Posted on 12/29/2016 1:12:51 PM PST by Controlling Legal Authority
My dad is 86 and starting to fail physically and somewhat mentally. For the first time he is talking in his sleep about his experiences in a MASH unit during the Korean War. He never volunteered much about what he went through there. Mainly when he talks he is just griping about being a soldier which I find kind of humorous. But he has started to talk about having to be on point all the time on missions to retrieve bodies at night. He says that they can't use any light because it would draw enemy fire. I don't know if he is talking about being on foot or in a truck or jeep. Can anyone here enlighten me about whether those types of missions then? I'm assuming that he is stating about real things that happened but of course I'm not sure and I don't want to ask him about directly at this time. Thanks
Regards,
She passed on a few years ago and spent her last few weeks in the hospital in a state of semi-lucidity. Every time the life flight helicopter flew to the hospital, she would struggle to get out of her bed in order to respond to the incoming flight.
On point = On foot, at the head of the platoon or squad.
Or the corporal in heels.
Excuse me, Radar was NOT a bumbling company clerk. His name was Radar for a reason.
bless your aunt
“I don’t want to ask him about directly at this time.”
Maybe he’s been waiting for somebody to ask.
Radar was cute.
Kudos to your dad. Please give him a very big hug from us.
Just about the best summer of my life, personally and professionally. We were oddities, the 40 of us were the only Americans for about 200 miles. I was usually in charge, as the CO had family issues to deal with, and home station was 400 miles away.
My German skills went from barely conversational to near fluent during that 3 month assignment, enhancing considerably my experience in the two years I had left in Germany.
Ask him. My grandfather was in Korea. What little he told me is that he was working on radiological warfare, and spent time on a carrier in the Gulf of Mexico. His job was to train others in the research & development of radiologic weapons. This was all told to me when I was a bit younger (late teens) and too stupid to ask more. He passed in 1998, and I kick myself all the time that I didn't ask more questions.
First off, thanks to your dad for his service. Second, like others here, I recommend some gentle questioning just to see how much he wants to tell. If there’s resistance, just back off and listen when he wants to talk.
It’s interesting that MASH would be tasked with that mission as that usually falls to a Graves Registration unit but I suppose it’s not that much out of line.
It was a different time, and it's a mistake to view events from 75 years ago with 2016 morals.
When she was afflicted with Alzheimer's, her mind was back in 1942, never to return to present day.
Bless you Mom, RIP.
2017 - Korean War Veterans Association Korea Revisit Program
https://www.miltours.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=67
My dad was a medic in Guadalcanal. He would tell funny stories about the “hospital” which was the Mash unit. But he had nightmares at night about the war. He said he was in charge of the hospital and all the doctors reported to him. He was Navy but assigned to the Marines.
My son was badly injured in a car accident, not too long after returning from an Iraq deployment in 2005. One morning that I came into his hospital room, there were several chairs positioned around the bed. I asked the nurse, and she said he was talking in his sleep, and they were doing a PTSD referral on him. It sounded like he had quite an audience during the night. Also keep in mind that he was getting some strong meds there for a few days. Later he told me that he had a dream about the movie, “Blackhawk Down” (??), and remembered trying (in his dream) to direct the helicopters and evacuate troops. It took me a couple days to convince the nurses that he really just had a dream.
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