Physician, Heal Thyself (21) (not for the queasy!)

     Rockhampton lies on the Tropic of Capricorn and has humid, subtropical weather.  Daytime highs are usually around 85º F in the summer, dropping to 75º in the winter.  Nighttime lows are around 70º F in the summer and 50º F in the winter, although on rare occasions it drops below freezing.  Conditions are usually quite pleasant for people (except during cyclones or floods), but unfortunately are also enjoyed by various fungi and other obnoxious plant and animal life that like to grow in and on humans.  The doctors from the 92nd Evac came from Colorado, so they had not been exposed to many of the tropical afflictions, and occasionally fell victim to them as well. 
     Throughout his life Gene suffered periodically from what was probably dyshidrotic eczema, a condition that caused small, itchy blisters on his hands and feet.  Although the precise cause of this condition is not known, it usually appears when a person is under stress, either physical, such as allergies or constantly damp conditions, or mental, such as pressure from work.  In the tropics, the moist environment allowed the opportunistic bacteria and fungi to establish themselves in any little break in the skin and wreak havoc.


October 20, 1943
     Trichophytids!  How they are bothering me!  My feet just about itched me to death today, and then broke open.  My hands will start soon, I fear.

92nd Evacuation Hospital in Rockhampton, Australia

1 Nov. '43
Dear Folks,
     ...  The medicine from Lilly Co. came Sunday, and I( took a shot right away.  Mind you, it was sent air mail first class (cost 72¢, which they paid) and was mailed Sept. 22nd, so it took 5 1/2 weeks!  My hands and feet really have improved a lot in the last 2 weeks from what they were for a few days.  These water blisters came up all over my feet and hands, with those on the feet opening and oozing clear serum.  The ones on my hands did not open except in a few places.  It was similar to what I had before, only then it affected my fingers much worse.  I had it once while I was interning and once 3 or 4 years ago.  I just didn't want it to be that bad this time!  ...
     Love, Eugene

November 3, 1943
     Foot began to swell.  Entered hospital.  Infection.

November 4, 1943
     Cellulitis dorsum Rt. foot [redness and heat due to inflamation, and swelling and sensitivity to the touch of the upper part of the right foot].

November 6, 1943
     Boil began on my Lt. leg [starts as a hard, painful red lump which becomes larger, softer and more painful as pus collects].

6 Nov. '43
Dear Folks,
     ...  I am temporarily in the hospital!  I have a cellulitis in my right foot, over the top of the foot.  But it is clearing up quite well.  I turned in with that Wednesday noon, and have been soaking it, off and on [remember penicillin isn't widely available yet], and staying in bed, since.  Yesterday a small boil started in my left leg just behind and above the ankle.  But that also is quieting down.  I had expected to be dismissed to quarters today, but no go.  It is still a bit sensitive when it [his foot] is down.  But I realized in time that it was not to be stalled off, and was sensible enough to go to bed.  Probably tomorrow I can go to my tent and spend a few days there before I go back to duty.
     It does seem queer - you are all preparing for winter, and we for summer.  I hope you have a mild one.
     ...  It is more interesting than ever to hear the discussions that go on about the war and engagements, here on the ward.  The fellows are not supposed to talk about it, but of course they do.  What experiences.
     ...  I was out at the beach Tuesday afternoon but I don't think that had anything to do with this infection!  I took some color pictures that should be good.  The breeze was very refreshing and the water quite warm.  Nope, I didn't see a single shark!
     Don't worry about me - I'm doing O.K.!
     Love, Eugene

November 7, 1943
     Considerable pain and swelling in the darn foot.

November 8, 1943
     Mihalick incised my infection - lot of pus, deep.

November 10, 1943
     Out of the hospital today and on "Quarters".  I entered Nov. 3, a week ago at noon when my R foot began to swell.  I couldn't figure what it was and finally admitted it was a cellulitis, probably from my athlete's foot.  I thought I'd soak it a day or 2 and it would be O.K.  It did seem to get better.  Then a boil developed on the left leg below the calf and it had to be soaked and opened.  They certainly throbbed when I'd try to walk!  Then the R foot stayed so dark red over the medial part of the R dorsum [center part of the top of the right foot] and finally got so darn hypersensitive and showed an area of softening.  It was opened and several drams [four drams is about a tablespoon] of pus and chunks came out and it began to feel better at once.  That was the 8th.  This morning it felt pretty good so I talked John (Mihalick) into letting me out.  I'll have to send Beth a wire for I know she'll be worrying in spite of the fact I told her not to do so.  Gosh but I miss her.  Evenings after the lights were out [and] we were under out nets (9 P.M.) I'd think of her until I dropped to sleep.

