Spurs of Steel (62)

     In the following letters Gene updates his report on some of his patients and goes into more detail about the cock fights.

26 Feb. '45
Beloved,
     I'm sitting in surgery waiting for work.  [Maj.? Cy] Burroughs and I are on minor so we may not be so busy.  They are bringing them in by small planes.  That is a good deal, for we have a better place in which to work and the patients can still reach us very soon.  Besides, they don't get the jolting they would in an ambulance.  One poor fellow was hit through the belly yesterday afternoon and lay out all night before he was found.  I doubt if he makes it.  Today I got rid of most of my women and children patients for which I am just as glad.  Some of the relatives would darn near drive a person crazy.  The husband of the woman with the emphysema of the chest [see post # 59] brought me a watermelon today!  It's the color you'd call "rattlesnake color".  It's almost round and about the size of a volleyball.  I have it in the reefer cooling, or should I say chilling!  Which reminds me that the day was cloudy and cool.  We may be building up for a big rain.  Last night we received a batch of patients from a field hospital some miles away who had a big rainstorm and most of their tents went down!
     Later - Well, he died on the table.  Too bad, but he just didn't have a chance.  At one place the Japs made one of their banzai charges and our men mowed down 300 of them.  Ordinarily, the infantry likes nothing better than for the Japs to come out in the open.  Then they can really clean them up.  It is when the devils are so well dug in that it breaks their [the infantry's] hearts and they get discouraged.  The F. [Filipino] fellow I did the supra-pubic cystectomy [see post # 57] on a week ago began to bleed.  It came from the path of a bullet!  He was wounded over a month ago.  I finally got it stopped and decided it was from some veins.  I sewed them up and thought all O.K. then after supper about an hour later darn if it didn't bleed a little more, but pressure had stopped it before I came back to see.  So it goes.  They say one of the soldiers had one of his hands cut off by a saber - completely off!  This morning I took care of a little Chinese girl who had a bad wound of the knee and fractured tibia [upper leg bone] two weeks ago and no care for it.  Her mother was quite slant-eyed and rather pretty.  Poor kid will have a short leg for it hit the growing part of the bone.
     All my love, Eugene

March 1, 1945  Still getting a few casualties from the 6th Division.

March 3, 1945  We bought (Officers' club) 2 bottles of good Manila rum for P5.00 [$2.50] a bottle.  I sold one to [Maj.] Hiram [Armstrong].

4 March '45
Dear Folks [Beth's sister and brother-in-law, Mary X and John],
     Believe it or not, but your package came last evening!  The tin cans were a bit bashed in, but everything was O.K.  The knife and case is really a dandy [Gene had lost his knife some time earlier].  It certainly looks like excellent steel, and that is the most important thing.  I have a copy of the S.E. Asian map, so I put this one up on the wall in surgery for everyone to see.  The towel is just [the] right size.  Thanks so much for everything.
     Speaking of the knife reminds me of something I've been meaning to tell you, John.  I think you would like to use a machete, such as we have, on camping trips or around the yard.  I find it superior to an ax or hatchet in everything except chopping trees or driving stakes. It is really the handiest item for chopping brush or grass, leveling off the ground, cutting poles, stripping bark, etc., etc. ad infinitum. [After the war, Gene used his machete extensively in gardening, mainly for chopping up plants to put in the compost.] With an army belt, the sheath hangs at your hip, though usually we carry it on the side of our pack.  I had an Australian machete first, but it soon broke.  The U.S. True Temper [steel one] is fine.
     Your letter of Feb. 8 came 2 days ago.  It is a coincidence that you sent a picture of a cockfight, for I'd seen one last Sunday.  But I rather doubt that picture as being the real stuff.  The roosters pictured are not the real fighting games [gamecocks] which have a very small comb [actually, according to Wikipedia, the comb and wattle are often cut off].  But I didn't enjoy the spectacle.  3 jumps and the one cock was on his back, kicking his last!  But it was no wonder, the weapons used!  Why the single spur each wore is fully 3 inches long, slightly curved and about like a darning needle [the natural spur on the cock's left leg is partially removed and a metal knife or gaff is fastened on to that leg].  

Filipinos in Guimba waiting for the cock fight to begin

The fights go on all day Sunday, so I plan to go back today for some pictures.  It wasn't what you'd call colorful.  They are held in an arena, surrounded by bleachers, and there is a roof over it so the light isn't strong.  When I was there, at least 200 Filipinos and S.I.'s were present and excitement ran high, with lots of betting.  You could see that the cocks were accustomed to the ritual - sticking out their necks and ruffling their feathers at each other when placed on the ground, though retrained by the tail.  Their spurs had a large guard on each, until they were put down for combat.  When first put on the ground, they walked slowly around looking at the noisy crowd.  Their handlers gently shooed them a bit, then they took their stance "en guarde" and then bingo, up they went, flapping and kicking.  Down to the ground and up again.  The next time down the one cock staggered, but was game for another jump, but then he stayed down for good.  At least there is no arguing about the decision!  The actual fight didn't last 30 seconds.  I certainly wouldn't care for it as a regular thing!
     Later - I went to church then to the cockfights.  Our chaplain is Catholic, but if he is unable to obtain a protestant minister, he gives us the service himself.  He did a very fine job today.  At first he was very hesitant about doing it, but he was told that in the Army he was first of all a chaplain!
     There were no cockfights going on, so we left.  But I did ask to see the spurs [gaffs].  What weapons!  The blade is 3 1/2 inches long and about 3/8 inches wide, hollow ground and sharp as a razor along one edge and the tip.  They cost P10.00 [$5.00] apiece!
     Tuesday a few of us plan to go sightseeing in a large city [Manila, but the censors won't let him write that].  Our C.O. is allowing us to go, a few at a time.  We plan to stay overnight with some hospital outfit, and return the next day.
     I'm pleased that you thought my pictures O.K.  By the time I get to see them, I'll feel as though I had never seen the spot, I suppose!  They would be better, I believe, if I had more time to spend taking them.  for example, the other day I had a free spell, so I walked about 1/2 mile or less from town and took a roll in about 20 minutes.  I had reconnoitered the area once, kept watching for a time when the mountains would be clear to make a background.  And a certain number of pictures I take are of the very ordinary things, and very drab therefore as to color, but it gives an idea of the average sights.  So far I've seen only a very few flowers - small vines of bougainvilleas, and a few others. 

