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The following story is based on information submitted by Mrs. Marylen Dunk, about her husband, Walter R. Dunk, now deceased.
Walter R. Dunk enlisted in the U. S. Army Air Corps in August of 1941. He was selected for Officer Candidate School and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant upon graduation. The rest of this story is quoted from a letter Walter Dunk wrote to his family in 1945 while stationed in Naples, Italy. (The letter was found in some of his possessions after his death.)
"We boarded our ship, the U.S.S. Santa Paula of Grace Lines, about
3 o'clock on the afternoon of January 13th 1943. I suppose we resembled a train of pack mules from the amount of junk we were packing. (If I'd only known they intended keeping me over here this long, I'm afraid they'd still be looking for me.) Anyway we pulled out of New York Harbor before daylight on the morning of the 14th, plenty cold, misty and amid plenty of wild stories as to where we were headed. The trip over was quite pleasant, having been alerted for submarines only twice, and at 5 o'clock on the evening of January 26th, we pulled into the harbor of Mers el Kabir, "Oran," Algeria. Our primary job over here was to provide fighter cover for convoys traveling along the North African coast, and to protect harbor and military installations along the coast from enemy air attacks. We did a pretty good job of it, and it was finally decided about April 15th that we should make our headquarters in Algiers. The move was made and we pitched our tents about twenty miles outside Algiers (East) at a small place called Reghaia. It began to get pretty darn monotonous there after a few months, so I finally requested a transfer to this outfit. On August 3rd, my transfer came through and I found myself in a forgotten spot on the desert called Telergma, about thirty miles from Constantine - if the names mean anything to you - and approximately 90 miles southeast of Bone. First thing I said upon seeing the place was "What have I gone and done this time?" I "sweated" out the dust storms there until November3rd, 1943, at which time I was transferred to Bari, Italy, and arrived just about in time for the quite famous Bari raid. I imagine it was kept from you at the time, but I know it was classified as our most serious disaster since Pearl Harbor. Seventeen ships were sunk and over 1,000 killed. It happened on the cold night of December 2nd, but I still did plenty of sweating. Lost my billet, bed, etc., got a few scratches from flying stone and consider myself damn lucky. Used to be able to walk along the docks three weeks after that raid and still see bodies floating around. Was stationed there in Bari until April 23rd, 1944, at which time I was transferred here to Naples. Used to get raids here every two or three nights, but didn't have any eight months prior to VE day. Jerry's (Germany) reco's (reconnaissance) used to pay us a nightly visit but never bothered us much. Am still stationed here in Naples., longest I have ever been in one place since I've been in the Army."
Walter Dunk retired from the United States Air Force in 1961 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, with just over 20 years service. He then worked at Medina Base and Kelly AFB in Civil Service positions. He retired in 1979 due to failing health. His illness was not properly diagnosed until May, 1991, after five bone marrow biopsies. He then underwent extensive chemotherapy, but died on June 14, 1991. The cause of his death was myelogenous leukemia. Only after his death was it determined that his illness had been caused by his exposure to mustard gas released when the Germans bombed an American cargo ship stocked with mustard gas in the harbor at Bari, Italy on December 2, 1943.
Our thanks to Walter Dunk's widow, Marylen, for sharing his story and our sincere thanks to Walter Dunk for his service and sacrifice.
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