10 Nov. '43
Dear Folks,
     Here I am in my tent!  I'll be on quarters a few days and then go back to work.

Gene in his tent, taking it easy

     Sunday evening they opened the place on the R foot.  It had turned a deep purplish red - a spot about the size of a dollar, began to soften in the middle, and was very sensitive and pained when the foot was down.  I was surprised at what came out - about a tablespoonful of pus and stuff.  The foot began to feel better at once and my fever went down [the] next day.  It hasn't drained much since.  This morning I walked around a bit and it felt pretty good, so I talked them into releasing me.  I'll just sit around and keep my foot up and take care of it for a few days.  But it is more to my liking here in the tent.  I can read in the evening and things are handier.
     ...  What wild life we have around here!  As I sit here I can see 2 birds in the tent across from me.  They just seem to be looking around.  In another tent I just saw a mouse go scampering along.  Little lizards wander in at intervals.  Ants come and go all the time - chiefly a large red variety like the black woods ants back home.  But it is nice to hear the birds even though their voices are anything but melodious.  On the desert there were so few birds.
     I enjoyed 2 hunting and fishing magazines one of the fellows brought me.  My subscription to the Field and Stream ought to arrive soon.  I also enjoyed Wells Pocket History of the World.  It says in there that up to 100 years ago there was a race of natives in Tasmania (just off the southern coast of Australia) that were more primitive than the Cro-Magnon man [we now know this not to be true], which is usually considered the earliest true man (he doesn't consider the Neanderthal man as being an ancestor of true man, but an earlier offshoot [it is interesting to note that with present-day DNA analysis, some Neanderthal genes can be found in modern humans]).  Birds and animals still exist here which are much older in type than any elsewhere.  The soldiers who have been up north have lots of regard for the natives.  They say the natives hate the Japs - really hate them.  They'll carry one of our wounded or an Aussie 8 hours at a stretch and never set him down, and carry him gently!  But if they are forced to carry a wounded Jap, they'll have to rest every little while, and when they set him down they just drop him, and if not watched, they'll even finish him off themselves!  Interesting!
     I ought to do O.K. now.  Hope you both are too!
     Love, Eugene

November 12, 1943
     Another G-I upset.  Maybe I got a bug in the orange drink at Yeppoon.  Christie had some melena [darkening of the feces by blood pigment] today.  He said, "Should you and I plan to get into the same Veteran's Home?"  That is good!

14 Nov. '43
Dear Folks,

Beach at Yeppoon, Australia

     Here I am, back on the job again!  I was ready to start in Friday but something else came up.  Thursday afternoon some of the officers were going to the beach, so I went along.  I just sat around and took the sun and fresh air.  On the way back we stopped for an orange drink and I think that proved my undoing.  It was served by the glass.  I must have picked up some kind of a bug, for I was awakened at 12:30 by the belly ache and was I ever sick.  I thought for a while I was getting appendicitis.  I stayed in bed all Friday, having fever and diarrhea.  In the morning I was so shaky and nauseated and that sickly yellow color!  But I felt better by evening and now I'm O.K. again except for small boils - one on each calf around a hair follicle.  My feet are doing quite well.  The right foot still swells some, but that is to be expected.
     ...  Yesterday I saw a mail carrier for the first time.  [Gene's stepfather, Vernon, was a mail carrier.]  It was at the outer edge of town.  He was riding a bicycle and was dressed in shorts (low shoes and long socks), short sleeved shirt open at the throat, and slouch hat.  His mail bag was about half the size of our postmen's bags.  I imagine that their letter mail is light, and that they have little or no advertising matter and few magazines.  The uniform of the policemen is a light tan with tight military style collar, and the same type of Rough Rider hat that their soldiers wear.  They all seem to be young fellows.  They ride bicycles, too.
     The weather has not been so warm lately - very comfortable in fact.  ...
     Our Padre [Griffiths] is leaving us - being transferred.  We all hate to see him go, for he is an exceptional man.  He has the respect and esteem of the whole outfit.
     Hope you both continue to feel well.
     Love, Eugene

"How is Australia?" (20)

Inside a 92nd Evac. ward tent at Rockhampton

September 30, 1943 (Thursday)
     ...  This evening we received 2 ambulance loads of the 162nd Reg. They landed at Gladstone and came up here by train. They were in on the Salamana [or Salamaua, New Guinea] push, so saw plenty of fighting. Terribly tough going - straight up and straight down, with Jap pill boxes at the top! Pill boxes so well constructed that a direct hit from a 105 wouldn't harm it. But it was the artillery that finally broke the last line. The AIF (Aussies who were in N. Africa) are the toughest fighters. But a green Aussie outfit! They said - Come on, what's wrong with you Yanks! And the Yanks had to help go up and carry them back. One of their first questions was "Has Finchhofen fallen?" It had - 3 days ago. [According to Wikipedia, Finschhafen didn't fall to the Australians until 3 October 1943: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finschhafen]
Also 24 nurses arrived from a staging area at Brisbane to help us. They are of the 108th Station Hospital. They had been at Townville a while.

