22 Feb. '45
Beloved,
What another haul of mail! 23 cards and letters. Christmas certainly extends itself this year, but the way the letters and tier dates [when they were mailed] jump back and forth sort of make me dizzy. There is no explaining the mail.
Today was rather quiet. I'm getting rid of some of my F.'s [Filipino patients]. One way to get them home is to tell them their family can see them only on visiting hours [American hospitals at the time had specified visiting hours, but evidently the Filipino hospitals did not]! I have a girl of about 18 on whom I wanted to do a skin graft, and darn it, she wants to go home! She has an area on the buttock about 4 x 6 inches that is just an ideal shape for a split-thickness graft [taking just the top layer of skin from one part of the body and putting it over a wounded area to help it heal]. I'm disappointed! But I can understand the rule [about treating civilians and visiting hours] - we'd be snowed under doing elective surgery and have no room for soldiers. Besides civilian hospitals are being organized. It is a joy to see how the lady with emphysema of the chest (old shell fragment wound) is getting along. I aspirate the pus every other day and inject penicillin. I'll certainly be ahead of the home docs on penicillin! But my poor little 11 year old girl with the osteo [osteolysis or resorption of the bone], T.B. [tuberculosis, which, although more common in the lungs, can attack the bones] or malignancy of the bone of the right leg, we can't determine which, is in very bad shape. There are some cute youngsters. One a boy of about 6 [see photo] who has a chest wound and a 1 1/2 inch long piece of fragment still just under the skin of the chest (which I'll remove later), is such a brave one and his parents were both killed. It certainly reminds me of private practice.
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| Two Filipino ward men and a brave little orphan boy who is Gene's patient |
The young fellow on whom I did an appendectomy asked me today what he could give me. I laughed and told him it was on Uncle Sam. My officers [who are patients in Gene's ward] are an interesting lot. One left this A.M. and left the cleverest cartoon. It showed my ward man (caricatured) in one corner of the room - book shelves and all in the background - with a bed pan in his hand from which a fish is jumping. "All right, who's the guy that's passing guppies?" It's a lulu and the officers are always good for the news from their outfits on what goes on in the war. I have a Capt. Brown, a Methodist Chaplain. I'll keep him over Sunday!
[Beth must have asked a question about the kamikaze pilots that struck the convoy Gene was in when the 92nd Evac. came to the Philippines in her letter to Gene:] What was I doing when the Jap suicide planes were about? Why trying to watch the show and still be ready to duck! When one of the ships to our port side began shooting too low over us, I ducked. Then when I stuck my head back out again they were shooting still lower, so I ducked again! Oh you can bet your last peso, Sugar, I'm taking good care of this "precious" hide of mine. Sure there are ladders on Liberty [ships] - they aren't luxury liners! Of course there are only about two of them [ladders], but they were handiest. I even got so I could go down facing out! And come up carrying [a cup of] coffee! And they are between the deck and the boat deck, forward.
This fellow who was wounded when we had out little fracas [January 19, 1945 when the hospital was attacked, mentioned in a previous post] had a darn sight worse time after he left us than before. The place [hospital he was moved to] he was at was shelled by a 16" Jap gun in the hills and the fellow in the third bed from him was hit. Then some Japs sniped at the place. And a Jap plane strafed them. And some MP's and guerrillas had a battle with 8 Negroes in a cemetery next to them! But he took it all as matter of fact as could be.
23 Feb. '45
This evening I received a big 5 lb. can of Guthrie's candy [from the Guthrie Candy Shop in Trinidad, Colorado] from Margie [Bersano, the daughter of Gene's office nurse]. It is in perfect condition. I wanted to attend the market this morning but was too busy. I took a piece of fragment about 1 1/2 inches by 1/2 inch from that little boy's chest wall. It was just under the pectoral muscle [chest muscle] and not hard to reach. When we put him on the table he asked if I was going to ---- and he drew his finger along his skin. I said yes, we had to take it out. He looked scared but didn't cry a bit. [Capt.?] Donovan gave him an anesthetic. When I got back to the ward, the nurse told me they'd used [just] a local on him before at another place. No wonder he was a bit apprehensive. This P.M. I got rid of the two women with the fractured femurs, and the draining wounds. [Maj. John] Mihalick and I took them to the local civilian hospital where they had made up bamboo beds with a framework for traction on the legs, as is needed. The hospital had only about 25 patients. There are two civilian doctors and some nurses. The beds are all just bamboo frames with bamboo slats close together, on which a single blanket is placed. There is an army doc in charge of an area of such hospitals. I think that many of the doctors in these small towns are not so hot.
The moon is beautiful tonight. It's like a balmy June night here. Did I tell you we had a beer ration yesterday? Six cans for 1 peso [about $.50]. But we have trouble getting it chilled. Now we can try beer and cheese [see post 58 to find out about the cheese]! Later - The colonel just called up the office and said he had some chop suey. I was to get a few of the officers and come over, so I did. It was cold and not very good. In fact, not chop suey that I could see! Besides, it contained green onions and you know me [this was lucky for Gene, as you will later see]! Roger [Farquhar, a Medical Army Corps officer attached to the 92nd Evac] brought in a bottle of pre-war wine he got while sight seeing in the city the other day. It was turning to vinegar! Well, I guess I'll have to go make my rounds of the wards!
All my love, Eugene
23 Feb. '45
Dear Folks [Beth's sister and brother-in-law, Mary X and John]
Tonight I'm O.D. [officer of the day, so he has to stay on the wards] so it is a good night for letters! A real hero just left the office - a Filipino who won the Congressional Medal of Honor [the highest award that can be given to military personnel]. He is a quiet, short, homely fellow! What a man!
Christmas packages are slowly trickling in. They'll all get here some day! Yesterday I received your V mail of Dec. 16, Jan. 26 and letter of the 30th. The time-range confuses me!
I'm glad to hear the picture of Beth turned out well. Most of the pictures I've taken here are of the ordinary things and the way people live, but I think that will make them interesting. All my shots have to be taken just as spare moments permit. We've been quite busy though not many battle casualties lately. I have a ward of women and children - almost like civilian days. Most of these were wounded quite a while ago, and never had proper care.
The moon is nearly full. It always brought Jap bombers before. Here we don't have them. But the Japs pester us in other ways!
I'm doing fine.
Love, Eugene
23 Feb. '45
Dear Jack [the teenage son of Mary X and John],
I've just been laughing at one of the men poring over a sheet of comics he received from home. A lot of these soldiers are still just boys. At least the war doesn't make them morbid.
Here's the Australian currency: 12 pence = 1 shilling = 16¢. 12 shillings = £1 (one pound). In Dutch New Guinea, 100 pfennig = G1.00 (one guilder or gulden) = $0.53. Here it is easy P1.00 (one peso) = $0.50. But I've found nothing to buy here except bananas, and a bit of "abaca" cloth [see post #55]! A haircut is 50 centavos. They give you a dandy neck trim, but aren't so good on the top.
Many of the women smoke cigars or cigarettes, and some place the lighted end in their mouth and draw on it that way! Few men smoke pipes. The guerrillas guarding us are a picturesque lot - rifle either an old English Enfield, a Jap rifle, or one of our make, lots of cartridges slung around their waist or over their shoulder - sometimes a bunch of grenades hanging to their belts - a straw hat or Jap cap or GI cap, and often barefoot. Blue jean pants, very ragged, sometimes white shirts and pants. But they can fight!
Love, Eugene
Up next: cock fights!
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