Mary Reid
Bio
Mary Reid was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on April 9, 1927. She speaks fondly of her time playing with neighborhood kids despite growing up poor during the Great Depression. She recalls graduating from high school and enrolling in the Nurses Cadet Core which was housed at the Western Pennsylvania Hospital of Nursing. She recounts volunteering to go to Korea and serving as a nurse after graduation from the Nurses Cadet Core in 1948. She reflects on her service with great pride and is happy that South Korea has developed into what it is today.
Video Clips
Volunteering for Korea
Mary Reid discusses why she volunteered to go and serve as a nurse in Korea during the war. She shares that she had lived a sheltered life prior to her service, and serving opened the doors of a larger life to her. She recalls feeling that she owed the United States Army and country for its willingness to invest in her.
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Back to Busan
Mary Reid describes going to Busan by train. She provides an account of what her job entailed at the Army hospital compound in Busan. She recalls patients at the hospital being tended to and then sent back to the line.
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Patients at the Hospital
Mary Reid describes the types of patients that she saw in the hospital. She recounts many soldiers having worms and treating them with medications. She elaborates on what happened to those too badly wounded to stay at the Army hospital compound.
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Video Transcript
0:00
my name is Mary Reed m-a-r-y Reid
0:05
middleman well my middle name is
0:09
elizabeth elizabeth and then last night
0:12
read our eid our eid i was born in pitt
0:19
pittsburgh pennsylvania mm-hmm 1927
0:25
April I’m 1927 April what date ninth
0:32
ninth april ninth 1927 yes tell me about
0:38
your family when you were born well we
0:42
were very poor my father was from
0:45
Tennessee and my mother was for
0:51
Pittsburgh and when I was born we were
0:53
in we lived in Pittsburgh then I had two
0:58
older brothers and a sister my the
1:01
oldest brother was 10 years older than I
1:06
was and so by the time I became aware
1:12
and a little kid they were already grown
1:19
so it seemed to me as if I was almost an
1:23
only child and i always miss not having
1:27
somebody else but we were poor and we
1:31
lived in in row houses on a hill and so
1:37
I was never without friends because we
1:40
played on the streets and in the in the
1:43
fields time the hills Pittsburgh full of
1:46
hills so I was my mother would warn me
1:51
when I would be going out to play not to
1:56
go over the hill and of course I didn’t
2:00
do I got to the end of the row and
2:03
around the row so she couldn’t see me
2:06
and then I went over the hill because
2:08
that’s where all the kids were
2:12
so what was your father’s job my father
2:18
was he worked for the University for
2:23
Pittsburgh in the repair department and
2:28
he was a maintenance man and he was very
2:33
well acquainted with construction and he
2:41
could do anything in the house mm-hmm so
2:43
it was around the Great Depression right
2:47
the i was born in 27 729 is when the
2:53
blood pressure began so by the time that
2:57
while i was a child it was the
3:02
depression right most being very
3:05
difficult well it wasn’t for me because
3:07
I was so much younger you see but it was
3:10
very difficult for my older brothers and
3:13
my sister because of course they were in
3:17
high school and there was no jobs and so
3:21
forth and so we as I say we were very
3:24
poor tell me about the school you went
3:29
through I went to a small school local
3:35
school that was as I said we lived on
3:38
hill to get to the school you had to go
3:41
down the hill and you also had to come
3:45
up up the hill of course after school
3:47
and so I’ve never forget if you want to
3:53
hear a sad story i’ll never forget i was
3:57
a little kid and I was coming up the
4:00
hill from school and it was there was
4:04
snow on the on the road and it was
4:07
slippery and the horse was that it was a
4:10
milk cart and they used horses in those
4:15
days that carried the bottles and the
4:20
horse was was down
4:22
and he was beating the horse and that
4:26
picture has always stayed in my life and
4:29
my mind all my life it’s just with such
4:32
a horrible thing to see for a little kid
4:35
to see okay so it was only once it you
4:39
know but things like that stands out
4:42
what high school did you graduate and
4:45
where I graduated from Schenley High
4:48
School could you smell it schenley sh en
4:52
