Encoded for the Experiencing War web site for the Veterans History Project.
The recording of the interview with William Donald Battle was digitized.
This transcription was encoded with minimal changes to the original text in an effort to preserve original content and idiosyncrasies of the person interviewed. Period language and terminology are also retained. Encoding is literal with regard to the transcriptionist's capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. Spelling errors are indicated with [sic]; however, recurring errors in spelling within a single document have been marked the first time and not subsequently.
Today is December 1, 2001. We're in Modesto, California. My name is Wesley Battle. I'm interviewing my grandfather, William Donald Battle -- Dr. William Donald Battle, And he served in the Army Medical Corps.
First, I'd like to ask you to give a little background on your life, like before the war.
Before the war?
Yes.
Starting from the beginning?
Sure. When you were born and --
Born in Dallas, Texas, in 1919. Went through high school in Dallas and went to the University of Texas in Austin, taking premed courses. And was then accepted to medical school in the University of Texas, medical branch in Galveston, 1941. A little anecdote here. After I finished at the university, in the rooming house I was living, I went home and had not heard from the application I had made to the university medical branch. And I knew I had about five days to hear from them. And I got a call from the house where I lived. One of the fellows said that the mail which was just scattered on the table downstairs was found out in the yard. Some dog had moved it out there. And it was my acceptance. And I had about two days to say yes or not go to medical school. So I immediately called down to Galveston and told them I'd be there and I was. And our medical school was the first medical school in the country to go on a year-round basis. We went four quarters a year for three years rather than three quarters a year. And I actually had more time in class than the four-year schools which all subsequently became three-year schools. In any event, I was deferred in medical school as a medical lieutenant, second lieutenant, medical administrative commission, which was a paper commission. And then our senior year the military decided to take all the medical students into either the Army or Navy, and we had our choice. I chose the Army under the ASTP program. We then went over to San Antonio to be inducted and get haircuts and gear, came back and went to school and were made privates first class. Our commissions were no longer practical. And we were actually on active duty then my last year and then graduated as a first lieutenant in 1944. Then I had an internship at Harvard in Boston, at the Boston City Hospital, the Harvard service, but it did not start until October. We were only allowed one year before being called to active duty, so I turned it down and took an internship which started right away, July 1944, in Madison, Wisconsin. And I never regretted that as the teaching facilities there were superb. The dean was probably the most well-known teacher of medicine in the United States. He was formerly the Chief Medical Officer in Eisenhower's headquarters in the ETO, European Theater.
What was his name?
Dr. Bill Middleton. And I was fortunate enough to be on his teaching service for six months as well as six months on the medical chief's service too. So my internship was very rewarding. At the end of it I was immediately called to active duty and went to boot camp for doctors, which was in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. That's where they made or tried to make soldiers out of doctors, who were noted to be poor people to discipline, but half of my class was there, the half of it signed up to be in the Army, so we had a class reunion there for six weeks. My orders were then to go to the European Theater of Operation from Fort Dix in New Jersey. After a while at Carlisle barracks, VJ occurred -- VJ Day occurred May 8, 1944. My orders were immediately changed, as were most all of our class, to go to the West Coast for disbursement to the PTO, the Pacific Theater. So I went to first on temporary duty at a hospital in Pennsylvania for six weeks and then out to the West Coast. I was never in a unit. I was assigned to a separation center as the war was nearing an end. And this was 1945, VJ Day had occurred. The atomic bomb was dropped shortly after that, and then the war ended very quickly for which we that were going to be assigned to the Pacific were very glad, as it saved thousands of our lives as well as many thousands of Japanese lives who would have been involved in the skirmishes through the islands if they still held. So after the separation center, I was transferred to the transportation corps, for what reason I do not know, and was assigned to a hospital in Torrance, California, station hospital. And I was there about several months and then assigned to a hospital ship, the U.S. Hospital Ship MERCY, which was one of three ships that were hybrid ships. They were operated by the Navy with an Army complement aboard. There were about eight doctors. We had about 20 or 30 nurses and maybe 50 or so corpsmen. We were dispatched to the