Yard of a thatched house in Guimba

People in this area use their yards (in town, too) as a parking place for carts, bed down their carabao, run the pigs, chickens and children, etc.!  There is little greenery at this time of year.  The rice fields are losing their yellow-gold tint, for one of gray as the straw ages.  Even the bamboo trees are losing part of their color.  I hope I get to go to some of the mountain valleys some time.  They say it is about like Colorado.  I'm getting a lot more people in the pictures here, for it is easy.  People are everywhere yo go - fields or towns!  I never saw such crowded spots!
     No doubt your Spring weather is close at hand.  It often is in the 90's around noontime, here!
     Again, thanks very much for the gifts!
     Love, Eugene

Gifts and Fights (60)

     Casualties from fighting have abated, and conditions are quiet enough at the 92nd Evacuation Hospital for Capt. Gene Pfile to learn more about the country in which he finds himself.


24 Feb. '45
Beloved,
     Do you hear that ta-ta-ta-tat?  No, not the war!  The fellows are just trying out some new machine guns we obtained. Now that we are a complete arsenal I hope we won't need them.   Amazing, this mail.  I received your Feb. 11 letter and one of the 12th from Mother and a Valentine of the 8th from your Mother.  It is so clever.  On the front is a pipe and open pouch with real tobacco spilling out of it.  And such a nice verse.  I collected some items today!  At noon the nurse on my ward gave me the dandiest palm leaf woven fan, dyed a brownish color.  She is the married one.  I've never seen one like it before.  And this evening one of my 18 year olds [patient] gave me a fancy fiber under arm bag [purse, see photo]. 

Photo from two of Gene's civilian patients with their
embroidered under arm purses

 I'd seen it before and asked her about it.  Also she gave me a small picture of herself and two sisters and brother posed in a studio.  Her sister added a fine handkerchief with the initial P on it.  The sister is the one who had the large fragment in her cheek and which I'd removed.  I also had their mother.  The sister's first name is Purito [?] hence the P.  Now I must wrestle up [rustle up?] a box in which to send home things!  And soon!  For I know you are anxious to see them.  Right now I'm waiting around to help [Maj.? Cy] Burroughs operate on a soldier with a ruptured peptic ulcer that happened suddenly a few hours ago.  Say, I'm glad I ate but little of that ersatz chop suey [see post # 59].  The colonel was sick from it last night.  I'm hoping that I can get caught [up] on my work this morning so that I can both see the cockfight and go to church!

The thank you note with the photo
and purse

     I almost forgot one of my interesting patients.  She is the wife of a guerrilla captain and is two months pregnant and has a terrifically toxic thyroid [produces excessive thyroid hormone, a condition from which Beth had suffered]. Her pulse is running 160.  Her condition isn't at all good.  And today I met a guerrilla nurse.  They must have had quite an organization.  I'll bet they cause the Japs plenty of trouble.  I think maybe I'll try some cheese and some beer!  It will be good for me besides helping me [this was one of his favorite expressions in later life!], as [Maj.] Hi [Armstrong] says.
     All my love, Eugene

February 25, 1945
     I watched a cock fight, and I don't care for it.  3 jumps and it was over - about 30 seconds. ...

25 Feb. '45
Beloved,
     [Maj.]Sparky [Adams] is just chortling in his beard about a news item.  It seems that since animal fat is no longer so much in demand (vegetable oil substitutes it) they began remodeling hogs.  The result is more ham and bacon per hog.  Also the super hog is now nimbler on his feet, free from danger of sunburn and nervous breakdowns!  Amazing!


Cock fights in Guimba

     Well, I didn't get to church this morning.  I didn't get my work done until almost 11 (church at 10).  So Sparky and I grabbed helmets and guns and tore out for the cockfight.  A goodly crowd was there - about 200 in all.  When we arrived, two cocks and their handlers were in the ring.  The roosters had a long (3 inches) fairly wide blade [strapped] on one leg.  They were going through a preliminary neck feather spreading and head stretching at each other.  The book makers were walking around taking bets.  After about 5 minutes the babbling grew louder.  The handlers took the sheath of the spur off his contestant.  What I thought was the spur was just the sheath.  The spur itself is certainly a wicked gadget - thin, curved slightly and apparently with a regular needle point.  The cocks were set down and they strutted around looking at the crowd.  The handlers sort of shoved them together, and bango, they went up high in a leap.  Then hit the ground and up again.  Then the one cock sort of wobbled but gave another jump and it was all over.  The poor loser kicked a few times and that was all.  Ugh!  I don't like it!  There is nothing sporting about that!  It didn't last a minute.  I'm going back some time to take pictures of the crowd, but I'm no longer interested in cockfights.

More of the letter on the next post!