lui mm-hmm one year that was 45 45 and
5:03
what did you do after that well when I
5:09
started high school I had a desire to to
5:18
learn and I was very fortunate to be in
5:23
the hot in high school I was in they had
5:27
very good teachers and they had a good
5:29
counselor there and the counselor asked
5:33
me what I wanted to do and I said I
5:37
wanted to be a teacher or a nurse
5:40
graduate nurses were taken from the from
5:45
the hospitals to go into the army or the
5:48
military so when did you join this nurse
5:51
Cadet Corps well it was in when I gret
5:56
after I had graduated from high school
5:58
and that would have been in 45 that
6:03
would be September 45 so even though the
6:06
world war two ended but still there were
6:08
a big demands for the nurse well this
6:12
was the last class of the Cadet Corps
6:16
and so I was very fortunate to be in it
6:19
where was it it was in the the western
6:23
Pennsylvania Hospital School of Nursing
6:24
and that and weeded in 48 then 1948 so
6:34
what did you learn there
6:35
how much I mean what was the tuition and
6:38
how much what did you learn we had no
6:41
expenses at all the government paid
6:43
everything they not only the the school
6:47
and the resin and living in the nurses
6:52
quarters all our food was provided even
6:57
our uniforms were provided and apply on
7:02
top of that for the first six months in
7:05
the cadet course we had we were given a
7:10
stupid of ten dollars a month and then
7:16
after we were capped that was after the
7:18
six month we we were then students
7:23
student nurses and we were given twenty
7:27
dollars a month and then at the six
7:31
months before our graduation we were
7:35
given thirty dollars a month now this
7:38
means thirty dollars a month in those
7:41
days was a lot of money what were you
7:44
able to do with the thirty dollars well
7:46
I say most of it under save her anyhow
7:50
but I say most of it because I planned
7:52
on going up to Alaska to see my sister
7:55
and mother and their family up there and
7:58
so I was saving to for that you
8:02
volunteered you what your name was not
8:05
in the list but you volunteered to go to
8:08
Korea right I thought from the movies I
8:14
had seen the nurses were lovely and in
8:17
white uniforms and you might have lost
8:21
your life in the war I have the war to
8:31
be was the was real beginning of life
8:39
because I had lived such a sheltered
8:42
life and had done so little really
8:49
that it opened up the doors of how large
8:54
life can be if you allow it to be and I
9:01
wanted to be in the army because I felt
9:05
not only because of the facility war
9:10
movies but because i was very serious i
9:15
would never have been able to go to
9:17
college or to get any education we were
9:22
too poor for anything else and when the
9:26
government came along and offered all
9:29
this to be completely free I felt I owed
9:35
the army I owed the country and so when
9:40
I went in I didn’t feel that I was doing
9:43
them a favor I thought they had done me
9:46
a favor favor and I was paying back and
9:50
I I feel today that that was the right
9:55
thing to have done very good so tell me
10:01
when did you depart from where to Korea
10:06
we left for at Fort Worden afford not
10:13
warden well anyhow we left from man
10:17
seattle on the james a hair which was a
10:21
it was a that was used for transporting
10:25
people and what i thought what we found
10:28
not later a lot of those people who were
10:33
on the street waiting to get on the ship
10:36
you know a lot of them were civil
10:38
servants civil servants for the army
10:43
going to japan and to japan i suppose
10:48
and because they all got off on in in
10:53
yokohama only those who were going to
10:57
korea went on to korea so they were all
11:00
civil servants
11:01
and that was one of the things that when
11:05
the when the three of us would Pat Andy
11:08
and I were looking for the first fourth
11:11
person that we needed for our cabin we
11:15
couldn’t find anyone that seemed to fit
11:18
in with us we realized later that
11:20
probably the people we were approaching
11:23
were civil servants we didn’t realize we
11:27
thought it was all part of the hospital
11:30
so but it turned out okay because we
11:37
eventually gave up trying to find our
11:40
fourth and just the three of us just
11:43
stood there looking kind of lost because
11:46
we knew we had that somebody else was
11:48
going to be put in with us when this
11:50
tall good-looking our girl comes up to
11:54
us and starts to talk and there was no
11:58
discussion at all we just looked the
12:02
three of us just looked at each other
12:05
and we knew immediately this was our