3 Oct. '43
Dear Folks,
      Ho-hum! It's early in the morning. Well, 1 hour earlier at least. We went on day light saving time during the night. That puts us on the same basis as your war time. So now if it is 8 A.M. here, Sunday, it is 5 P.M. Saturday for you. Heck, I quit - I can't figure it.
     ... At last we are to have a floor in my office - a semi-permanent building. It is started and should be done in a few days time.
      I've started another leather sewing project - making a sort of bag to hold the camera and stuff with it. I'll get a zipper off some reclaimed clothing [it didn't turn out quite like he had envisioned it; it had no zipper, but was a box with an attached lid and strap]
     A patient is just going out this morning with whom we had a time when he entered. He was in full equipment, but a little out of his head and wouldn't let go his rifle. Fortunately it wasn't loaded for we had to take it away from him. We've been seeing some restricted pictures also of the Japs and their background. No wonder they are tough eggs.
      ... Hope you are both staying well!
      Love, Eugene


     Exerpt from "The Bitter Pill", Vol. 1 No. 8, a newsletter for the 92nd Evac. while in Rockhampton: "Leaving the brass and pulling our finger further down the roster we are confronted with the name, Adams, Francis, Capt., M.C. [Sparky].  When not instructing the nurse to 'begin the atabrine routine' Capt. Adams is deep in the throes of concentration dreaming up another invention.  Oh, well, you know what they said about Edison.  Then we have Armstrong.  Or do we?  Were we dreaming or did we actually hear someone say 'I think Capt. Armstrong is the nicest man!'  ...  Slightly removed but a first cousin to the medical service is Capt. Pfile who threads needles in the Receiving Dept. and sews in his quarters they do say.

October 6, 1943
      A 2nd Lt. from the 34th Div. had been with the 32nd Div. in some heavy fighting. He said that the natives saved his life. They carried him for 8 hours, after he had been shot in the back by a sniper.
      2 Portable Hospitals, 16th and 24th Portable Surgical Hosp. are attached to us for a rest. They were up at Salamana for 10 weeks, taking care of battle casualties. One of them was set up at the foot of the ridge where the fighting was. Stray bullets used to fly around them occasionally, or a mortar shell. I heard some men talking - his company got lost with 2 days rations, for 7 days. All the time they were within a mile of camp.  They say the hills are straight up and down , and so densely covered with growth!

6 Oct. '43
Dear Folks,
      ... You ask what I really think of the country. Well, I'm hardly in a position to judge it accurately. I haven't met many of the people, nor seen their homes, but what I have I like O.K. They have been at war much longer than we have, so naturally their stock of luxuries has been depleted,  But their manufacturing is a younger thing, so naturally their items don't have the polish or refinements that ours do. Many items are just too expensive, or too strictly rationed, for them to possess a lot of worldly goods. It seems to me that they waste an appreciable share of their income, betting on horse races or buying lottery tickets, or both. It seems almost a universal vice, with them! They do eat a great deal of sweets - cake and pastry more than candy. They have a lot of sugar - raise it I mean. And meat! Steak and eggs is their idea of a meal, so many of their restaurants are drab with an inescapable odor of steak fried in mutton tallow! The waitresses have not the polish - tend to slam things down and beat it! Most places have an acute shortage of matched dishes and cutlery - table knives with warped plastic handles, odd sized spoons (either demitasse size or tablespoon size), forks with bent tines. Napkins are seldom furnished - never cloth ones. Tipping is not expected. But of course I haven't seen their large cities. Their first 3 cities are said to be quite cosmopolitan, so I may be doing them a great injustice. I don't see how they have bourne up under the avalanche of "dog-faces" (infantry or GI's to you!) as well as they have. Our men, with higher pay, came to this country of relatively cheap prices. Supply and demand sent the prices soaring, so it worked a real hardship on the people. Thru it all they remain friendly. Get a book on Australia. It can tell you better. This "Australia" by Paul McGuire is quite good, even though I don't agree with all his views!
     I'm doing fine!
     Love, Eugene



October 7, 1943
      We admitted 100 patients in 12 hours, for a total of 103, midnight to midnight. Over half were soldiers just back from New Guinea.
      Today the carpenters ("joiners") said the plumbers (roofers) would put the roof on. Tree getter is a lumber jack.
      As I was sitting in my tent today 2 birds flew thru, touching my hair! They were playing tag, or whatever birds do when one chases the other.

October 14, 1943
     The other day I saw a bunch of [Japanese] things one of the Doctors brought back from Salamana - mosquito ointment, garden seeds, pencils, insignia, etc., and including a map on which some Jap officer had marked out the route by which he had come to New Guinea - just as I marked on my map our route to Australia!  Here's hoping no one gets mine as a souvenier!
     There's one bad thing about most of these movies - the heroine makes me so blasted lonesome and homesick for Beth!  Only 3 months in Australia and it seems like 3 years or more since I saw her.

