I don't know of any one who got malaria but for years after the war the red cross would not take blood from any who were in Pacific
Interesting. I wouldn't have thought of that and was not aware of that fact.
In 1953 my father was in surgery and something happened but he needed blood and fast. He had a rare type of blood and the hospital didn't have enough on hand so they put out an emergency call on the radio. Our neighbor, an ex-marine who had that type of blood, heard the call and was very upset that he couldn't donate; he'd contracted malaria while serving in the Pacific so nobody would touch him. I can remember him coming over to the house afterwards and visiting with Dad and just shaking his head over and over, trying to apologize, and my dad trying to put him at ease. Imagine, after what he must have gone through while in the Pacific and yet feeling the need to apologize to my dad because he had unable to answer the call for help because he had contracted malaria!
As for the threat of malaria in Italy, as I've said before, I did not know about that. I've only just begun to read about the war but for you guys who were there and are willing to talk about it and share with us civvies and youngun's, I cannot tell you how much it means to us to hear it first-hand. Not everything is learned between the covers of a book and to me, your personal recollections are priceless. My heartfelt thanks to you all.
Marilyn