12:08
fourth and she was and we became a real
12:12
solid relationship of four when did you
12:18
leave we left what was it
12:26
I I don’t remember right now was this
12:31
summer no no it was it was October we I
12:35
know we got the Korea on the 7th of
12:39
November mmm and so where did you arrive
12:45
pusan poor son we went to Japan first we
12:51
Yokohama and and then those were career
12:55
we all got off their it so what was your
13:00
unit the unit was when we when it was
13:05
organized it was called the 10th station
13:09
hospital and that was a was the most
13:14
ridiculous situation you could ever
13:17
think of because a station hospital in
13:21
the Army is a is a stationary permanent
13:26
hospital the station hospital the
13:32
general hospital is the ones that are in
13:37
the states tho those were the big
13:39
Hospital the ones overseas were the
13:42
state at were the station hospital then
13:46
the next one Don is the aback hospital
13:49
now the evac hospital and then of course
13:53
in Korea the mash unit was developed but
13:57
there’s another unit in the in the field
14:01
it’s caused a field hospital and that’s
14:05
a moldaug unit the evac hospital is a
14:11
semi mobile and the station hospital is
14:15
a permanent hospital now they sent us a
14:19
permanent hospital with 50 nurses and 30
14:24
male officers to Korea which really the
14:29
whole peninsula was combat area and
14:36
turned out to be that way but of course
14:39
we arrived in the seventh of November
14:44
the war was over because when seventh of
14:51
November in 1950 was the end of the war
14:56
no with the end of the war as we thought
15:01
of it oh because the Inchon landing had
15:10
provided the troops to said the our
15:15
troops up to thee to the border and so
15:19
we didn’t we had no idea there was that
15:22
there was anything going oh we were
15:25
coming in to set up the permanent we
15:27
would have been the biggest Hospital in
15:29
person yeah and not only that but we
15:34
were assigned to shun empo which is
15:38
north korea where we were just set up
15:41
our big hospital so when we came in
15:47
however with this huge unit they had no
15:52
place to put us the people in Busan the
15:58
twenty-first of a hospital was in prasad
16:01
and so we were sent there to stage but
16:05
they had no place for us what they did
16:09
is they cleaned off the Attic painted
16:13
the walls set cocks up and that’s where
16:17
they put us 50 people well major Abel
16:21
and her couple of her assistants weren’t
16:25
there but the rest of us 48 of us were
16:29
there and you couldn’t move without
16:35
however many eyes wanted to watch you
16:37
that’s why I was important and beside
16:41
yes and then we not only that were we in
16:46
the attic and of course
16:50
all we had was our foot lockers and that
16:54
was our the only piece of furniture we
16:57
had beside to cut and we had we were
17:02
told that the latrine we could use was
17:06
on the second floor and there was a pair
17:09
of steps that went on to this that was
17:12
on the third floor we went on the second
17:14
floor for the Poussin for the latrine
17:17
and we were restricted to only going to
17:23
that latrine we weren’t allowed to go
17:26
into the hospital we weren’t allowed to
17:28
walk down that second floor we were
17:31
confined to the attic and to the latrine
17:35
well when we gotta look at the latrine
17:38
we were a little bit upset by that
17:41
because we looked in the door and all we
17:46
saw was a row of small six and on the
17:53
wall there are a few commodes with very
18:00
limited shelter shelter about them they
18:04
were mostly just not complete and so
18:10
that was our and would we looked in of
18:14
course we were children from the from
18:16
the depression we looked in and we took
18:21
a lot of one look at that row of sinks
18:24
and we said oh oh saturday night bath
18:31
what about the facility terrible
18:35
equipment terrible medicine well we
18:41
didn’t have anything to do with with
18:43
equipment and and medicine because we
18:47
were there to work we were only there to
18:50
stage because they were waiting to send
18:53
us up the shin a PO to build our
18:56
hospital so we had nothing to do and the
19:02
there was no place to go because we were
19:04
confined to send a unit this large into
19:10
that area was just not good thinking in
19:14
the beginning third building was the
19:17
what was used for quarters and the
19:20
officers male officers are on the first
19:23
floor female officers on the second
19:25
floor what we didn’t know was where the
19:28
illicit bit were because when you walked
19:32