TELEGRAM COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Postmaster General's Office VIA BEAM W 404 FREEPORT ILL                                                          11 OCT 43
EMF   CAPT EUGENE FREDERICK PFILE 0 445677
AMBYDA QLD (ROCKHAMPTON)

BEST WISHES FROM ALL OF US BIRTHDAY GREETINGS LOVE BETH ANN PFILE

October 15, 1943
     My birthday today, 33 years old.  And here I'm in the army, and a long way from home.  They talk about the war lasting 1, 2, maybe 3 years more.  The prospect is mighty depressing at times.  If it wasn't for being separated from Beth, I wouldn't care.  Who knows what the future holds.  Probably it's best we don't know.  But there is no use fretting, for it can't be altered.  Only, it just plain hurts to know Beth is having to carry on with her problems [her father was dying and her brother going through a messy divorce], and I can't be there to help, or even comfort her.  Wonder where I'll be next year.  But feeling sorry for myself won't help a bit! There are plenty more in the same fix.

17 Oct. '43
Dear Folks,
     ...  But it [rain] is good weather for something.  My cobber, George, goes fishing in this muddy old river, but caught 2 catfish last evening.  The cooks fixed it (one fellow from Oregon who had been a fisherman by trade cleaned them just bst-bzt!).  They were astonishingly good!  We are still on tidewater here, but the river stays muddy.  I don't have the patience to sit in the dingy on the river.  It would be different on a lake.  ...
     As I sit here writing this , I overhear bits like this, "why you'd get up to about 4 feet before they'd open fire!"  I'm inclined to think that a lot of the stories get taller with the telling!  ...
     Yesterday I received Beth's Christmas package, which I only peeked into to make certain it was for Christmas, and then closed up again.  Other packages seem to be slower.
     My birthday passed very quietly.  In fact I scarcely thought of it.  Oh, I try not to feel sorry for myself.  I read the Psalm.  Thanks for the thoughts, Mother!
     You don't know our Padre!  He goes over big with the fellows.  He is quick on the trigger and can get the laugh on the others, and can preach the most forceful, short sermons I've ever heard!  And he is no hypocrite!  He is perfect as an army chaplain.  ...
     Love, Eugene

October 20, 1943
     ...  These 24th Portable boys had a rugged time.  They were in the 2nd wave landing at Nassau Bay.  They landed about 2 A.M., in heavy surf which turned their boat sideways so that they had to jump into the water from about 12 feet.  They crossed the narrow (30 yd) beach without opposition, and dug fox holes.  Then the Japs began infiltrating their perimeter (they were only a small group - a little over 1 company [100 - 250 men?].  Plans for following waves didn't pan out.).  The Japs fired at them with machine guns and mortars and used grenades.  32 of our men were killed that night, out of the group!  Luckily none of the Portable (which wasn't all there) were shot.  Next morning more troops landed and helped them! 

20 Oct. '43
Dear Folks,
     This is a very nice, fresh morning.  But I suppose it is just ordinary Spring weather for these parts.  Certainly my corn patch is growing after the rain.  And we've seen what tropical downpours must be like, but only for short periods.  here, as it seems to be elsewhere too, weather is essentially changeable.

Gene outside his tent in Rockhampton during a downpour

     We are now very fancy, and don't quite know how to act, with a floor and a roof!  The boys moved the office yesterday.  It isn't quite complete yet, but close enough for us.  The floor and posts beneath, are gum wood.  This is light brown color, reddish rather, and very heavy.  A piece of 4 by 4 about 10 feet long, is a good load for an office worker.  It is fully as heavy as ironwood, and about as hard.  No, it doesn't have the same odor when burning.  They have to work with it while it is still green, or it gets so hard they can't drive a nail in it.  As it is, nails are difficult to drive without bending.  Of course it then shrinks and warps a bit, but it merely makes it easier to sweep a floor - all the dirt drops thru.  The floor is rough sawn only, not planed,  For sides and roofing a sort of asbestos and plaster mixture [is used] to make a sheet.  This is fairly thin and somewhat brittle but makes fine siding and roofing.  One thing that makes a tent so hot is the fact that it is low at the sides.  Besides there is less head room at the sides.  this type of building has a space of about 3 feet between the top of the wall and the roof, and a rather wide eaves, and the side wall slopes inward at the top slightly, so that it is quite airy and rain seldom blows in.  It is commonly used in tropical and subtropical areas.  Like all the homes here, it is upon posts but partly also to make it level.
     It's funny to see them haul lumber.  Their trucks are none too heavy, and with the great weight of the lumber they can only haul what looks like a small load.  We are to get some table-desks made.  Now we are using big boxes, which leave something to be desired.  ...
     Love, Eugene

October 23, 1943
     Our census reached 790 this morning.  All 24th Div. patients must be out of hosp. very soon.  Are they going up front?  Could be.

