PDF Battlefield Doc: Memoirs of a Korean War Combat Medic by William J. Anderson in History

Review

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Honest; bloody; heartbreaking : I highly recommend this memoirBy Mary K; Public LibrarianWilliam Anderson's memoir of his years as a Korean War medic place the reader alongside him in dozens of intense; achingly horrible battles and special missions. I had to keep reminding myself that he was only 21 (!) when he went there; and 24 when he went home. The troopers he patched up -- and those who died in his arms; begging him to give messages to loved ones back home -- were a mere 17 or 18 years old. He immediately had to learn not to get too close to the others; or he'd be unable to keep a clear; calm head while they were bleeding and in agony.This book was drawn up from many pages of notes Anderson kept while in Korea. The pace is very fast; but it is very readable and clear. Short chapters allow the exhausted reader a reprieve from incessant mortar poundings; BAR; 'burp'; and machine gun fire; grenades; smoke; napalm and sheer misery. This volume isn't for the faint of heart: the reader is embedded in the front lines with wildly brave men who sometimes fought nonstop for 48 hours to gain a few hundred yards of "hill". (Every mountain they bled for; the Army called a "hill".)The North Koreans and Chinese Communists paid no heed to Geneva conference -- their snipers regularly killed medics whose uniforms bore the Red Cross.After reading this; I have a far better understanding (as much as a civilian could have; that is) of the horrors of war; and of this war in particular. PTSD would be a lifelong burden for these troopers. It a humbling; moving; sobering book. I'm so glad I read it.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Learn of True WarBy p47dudeTo many Americans today; the awfulness of true war is insulated from their psyche by the media. What they believe of war is bred by the powerful entertainment industry as well. For instance; when an actor is hit by a bullet; he/she is propelled back five feet by the impact. That's Hollywood. In real life; you just crumple.This book is written from a diary kept by a combat medic. He wrote his notes with bloodstained fingers in -50F winters with 55 mph bone-chilling wind gusts or 100F summer days - while tending to young Americans dying in a godforsaken place. He describes the horrific carnage and scenes clearly... down to being unable to stick a needle into a wounded soldier's flesh as it was frozen. He painfully regurgitates those moments when a boyish looking soldier dies in his arms; feeling great remorse he was unable to save him.He properly describes his comrades as heroes. You are made keenly aware that true war is being enveloped by death all around you. He expresses well that a soldier's own death looms closer the longer he remains on the front lines... and that a combat medic is the true hero.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. A must-read for any doctor; nurse or medic; for every historian and every person that wants to know the truth about this forgottBy Dr Stephan Willi NeffAs an Anaesthetist I could not put the book down. As a historian I could not stop reading since the words translated figures into seconds; minutes and hours of unimaginable trauma and madness. As a man I am humbled to read this matter-of-fact blow-by-blow account of madness and horror and no one that has not been there could ever imagine what the author truly has gone through!