Pacific to go to the Philippines to bring back soldiers who were injured and hospitalized there. On the way over the Navy decided they would decommission the ship, and the Army had nothing to say about it. And so we ended up in Hawaii, Pearl Harbor. This was towards the end of '45, 1945. And we had nothing to do as the Army unit on the ship, so we went to the beach every day and played volleyball and had a keg of beer or two. Then the Navy decided we'd go back to San Francisco where they would formally decommission the ship, and we sat in Fort Mason Harbor there in San Francisco for a month or so again with nothing to do. So I got on the cable car every day during the week and went over the hills to Stanford Lane Medical School. Stanford was still in San Francisco at that time, had not moved down to the farm until 1957. And I made rounds with the very distinguished professors of medicine, surgery, neurosurgery, and it was quite rewarding. We were then transferred up to the stage -- Camp Stonewall Station Hospital, where I had a couple of wards of patients that were mostly waiting to be discharged. It was here that I met Ellen Wagner who was secretary of the radiology department. And I subsequently, after I had received notice that I would be accepted back at the University of Wisconsin for a residency for three years, and so I took her back, and we married in Wisconsin. Before going back, I was almost toured, as I had orders on the ship, the MERCY, which after the Navy decommissioned it, the Merchant Marine took it over. And it was not good enough for them, they had to have bigger quarters, better bathrooms, everything much better. So it was several hundred thousand dollars was spent on it, and I was still assigned to the ship even through the Merchant Marine was going to run it now instead of the Navy, and I was ordered to go to Korea, which I knew would foul my residency up which started the first of May in 1947. Fortunately, my terminal leave and two- year hitch was up, and I screamed loudly, I was able to get off that assignment and was able to get out of the Army Medical Corps and went back to Wisconsin. Of course, the war was over at this time.
Okay. Going back to the beginning, like just as a person in college, what were your first thoughts of war?
Well, we weren't in the war then, of course. It was all in Europe. This was about 1937, 1941, and I was so immersed in premedical courses, laboratories every afternoon. I had to give up my favorite sport. At the time I was on the freshman tennis team, but I had no time to practice, challenge people on the ladder. But in any event, thinking about the war, I hardly noticed it. It was just something over there in Europe. We, of course, were allies of the British and, of course, favoring them and figured we'd be in it before long.
Where were you December 7th?
December 7th I had started medical school in July 1941 with the summer quarter, first quarter of a four-quarter year. I was studying that Sunday morning for an anatomy quiz, which we had every Monday morning. And one of my roommates or colleagues came in and said Pearl Harbor had been bombed. I first thought, Where is that? Then it dawned on me that was in Hawaii. And I thought, Well, are there ships or anybody coming up the Gulf of Mexico? Galveston is almost a small island south of Houston about 40 miles. And we immediately had orders to douse all our lights at night, particularly those facing south towards the Gulf. And we figured we'd be in uniform shortly, although at present we were deferred.
Why did you join the Army instead the Navy?
I joined the Army instead of the Navy because I wanted to stay on land, not be on the water. And then as it happened I ended up on a hospital ship, which I enjoyed doing. And I never was sea sick, and I enjoyed being on the ship that we were on. And that's why I joined the Army.
How was your -- where did you go, like you went to the Philippines and Hawaii.
Yes, we went towards the Philippines.
How far did you get?
We got to about Hawaii -- about to Hawaii, when the Navy, as I mentioned, decided to decommission the ship. So we landed in Hawaii while the bureaucratic procedures were going on. So as I mentioned, we stayed there a month or maybe six weeks or more before coming back to San Francisco. So we did instead of bringing back soldiers from the Philippines, we brought back soldiers from Troutman Hospital in Honolulu and brought them back to San Francisco hospital.
What was different having a life as a serviceman compared to the private sector?
Private citizen?
Yes.
Well, it was quite different. You had orders to do this and that. And, of course, we were a little more leniency than most soldiers, because we were not a unit. When we went into the service, it was our senior year. We did have to wear uniforms and meet every morning at 7:30 for roll call by one of the regular Army officers, and then we put on our white coats -- short white coats indicating we were students, and that's all we had to do except we did have one hour of class about five days a week on military indoctrination. It was much different. We felt rather outcoerced most of the time, but we generally had it very good compared to the soldiers that were on the front lines.
Okay. What were your most memorable experiences or cases?