24 Oct. 1943
Dear Folks,
     ...  Last evening I listened by shortwave to the "Zero Hour".  You might try to find it some time.  It is on here at 8:30 P.M. so that would be 1:30 P.M. for you (except Saturday for you)  The announcer hasn't a trace of an accent.  They give 5 minutes of news.  The Allies are referred to as the anti-Axis folks, while they are the Imperial Forces.  Their version is vastly different!  Their theme song is "Stars and Stripes Forever".  Can you feature that?  Oh it is very subtle.  They even played the record (it is all recordings) "I Am an American".  The announcer would put in comments between records such as "Remember the good old days back in the States - baseball, hamburgers, Coca Colas.  And where are you now?"  They just try to make the fellows homesick.  Funny thing is, everyone gets a laugh out of it, instead!  We should give them a program, called "Fortress Hour".  ...
     Love, Eugene

27 Oct. '43
Dear Folks,
     ...  I've given up my 2 feet square garden.  Carrying water to it is too much of a job.  It is queer - less than a week after a good rain it began to wilt, and if this is going to be the dry season for another 2 months, I'll pass, and wait for rain!  Besides there is too much competition  from the tree roots.
     Milk is still delivered from house to house by a horse drawn 2 wheeled cart, being dispensed from a large can into the housewife's container.  I don't know if it is pasteurized or not.  Apparently the prospects of meat rationing for the civilians here is causing quite a stir.  It won't affect us.  We get quite a few fresh vegetables, including the stringiest beans I've ever eaten.  We also get red beets, squash, cabbage (great quantities of that and frequently), stewed onions (fortunately they are now getting so that they cook or fry the onions separately.  But we still get them in fresh cucumber salad, bread, dressing, etc.  I declare, from all the onions I've seen, there must be an army regulation saying that onions must be served frequently!), fresh tomatoes, and sweet potatoes.  We usually have peanut butter or jam.  ...  We are still using the old mess line system.  And coffee - I've never drunk so much in my life before.  Officers have a liquor ration system.  I've been buying mine only part of the time!
     Some of the buses here are a bit ancient, with long running boards for side entrance into the seats which hold 4 and are crosswise.  There are open sides with canvas curtains for rain [see photo in post #17 of the bus in front of Stewarts].  When it is full, the driver will have 1 or 2 persons on his right and 2 or 3 on his left!  They have one line of nice modern ones, too.  These charcoal burning cars and trucks are peculiar looking items, but they run.
     Time for chow.  We have had no bugler for a long time and I miss it.
     Love, Eugene.

October 28, 1943

Joseph L. Ferguson

     No mail from Beth for 4 days, but a letter from Mother refers to Dad Ferguson's death.  He was one of the Best.  A true Gentleman and a Scholar.  If any mortal receives immortality, as indeed we all hope, it will be he.  How I wish I could have been with Beth to try to comfort her, and her Mother.  Requiesat in Pace.
     Today I admitted Lt. Col. Archibald Roosevelt, son of Theodore.  He is in the 162nd Inf. Reg. and was with their outfit in New Guinea.  He is tall and thin, graying hair and quite pleasant.  Admissions diagnosis - bronchitis.

31 Oct. 43
Dear Folks,
     ...Our weather has been very pleasant after a hot spell.  My tent mates and I spent Thursday afternoon fixing a bamboo frame for out tent.  The bamboo is about 3 to 4 inches across.  We put a frame along the top of the side wall, and longer corner poles (also of bamboo), raising the whole tent (including center pole) about 2 feet.  then we put three of the side walls out almost horizontal, all of which gives a much better circulation of air.  Besides, we have taken our clothes rack from the center pole where they took up a great deal of space, and hung them from the poles of the roof-wall location.  The poles are very convenient in that green as they are now, we put nails and hooks all along the wall for hanging things.  Handy stuff, that bamboo!
     The war news continues to sound good.
     Love, Eugene

Recreation (19)

Practicing cricket in Rockhampton

September 19, 1943 (Sunday)
     This afternoon I went to the cricket field and watched some fellows at practice.  They ranged in apparent age from 18 to 50!  I learned something of the game.  Wickets, wicket keeper, batsman, bowler, fielder - 11 in all.  Stumps, bails, ball, bat.  Quite interesting to watch, though somewhat slow.  The ball must be bowled (thrown overhand).  I talked to a Reggie Armstrong - swimming coach at the grammar school.  It apparently corresponds to our high school and jumior college.  It is a private school.  Students come from "out back".  It is a boarding school, endowed, and not run for profit.  The "Master" is an MA (master's degree).  It has a boys and a girls section.  Men teachers only.  It is 50 years old.  I hope to attend some of their [the club's] cricket matches.  That must be an endurance contest - 2:30 to 6 is nothing.  One player has made as high as 600 runs before being put out.

22 Sept. '43
Dear Folks,
     Yesterday was our first day of Spring (I think!)  Anyway, the weather was more than Spring-like.  The last few nights I haven't pulled the top of my sleeping bag over me until along towards morning.  But at least it is cool enough to sleep at night.  During the day it was in the 90's.  I'll be glad when the "open air building" for my office is up.  They claim that the shorts are much cooler in summer.  But the long wool socks that are worn with them would seem to me like a drawback.  And they cretainly couldn't be worn in the evening the way the mosquitoes gather around.  The other evening I put on my helmet to keep them off my ears.  They claim that some of these skeeters look at your dog tag before they bite, to see what blood type you are!

