Re: Course for History teachers
Sally Mac Laren (sally@AMUG.ORG)
Tue, 16 Jun 1998 20:54:10 -0700
I must frankly tell yu what bothered me the most was seeing such what
seemed like very, very young men brought in so severly injured. They
just seemed to me hat they shouldnt even have been in the service at
all yet. In addition to their injuries they were terreibly homesick
and this didn't help a bit. Of course, we being so close to the front
lines, we didn't keep rhem for very long periods of time.As I recall
if it looked as though they'd need to be gospitalized more than about
10 days, they were sent back farther to a station hospital, then from
in necessary from there they were sent even father back to a general
hospital. Some were even sent back to the states for further care and
hospitalization. We worked verey long hours, especially during a
campaign. They had what they called a field hospital which was even
closer to the front that we were. There they gave them mainly
emergency care. The mjotity of the ones we got needed immediate
surgery. They weren' usually at our hospital for extended periods of
time. When they left we always wondered what had happened to them. We
also had quite a few who were physiatric patients. I remember ine in
particular. He had no watch, and we had no clocks in the wrds, but at
exactly midnight ( when we were trying to keep everyone comfortable
and asleep, he'd go to the mddle of the ward, stand on a chair and
give a news report. It was the same thing every night too. He wqould
say very loudly "The war is over. They are just waiting for the
appropriate time to broadcast the news- then we can all go home." It
ws really pathetic. You could almost have set your watch by hi junping
up and making the announcement.
When we were set up we did have some good cooks in the outfit. But
there were also many, many times when we were handed a box of C
rations and they weren't very appetizing either- but if one was hngry
enough they weren't all that bad.
Being as clse as we were to the front lines, there was almost nifhtly
gun fire heard and many air raids. The best thing though is that the
good things that happened are much fresher in my memory, the really
bad ones are lpuhed to he back of my mind. For this I am very
grateful. One thing I remember clearly though is that what we got from
the Red Cross, we paid for and often quite expensive. This bothers me
still because I have learned that people here who gave money etc.
thought they were given to us.Packages sent from home rarely were
received I was overseas for two Christmases and never got a single
package. Family and friends sent many and were amazed hat they never
got there. The best way to send mail was by v-mail. Of course it was
all censored. In case you aren't familiar with v-mail, we had special
letters and they were then photographed, made much smaller and these
usually did get through- but usually in bunches.
Feel free to write again if you have anything specific and I will do
my best to respond accordingly. Our daughter and grandson just left
this morning. He recenly graduated from cllege and is going to work in
California. We were so happy that they stopped and spent three days
and two nights with us. She will see im settled in his new home and
then return to Michigan. Where do you live. Linda? We live in Arizona.
Sally