OUR HEROES
Medic in South Korea feels connection to M*A*S*H
Arriving in South Korea in the summer of 1974 as an Army medic, I was assigned to a hospital at Camp Hovey. The camp is way up north, next to the village of Teokgeo-ri and is one of the bases closest to the demilitarized zone.
The camp for the 43rd mobile Army surgical hospital, or MASH, was near the city of Uijeongbu, which is on the way to Camp Hovey. As we rode through the city in an
Army ambulance, Koreans waved at us, thanks to their familiarity with that famous unit.
Summer in South Korea is turnover time, when new personnel come in to replace outgoing soldiers. When I arrived at Camp Hovey, the person I was replacing had already departed. I heard nothing but good things about him and I was truly sorry to have missed him, as I was newly promoted to medical specialist.
When I entered the surgical tent, the first thing I noticed was a huge poster for the TV show M*A*S*H, with the characters holding golf clubs and wearing Hawaiian shirts. On the other side of the entrance was a movie
poster for Robert Altman’s 1970 film M*A*S*H.
At the aid station I did a lot of waiting. When we got an emergency call, we went by ambulance to pick up the soldier and transported him to the brigade hospital.
The medical officer was somewhat uncertain of my experience since I was new. Fortunately, someone there had heard that I’d earned the confidence of staff during my time at Fort Monroe, Virginia. While I was working the evening shift at the hospital there, the 19-yearold son of a major general came in with an arm injury. The wound needed cleaning, irrigating and several sutures. The medical officer in charge was nowhere to be found, so I took care of the wound. The next day, Sgt. Maj. Moran and Staff Sgt. DeHann paid me a visit and told me I was transferred to the day shift to work with them.
Korea is called the Land of the Morning Calm, and for nearly nine months after
I arrived, it was. But very early one morning, sirens blared all over the compound. They signaled the fall of Saigon in South Vietnam.
There was fear, excitement and confusion over what should be done. Fortunately, a sergeant who was from my home state of Washington was in the medical tent, and he knew what to do. He led us out to watch Cobra attack helicopters push the North Koreans back into a huge tunnel. Some of our troops were wounded in the attack, but there were no deaths, thanks to the cavalry manning those Cobras. The alarms sounded for the next few days, affecting the entire camp, as well as nearby Camp Casey.
Not long after this, South Korea returned once again to the Land of the Morning Calm, and I came home. •
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When I entered the surgical tent, the first thing I noticed was a huge poster for the TV show M*A*S*H.