He stayed there until ordered into battle. William thought of the army barracks as a prison because he wasted many days by playing poker, gambling, and drinking gluttonously. On one occasion, he flew into a temper, wrestled a man to the ground, and punched him until blood gushed out of his nose, just because he said that his girlfriend’s nose had a wart the size of an egg. Nevertheless, through all his struggles, William managed to write several letters loaded with love and nonsense to his parents and his girlfriend. After living in the barracks for an eternity, William was deployed to the shores of Sicily. Rejuvenated, he and his unit sailed on the battleship USS Columbia. To add to his excitement, Colonel James Simms, his regiment commander, announced that this battalion would be fighting under the invincible General George S. Patton. They would storm the beaches of Sicily and hit the enemy head on. Several hours after the speech, William and the rest of his unit loaded their carbines and tommy guns and clambered onto the landing craft. Then, the craft headed straight toward the beach. As he and his unit drew closer, William could hear bullets whizzing past his ears from the pillboxes ahead. Then he heard the dreaded words. “All right, boys! The door will be opened