18 March, 1944 - The Eruption of Vesuvius
On 18 March, 1944, Vesuvius, the volcano situated on the Gulf of Naples on the west coast of Italy, began to erupt. Stan was stationed about 160 miles away in Bari, a town on the east coast of Italy (although he was not allowed at this time to tell Grace where he was). Many years later, he told me that he remembered the motorcycle despatch riders "coming in, covered in ash". This is how the eruption was covered in the Daily Mail of 20 March, 1944.