I was extremely proud of my medics; we took care of wounds, the likes
of which none of us had ever seen before! Periodically, a Jap plane
would drop a bomb or two-to let us know the war
was still on. They did little damage. After we had our wounded taken
care of to the best of our ability, we dared to look outside to see
the thirty-foot craters and damaged buildings near the hospital.
For the first time, I realized that I was frightened. I could have
been in one of those buildings, or walking across the areas where the
craters were.
Dee. 9, 1941: At night our medical teams returned to their individual
quarters for their first rest since the bombing exhausted and giddy. I
turned on my little radio. Although the signal was badly jammed by the
Japanese as it had been for several months, I was able to make out
that Congress had declared war on Japan at 1610 hours on December 8,
1941, (0500 hours, Dec. 9 Philippine time). Now it was OK for us to
shoot back at the Japs! But with what? I also learned that the Japs
had landed large forces in French Indochina.
I was quite sure that all commercial communications with the States
had been cut off, but I called the radio station to send a message to
my wife, Judy, a teacher at Holton Arms School in Washington, D.
Pages:
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29