on this compound you never saw anything
19:35
that had to do with and listen and
19:38
finally someone said where are we we
19:42
were on night duty at that time and
19:45
someone said where are they enlisted and
19:50
some little voice from one of the other
19:53
table said someone said something about
19:57
over the hill and we set over the hill
20:01
over what hill and with that we said
20:04
let’s go so we all got up and whatnot
20:07
and started walking on the far side and
20:11
sure enough we found it was a hill that
20:14
had dropped right out and down on that
20:17
second level were the greatest tents you
20:21
ever wanted to see all reinforced with
20:25
worth and they all had their own stove
20:32
you know you’re the pot-bellied stove
20:34
and they they look so clean and we were
20:39
jealous and I’ll tell you at that
20:42
whitter with that those breezes worth
20:45
blowing through our old school building
20:48
we find many times I going on and say I
20:55
want to tent of course we didn’t we
20:58
wouldn’t what did you eat well food
21:03
became a real problem with the four of
21:05
us in particular because that’s what
21:08
should we do about I was better off than
21:12
they were because I could eat breakfast
21:14
I liked
21:16
oatmeal I was used to eating porridge I
21:20
they had they would have this gravel
21:23
drawings you know and they had toast and
21:28
they had coffee so I could get enough
21:31
for breakfast the other three would not
21:34
even go to breakfast why not because
21:36
they just would need it and it ended up
21:39
we were living on a tuna fish that our
21:45
family sent us each family would send us
21:49
a a box in a week you know so we had
21:55
four boxes through that we had a box a
21:57
week of the food that we asked for and
22:02
that was tuna fish and crackers cookies
22:06
relish and you didn’t get see raishin
22:13
after a long time eating the same thing
22:16
over and over you get to the 40 can’t
22:20
eat it soldiers on the front line yeah
22:23
they were looking for see ratio that’s
22:25
well they had C rations right did my ass
22:29
but they thought the hospital food was
22:33
wonderful because it was hot that it was
22:36
wet and and all that sort of stuff but
22:39
we who didn’t have C rations we had all
22:43
we had was a say you have eat the same
22:46
thing day after day after day week after
22:50
week I mean you get to the point you how
22:54
much were you paid I don’t even remember
22:58
because I had my money set to the bank I
23:02
had ten dollars a month come to Korea
23:05
for me and I always I didn’t use much of
23:09
that exactly right where were you can
23:12
use it right no place and that was
23:15
surprising to me usually when you go
23:17
someplace where there are women you know
23:19
who do handwork and so forth they always
23:23
bring the tourists and so forth they
23:25
always bring Iran to sell to you the
23:28
Korean women
23:30
they never had anything to sell when did
23:33
you leave Korea we left a December of 51
23:40
we left three i think was three days now
23:44
we we left we left the day before
23:48
Christmas okay as we were in we were in
23:55
Tokyo right so what was the most
24:04
difficult thing that you remember during
24:06
your service in Korea oh those those
24:10
days what we didn’t know whether we were
24:13
going to be overrun by the Chinese when
24:17
they broke through those who are scary
24:20
days there was nowhere to go mm-hmm and
24:27
we certainly didn’t want to become
24:29
prisoners of war you didn’t regret at
24:34
the time that you were in Korea know how
24:37
could you do that it was my duty you are
24:45
not human being of course we’re human
24:48
beings and you don’t regret no and I
24:52
don’t I feel it was right that I should
24:55
be there let me ask these questions a
24:58
little bit soft side of it what there
25:00
any romance between nurses and soldiers
25:04
and so on there was no way you could
25:09
there was no possible way that you could
25:15
I’ll tell you something I had a an older
25:22
nurse with the Second World War veteran
25:25
I were very friendly and one day one
25:30
evening we it was in the summer and it
25:34
was a beautiful evening the big moon
25:38
just like this coming up from the
25:41
and and the track on the water it was
25:44
gorgeous light and so we’re just the two
25:48
of us are just standing there enjoying
25:50
this gorgeous view and she said all of a
25:55
sudden the worst thing about being in
26:00
Korea is there’s no place you could go
26:03
for an immoral weekend and that says it
26:09
all there was no place there are always
26:12
eyes around you mm-hmm any particular
26:19
patient or wounded soldier that you
