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An Encounter
The patient is 80 years old, and I do a quick history for purposes of the form I have to fill out. When I ask him about his current activity, he laments that it's been slowed these past few months, and he's only been out jumping twice since the first of the year. "Jumping?" I asked. "Oh yes, jumping, you know, sky-diving," he laughs. "Learned it in the Army, been doing it ever since. But I can't get out like I used to." So I had to ask. He was in the 101st Airborne in WWII. While he didn't jump on D-Day, he jumped into Holland, fought at Bastogne, fought in the Ruhr Valley, helped liberate Dachau, and ended up at Berchtesgaden. He was in the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment but he wasn't in Easy Company. (I'm pretty sure his story is legit, I have paperwork that says he's a vet. And my people-meter rang true.) So even though I was backed up a couple patients in the clinic, he and I still talked for a while. Two stories: for training, his company would run -- not hike, not jog, run -- 10 miles in combat gear in the morning. Then they'd get into a circle, and the First Sargeant would make them hold their rifles over their heads for about 30 minutes. First man who let his rifle down below his shoulders did a hundred push-ups on the spot. Second story: he asked me if I remembered "Captain Sobel", the captain in the first episode of Band of Brothers. Sure, I said, one of my favorite films, I remember him, he's the one who couldn't lead and got replaced right before D-Day. "Well," my patient says, "I had to deal with him. And he was a lot worse than the film made him out to be." Wiry bantam-rooster of a man, and he still looks like he could run 10 miles. Posted by: Steve White 2005-05-04 |
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