Proud memories

[“Health Care Heroes” in] the April 2005 magazine … brought back memories. ... From July 1965 to 1967, with my wife and four children … [I was] deployed to USNH Guam. As a newly board-certified anesthesiologist, I was alone with four operating rooms and many surgeons! At that time, all medical facilities around Vietnam were overfilled, and many casualties flown directly to Anderson AFB, Guam, and from there to us.

During the first three months, several times, with all operating rooms working, I had no choice but doing three nights and days (72 hours) — using regional anesthesia, like epidurals, nerve blocks, etcetera — which I considered much safer anyhow! When there was no alternative to general anesthesia, all three of the other rooms had to come to a stop. …

Two of our kids are now medical doctors, [and] they used to say, “Now Dad, that’s not possible!” “Of course not,” used to be my answer, but then I was 40 years younger and proud to be part of it all, [and] especially [of] never losing a [patient], or [having] any serious complications.

After four months, a newly graduated anesthesiologist arrived, and soon after that the CO of USNH Guam … arranged leave time for me and my wife for a week in Japan — round-trip flights, as well as a room reserved at the Hotel Sanno in Tokyo. My dependent parents (having escaped from then-communist Hungary) were there with us too — they were our babysitters. ...

[My career] included four years as flight surgeon (CAG-9 and VR-8) and almost 10 years at Balboa, where I was promoted to captain in 1970; [I] retired from Great Lakes seven years later. After another 25 years, I am enjoying retirement; not as wealthy as many I know, but happier and prouder than I ever could have imagined being. Anchors aweigh, and “from the Halls of Montezuma,” and God bless the United States of America.

— Capt. George Balas, USN-Ret.
Memphis, Tenn

Tepee or not tepee

[“Western Roundup,” April 2005] was very informative and convinced me there is now a reason to visit the southwestern United States. One point needs correction: Cochise and the Apache people of the Southwest lived in “wikiups,” not tepees. The tepee was used by the Plains Indians.

Too bad the owners of the Cochise Stronghold Bed-and-Breakfast didn’t do a little historical homework before opening so that visitors could get a true sense of how the Apache lived.

— Maj. Perry A. Colvin, USA-Ret.
via e-mail

[“Western Roundup”] brought back memories of being stationed at Fort Huachuca from 1956 to 1958. Things were rather bleak in Cochise County back then. The fort had been closed after World War II, reopened, and closed again after the Korean War. When we arrived, it was not considered a trustworthy, permanent neighbor, so there wasn’t much available off post. My bride and I couldn’t find quarters closer than a long-defunct, pre-depression-era, ex-dude ranch near Bisbee, Ariz. It was quite an adventure.

— Maj. Maury A. Midlo, USAR-Ret.
via e-mail

Close call

I was fascinated by [“The Boat,” “Pages of History,” April 2005] about the German U-boat U-505. … I was on patrol in the Bermuda Triangle out of Miami on a sub-chaser in late January or early February 1945. It was 4 a.m. and foggy, and I was the officer of the deck. Our radar wasn’t working (as usual), so I posted a bow lookout. I heard [the lookout] yell, “German submarine 1,500 yards ahead, on the surface.” I instructed the signalman to challenge with the current code. No answer. Repeat challenge. No answer.

We were equipped with a “hedgehog” device on our forecastle (an array of eight mortars that projected a football-shaped pattern that would straddle a submarine). Our firing range was 800 yards. As the submarine entered that range, my hand was going forward to activate the hedgehog when we heard through a megaphone, “Don’t shoot, we are Americans.”

As we approached, it was U-boat 505, which was transiting from Bermuda, where it was captured, to Key West, Fla. Because of the intelligence they had found, no one in the region was alerted about the transit of the captured U-boat. Obviously, the crew did not have access to the “friend or foe” code of the day. They came alongside and documented themselves, and off they went to Key West, unescorted.

This ends the story — and an exciting memory — of how I almost sank the U-505.

— Lt. Cmdr. Roland Sigal, USN-Ret.
Allentown, Pa.

Uniformed vs. military

I was reading my April 2005 issue of Military Officer, in particular the “Washington Scene” section, when I noticed something that perhaps was an oversight but nonetheless started to bother me. Let me explain.

“Washington Scene” always contains a number of legislative articles that we all should read carefully. The first article listed was titled “New SBP Bills.” It contained two references to “military” and nothing about “uniformed services.” The next article was titled “Death Benefits in Spotlight.” It contained three references to “military” and none to “uniformed services.” The next article was titled “Talking Hearings,” and again two references to “military” and no mention of “uniformed services.”

I remember a while ago when The Retired Officers Association changed its name to Military Officers Association of America and the concern that was expressed back then about including and representing commissioned officers from both the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Assurances were given that the new entity, MOAA, would embrace all of the seven “uniformed services.”

I feel it is time to reaffirm in your columns and be sure you are representing all seven of the nation’s uniformed services, rather than using the term military, when the issues also apply to the commissioned officers in the USPHS and NOAA. I hope that these “military” references were an oversight and do not reflect a retreat from MOAA’s position of representing all of us.

— Capt. Richard M. Taffet, USPHS-Ret.
Rockville, Md.

Editor’s note: MOAA continues to support officers and families of all seven uniformed services. We understand your concern about using the word “military” in the association’s name and in place of “uniformed services” in articles and statements. The USPHS and NOAA officers who serve on the MOAA board of directors were comfortable with the word “military” and understood that USPHS and NOAA officers are included under that umbrella term.