Subject: Some Memories I wrote about in my home town newspaper -- might be interesting -- Tom Deas Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2002 This was published in the Homer, Louisiana, Guardian Journal. ----------------------------------------------------------------- In Olden Times Thomas M. Deas, MD 5 August 2001 Please excuse me, but this is the first part of August and each year my thoughts go back to l944 and that New Guinea Jungle east of the Driniumor River and east of Aitape - where we got our baptism of fighting with the Japanese. Each year I think back of those dad gummed snipers, the thick walls of jungle on each side of our trail. I think of the constant gradual uphill marching with occasional gullies that had to be crossed, frequently with litters and casualties. Each casualty taking six to ten men on the litter, to carry him. I think of the slipping and sliding and the knees deep mud in the nadir of the gully. I think of the pain endured by the wounded being carried. Not just physical pain, but the pain from the knowledge they are unable to care for themselves and are causing so much exertion and fatigue on their fellow "foot sloggers" who are already tired and worn out from the march, the constant fighting, the lack of food, plus those dad gummed snipers! Today is the 5th of August. Time gets away from me as far as exact dates are concerned, but if I am thinking right, my 1st Sgt. Max Wainwright and I spent the night before holding an 18 year old youngster who was shot in the low belly just before darkness settled in. He was brought to our foxhole for us to care for him. As I have told you many times before, when it gets dark, no one moves around and NO LIGHTS are shown. It is a matter of safety for the whole Battalion with whom we are travelling. A light would zero us in to enemy fire - both sniper and grenade. It was a matter of expediency that we treat by feel and sound, which does not save this youngster's life. Of course, it kept those of us treating him safer, also. Well, I dream about this young man many times, as my thoughts go back to those times. I can hear him calling, "Mama! ----- Mama ---- Mama, I hurt. I hurt bad!" And I can remember, as he got weaker and weaker from loss of blood, how his breathing got shorter and shallower and the call for "Mama" got weaker and more of an effort. We gave him Morphine and Plasma - the Plasma to no avail, but the Morphine did relieve his pain and daybreak took him into the great Eternity. The young man was from Alabama. I don't remember his name, but I will always remember him, and the fact that I could do no definitive treatment, but I did my best to relieve his suffering. I remember that daybreak broke loud and clear with rifle fire that was more than just sniper fire. I remember that Wainwright and I were absolutely dead on our feet. We turned the dead youngster over to the Battalion for their burial team to inter him and mark his site on the map for later removal and reburial in the Aitape Cemetery - and later to the U.S.A. Wainwright and I drug ourselves to our line of advance. I remember that the trail was completely covered with thick foliage, that it misted rain, there was firing along the line and artillery shells could be heard as they passed over us and the explosions could be heard up ahead - mebbe 400 yards ahead of us, sometimes closer, in fact down to 100 yards or less , depending on the situation. We didn't move over 3-400 yards on that day. The Japanese put up very stubborn resistance, and it was figured there were 10-15,000 of them in the area. When we stopped for the night, we were on slightly "High Ground". Wainwright and I started digging a foxhole, right next to a large tree. I remember that it was about dark and there was a big full moon. We had dug down about 4 inches when a litter was brought to us with a young second Lt that was shot in the left upper abdomen, and he was already shocky. We were able to start a bottle of Plasma and covered him with our ponchos, after giving him a shot of Morphine. It was dark, except for the full moon, but we couldn't see how to do any kind of treatment - and we couldn't use any lights. The young man gradually slipped over the edge into deep shock and, at daybreak, he also slipped into the great Eternity. Wainwright and I were like Zombies. Never so tired in my life - nor hungry! We hadn't had a food drop for 2-3 days. We turned him over to be buried and the site marked on the map. We got ready to start moving. We were with 3rd Battalion now. We started with 2nd but they were sent on a flanking mission and my Regt Hq. Medics stayed with Regt Hq. which always stayed with the lead Battalion. At this time 3rd Bn was leading the advance and we were carrying about 20-30 litters, using Anti Tank Co to help. Third Battalion ran into a well fortified and placed "roadblock". We had more casualties and very hard fighting during this day. We also were still hungry!! This was the day that we captured two men that were thought to be Japanese, but the interpreter determined that they were Chinese slave laborers that the Japs had captured in China and brought to be their laborers. These two men were about 30 years old and weighed about 75 pounds on a frame that would normally carry 160-170 pounds. Now we hadn't had any ration drop and were all hungry, but when the word came down, you would be surprised at the crackers, chocolate and bouillion that were found in people that were so hungry they could have eaten "wood." These Chinese stayed with us until the end of the war. I don't know what happened then. I know they gained weight, idolized the Colonel, absolutely hated the Japanese and helped around headquarters until war's end. To carry on with the story - we broke that Road Block and ended up straddling the Afua Trail, our mission. We also had a food drop that afternoon and some medical supplies and we rested there. A day or so later we had a Native Litter Team of about 100 natives guarded by a platoon from 32nd Div and some Medics from 32nd Div. We sent out all of our casualties. On the next day we went back to our River Line. During this time we dispensed with about 3000-4000 of the enemy KIA, and all of the rest faded off into the Mountains. Many starved. The Australians had started a sweep from down New Guinea and they cleaned out all the stragglers and starved out the others. During this fight ,we had neutralized a force of some 30,000 enemy that had started up from Wewak with the object of obliterating us. We fooled them, but it cost - yes, it cost - and I can still see that young wounded soldier and the wounded Lieutenant - and hear them as they suffered. I also can still hear those dad gummed snipers with the ricochet as the bullet hits and glances off a tree ------ "splang." I'm sorry to have to bring to you some very sad events. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Thomas M. Deas, M.D. Transcribed by Paul M. Webber on 1 February 2002 Home Page: http://home.pcisys.net/~pwebber/31_id/rtw.htm