Voices from the Korean War - Douglas Rice [172]
Several days later I was at the company CP, for a platoon leaders meeting. After the meeting Captain Rose suggested I take his jeep and go get a shower. This would be the first shower I had in sixty days. While there, I also went by the battalion aid station to get my knee attended to.
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During the afternoon of April 30, 1952, a heavy fog fell over Old Baldy. So, the 179th Infantry Regiment moved up a day earlier to relieve us. Since May Day was a big Communist holiday everyone expected a Chinese attack, but it never materialized.
The night we moved off the line, I slept on the hard ground instead of in a hole. The following morning we began our two day march to the reserve area. I walked most of the way with a festering knee. However I didn’t really care—for I knew I would be going home soon. We spent one night near the 120th Engineer BN, so I visited with my cousin, Dan Morton. Early the next morning we moved out passing through the bombed out town of Yonchon.
That night we arrived on a ridge that overlooked our new reserve area. We moved down the following morning to our new home, a large 16 x 32 feet squad tents. Within a few days word came down that three men, Richard Jones, Charles Hicks, and yours truly, would be rotating home. Before leaving, I was to select a new platoon sergeant. Since Bob Arians was still missing, I chose the next guy in line. He turned it down; I must say I couldn’t blame him. So, Lt. Hartley suggested Cpl. Patrick—he accepted. I found out later that he was only seventeen and in three months he would be a MSG. The next morning I watched as he took “my troops” out, while I stayed in my tent; it was a sad day.
Later that day, we three men went to Yongchon to board a train to begin our journey home. We finally arrived at Yong Dong-Po where we reported to the processing center. Here they doused us with DDT, took all our clothes, and searched our personal belongings for contraband. Next, we hit the showers and were given new clothes.
After a few days we moved to Inchon where we spent our last night in Korea. The following day we boarded a ship bound for Sasebo, Japan. We stayed in Japan for two weeks before boarding a ship headed for the good old U.S.A. We arrived in San Francisco in early June, then on to Camp Stoneman. The camp had changed during the past year—it was no longer the rowdy place it was a year earlier.
Here I boarded a troop train bound for Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where I was discharged in mid-June of 1952.[7]
~~Sixty-One~~
Dr. William Latham
1st Marine Regiment
1st Marine Division
U.S. Marine Corps
By the time I was in the sixth grade, I knew what I wanted to be in life—a doctor.
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Beginning in July of 1943, I received some of my Pre-Med education at the University of California, Berkely, under the Navy V-12 program. I was then sent to San Leandro Naval Hospital (CA) with six other men, as a corpsman, in late January 1945—until V-J Day. Then we were all assigned to medical schools. Within a week, I was on my way to Louisiana State University Medical School. As a Naval Cadet, I was there until June of 1946, when I transferred to the University of California Medical School, in San Francisco—graduating in 1949.
After completing a years internship, I was in residency when I received a telegram from Western Union in October 1950; the Department of Navy was recalling me to active duty. At first, I was loaned to the Army to open a medical facility at Camp Cook—now Vanderburg Aero-space Station. Six months later, I was transferred to the Naval Receiving Station in Seattle, Washington. On a Friday night, in October