An Australian possum

     Last evening one of the fellows shot a "coati" - at least that is what it was called [possibly a bandicoot, or an Australian possum since coatimundis are New World animals].  It belongs to the marsupial family.  It has a head and ears like an oppossum, and a long tail, bare along the underside only.  Why they killed it, I couldn't quite see, for certainly the fur is no good now at this season.
     ...  Our shows lately have not been good.  The other evening there was a typical Western - "Bandit Ranger" - you'd have laughed at how the patients enjoyed it.  They just whooped and cheered.  They are (a lot of them) just kids.  I suppose the average age is almost 10 years younger than I [Gene was almost 33].  I'm a considerably older soldier than you were, Vernon [he was about 18 in WWI]!
     Our mess officer was just in for the census.  He certainly has a headache, trying to anticipate several days ahead what our count will be.  We are busier than we ever were in the States.
     The boys who have been there, say that in New Guinea they opened lots of packs of cigarettes, only to find them molded.  Imagine sealed packs molding!  They say that Camels was one of the few brands tightly emough sealed to withstand it.  ...
     Love, Eugene

September 23, 1943 (Thursday)
     Christie and I had a tea - lunch at Stewart's.  Then took a bus out to the Botanic Gardens.  It was quite interesting - a fairly large park-like arrangement with all sorts of tropical trees and plants, some labeled including the "cassia fistula" or Indian Pipe Tree.  This had long seedpods that contained a black resin smelling like ichthyol [ammonium bituminosulfonate, used to treat some skin diseases].  A huge tree had large, waxy red blossoms.  It was full of beautiful little wild parrots.  There was a banyan tree and all sorts of palms, some of which even had clusters of coconuts.  Another tree had things hanging from branches that looked like the very large sized bologna, and about a foot long, hanging from a string [see the photo of the sausage tree in post #17].  There were beautiful bougainvillea flower masses, now fading.  I hope to take pictures in it [the Botanic Gardens] - kodachromes.

At the Rockhampton bowling Club

September 25, 1943 (Friday)
     This afternoon some of us went to the "rices" at the RJC - Rockhampton Jockey Club.  I didn't bet!  After the 2nd, George and I had tea, then walked over to the RBC - Rockhampton Bowling Club - and watched the members at "bowls".  They all wore white clothes, including some type of straw hat (even formal style) with a hat band insignia.  There were 7 alleys.  They have about 100 members.  They were very nice and hospitable, explaining the game (which I had watched in Denver).  About 4 a bell rang, and they invited us to tea!  (When a bowl was short); Good on you!, Kiss the kitty (=hit the bowling jack).  Then we talked to some fishermen along the river.
     ...  Beth's letters make me so darn lonesome.  No one knows how many years of life are left to each of us.  What a cursed shame that time is slipping by, and we're apart.  Why must there be war and suffering?
     At the race a lady back of me said, "Why that horse is knocked up before he starts" meaning he was tired before starting.

26 Sept. '43
Dear folks,

Waiting for the dingy on the Fitzroy River

     ...  [W]e talked to a man fishing in the river.  It is quite a sizeable river, and the tide varies its depth.  It is about 300 yards wide and there are quite a few fishing boats and launches on it.  Prawns (a variety of shrimp) are taken by netting, at night.  The salt water when the river flow is low brings in sea fish to a certain extent.  The water looks as muddy as the Pecatonica River [the river through Freeport, IL], to me.  We cross it each time we go to town.  I still want to go ocean fishing some time.
     One of the fellows shot a "gecko", a species of hooded lizard.  He skinned it and expects to mount it.  It is harmless.
     Hope you are both doing O.K.!
     Love, Eugene

September 30, 1943 (Thursday)
     Last night at the show, we had a good G-I short.  It introduced the "Screaming Eagle Hardware Company"  The sales talk was clever.  "Are you bothered with tanks?  Then see our latest model Tank Eradicator. T-A-N-K  D-E-S-T-R-O-Y-E-R, tank destroyer.  With its new bogey wheels it rides smoothly (?) along over the roughest terrain.  And its new gun - a model for ease of operation.  The trigger is conveniently mounted as a push button.  Etc., etc.  See your Supply Sergeant today.  Ask the man who didn't own one - Irwin Rommel of Berlin."
     In the last issue of the Yank, the story of the song of Dirty Gertie from Bizerte [a city in Tunesia under French control at the time] is given.
          Dirty Gertie from Bizerte
          Hid a mouse trap 'neath her skirtie
          Strapped it on her knee cap purty
          Baited it with Fleur de Flirte
          Made her boy friends' fingers hurty
          Made her boy friends most alerty (or very shirty, originally)
          She was voted, in Bizerte,
          Miss La Trine for 1930.
    

