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Italy Through The Hole Of A Doughnut

by Linda Farris and Fannye "Fran" Beaty

Chapter Six

"ROME AT LAST! What do you think of our division? ARE WE PROUD OF IT!" Fran Beaty wrote on June 6, 1944 from a site outside of Rome.

"We walk around with our left arm sticking out so that all can see the clover patch that we wear (clover patch is the division patch). We understand that they made headlines in the States."

The undamaged Eternal City of Rome had been triumphantly entered by Fran's beloved Blue Devils and their allies on June 4, 1944. As the American liberators had advanced into and through Rome, with men of the 88th leading the way, they had been cheered by residents filling the streets nad pressing upon them gifts of flowers, wine and flags.

Riding through the city with their heroic 88th Division had been Fran Beaty and her thoroughly excited doughnut troupe.

"Though we are in the 'doghouse' for doing so, we were very near the first gals to enter through the gates", Fran bragged to her parents. "Now I know what it is like to be really cheered. The streets were lined with people who showered us with flowers, cheering and hand-clapping! If I had only had film for my movie camera."

"Our outfit is on the move so fast that getting transportation for a minor thing like a doughnut machine is tre' difficult", she added.

"When we got out to where our division was setting up its rear echelon headquarters and a rest area at Albano, the traffic was so bad coming our way that we couldn't get back through to get our equipment", Beaty explained years later. "Roz [Rosamond Myers] stayed with me and I sent the other two [Corlen "Corky" Cullen and Virginia "Ginny" Crawford] back for the equipment." They roamed Rome.

"Mother, for the last three days I've really wished for you", Fran admitted in her June 6 letter. "Your fondness of Latin would have caused you to enjoy these days immensely. Tis a beautiful city! Apparently untouched by the war at all."

"Except for the fact that there are old ruins, the place is unbelievably modern. The hotel (RC billet) where we are spending ournights would vompare with any hotel in the States. Our room has inlaid floors, very up-to-date and modern furniture, built-in drawers and closets, spacious private bath. All the comforts of home! What a place! ..."

"There is not an awful lot I can tell you. We are kept busy moving."

The combat infantry men chased the Germans to the southern banks of the Tiber River, then on through Maszzana Romano, cheered by word that Allied troops had invaded Normandy on June 6 in Operation Overlord. By June 13 the Blue Devils were due a rest - and all the doughnuts they could eat.

When the doughnut machine and othe "accumulations" caught up with Fran Beaty on June 5, so did an unexpected new staff member, fresh from the good ol' U.S.A.

"Yesterday we were surprised by a new girl being attached to us", Fran informed her parents in her June 6, 1944, letter. "She's from Brooklyn her name is Sylvia Simmons. She's fairly cute and seems to be an awfully nice person, congenial, sense of humor and all that. She only left the States 22 days ago. Quite a rookie, huh? Bye for now. All my love, Sis."

On June 21, Fannye "Fran" Beaty wrote home to report being "busy for the last week and a half. Our boys have been located where we could get to them all (meaning they are on a break or in a rest area)," (somewhere near Lake Albano, she thinks.)

"We hired an orchestra and made all the rounds. While we have worked long hours, it has all been such fun. The boys have been so glad to see us. It has been like a party everywhere. The band was super-duper. They played American music almost like our popular American bands. We danced, jitterbugged, had doughnut-eating contests."

Today we are taking life easy. Can you imagine arising when you please and eating all the strawberries with cream that you can hold? That is exactly what I did this morning. Of course, strawberries only cost about $10 a quart, but why pay for them when there are nice fields around?"

"You should see where we live", she wrote, returning to an ever-popular theme. "Too bad we don't live here long. As modern a home as one could find anyplace. Three stories, each of us has a private room. Our doughnut shop is on the first floor and there is one huge room on ground floor we use as our ball room."

"Last night we had a dance for the band boys and the MPs. Good music, all the doughnuts and coffee they could eat and drink. We managed to dig up about five good-looking Italian girls and with us (five), our party was quite a success."

"I'm dead certain I'll be home on furlough in a few months. Sounds thrilling. Hope my turn doesn't come up before December!"

"Oh yes, we have a swimming pool in our yard, but it doesn't have any water in it, so it doesn't do us any good."

"In last week's mail, you mentioned mailing me some saddle oxfords and wasn't it funny that I received the shoes at least a month before I received the letter telling about them. You've asked if I've cooked the (much-coveted red) beans. No I haven't. About the time I received them, the kitchen started having red beans. But I still have them and am saving them for a future party."

Having moved sixty miles north of Rome by June 28, the 88th Infantry Division paraded before General Mark Clark in a ceremony that included medals, commendations and a pep talk.

By July 4, 1944, Beaty and staff were packing up again. and home was another tent.

On July 5, the 88th Infantry Division was alerted from its rest and training area in the vicinity of Tarquinia and rushed forward to strengthen the Fifth Army assault which had bogged down south of Volterra, some 200 miles north of Rome. Twenty days later, according to John P. Delaney, the division ground to a halt on the high ground overlooking the Arno River. General Paul W. Kendall assumed command from General Sloan and would take the Blue Devils to final victory.

"Finally", Fran Beaty wrote on July 7, 1944, putting a new slant on some past news, "I find that I can sit myself down and not have to rush some place."

"A little about my doings. All in a month's time I have lived in a swanky hotel, back to a tent, in a four-story modernistic villa with a swimming pool with no water in it, and back to a tent again."

"Now, all the time, with the exception of the time I was in the hotel, we were very busy getting doughnuts and entertainment to our boys."

"One week we dug up an Italian orchestra that could play American music. We got permission from the Red Cross to hire them and, since they were costing us $24.00 a day, we had to use them to the very best advantage and play them thus: 10 o'clock one place, noon next, 2, 4 and 6 o'clock parties and one at night."

"We had a lot of fun and nearly always in connection with the entertainment we would put on a doughnut-eating contest. They always brought a big laugh."

"The last night for our stay in the villa, we put on a dance for MPs and the division band boys at our own swanky home. It was a grand success. Those boys are sorta the step-children of the division. They get left out of all the fun."

"This past week our schedule has run about the same, though our biggest crowds have been at night. Nearly every night, after we finished serving before a movie or after a band concert, we have been obligated to go to some outfit's party. Some of those have been very nice and others where we would put in an appearance and quickly withdrew"."

American Red Cross Personnel

Medal of Freedom

The 88th Infantry Division letter of recommendation for the award of the Medal of Freedom to Fannye Beaty, Director, Clubmobile Unit, reads in part:

1. Under the provision of MTOUSA Cir 82, 24 May 1946, it is recommended that Fannye Beaty, American Civilian, American Red Cross, be awarded the Medal of Freedom for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services in Africa and Italy from November 1943 to August 1945.

2. As head of a Red Cross Clubmobile Unit, Miss Beaty joined the 88th Division upon its arrival in Africa, moved with the division to Italy and served with it through the Rome-Arno, North Appenines and Po Valley campaigns. Keeping constantly in touch with various elements of the division, Miss Beaty organized her crews so that they were able to visit all units as often as possible, bringing to the men periods of relaxation and comfort. Much of her work involved travel over mountain roads and trails frequently subject to hostile shelling. Her ready willingness to work long hours, her cheerfulness even under the most trying conditions and her unselfish devotion to duty have won her the respect and admiration of the entire division.

Current page: www.milhist.net/88/doughnut6beaty.html

Created 2001 March 25, Reformatted 2004 November 25.
Content Copyright © 1999, Linda Brinson Farris; used with permission
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