26:21
still remember and the reason why yes we
26:26
had one come down from the north and how
26:28
he ever got to us we would never
26:30
understood that and we clean them up
26:34
they never groaned they never grunted
26:39
they never said a word and the first day
26:45
especially it was very nothing was said
26:48
it but by the second day a few of them
26:52
would be then tried to communicate and
26:56
it was just you know body language and
26:59
so forth but in that I we would have
27:02
some of them laughing and we would be
27:04
laughing and and just getting them ready
27:08
because what are you going to do it they
27:09
were dirty they had they had surgery
27:11
done they had to be clean the job was
27:13
very simple to one what do you mean by
27:16
cleaning day they couldn’t they just
27:18
played army what how did you clear that
27:21
because because the water situation the
27:26
the amount of water we needed in the
27:29
amount of water we had what we were
27:31
interested in is finding the wounds
27:34
because we knew that the Turks flat had
27:38
the hand and so you couldn’t and they
27:40
didn’t talk to us and you couldn’t just
27:43
you know you had to look at them to see
27:47
if there were any signs of wounds that
27:51
would so you had to look at their bodies
27:53
and you have to clean the
27:55
areas where would they had to be but
27:57
they were dirty i mean if there was
28:00
nothing wrong with her feed her legs we
28:01
were going to do anything with them the
28:03
areas we wanted but the water situation
28:06
was a bag and this was done potable
28:13
water of course you understand that I’m
28:15
sorry it was the water we would be using
28:18
would be done potable portable potable
28:21
beans clean run potable yep so but it
28:27
was a dirty dirty you know I mean we
28:30
could would we clean them we felt they
28:33
were cleaner than they would have been
28:35
if they’ve been left alone yeah and
28:38
that’s all you did that’s all we did
28:41
during your whole service in Korea no
28:44
only for the five six six days I think
28:50
six days we were in shock uh-huh and
28:54
then and of course you know in the
28:58
meantime the the level of confusion and
29:05
so forth was very high because the
29:08
information coming back we didn’t know
29:10
whether we were going to stand it would
29:15
be evacuated out or what was going on we
29:17
just knew something was terribly wrong
29:20
and and then after a week we were put
29:26
back on the train and that that kind of
29:29
made me feel bad because these civilians
29:33
the place was loaded with civilians all
29:36
coming from Seoul Incheon at all these
29:39
places trying to get up and and then one
29:45
it when they wanted us back and in Pusan
29:51
they just opened the way and we walked
29:55
on the train and I like kept thinking
29:59
those people who have been waiting for
30:00
so long to try to get a train
30:02
and then we come along and take the
30:04
space but that’s what happened where did
30:08
you go we went back to pousada Poisson
30:11
and then what did you do well we found
30:15
one who got on to pousada that we were
30:20
put on buses and taken to this compound
30:24
and then we found out that this was the
30:30
rest of our unit let it rest of the Ted
30:33
station hospital huh our male officers
30:36
and the and the enlisted were there and
30:41
they were on this compound with that had
30:45
been cleaned up and very much so because
30:50
they had stayed there that whole time
30:54
when we were going up to that s cop city
30:57
again we were traveling no while we were
31:00
going to ask home city they were here in
31:03
Pusan quiet in Pusan building cleaning
31:10
up and building this what will be the
31:14
station battle yeah yeah well yeah it
31:18
turned out of course it didn’t stay a
31:20
station hospital but it would became an
31:23
evac hospital the the lines would would
31:27
come down from where the fighting was
31:30
going on and the ones that got into
31:33
pousada would come to the 25th 21st evac
31:38
to the 22nd evac there was a Swedish
31:41
hospital done on the on the on the bay
31:48
no and there were of course hospital
31:53
ships in the waters so this is what we
31:57
did with our patients with the ones who
32:00
who had the more seriously would go say
32:05
our hospital ships we would keep the
32:08
couple of the exact hospitals keep the
32:11
patients that were able to be treated
32:14
and said back on
32:16
and that’s what we did mm-hmm so there
32:20
in twenty second evac you dealt with
32:23
many American soldiers not just hurt
32:25
Turks oh yeah it was oh we only sorry
32:29
just for the 66 days yeah but tell me
