US AIRBORNE

Many thanks to Bill Tom to have given me access to his story and also to have brought some precise details to me when I kept asking him.

William "Bill" K Tom was born on June 5, 1924 in a family of farmers of some Chinese immigrants in Isleton, California. William Tom grew up there during the Great Depression which hit the United States.

We were in the middle of the Great Depression which started in 1929 and we suffered from the lack of the things due to the financial standing of this period. The Main thing of the school, Eugene Foster was a player of harmonica, he decided to clarify the dilemma of the young boys in their giving courses of harmonica”.

The cost of a harmonica “Band Marine” at the time was 1$. But since my two parents were with unemployment, 1$ were too really much for them. I was a private little boy of toy and I constantly attracted myself troubles by the lack of thing to be made. My father decided to sell his watch bracket out of gold, Elgin to give me 1$ and so that I fall under the class of music.

The music was not some things of easy to learn for me. The sounds which I made with my harmonica were not particularly musical. It was a time or the little boys can find excuses for all that they could not do. It was also time or I learned the diseases and the microbes which one had in class and the routine to use ebullient water to kill the bacteria. My excuses, logic, was that my harmonica was not good because it was infected by microbes. One day, that my mother was not at the house, I put water in a pan and is put to boil. I dropped my harmonica in ebullient water to sterilize it during 5 minutes according to course's which I had had in class.

My harmonica seemed at this time in a terrible state worse than ever before. I used my penknife to dismount it to adjust the reeds, to fold them and give them a form. But I lost the 8 small tiny screws which ensured the connection of the harmonica. I decided to hide it my father by throwing it under my bed. Neither my father nor me were to re-examine it again never again. I believe that my mother threw to save me of an argument.

10 years afterwards, I found new in Germany, directly in a factory, free, the kindness of US Army Engineers. »

At 16 years old, Bill left home to work full time as a waiter. He waited from 3 pm to 12 am. The rest of the time he attended College.
Bill was still studying, two years before ending but he was called up in April 1943. He got on a train leading towards Presidio of Monterey.

 “Arrived at Presidio off Monterey, the Captain examined me and says to me:

- Wire, I have a work for you, as cook, launderer or domestic. Which selected you?

I answered him: - I do not want any of it.

- We will see answered me the Captain. »

But Bill Tom passed the "Army General Classification Test” with a 135 score which matched his IQ. Bill had the choice of either joining the OCS (Officer Candidate School) and become an officer or going to university, the ASTP (Army Special Training Program). He chose the latter (he did not become an officer) and was sent to Texas.
Bill Tom followed the basic training at Camp Fannin, Texas and then entered the ASTP to study engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). But after 6 months of study the ASTP was disbanded. Bill K Tom and most of his classmates were sent to Company C, 194th GIR at Camp Forrest near Tullahoma, Tennessee. The regiment was getting ready to fight in Europe.
Bill K Tom volunteered to become a medic.

“It was a wise decision because at the time of a exercise of operation on the ground which consisted of a combat of village, I was “wounded” once and “killed” twice. It is the figure which the controller indicated to me. My longevity as a fusilier seemed very dull. »

While he was following his training as a medic, Bill Tom got a permission to take courses from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Chicago. Bill refused because it meant he would have stayed for another 8 years.

 “A one moment, the Colonel of the desired camp to make ego its nurse's aide and his driver. I refused, but I had the choice as much as an ice floe in water glass. I was simple Private, counters a Colonel. Fortunately, an inspector general visited the camp and it regarded the request of the Colonel as a racial attack and an attitude of colonizer to have a Chinese servant. »

Bill Tom was sent to Camp Miles Standish near Taunton, Massachusetts to await shipment to England.

 “I embarked on the S Santa Paula, marked with the colors of the Red Cross, enormous, painted each sides of the boat. »

24 hours after it left the port, the ship crashed engine. The boat was at the mercy of the U Boot

 “One saw a Canadian corvette turning around us lasting all the time of repairs, while the convoys of + 100 boats with the medical equipment carried on its road. I am certain that a Captain of U-Boot had us in his periscope, but it selected not to draw a torpedo because it was a medical boat. »

The engine was repaired,and the Santa Paula arrived in Bristol, England. Then the group of the medics was sent to Wales. They stayed in an old farm that was breeding chickens. In Europe, the "Battle of the Bulge" had begun. With the number of casualties, General Eisenhower ordered all the former riflemen took arms up.
Bill Tom, as a former rifleman was sent to the "Repo Depot" where he got a gun again. But later, Eisenhower issued an order that all the former medics had to get back to their units. After weeks of delay while the 17th Airborne Division was already engaged, Bill Tom got to join her.