One anecdotal case, as you mentioned, was on the ship before we were leaving Pearl Harbor. One of the soldiers was late getting on, just barely on the ship. Or I think he was AWOL for a couple of days. He'd supposed to have been back, and I don't know -- I can't recall all the details, but the captain of the ship had him court-martialed. And I was appointed the defense attorney. The adjutant to the captain was the prosecutor, and three of my fellow officers, a major and two captains, were the jury. And we studied up on the manual for court martial. And I didn't know what I was doing, and obviously none of the rest of the people involved did either, but he was obviously guilty; but it wasn't any major crime, some shenanigans, which I don't recall now. The prosecutor got all confused and made a mess of things, and the three judges dismissed him -- acquitted him. The captain congratulated me on doing a good job, but he was unhappy. He says, We'll have no more court martials with this kind of an outcome, because during the war, and maybe even now, court martials were supposed to be almost sine qua non convictions. But anyway, this soldier was acquitted. And that's my only brush or time that I had with any litigation at any time.
Do you remember the soldier's name?
I don't remember.
How did you stay in touch with family when you were in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin?
We didn't make as many phone calls in those days. Wrote letters, wrote letters once every week. And when I went into the Army, I had a few days to go to Dallas where my parents lived before going to the Carlisle barracks. And then after the Carlisle barracks, to the hospital in Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh, before going to the West Coast I came through Dallas and saw them for a few days. And then it was mainly by letter. And then when I returned to San Francisco, I called and talked to them on the telephone. We just didn't use the telephone as much as we do these days. And so I kept in pretty close touch.
Was your job ever stressful?
Not really. I was always planning to be an internist, a nonsurgical physician, and so I was not on any surgical services. And I felt like I was able to take care of the complement of soldiers that have been injured or ill in a competent manner and the people around me, the other doctors were likewise, I felt, very well trained. And I think the time I was practicing medicine in the Army, which was not a lot of time, was not stressful at all. My only stress was wanting to get out like everybody else did, particularly after the war and particularly I wanted to get out in time to get the residency in Wisconsin and that was very stressful. I was able to accomplish that.
What did you do on the ship during the service?
Well, on the ship we had no particular entertainment. Being in the Army, we could converse with the captain of the ship, with the lieutenant commander. And he couldn't have any of his Navy up into his cabin or quarters. They didn't mix, but he could have us Army up there. So we went up frequently to his quarters where we played gin rummy and had a very cordial relationship with him. Then the other entertainment was mainly in Hawaii when we had this six-week hiatus when they were deciding what to do with the ship.
When you were working towards -- how did you feel towards like operations, just the war as it was going on at that time?
It was -- let's see in Torrance, I forget the dates exactly. VJ Day was May 8th. The Russians came into the war three months after, which they said they would do when Hitler and Germany surrendered. They did, and when the atomic bombs being dropped.
Was that VE Day (inaudible)?
VE Day. VJ Day was -- I'm not sure, about May 12 somewhere around in there -- not May, August the 12th. Not long after the Russians came in and immediately after Harry Truman dropped the bombs -- or had them dropped. So what was your question?
How did you feel around then? The community of Torrance, like what was happening?
Torrance, it's south of Los Angeles, and I bought a car from a doctor that was just being shipped somewhere. It was a Model A Ford that I could commute to Los Angeles. And I went to Los Angeles for -- I went to a Rose Bowl game that was being played, and I went to the library there several times, and so I got around pretty well. Also I went to a tennis match that was between Bill Tilden, a famous star of yester year who was playing Bobbie Riggs, who was just a newcomer at that time. And they played one set which Bill Tilden won. He was -- they called him old then at 50, which anyone would think was old. And so that was fun to do. And that was the primary things I did, went into Los Angeles when I had time off.
How was the community towards like -- this was after (inaudible) -- how was the community as a whole like with the war effort and getting it back together?
After the war are you talking about?
When you were in Torrance, the war effort.
Well --
Like if they would see you around.
They were very well received. There were soldiers in uniform. It's like the Vietnam war where soldiers were kind of forgotten and not particularly given support. We had good community support wherever we went, and people were very cordial and kind in every way.
How did you feel towards the other soldiers that served?