32:33
about those patients and how serious the
32:35
wounds was and well the ones that we
32:39
kept of course are the ones who are
32:40
going to get better and they would be
32:43
people who had well frostbite or
32:48
athlete’s feet in the summertime we
32:51
would have them sitting out on chairs
32:53
with an co spread and you know the feet
32:58
are very important to add soldiers yeah
33:01
yeah inference rebat and anything to do
33:07
with the common things that people live
33:11
with constipation diarrhea upset stomach
33:16
what we were worried always with
33:18
abdominal pain we were always concerned
33:20
was it an officer because with an ulcer
33:24
you have a possibility of hemorrhage and
33:27
so if they have you’re suspicious of
33:30
that we would send them right over to
33:32
Japan we would keep them but if it was
33:35
diarrhea worms we had tremendous amount
33:39
of worms oh we had really good were
33:42
medicine and I’ll tell you those guys
33:45
would come in with worms and they would
33:47
be so we can spend and we would treat
33:52
them with our medicine and in a couple
33:55
of weeks to be a man again but and as
33:59
soon as they got their strengths back
34:01
they went back on the line it was her
34:04
drinking out of the rice pat pat of
34:07
course and at one time I had a young one
34:11
come in and I was scolding him about
34:15
drinking water I said you know better
34:18
than that and he came back at me with
34:21
when you’re that thirsty you drink yep
34:25
and I recognized
34:26
no I was out of line in criticizing as
34:31
his decision but anyhow but that was the
34:35
kinds of things and of course we had
34:38
surgery to and but it would be that what
34:41
we would call dirty surgery and so but
34:45
we we treated it dirty wounds cleaned
34:49
them up and set him back on the line
34:52
what did you feel when you saw so many
34:56
only soldiers or were you thinking you
35:01
volunteered to come to Korea write your
35:04
name was my job there was nothing to
35:06
think about it was my job and when the
35:09
when it really got rough and we didn’t
35:13
know whether the line who was going to
35:15
hold her dodge and that of course was
35:20
where are we going to go we were at the
35:23
tip of the peninsula all that was down
35:27
there was water and the only other thing
35:29
would have been prisoner war if the
35:32
Chinese had been able to get across that
35:34
date on river and we never knew from
35:39
they do we had been ordered to hang our
35:44
helmet with the liner in our our canteen
35:49
with daily fresh water in it and our
35:53
helmet and our musette bag with our
35:59
important papers anything important and
36:02
a three-day supply of form for managing
36:07
where did you sleep and what was your
36:09
living condition there we the compound
36:14
had to old school buildings and one was
36:19
the hot one we used for the hospital and
36:21
then you know as a station hot as a vac
36:25
hospital we were semi mobile so we had
36:29
big tents we had tents with that help 20
36:32
held 90 carts 7290 cards and we had 10
36:38
of those
36:39
our compound and they would all be full
36:41
as well as our Hospital in the height
36:44
and the building that we use is the
36:46
hospital on the second floor of the
36:48
building downstairs was the surgery and
36:51
the administration offices but on the on
36:55
the second floor was a medical ward and
36:59
the so between all these areas was what
37:07
composed our hospital we found out later
37:10
however was the only ones who were said
37:15
to the 21st evac hospital when we got
37:19
off the ship were we nurses because our
37:23
male nurses and our our troops are
37:28
listed people were not on the James a
37:31
hair where they were I have no idea but
37:35
they were not we we really did begin to
37:39
treat soldiers huh on the day after yeah
37:44
the day after we arrived in Ascot it was
37:50
a day what we would was a nullity the
37:55
seat thanksgiving was at the 27th then
38:00
it would have been the 28th that we
38:03
stayed in and it would have been 29th
38:05
that we arrived in ass calm city so that
38:09
it would it would have been the 29 yeah
38:11
so tell me about the situation how bad
38:14
was it I was horrible tell me detail the
38:19
living conditions I’m telling you was no
38:23
I’m talking about the wounded soldiers
38:25
the warder soldiers okay so eight
38:27
o’clock in the morning we reported to
38:29
duty and they said go to the main hall
38:34
main building and the main building was
38:38
what had been the auditorium during the
38:43
Second World War were thousands of GIS
38:46
would therefore to be entertained you
38:48
