 14 when the war started. Born in Connecticut on the 4th of July 1925, he was the first son of Philip and Antoinette Vampatella. As the naming pattern of Italian families go, he was named after his paternal grandfather. 

I imagine the family huddling around the radio and listening with anxiety and anticipation to the distant news of the day. Bombs, air raids, captures, injuries, and deaths occurring across the Atlantic and Pacific. Family discussions regarding the role of the United States and its allies against fascism, the role and the power of democracy and freedom. Bennie's father reminding his family what life was like in Sicily and how much better life was in the U.S. because this country heard the voices of its people in making laws and decisions and voting in the leader of the country. This is the "land of the free and the home of the brave".

In 1943, 2 days before he turned 18, Bennie enlisted in the navy. He was assigned to the U.S.S. Arkansas, a dreadnought battleship. The Arkansas was initially used to accompany occupied forces to Europe but help was needed on the sea to assist in the war effort.  The ship needed some repairs and updates. When they were completed, her first mission was June 6, 1944 off the northern coast of France - D-Day! 

Arkansas (BB 33) (navy.mil) - More Information about the U.S.S. Arkansas

Bennie was in the Gunnery Department along with many other men. The sailors would have been dwarfed by the sheer size of the 12-inch guns they toiled to load. These behemoths, towering like steel sentinels, were capable of hurling shells weighing over a ton, each one a monstrous harbinger of destruction for the enemy lines.  

Imagine the scene: Bennie, his muscles straining under the exertion, heaving on ropes thick as his arm to drag a shell up the loading ramp. his comrades, faces grim with determination, would be manhandling other components, their synchronized movements a desperate ballet against the clock. the Guns themselves, their dark bores glinting with malevolent purpose, would dominate the space, their every shudder a portent of the violence to come.

General Eisenhower lead the initiative of the allies to storm the beaches of Normandy. D-Day!!  The ship was located about 4,000 yards off Omaha beach.  All the men were aware that their goal was to bomb the hell out of the Germans in hopes of softening the enemy before the land invasion. The intensity of their mission was felt throughout the ship. This was the do or die moment for the allies. Bennie along with his fellow gunners, loaded those barrels and started firing about 6am for about 40 minutes before the assault troops landed on the beach.  The sounds of the guns were deafening, the acrid smell of cordite, the smoke and sweat burned their eyes as these crew members worked tirelessly to aid in the landing of the troops on Omaha Beach.

Bennie's father, Philip Vampatella writes in Passeggiata: When the firing ceased, "the forward part of the wooden cover over the steel decking of the Arkansas was torn up and in splinters, not from enemy shell hits but from concussion or vacuum created by her own blasts. That night Ben left the gun turret, found a spread tarpaulin on a section of deck, crept under it, went to sleep with his head resting on what appeared to be a sea bag. On awaking he found the ship heading westward and the object he had used a a pillow, the rigid body of a dead shipmate". 

Meanwhile, back in Great River, Long Island, New York, Ben's mom and dad listened to the radio and heard the first radio bulletin on NBC - 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9xk9GaV0NE

The Arkansas's job continued the 25th of June bombarding Cherbourg attacking the German fortification of the port.  The allies won!

From the end of June to September, Bennie and his fellow crewmates helped the allied forces in Oran, Algeria; Taranto, Italy; southern France; and Sicily then headed back to Boston for repairs. 

Bennie's little brother Philip was 4 years old when Bennie got leave.  Philip writes, "Now I really don't know if he had called ahead or if it was a surprise... but one day, big brother Ben appeared at the front door. He had gotten some time off while the ship was in port.  I remember jumping for joy, but most of all, I remember my mother, his mother, and her reactions. she grabbed him and wouldn't let go. she cried, she laughed, she loved, she kissed him. I never before (or since) seen such consummate joy in a human being as I saw in my mother that moment. But that's when the trouble started. Mom when she had collected herself, asked 'how long are you home for'? 'For a little while,' he said and I, a four year old, had no idea what a "little while" meant.  Was it minutes? Was it hours? all I know is that I broke into uncontrollable sobs because I thought he was leaving right away. As it was he was home for a week or so." 

The war continued and Bennie was now headed to the Pacific via the Panama Canal. The Arkansas was situated off the west coast of Iwo Jima in February 1945. The goal - the take the island and its airfields from the Imperial Japanese Army. They bombarded the Japanese resistance so the Marines could land on the island and take it over.  

In March of the same year they headed to Okinawa. For 46 days they bombarded the beach while the kamikaze's attempted to attack the Arkansas without success. A testament to the tenacity of its crew, who under Bennie's watchful gaze, kept the guns spitting defiance in the face of impossible odds.

Bennie's desire to fight for his country, defend against tyranny, and support a democratic way of life lead him into some of the most important battles of the war. He witnessed war firsthand and watched the tide turn in favor of the allies.

As Bennie stepped off the Arkansas at war's end, he carried within him the scars, both physical and emotional, of his wartime experiences. He had seen the face of evil, felt the sting of loss, and tasted the bitter sweetness of victory. But he also carried the unwavering spirit of a man who had stared into the abyss and emerged, forever changed, but unbroken.