Well, we were good friends with the people that I was on the ship with, communicated with some after the war, most of them. And we had a good camaraderie, but we were all wanting to get out so badly. We were looking forward to that.
How did you feel towards like the people who fought, like say in the islands?
Well, we saw some of those coming back, and we felt that we owed them a great obligation for what they had done and the conditions they had been under compared to what we had. The ship I was on, as I mentioned, was like three ships, MERCY, HOPE, COMFORT. One of the hospital ships had been hit by a Japanese torpedo. It wasn't sunk, and I wasn't on the MERCY at this time. I was on the MERCY after the war, but it was just a sideline -- a side issue that it happened. The ship I was on had a good record of being in the Pacific, backing up the injured aboard.
What was your most or the biggest injury case that you saw?
Oh, I saw some amputees that had been amputated in battalion stations, and those were the most serious and the ones that you felt the most sorry and empathy for. Several of them that were coming back over were in fairly good shape. And, you know, came back safely. We didn't have any deaths on the ship.
How do you think the war affected you and your life?
Well, I figured that it delayed my medical career by two years, which I was lucky. I originally mentioned going in in '41, but that was just being deferred being in medical school. And I really wasn't even in the war then, and likewise in internship I wasn't, so I really only served two years of active duty and was very happy to get out and get back to active stage of my career, that is training in internal medicine for three years in Wisconsin. I enjoyed it even though it was -- the weather wasn't very good. As my wife mentioned, nine months of winter and three months of poor sledding. I would walk to the hospital, which we lived in an apartment about three or four blocks from the hospital. It might be 20 degrees below in the worst winters, and people walking along would say, It's refreshing, isn't it? It was freezing.
And if there wasn't a war, you would have...
I'd have just gone straight on through.
Do you feel better or worse because of it?
Oh, after now, I figured two years at that stage -- it seemed like a lot of time then. Now I'm glad that I did it. And I was ready to do whatever they wanted me to do and went into the active duty because we all were under the gun to do whatever they wanted to with us. And I felt good that I had been in the Army, although I didn't like it at that time.
And anything you want to say to future generations about World War II?
Yes, I was hoping that would be the last war. We've had a few since then, the Korean War, and the Vietnam and Persian Gulf war, and now a different kind of war. And I do have some very strong feelings about the recent move that President Bush has made, George W. Bush now, during this terrorist war that we've been attacked that I think he should have the right to have any of the terrorists captured, be tried in military courts in secrecy and not necessarily in this country. I see there are some bleeding hearts that feel that we're overriding the Constitution, but I think in times of war, and this is a war except the enemy is not in one place. It has to be ferreted out. And I feel very strongly that we should support the president. A similar incident occurred in 1942. I just read in the paper where FDR said the same thing, that they would have military tribunals for war criminals. And, of course, the liberal people felt that this was contrary to the Constitution. And FDR said he didn't care whether it was or not, he wasn't going to turn them over to the federal courts. But they appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court met in emergency session and voted unanimously to uphold Roosevelt's decision, but they made the statement that we're the ones that decide this, not you. And so I think that if it comes to a court action now that the Supreme Court should do the same for Bush, because I don't think we should fool around with these people that attacked our country and killed several thousand people, innocent people. So that's just for the moment how I feel.
Any additions you want to just make about this tape that you're doing?
About this war or anything?
Whatever you want.
I just hope that we can end this bombing. I don't like bombing, and I know that innocent people have been getting bombed in it, but on the other hand, war is hell, as Sherman said. And we have to get rid of these terrorists or nobody is going to be safe. I'm glad to see that 125 other countries are gradually beginning to think the same thing, that these terrorist actions can happen in their country. Spain has arrested eight terrorists and are holding them. I hope they take care of them accordingly. And I hope this war gets over quickly. I feel sorry for the Afghan people who are not Arabs at all. They are Persians or Serbs, I think. And I'm very impressed with them, although they've been fighting with one another for years. But anyway, I hope this gets settled with a minimum loss of lives of anybody, whether they be -- even the Taliban, but they deserve it. They brought it on, particularly the Al Qaeda cells.
Thank you for your time.
You're welcome. I hope it's not too broken up. You might get something out of it.
Thanks a lot.