Our first day ashore, we were worried about the battle at El Alamein. We had been told, as we sailed up the Red Sea in the HMT [His Majesty's Transport] Aquitania with 7000 U.S. troops, that the Battle of El Alamein was in progress, and the German Army was threatening Cairo. The rumor was: "Our destination, Port Tufig, is in flames!" (Not true). We were not allowed out on deck without a tin hat, but these had not yet been issued to us.
In this photo, Dick Stockton (facing the camera with a worried look) was a section leader. He was later killed in action. Charlie Pierce (behind the magazine) later became an officer of our C Platoon. John Barhydt is reading about the on-going Battle of El Alamein in The Egyptian Mail.
We didn’t know then that this battle would be a victory for Montgomery’s Eighth Army and a turning point for the Allies.
Location: El Tahag Mobilization Camp, Egypt.