The Gunners' Doctor by David Bradford

Author:David Bradford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Random House Australia
Published: 2007-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

5

SEPTEMBER 1967

Letters

Nui Dat

Friday 1/9/67

Dear family,

Thank you for all the letters and the news of Ken’s wedding. Thank you too for the talc, Mum, which arrived tonight. I opened it in the mess when the mail arrived and all the officers reckon I am now a real artillery officer – the next thing I’ll be getting is a lace handkerchief, which gunners are traditionally supposed to carry, they predict.1

We had a sad event tonight. While sitting in the mess we all heard a shot fired nearby and soon after I received a phone call to say someone had been shot accidentally in our neighbouring unit (ARU). I rushed over but, by that time, they’d put him in a vehicle and taken him to the hospital. I ran up there to find the medics in a panic as Jack couldn’t be found. Just as well I arrived! The poor kid had been shot through the abdomen and the bullet had come out through his spine with almost certain spinal cord damage. Anyway, I set to, patched him up, gave him morphine and organised a ‘dust-off’ chopper immediately. Jack then turned up most upset – he’d been asleep in his tent all the time – the only place the dopey medics hadn’t thought to look. Sergeant Allen had run up with me to help, so once again it was 4 Fd Regt to the rescue. I just hope the poor boy pulls through all right and hasn’t any severe spinal injury. His best pal shot him (by accident, cleaning his weapon with a full magazine attached). The unfortunate soldier who had the accidental discharge was more shocked than the wounded one. Wars are wretched, aren’t they?

I went to Vung Tau last Tuesday with the regimental sergeant major (RSM) and the padre for the court-martial of the soldier who started firing his weapon around the place. Legal delays meant I had to have tea and stay overnight at 8 Field Ambulance, so I shared a tent with the pharmacist, Wally Williams. There was the most amazing wind and rain storm that night and I slept really badly as my cold was developing. Next morning I had to go to the MCE (Military Corrective Establishment) to see the gunner and certify him fit to stand trial. The court-martial wasn’t to start until after lunch, so Peter Grainger (a doctor who used to be at Concord) and I went over to see the big American 36 Evacuation Hospital and then I had lunch with him at the Army Transit Centre. The court-martial was a bit of a muddle. There was much indecision about the actual charge and whether the gunner was pleading guilty or not guilty. I was summoned for a long confab with the judge associate and then I was allowed to testify that, in my medical opinion, the soldier was not fit to undergo detention and punishment. I then was able to leave, so I hope it means the poor gunner will get off and be medevac-ed back to Australia.

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