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Sunday, October 9, 2011

Dad and Turkey

My Dad served in Korea along with troops from Turkey.  He was assigned to a EVAC hospital and when wounded Turkish soldiers came to the hospital, they like many other soldiers, had lice and other parasites. All the Turkish soldiers had beards and had pledged not to trim them while they were in Korea.  To treat them for the lice their beards and head had to be shaved.  This was no easy task and they were such fierce fighters that the orderlies had to wrap them in blankets and tie them up to keep them from resisting.  Dad was very impressed with the fighting abililty of the Turks.

His other stories were not as humorous.  He tells of the hospital being overrun by thousands of Chinese. In the forced retreat, they had to leave some wounded soldiers in the hospital who were captured and killed by the Chinese. There are stories of bitter cold and hardship.  Of death and suffering.  It was a long time ago, but the memories are still there.

waiting to be evacuated from PangYang North Korea ahead of the Chinese. In 1937, when dad enlisted, you could buy your way out for $120.  Lot of money at that time but I bet all these guys would be willing to pay it including Dad in the middle. He said it was the coldest day of his life.



117th EVAC hospital Korea
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this is actually a WWII picture Dad took on Guadalcanal in 1945. I threw it in for kicks.


1 comment:

vicki said...

Great post and photos!