 “We crossed the English Channel in a conveyor of troop Britannique and we unloaded in Le Havre in France to be assigned with the Camp Lucky Strike. There, we awaited the rail-bound transport which was to take us along in the Ardennes. We climbed in the famous coaches “40 and 8”, of the cars limp conceived to receive 40 men or 8 horses. Unfortunately, the car was not cleaned after the passage of the 8 horses. There was only one window for ventilation. The sliding door was blocked by French to prevent the G.I. to escape and wander in the countryside. Us rations D (bars of chocolate) were given which, I am sure, was to contain constipants because in the coach, there was no toilet. One of the types urinated in its helmet. When it threw its urine by the window, the wind blew towards the back in the coach soaking the types which slept on the floor. And it remained thus during several days. The rail traffic was obstructed considerably by the snowstorm and all the route was stopped by the traffic of the trains charged with wounded and the street with the reinforcements and the supplies entering the Ardennes. Our train finally stopped in the town of Verviers in Belgium where we awaited the trucks which transported us by error towards Aachen close to the northern side of the projecting one.

Here why we met English troops. Not very far the town of Malmedy is or of the S German cut down more than 200 disarmed American prisoners of war and all the personnel of a hospital of evacuation including the nurses and the doctors. Information of this atrocity collected all around us reinforced our attitude of defense, so that the Germans will not move Malmedy."

Bill Tom was busy to help the wounded English soldiers first. A soldier who was severely wounded in the leg and should be sent to England gave him his woolen combat jacket to protect himself from the cold. Bill Tom was not ready to face the bitter cold. Born in San Frascisco he did not know about this weather. Bill was completely frozen. He was even hospitalized for frozen toes.

Bill with Major Tom Levin, who cured him

“We were not well equipped to face the cold of the winter, I thus carried the English wool jacket of combat to remain with the heat. My cotton jacket was not sufficient. Indeed, I used each piece of clothing which I have accepted. I carried this English jacket lasting of many months until I receive the uniform for the Varsity operation. It was against the payment of the army, but it appeared that a male nurse was immunized against the punishments. »

“Much from guy suffered from the cold feet and fingers. Many of those which were wounded died in reality of cold during the night. The task of our male nurse were dreadful to try to evacuate the casualties before fallen the day. »

The 17th Airborne left without warning the front to get ready for Operation Varsity. But the need for medics during the Ardennes campaign was so important that Bill Tom remained in the 9th U.S. Army where he especially cured men of the 102nd Infantry Division. Bill became an expert for selection.
During Operation Varsity, Bill Tom was sent to the 113th Evacuation Hospital where he performed the selection of the wounded men.

“During the Varsity operation, all the surgical and medical hospitals were installed on the western side of the Rhine. The 9th US Army builds a special bridge floating on both sides of banks of the Rhine to evacuate the casualties and deaths on the side east at the western side of the Rhine so that they are treated. But the Montgomery General requisitioned our medical bridge during 3 days to make there cross her army. That meant that all our men, wounded as dead accumulated on the side is without possibility of being transported towards our medical equipment. When Montgomery finally released the bridge, they are hundreds of wounded and dead men who were brought, flooding all the hospitals of evacuation and our hospitals for the surgery. The doctors with sortings were crushed in their tasks to make a decision on the most urgent patients.

Because of my work and my duty as male nurse and particularly in the service of sorting, when the number of casualties was high, that I had to achieve what a doctor did, one allotted the rafters of Staff to me Sergeants in recognition of that. »

During this period, Bill Tom also cured some wounded Germans.

“Several German soldiers said to me that they knew where and when the men of the 17th Airborne were to land. These prisoners were of old soldiers who were used for the anti-aircraft batteries and with which one ordered to sleep the night close to their gun. »

It was also during this period, in April 1945 Bill Tom got a harmonica from the engineering company that was busy fighting in mine clearance operations. Bill was watching when men made this discovery in a harmonica factory. Boxes hidden by workers in the soil. Seeing his medic insignias, they proposed him to choose one.
In mid April 1945, Bill Tom was removed from Varsity to be permanently attached to the 113^th Evacuation Hospital of the 9th U.S. Army for a 400 km transfer eastward to the Elbe, at about 80km west from Berlin. The objective was to provide medical support to Operation Eclipse, the combined attack by land and by air to take Berlin before the Russians. General Bradley calculated that American forces would lose between 100,000 and 300,000 men to take Berlin. There was therefore an urgent need of medics.
Urgently, it was also decided that an airlift would carry an entire hospital as quickly as possible, using aircraft carrier at a distance of 400km. Reporters and photographers from Life Magazine arrived to follow the first war hospital (on the front). However, the planes never arrived because there was nowhere safe for them to land safely because the region around the Elbe was still under the German control. If this had been done, it would have been the biggest blunder of the war with the loss of nearly 200 doctors and medics.

