By KEVIN FLOWERS
Morning News staff reporter
Enemy artillery shells raced through the sky and came crashing to earth at all hours in Carrera, Italy, 1944. Clifton Dobbs Jr. was there and remembers it well.
""We used
to call it "harassment shelling' because we thought the German soldiers wanted us nervous,'' said Dobbs, a corporal in artillery with the U.S. Army's 92nd Division.
The unit, also known as the ""Buffalo
Soldiers,'' was activated in October 1942 and fought through World War II's Italian campaigns from August 1944 to May 1945 as one of the war's only all-black combat units.
Throughout the campaign, the artillery gave
continuous support to the infantry units and gained a reputation as being among the best in the Fifth Army, firing approximately 260,000 rounds of ammunition at enemy lines.
On this particular Sunday, it was Dobbs
and his fellow soldiers who were under fire.
""It was about noon. We had just sent up a weather balloon to determine the weather and how it would affect our howitzers on the ground,'' Dobbs said.
""We would get number readings off the balloons and that would tell us if our guns needed to depress or elevate to fire.
""We were in this plaza in Carrara, and the shelling started. I
started running across the plaza. I got hit with some shrapnel and did not even know it at first.
""Later I went to the doctor, because my legs started turning blue. He found the shrapnel, took
it out, and later I got a Bronze Star.''
Following his Army service Dobbs would go on to a lengthy carreer as an Erie police officer, retiring as a lieutenant in July 1988 after 31 years of service.
He has fond
memories of his time in Italy, the people he met and served with there and the beautiful architecture and scenery he was able to see.
""I was surprised when we first got there by the diversity in Italy,'' he
said.
""One minute you would see someone plowing a field using an ox, but you could walk another mile and see modern apartment buildings.
""I also loved the art and the history. I saw and
learned things about the tower in Pisa and many other beautiful buildings and statues in Viareggio and Genoa.
""I always had an interest in art and history before I went into the Army. Italy reinforced
that.''
He also said the Army might have been segregated, but Italians treated Dobbs and his fellow soldiers fairly, regardless of skin color.
""The main thing I remember about how the people in Italy
treated us was that we were just men. It was no different because you were black,'' he said.
""We could go where we wanted, and even with the white soldiers, we did not have any problems. We had
English soldiers supporting us as an attached unit once, and we got along with those guys fine, too.''
When the war ended, Dobbs went home. He was discharged in March 1946.
He's kept in touch with several
fellow Buffalo Soldiers and even attended a reunion of their company, held in Long Island, N.Y. in 1973.
""We looked at a lot of old pictures and some of the guys told me stories about when they went back
and visited Italy years after the war,'' he said. ""A lot of reminiscing went on.''
A 50-year reunion is planned for 1995, Dobbs said.
Will he be there?
""If I'm able, I will definitely go,'' he said.
""The guys, we kidded each other a lot back then. But most importantly, we protected each other and watched out for each other.''
