Voices from the Korean War - Douglas Rice [141]
The following day, we were able to take turns going down the hill for hot showers, a change of clothes, and even a hot meal. After taking my shower, I hopped a ride in a jeep to go get my hot meal. When I arrived the cook informed me I was too late. Even after explaining to him our circumstances, I still didn’t get a hot meal.
After returning to my outfit, Higgins and I decided to clean, and oil, our gun. While cleaning it we discovered a spring that had broken on one side. We dispatched word back to supply that we needed a new spring. When we finished cleaning and oiling it we put it back together, hoping if we needed to use it that it would still work.
As nightfall was approaching, our new spring arrived. I thought about waiting until morning to change it, but I changed my mind. I should have taken the gun outside since there wasn’t much room in our bunker, but I didn’t. When I reached over to take out the bolt, the driving rod shot out like a bullet, lodging in the lower part of my left eye—near my nose. The first thought that crossed my mind was, I lost my eye. This meant I would be going home, but blind in one eye. However, I guess being alive and blind in one eye was better then the alternative.
I tried to pull it out, but it wouldn’t budge. Carl ran over to me, looked at the rod sticking out of my face and told me to pull it out. I told him I had already tried, so this time I used both hands pulling as hard as I could. Finally, I felt a pop and out it came. I was accompanied back to our company, where I was put on a litter jeep and taken to a medical facility. Here they covered both my eyes with a bandage, placed my personal belongings in a bag, and loaded me on a bus that ran on the railroad tracks.
The guys driving the bus were having a difficult time keeping it on the tracks. They were constantly stopping and I could hear them working to get the wheels back on the tracks. Finally, we reached the end of the line, and I was loaded into an ambulance—if that’s what you want to call it. It looked like a panel truck with a stretcher in it. Arriving at a hospital in Seoul, they carried me in and sat my stretcher down, and said goodbye. From the echo of their footsteps, it appeared to be a large building.
The following morning I was taken to a room where a young doctor informed me that I would be his first operation that month; putting in stitches was considered an operation. When he finished sewing me up, they took me to my bed and I was allowed to take a shower.
After spending a few days here, the doctor removed the stitches and said that I could return to my unit. Going through the replacement center, I received a new issue of combat gear; including a new rifle. The next morning I hitched a ride on the back of a truck headed toward the front line. When I reached M Company, I still knew a few of the guys and they were surprised to see me. They just knew I had lost my eye, and was on my way home.
A day or two later, our machine gun section was taken to the company area for showers, hot meals, and a much needed rest. Now that we didn’t have to worry about mortar and artillery fire, we were allowed to pitch pup tents—Carl and I shared one.
We took turns pulling guard during the night and I could hardly see with my bad eye—I was practically blind at night. A few nights later, while we had gathered in one of the big tents, the order to “saddle-up” came down. As I began to gather my gear, I was told I couldn’t go because of my eye. So, I stayed behind and helped anyway I could. The rest of my time in Korea, I spent giving haircuts, worked as a switchboard operator, along with anything else that needed to be done.
Around the middle of November we moved to a safe area where we stayed until the first of December. Then the entire 1st Cavalry Division was shipped to Japan; we were replaced by the 45th Infantry Division.
We stayed at Camp Crawford until the first of December 1952, and then we went