Subject: To My Medics at 2002 Reunion---#000 Paul, a copy of what I will tell my "Boys" at our Reunion. As a friend, you understand. Let me know if you receive. Date: Monday, 30 September 2002 From: Thomas Deas To: Paul Webber ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To My Medics at our Reunion 2002 Thomas M Deas MD Life at the age of 86 years is very fragile and one doesn't really know just when it might be terminated, for one reason or the other. So I want to say some things to all of you present before it comes to the point that I can't. You will never know exactly how much I appreciate you. You MADE me grow up from one who had responsibility to a patient that he knew and could touch to someone who had about 4000 men for whom he was responsible and I learned that a great amount of that responsibility had to be delegated to about 100-120 of you, "My Boys," when the going got tough. I found that you were capable of accepting that responsibility, sometimes at the cost of the life of one of you, sometimes at the cost of injury and wounds, some of which were very severe. But you took that responsibility and brought honor to your selves and to your Medical Detachment. On occasions I agonized over the loss of some of our comrades, or the wounds of others - while I remained unscathed - but the Lord took that burden for me. You have brought HONOR upon yourselves and the highest Honor upon our Medical Detachment in being awarded Battle Honors in the Philippines, later upgraded to The United States Presidential Unit Citation - something, from what I understand, is very uncommon in a Unit as small as a Detachment - BUT YOU BROUGHT THAT HONOR TO OUR DETACHMENT. You were also awarded the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation. And you were awarded the Meritorious Service Plaque while on Morotai. EACH MEMBER was awarded the Combat Medical Badge plus the Bronze Star for Merit. I don't have a good record of the following - but: You were awarded over 26 Silver Stars for Valor You were awarded over 56 Bronze Stars for Valor You were awarded in the neighborhood of 45 Purple Hearts for Wounds in Action. Fourteen of you gave ALL, and I have lain awake many nights thinking of those boys. They were T/5 Ellis D. Kilgore, T/5 Homer R Mills, T/4 Matthew McMahon, Jr.; Austin J. Medlin, Pfc and Eston Rosa, Pfc at Aitape. Then there were Robart L. Evans, S/Sgt, Leonard L Hawkins, Cpl, Allison R. Yates, Cpl, Alfred B. Hill, Jr., T/5, Leon N. Pierce, Pfc., Robert Schmid, Pfc, John S. Taylor, Pfc., Hugh B. Summerfield, Pfc and Robert E. Marx T3, died of Disease (Hepatitis). All in all you have been a wonderful and dedicated group of "boys" that grew into men over a short period of time. Colonel Starr, in a letter to me in the l950s or early l960s, told me just how much you meant to our Regiment - starting with Aitape. Quoting him almost word for word, he said: "Your Medics were the GREATEST MORALE BUILDERS AND BOOSTERS that we had because the soldier knew that, should he be wounded in battle, the MEDICS would NOT leave him, but would come to him and care for him and bring him to safety." After the war, I was in St. Augustine at the "Posting" of our Regiment in the late l980s. I had a man who was a soldier in 1st Battalion tell me that same thing in different words. Needless to say - but I am PROUD and HONORED to have been associated with you as a Detachment and as Individuals. I think of you daily, many times, and thank God for each one of you here and all the others who were part of our Unit from 2 May l944 until we meet in the "By and BY." God Bless you and yours! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Received on 30 September 2002 Paul M. Webber, M.D. Home Page: http://www.pcisys.net/~pwebber/31_id/rtw.htm