In the Chicago Tribune a physician who served as a field surgeon in a mobile Army surgical hospital in Korea recalls:
The workdays were long, 12 hours on and 12 hours off, and the work was a constant challenge in terms of the sheer volume of cases and in the complexity and variety of wounds. Out of necessity, we often operated solo, with the assistance of a nurse or medical technician.
The wounds could be horrific. A common injury was the result of an anti-personnel mine known as the “Bouncing Betty.” When tripped, it fired straight up about three feet before it exploded — usually disemboweling or maiming those unfortunate enough to be within range. It was a horrible weapon. A lot of the surgery we did was on the lower extremity, doing our best to repair eviscerated abdomens and slaughtered lower limbs.
The work was also emotionally challenging. I remember one particular case where a young soldier had been badly injured. Myself, Ray (Capt. Ray Crissy) and Mert (Maj. Merton White) worked on him for hours. We had opened his chest when his heart just stopped beating. We did everything we could to keep him alive, including injecting blood directly into his aorta and massaging his heart.
I still remember the feeling of holding his heart in my hand. We were able to bring him back and I remember joking with him a few days later. He seemed to be doing well and I really thought he was going to make it. But his kidneys ultimately failed and we lost him. Like so many of the GIs, he was nice kid whose life ended way too early.
Read the whole thing. As usual truth is more interesting than fiction.
Had 2 guys we couldn’t save during Desert Storm. Still have the occasional bad dream about one of them. That said, what I saw was nothing compared with what this guy saw. Nothing compared with what our guys coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan saw. I preferentially hire ex-military when I can. One of my guys has a presentation with pictures he does from when he was deployed in Afghanistan when things were busy. My people do trauma. When he does his presentation there is dead silence.
Of course, that is just coming from those of us who tried to put people back together. The people who lived through that on the battlefield are the ones we should really honor. I have all of the respect in the world for those guys. Just aren’t words that I know that are adequate to convey that respect and appreciation.
Steve
My grandfather was a medic in the Pacific theatre. I tried to engage him several times. He wouldn’t talk about it. Period, full stop.
Steve – I wouldn’t have wanted to see some things you’ve seen. And I’ve seen some of the darker things in life.