Old river man, all cleaned up

October 10, 1943 (Sunday)
     ...  Today George and I left at 1 and went down to the [Fitzroy] river where he had scraped up acquaintance with an old river man.  This old man of 72, born in England, started as a pharmacist apprentice but left that at the age of 15 (thought he had poisoned a customer.  This woman asked for 6d of laudanum, which he gave her and she drank at once.  So he just went home!  The woman was an addict, so it didn't bother her!)  But he went to sea.  In about 1885 he came to Rockhampton with a load of settlers.  The town was nothing, then.  He has packed [in] supplies in north Q'land (had a huge alligator break the back of one horse at a ford), hunted, fished for turtles, all around the islands north of here, etc. etc.  He has a stubby sailboat, not over 16 feet long, with a half cabin forward, in which he lives.  He is short, sun-burned, and none too clean.  He was anchored out in the river when we came, but rowed his "dingy" in for us and took us out.  He then proceeded to wash up and change clothes for the occasion!  The boat was crowded with all sorts of gear - tar buckets, boards, etc.  He lets George take the dingy out in the river to fish, which George, being a natural born fisherman, enjoys immensely, dirty as the water is!  George rowed me across the river (300 yards wide, and 40 to 50 feet deep in some places), and I went to take pictures.
     All is not quiet these days.  Outfits are starting to leave.  Something is no doubt beginning .

Recreation time is over for those returning to war.  The members of the 92nd Evac still have some time to watch and wait.

Back into the Routine in Rockhampton (18)

Smiling faces (Gene on the left) inside the 92nd Evac.
A & D (Admissions and Discharging) in Rockhampton

After the flurry of discharges and preparations to leave Australia only to be told to reopen, the 92nd Evac settles down to the same old routine.  Capt. Pfile continues in his diary:

September 4, 1943 (Saturday)
     ...  Our first 3 days since we re-opened, we admitted 238!  ...

7 Sept. '43
Dear Folks,
     ...  In a cartoon recently in "Yank", a girl was shown talking to a friend.  The room was full of Australian things - kangaroo, emu, platypus, kukuburra [kooksburra] bird, etc.  The girl was saying "Sometimes I wish George hadn't gone to Australia!" 
     Beth is sending my camera and film.  There are a host of common ordinary things that I hope to take pictures of, for they are really the interesting items.  The scenery is about the same the world over, and we can't get around much any way to see the really remarkable things.
     I was able to buy 15 cigars the other day - 3/ or about 50¢.  Each month each person is allowed to buy a certain amount of cigarettes ( 40¢ a carton, Vernon - any popular brand!)[Gene's stepfather was a heavy cigarette smoker who died from lung cancer in 1958], but this was the first time cigars were available.  Of course they do have some pipe tobacco but it is usually Velvet, Prince Albert or Half and Half, none of which I fancy.  Officers also have a liquor ration available: 2 bottles monthly of brandy, gin, rum or whiskey, 12 bottles (24 oz.) of beer or ale, and any amount of wine.  It is all Australian.  So far I have purchased 1 bottle of brandy (really very good and only $2.56 for 26 oz.) and some wine and a few bottles of beer.  The liquor part strikes me as very funny.  But this is really part of the British Empire!  They have an iten called ginger beer which is really only ginger ale, but stronger in ginger than ours.  Their wine is quite good.
     I bought flower seeds today, also.  I may not get to pick the flowers, but I remember well the baby chicks that we never expected to see grown up, but which we ate quite a few as fryers!  We've had some rain.  In fact, 3 days of almost steady drizzle before it stopped.  Of course the natives say it is unusual for this time of year!
     We are certainly in the country!  The other day a few cows were wandering thru one corner of our area, and a few horses in another.
     ...  As Australians would say, "Good-o!" and love!  Eugene
     P.S. I've been writing twice weekly.
     E.

September 8, 1943 (Wednesday)
     ...  Spring is in the air!  Last night I woke to hear a muffled scream over by Power's bed.  Then a terrific caterwalling.  Ed said the damned cats ran right under his bed and bumped against it.  Christie said they ran thru his tent twice!  Fenton later told of peppering some cats with .22 shot.  He said each one would yell "Kee-rīst" and jump straight up about 6 feet.
     Last night we had sheep hearts for supper.  Armstrong looked at them and said "Kangaroo hearts!  Nope, too small, must be wallaby!"
     We've admitted over 400 patients in about a week!

September 9, 1943
     Italy surrenders.  Glory Be!  Of course we don't have it though.  The Germans do!

12 Sept. '43
Dear Folks,
     ...  We didn't get to see Mrs. Roosevelt.  She visited our neighbor but not us.  Can't say as I blame her!

Bathing a horse in the Fitzroy River near Rockhampton

     Everything is going fairly smoothly.  The boys betting on the races continue to be clipped regularly.  This country certainly is enthusiastic about them.  On lots of the side steets around town you will see somebody leading or riding a sleek looking horse that must be raced somewhere, out for exercise.  There is some question though on just how honest the races always are.
     ...  Have you heard the song "Waltzing Matilday" any time?  It seems to be the Australian popular song.  They play and sing it a lot over here [and it was the second song our father taught my sister and me to sing;  the first was "O Tannenbaum"]. 
     There is a roadside stand not far from here.  The other evening the proprietor told us when the Americans first came over, they taught him how to make a hamburger and a malted milk.  The nearest thing they had to a hamburter was "meat pie" - some "minced" (as they call ground or chopped) meat with "herbs" wrapped in dough.  They were likewise astonished at the amount of ice cream we put in milk shakes.  Down town they have "hamburger bars".  Really the only thing that is cheap over here is food, and that is going higher.  They like our cigarettes.


