Wounded and Evacuated
Evacuation to 3rd Surgical Hospital – Tan San Nut
Not really sure exactly how long I was at the 93d Surg, 3-4 days maybe a little longer, memory fails me on that, like it does on a lot of other stuff.
From the 93d we were transferred to the 3d Surg in Saigon. Upon arrival I was placed into a holding area while decisions were made as to which ward I would go to. While there, the Red Cross representative came by with a telephone and allowed me to call home and tell my wife I was wounded. I thought the Army had already notified her that I was WIA, but guess I was wrong, she was greatly surprised. Finally got her convinced I was “OK” or at least not in danger of dying. It was a great 5 minute call and did a lot for my morale at the time.
They moved me into a ward and the thing I remember most is how clean and white it was. Real hospital beds, thick mattresses with the crank up heads and feet, quite a luxury after sleeping on a cot for so long.
Next day a Col comes by to pin Purple Hearts on us. I noticed the guy in bed next to me got his 7th OLC to the Purple Heart. After the Col left I asked him how long he had been in country and we got to talking about his experiences. He was on his 4th tour, had been wounded numerous times and this was the second time he hd been evacuated to the states, and he had once been evacuated to Japan for 30 days to recuperate. Other that a couple of re-up leaves and hospital and convalense time, he had spent about 3-4 months in the states over the last 4 years. This time a grenade had blown him off a hill top and besides the schrapnel, he had multiple broken bones to show for it. I told him “Man, your like a Sgt Roc”, he said that was his nickname given to him by his squad members. He had gone from Pvt to SSG in those 4 years, had a DSC and 2 SS, I was in awe. He definitely was what I would call “a steely eyed soldier”.
The next day we were loaded on the ambulance bus to be taken to Tan San Nhut to load on the plane to Japan. Around me were a couple of combat medics who had been wounded and an AF clerk typist. The medics were wounded while assisting other wounded. I asked the AF guy what happened to him. He was a little hesitant to discuss it, but finally told us he was a clerk and while typing had gotten one of his fingers stuck between the keeps on a manual typewriter. When he yanked it out he pulled off the fingernail and cut the finger in a couple of places. He was embarassed and didn’t tell anyone and doctored it himself. It had become infected to the point of gangrene before he finally went to the medics. He had lost most of that finger and was now headed to Japan for followup treatment.
I thought man, I have now heard stories from one end of the scale to the other. Sgt Roc to clerk typist, with me and a couple of combat medics stories thrown in between.
AT TSN we loaded onto C-141 for transport to Japan. First 1/3 of the plane was airline seats for the “walking wounded” and the last 2/3 for the streachers hanging on both sides, 3 high.
Nurses and corpsmen working the isles. Had juice and a snack if we wanted. Had a couple of patients require emergency procedures while enroute, to that caused a lot of intensive action on the crew’s part. I don’t remember much about the flight, I was still taking pain killers and slept most of the way.
Next stop Camp Zama, Japan…