Thus the medical staff made the trip aboard a convoy of trucks. When the medical convoy reached Minden in Germany, it stopped for the night for a food and gasoline break. The Colonel in charge ordered Bill to keep a truck carrying morphine and penicillin and also the car of Colonel, a Mercedes sedan. This drug loaded truck was supposed to anticipate heavy injuries of the troops during the conquest of Berlin. The person who would come to steal the truck could retire in Switzerland and live in comfort for the rest of his life, and more  he could simply do it as Bill's rifle was not loaded, according to the Geneva Convention that medics have not the right to be armed! Bill doing his duty tour with his discharged M1 rifle. He was the only former rifleman from the medical group and the Colonel ordered him to keep a truck containing 500,000 doses of morphine and penicillin for Operation Eclipse. He also kept the command sedan, a Mercedes of the Colonel on his right.Minden, Germany, April 1945.

Finally, the journey ended when the convoy arrived in Gardelegen in the early evening to establish the medical post near the Elbe. The next day at dawn, Bill and all the medical service were taken in hostage by a brigade of German Panzer Tiger because the city was still in the German hands! As the Far West cavalry used to be, some elements of the unity of the Tank Destroyer of the 9th U.S. Army undertook to get rid of a Panzer tank battle for 4 hours. None of the medic was injured. During this period, President Roosevelt died and there was a hesitation at the command level to enable Operation Eclipse and the evaluation of the number of losses.

Bill Tom strikes a pose and behind him, there is the Elbe.

Thus, the Russians entered Berlin on the 1^st of May. The Germans surrendered unconditionally on May 8, 1945. After two months of robbery and looting, the Russians had finally allowed the medics to enter the first in Berlin to establish medical services for people and for President Truman who had followed the Potsdam Conference. Bill did not know that his friends of his platoon were transferred to the 82nd Airborne when it came in garrison into town. The two atomic bombs dropped over Japan ended World War II.
Bill was transferred to the 7th U.S. Army as occupation troops for another year.

 “During this period, my unit medical was assigned to enter Berlin and was installed a medical establishment in Wielskistrasse in the zone of Zehlendorf close to Postdam and which was to be used as zone medical for President Truman when it was to unload with the Conference of Postdam which was going to divide Germany into 4 zones among the four allied powers.

Before entering Berlin, I stationed in Magdeburg, Bernburg and Helmstedt near Berlin, awaiting the authorization among Russian Army.

I entered Berlin on July 4 1945 to help to found the 113th Evacuation Hospital in Zinnowaldschule ( a college) of Wielskistrasse. The school was plundered and cleaned by the Russians - there did not remain a chalk stick.

The next morning, of the dozen trucks, enormous were able to deliver sufficient equipment and provisions to furnish a hospital with 100 beds. I was very proud force of our country and his power to be able to transform an empty school into a large hospital, apparently in the night.

I was to help to install the safety of the VIP. (Nobody very important) of the room reserved to President Truman if it needed medical care.

11^HT Armored Division and 82^Nd Airborne Division came in garrison in the American zone from Western Berlin. I was not aware that certain my buddies of the regiment of sailplane of the 17th Airborne were réassignés with the 82nd for duties of occupation. And fortunately, I never saw any of them of it, especially because I was in load of large Venereal Disease Center in West Germany. Our enormous penicillin stock was used mainly to treat infected Russian soldiers of syphilis and/or blennorrhoea.

At that time, in Berlin, there was no point of Charlie control or of wall and I could walk freely to East Berlin (the Russian zone). But I was to carry my arm-band of the Red Cross to show my statute of non-combatant. With the origin, the Russian majority of the garrisons in Berlin were made up of troops Asiatiques, Sibériennes or Mongolian controlled by Officers says “Russian white”. I thought that it was quite suitable because none them spoke English and they could not show too friendly faces with the Americans.

I had a companion male nurse who was called Dick Winters of Connecticut. He was apparently socialist pro, this who did not disturb me since the Russians were our allies and I was too innocent to have political inclinations. Dick asked me to accompany it to visit the Registered office of the German Communist Party, which I did.

We passed a little time to building HQ to take photographs. At one time, an officer “Russian white” left to challenge and question my origins to me. It thought that I was one of his soldiers who had deserted. I was surprised because it spoke a good English. After it looked at my medical indentity card , it asked to me whether I did not want to join his rows with the promise of a great reward, friendship and women. I refused and he said that it was not important because Russia will spend one day the United States with back. I said to him that never Russia could gain a war against us. It said that its paid did not intend to fight against us, but that the goal was simply to finance the teaching of the American students most brilliant and who have socialist inclinations, like my friend Dick, to become lawyers, teachers, politicians, doctors and professionals for finally making change the political point of view of the United States. Frankly, I believe that they could make a success of that! Many of our great higher educations make washings of brain to the graduates, outputting Marxistes theories and slogans anti-American. Socialism cannot be best systems. The famous Socialists were Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, Mao Tze-Tung and Castro. Bad things arrived when they were with the capacity. »

William K Tom remained in Germany for another year before returning home.

