February 18, 1943
Dear Mother,
Well here I am at work again and we again have nothing to do.
Of course they do the same old thing here, that is a well known army habit of having twice as many men as they need to do a thing and consequently we are idle half of our time here.
I have not done much here this evening except wash a few instruments and put them away, among them Major Millington’s, which are all European made with his name or initials on them and they are really nice looking instruments and (they all have to be oiled etc).
We also have a Captain here that has his own instruments and they are all brain instruments. He also has special cuffs for his gowns because his arms are rather long.
I walked in here Monday and there were about 25 people working in here and not a one of them paying any attention to us and we stood here about one hour before being seen. I have seen only two operations and they were both cysts one of them on the leg of one patient and the other one the arm of the other and neither one of them bothered me any. Watching the pain on the patients bothered me more than the operation. They had three to remove on the first patient but only took one because of the pain it caused the patient. I stood at the patient’s head during the operation and I think he rather enjoyed me being there. He said he didn’t see how I could stand there and look at it. He was 22 years old. They operated on one today that was really a mess for they had operated on him once for ulcers and removed half of his stomach, well he had done well for a while and then turned towards the worse and then today they reopened him and took out about a pint of pus. I did not go in because they had it in the small operating room, and it seemed that all the other doctors in the place wanted to see it too so a result even the corps men did not get in and it also smelled. They washed down everything with cresol(?) after the operation. Some of the brain operations last from four to 6-7-8 hours and quite often he has the radio going also which sure surprised me. They have changed the commander of the army in Australia and he is the former General Krueger of here at San Antonio and the new one is Lt Gen. Hodges whom I saw drive by in his car of course chauffeured, on my way to the hospital. A couple days ago a rash appeared of a few little small red spots on my neck and arms. They are practically gone now but tomorrow when I go to complain of my shoes I will ask him what it is and he will probably tell me it is too much sugar or something. They do not itch or anything of that type. Some of the food here is exceptionally rich and I may have eaten too much candy also although I have not eaten any recently because of the heat. I have just had to get up and take some material out of the auto-claves which has lots in sterilizing through a method of pressure steam heat. They seemed at first rather hard for me to work but they are quite easy now although I am running them this evening one of the lazy ones just left them in my hands. We have four of them here besides the other sterilizers in all they manage to keep the room quite warm. In fact too warm. I believe Spring is coming to San Antonio because most of the trees here are all coming out and the devil grass lawns are beginning to come to life. They certainly have some pretty birds around here and they can quite a few of them sing quite well. We are getting quite a few of the war casualties here: schrapnel etc. There is a hospital train which makes trips to the coast for them. I saw some very pretty stationary the other day up town and just had to have some so I will try and write you a letter on some of it for you. I am sure you will like it.
I am wondering just what kind of pay I will get this time. I forgot to ask when I signed the pay book this time. How is the yard coming? How is the cymbidium coming along? And did the Brussels sprouts ever amount to anything? Are the chickens laying very well now and are the pullets laying well? I sent my order to Mr. Matson the other day. Now I shall have to write Miss Mosher directions. I am afraid I shall have to close now for it is time to go home and I shall shop this in the mail box on my way home. How is your arm coming along?
Good night with lots of love,Of course they do the same old thing here, that is a well known army habit of having twice as many men as they need to do a thing and consequently we are idle half of our time here.
I have not done much here this evening except wash a few instruments and put them away, among them Major Millington’s, which are all European made with his name or initials on them and they are really nice looking instruments and (they all have to be oiled etc).
We also have a Captain here that has his own instruments and they are all brain instruments. He also has special cuffs for his gowns because his arms are rather long.
I walked in here Monday and there were about 25 people working in here and not a one of them paying any attention to us and we stood here about one hour before being seen. I have seen only two operations and they were both cysts one of them on the leg of one patient and the other one the arm of the other and neither one of them bothered me any. Watching the pain on the patients bothered me more than the operation. They had three to remove on the first patient but only took one because of the pain it caused the patient. I stood at the patient’s head during the operation and I think he rather enjoyed me being there. He said he didn’t see how I could stand there and look at it. He was 22 years old. They operated on one today that was really a mess for they had operated on him once for ulcers and removed half of his stomach, well he had done well for a while and then turned towards the worse and then today they reopened him and took out about a pint of pus. I did not go in because they had it in the small operating room, and it seemed that all the other doctors in the place wanted to see it too so a result even the corps men did not get in and it also smelled. They washed down everything with cresol(?) after the operation. Some of the brain operations last from four to 6-7-8 hours and quite often he has the radio going also which sure surprised me. They have changed the commander of the army in Australia and he is the former General Krueger of here at San Antonio and the new one is Lt Gen. Hodges whom I saw drive by in his car of course chauffeured, on my way to the hospital. A couple days ago a rash appeared of a few little small red spots on my neck and arms. They are practically gone now but tomorrow when I go to complain of my shoes I will ask him what it is and he will probably tell me it is too much sugar or something. They do not itch or anything of that type. Some of the food here is exceptionally rich and I may have eaten too much candy also although I have not eaten any recently because of the heat. I have just had to get up and take some material out of the auto-claves which has lots in sterilizing through a method of pressure steam heat. They seemed at first rather hard for me to work but they are quite easy now although I am running them this evening one of the lazy ones just left them in my hands. We have four of them here besides the other sterilizers in all they manage to keep the room quite warm. In fact too warm. I believe Spring is coming to San Antonio because most of the trees here are all coming out and the devil grass lawns are beginning to come to life. They certainly have some pretty birds around here and they can quite a few of them sing quite well. We are getting quite a few of the war casualties here: schrapnel etc. There is a hospital train which makes trips to the coast for them. I saw some very pretty stationary the other day up town and just had to have some so I will try and write you a letter on some of it for you. I am sure you will like it.
I am wondering just what kind of pay I will get this time. I forgot to ask when I signed the pay book this time. How is the yard coming? How is the cymbidium coming along? And did the Brussels sprouts ever amount to anything? Are the chickens laying very well now and are the pullets laying well? I sent my order to Mr. Matson the other day. Now I shall have to write Miss Mosher directions. I am afraid I shall have to close now for it is time to go home and I shall shop this in the mail box on my way home. How is your arm coming along?
Your son,
Stanley
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