know how huge it was we walked in there
38:53
and there was row on row on row audra
38:58
across this huge room with cots that
39:03
were true together and then when you in
39:06
the army if you have to double up on
39:09
space like that you have head to toe and
39:13
and that’s what it was they were filled
39:18
all those cots were filled with 30 Turks
39:23
dirty filthy Turks straight off the
39:27
battle line and they all had to be maids
39:32
they all had to be cleaned up so that
39:35
they could have surgery done now these
39:38
were not the seriously wounded you have
39:41
to understand we were in a vac hospital
39:44
the vac hospitals job in the Army is not
39:49
we take care of the series that we that
39:53
are need to care but our main job is
39:56
they take care of the people fighting
40:00
the battles to get them back on the line
40:04
as fast as you can because there are
40:06
lots of things that go wrong that can be
40:09
treated very easily and sent back and
40:12
that’s what our job was to do so what
40:16
that’s what we were doing here too and
40:18
that’s and and we said how how do you
40:22
want us to do it and they said two
40:24
nurses one nurse and each end of the
40:27
line and just Bay’s clean them up and
40:34
then go back to the other side when you
40:38
arrived there and when you were around
40:40
there how how Korea was to you dirty
40:43
smelly ugly no no color all a little I
40:51
would we left the ship and we’re driving
40:55
through the street of Pusan I saw no no
41:00
color no light I look for stores there
41:06
were no stores
41:07
there were no gas stations not even a
41:10
saloon nothing and only military
41:17
vehicles no civilian anything there were
41:23
mechanically what did you think about
41:25
that I was a base by it here it was 40
41:31
you know 1950 and there were no cars no
41:35
gasoline know when you left Korea in
41:41
December 1951 what were you thinking
41:46
about the future of Korea have you ever
41:49
had you ever thought about it or what
41:51
were you thinking when you left when I
41:54
when I left there was it was our war and
42:01
50 51 was a completely different war
42:04
that it was in 52 53 and so the only way
42:09
I would be able to look at it was what I
42:13
had known and I just felt it would carry
42:16
on the same way but I I felt we would
42:19
eventually win as we did being able to
42:23
hold the Chinese back that I felt it
42:27
would would dennis and when when
42:31
ridgeway came in he had a different well
42:36
before ridgeway would we were under
42:39
walker general Walker we were in retreat
42:44
that hidden retreat is not not a
42:48
pleasant thing to be in you know what
42:52
happened to Korea now right yes how do
42:55
you know what do you know about Korea
42:56
now contemporary Korea oh no I’m I was
43:01
over in Korea well no 99 2000 09 yeah so
43:08
tell me about it was 98 6 10 well it’s
43:14
closed so that long ago I was absolutely
43:18
astounded I couldn’t
43:20
believe my eyes I couldn’t believe my
43:23
eyes for one thing for all the color all
43:27
the flowers Oh everything and the big
43:31
buildings I mean this was just a whole
43:34
new world and the Korean people were
43:39
different they were busy and they were
43:42
smiling and you know when we came in to
43:45
Korea the living all wore the same thing
43:49
little white jacket the little black
43:52
scrubbers not the skirt they wore
43:55
bloomers looked like you know at the
44:00
waist life wasted and ankles they evade
44:04
it it was such a foreign look it’s it
44:07
was from 05 remember 1905 they hadn’t
44:11
come past that but they were very clean
44:14
they would take our our uniforms are
44:18
fatigues Dodd to the river and beat
44:21
those fatigues other rocks and they
44:25
would bring them back and they would be
44:27
beautifully hard and folded and just
44:29
perfect yeah so what do you think about
44:35
the Korean War what is Korea to you now
44:37
you you have such clear picture of
44:41
before and after I’d what is Korean War
44:44
to you what is Korea to you what is the
44:47
importance of the Korean War well I
44:49
think the Korean War was absolutely a
44:52
magnificent example of what can be done
44:56
if you live in the correct manner with
45:01
freedom and I know that the Korean
45:08
people give us Americans a lot of the
45:13
credit for for the freedom that you
45:16
learned was available to you and made
45:19
use of and I feel very a lot of
45:24
gratitude to the Korean Korean people
45:28
for recognizing the part we played in it
45:31
and I think also it is son
45:34
a wonderful demonstration to other
45:38
second-rate countries of what we did
45:42
with you