Bill Tom during a 4^thof July parade in 1946

Thanks to the GI Bill and the California Veterans benefits, he followed courses for 4 years in college to study electronics engineering, but by a quirk of fate, he became a pharmacist, graduated 1st class in the 1952 Pharmacy Class.
During those years in college, he was enrolled in the ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps) and was then 2nd Lieutenant as Assistant Battalion - AID Surgeon during the Korean War. He did not serve in Korea after the Peace Conference at Panmunjum.
After he got his degree, he worked in an ophthalmologic clinic for more than 25 years to get his own chemistry before working for a computing company and developing a national database for medicine and an international one where every single worldwide chemistry can use computers to fill their prescriptions quicker and with more details. His file on the drugs is still used in the United States and has been installed in chemistries in Canada, England and on the European continent and even in Hong Kong, not far from his parents birthplace. Bill has probably saved the lives of several wounded soldiers, as did thousands of other medics, and therefore, the highest title claim was to have been the first to develop the computerized medical files, which have helped to transform the profession of pharmacy in the modern world, a significant achievement to change the profession's oldest and most rigid of our society. He retired at 70 years old, when he got his amateur radio skills, and his license under the FCC's radio call sign, KN6QD. His latest effort during his research, was to have refined the Internet Web page that was originally developed for his family and later for the 17th Airborne, and therefore he would create a CD or DVD versions to give to our members, to transmit to future generations. And to ensure that the 17th Airborne Division and its soldiers will never be forgotten.
He ended his military service with the rank of Staff Sergeant. Other staff sergeants earned their stripes by attacking the enemy bravely exposed to mortal danger. Bill won his own courage in moving away from the enemy, our soldiers seriously injured while being exposed to mortal danger.
At the time of his 80th birthday, Bill handled as follows: he is the editor of the Appeal of E, the "Thunder From Heaven Newsletter" * Circular * thunder of Heaven, the editor of the newsletter "Cathay Amateur Radio Club Newsletter and the editor of his newsletter family. He is an amateur of oil paintings, plays the harmonica, strumming the 5 strings banjo and is learning to play a string or a 2 "er-hu" (Chinese violin that was the forerunner of our antique violin) and he also developed the 17th page of the Web 17th Airborne Division and and his hobby is to communicate in live with his radio transmitter. The most important of all, was to finish writing his autobiography and complete the annual report with his family. Bill has four children who are very beloved and who are very affectionate, Katherine (Kathy), Jacqueline (Jackie), William (Billy) and Warren, all university graduated. His joy is his six grandchildren, Robby, Shellie, Ashlyn, Terilyn, Mary Lynn and a granddaughter, Sherilyn Constance, born March 15, 2005. His golden years were further strengthened by the love of his wonderful wife, Linda Murray, Tom, and his two surviving sisters, Constance (Connie) and Mae. His golden years vividly illuminated in the light of the fervent love of family and friends.

“I have was useful as male nurse but I was trained as a preliminary like fusilier. Consequently, I have two visions of the engagements. If I had remained as fusilier my duty would have been to kill the enemy soldier while drawing on him or by inserting a bayonet in his belly and I to him would have felt glory and patriotism to kill another person or before it does not kill to me. However, like a boy of 19-20 years coming from a small city, I was assigned as male nurse my point of view becomes compassion and pain for these other young men who were mutilated or killed that they are friendly or adversaries, they had a whole a family, children, grandparents who wait the house. My training of male nurse consisted mainly of film projection in black and white on wounds of shot , how to apply a binding, a compress, a splint, sulphamide out of powder and the injection of morphine syringe in an orange. My other formation was to assemble tents, to trench for latrines and steps with heavy load on the back and to make the mannequin for other male nurse for the courses of practice inserting me of the needles in the veins. I had exceptionally large veins because I was very thin. They was very rare that I must test to carry disappeared somebody and to run in a simulation of combat. Very of a blow, the sky became red and the shots began. It was the blood and the tripe, parts of body, an arm or a head which were detached from another soldier in a thunder of explosion, piercing cries, howls and smothering in smoke. In the majority of the cases, I pushed back my experiments in the kingdom of imagination so that I can look behind me all these scenes traumatisantes to say to me that it was unreal and imaginary. Otherwise, I would have become insane, or at least contained while suffering from post-traumatic symptoms. It is clear today for me that I estimate not to have made much in this war. I was with the combat and yet I was not there .

Bill K Tom and his 65 years friendyears Joe Quad.
Photo taken during the 2008 meeting.