Aussie soldiers on bicycles near Rockhampton

     It seems funny to see all the people riding bicycles, even women dressed in high-heeled shoes, etc.  Youngsters often carry a knap[sack on their back.
     ...  Love, Eugene.

 13 Sept. '43
Dear Folks [Mary X and John],
     Friday I mailed a package to Beth that included a boomerang for you , Jack [Gene's 14-year-old nephew] and a picture book for you, Marianne [the 4-year-old daughter of Jim, the brother of Beth and Mary X, who was temporarily living with the Barretts]!  [When Beth received the package she wrote to Mary X,  "...Tell Jack it is a wicked looking object and he had better watch for the package or you may not let him have it!!  The book for Marianne is a bit (!!) lurid - perhaps you'd better censor it.  Jack can read about the boomerang in it."  Later Jack reported in a letter to his grandparents that he could get it to change direction, but not return completely.]  I tried throwing the boomerang but it wouldn't come back to me.  You can no doubt find something in the library on how to throw it.  It is made from a tree root, already curved.  It is the same type as the Aborigines used.


Yepoon Beach near Rockhampton

     Yesterday we went to the beach, and had a swim and steak roast (a really GI version in simplicity).  There are sharks around here so we did not venture far out.  We saw a fish trap that really works.  It is full moon right now, with the biggest tide variation.  What I would like to find is a quiet pool to observe sea life, but there don't seem to be any.
     ...  You all sound busy!  Take it easy - Eugene


15 Sept. '43
Dear Folks,

Gene on his cot, inside the mosquito net.

     ...  So you are pestered with mosquitoes this year.  We haven't had any rain to speak of, and yet we have swarms of them staying in our tents all the time.  In the daytime they "nest"  in the dark corners of the tent and in the clothes, and fly up in a small cloud when disturbed.  At night they become active and z-z-z around your ears.  Fortunately they really aren't vicious as they get at home.  Later as the weather warms up, they no doubt will be.  What is bad is to get 3 or 4 inside your net at night and have them chew on you all night!  Last night while I was writing to Beth I killed several, and enclosed them in a bit of paper for her to see the size!
     Yesterday I planted flowers!  Two rows about 18 inches long is all - petunias and zinnias!  One of the other officers planted sweet peas and snap dragons!  sounds funny, planting flowers this time of year
     I've been working on linoleum block prints.  If they come along O.K., and they seem to look O.K. ... I'll send the blocks to Beth for her to print , for Christmas cards.  This George Christie from Canon [City, Colorado] is my artist.  He does the drawing.  He did last year for the one I made, too!
     ...Your weather is cooling down and ours warming up.  Last night I didn't pull my sleeping bag over me until early morning.  I had a leak in my air mattress, but was able to patch it.  They can't be replaced any more for love or money!  So I'm glad mine is not ruined.
     ...  Love, Eugene

September 18, 1943
     599 patients in the hospital last midnight.  The highest we've ever had (Later - about Sept. 20 - 615)
     Today I went over to the rifle range (by myself) and made 4 bulls out of 11 shots.  Not bad for the first time I ever shot an M1 Garand, first time on a range, and that also included zeroing the rifle.  3-3's, 4-4's and 4-5's, 45 out of a possible 55.  The range was 200 yards, 10 inch bull, all positions.  One bull was off hand!
     Tonight at the show they threw on for a "sing" the song "I wonder Who's Kissing Her Now".  One of the patients said, "That's not in very good taste!"
     Last night I went with Christie to Mt. Morgan to pick up a patient who had gone AWOL and then turned in to the hospital there.  ...    
     I planted Zinnias and petunias 5 days ago.  Today the zinnias are up!  Such speed!

Not much else seems to be moving very quickly!


    

Photos from Australia (17)

Capt. Pfile knew Beth loved flowers, so he took lots of photos of nature.  Here are a few:

White frangipani bush in Brisbane

Sausage tree in the Rockhampton Botanic Gardens

Rockhampton Botanic Gardens (I think)

Pink frangipani in Rockhampton

Coral trees in Rockhampton

Gene also took lots of photos of everyday things:

Grosvenor Hotel in Rockhampton (C.C. Adair, proprietor); note car and Dewar's Whisky advertisement.

American soldiers walking down the street in down town Rockhampton;
note the open-sided bus, and Stewarts, where Gene bought three lace handkerchiefs, (made in England) for 2/6 each and 2 ration coupons for the lot.

An Australian soldier in front of the Public Curator's Office in Rockhampton;
note the old car in the background

Residential area in rockhampton; "Tidewater" is written over the door of the white building.

Since the Fitzroy River was prone to flooding, and cyclones were not uncommon in Rockhampton, many of the houses, like this one, were built on stilts.

Note the old tramway tracks in front of this lovely home in residential Rockhampton; the tramway had been closed down a few years earlier.

Looking for beauty in the ordinary was a way for Gene to find a brief refuge from the ugliness of war that confronted him every day in the wards..