I got hit in the mountains near Baguio. There were a bunch of Japs in an emplacement on a hill overlooking the road we were traveling. They had Nambu machine guns and mortars. Our Platoon went up at night and dug in behind them and waited until day light. At day light we swept out and got them. While attacking the emplacement, there was suddenly a hand grenade at my feet. I tried to kick it away but it went off. It took off my right foot and left me with tremendous shrapnel wounds. I later found out I had also been shot several times in the legs. As I struggled to get to my feet, a Jap came out of the emplacement to finish me off. Luckily my friend, Norris (Red) Sears was there and shot him before he got to me. We finished taking the Japs out and I was carried down the mountain on a stretcher. Then what seemed like a miracle happened. I had never seen if happen before. There was a doctor, in a jeep with an aide at the bottom of the hill. He did a quick patch up, gave me morphine and took me to the mash Hospital. One note, after the morphine I didn't care anymore. When they were finished with me, they put me on a little Piper Cub and we took off on the road. It was my first time on an airplane. We landed at a mobile hospital where they fixed me up and put me on a C-47. They took us on to a bigger island where they put us on a bigger airplane. I don't know what it was, but it had four engines. From there we went to Hawaii, where they treated out wounds and sent us on another big airplane to California. We stopped in one other place, I can't remember where, and then went on to Thomas M. England Hospital in Atlantic City, NJ.
I was very ill, as my legs were full of shrapnel, which could not be removed and infection set in. I received massive doses of penicillin, which was pretty new then. I lost down to 120 pounds before recovering. I stayed at the hospital for 8 months recovering, being fitted for my artificial "Wooden" leg, and doing physical therapy. I gained gained back up to 225 pounds. I was still recovering when they told me I had to go to a VA hospital. I argued that I deserved to stay in the Army Hospital until I was finished healing. When they refused, I asked for a discharge. When I got it, I went home to my mother.
I was very ill, as my legs were full of shrapnel, which could not be removed and infection set in. I received massive doses of penicillin, which was pretty new then. I lost down to 120 pounds before recovering. I stayed at the hospital for 8 months recovering, being fitted for my artificial "Wooden" leg, and doing physical therapy. I gained gained back up to 225 pounds. I was still recovering when they told me I had to go to a VA hospital. I argued that I deserved to stay in the Army Hospital until I was finished healing. When they refused, I asked for a discharge. When I got it, I went home to my mother.
Dad At Home After Discharge
Nambu Machine Gun
Piper Cub
Back In The States
