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On April 1 1951 I was doing a little extra
duty doing a hot tar roofing job up on a 45 foot high roof of a Mess Hall,pitch
roof. I'd been up there mostly all day,i'd pull a 5 gallon bucket of boiling tar
up with a rope,it was getting close to 4:45 pm when i was walking up toward the
top of this roof that i some how steped on the rope,pulling the bucket of
boiling tat out of my right hand,when the bucket hit the roof and the hot tar
went toward the top of roof i tryed to jump up over it,but some of that tar was
under the tip of my shoe,as i started to leap i sliped and turned in mid air to
go to the left of the tar,no luck ,i came down in the tar,at maybe 10 feet down
the roof,when i got the first shock of the tar i went airborne and landed on
ground screaming.I was transported to the 34th Army General Hosiptal on the west
side of Okinawa.halfway between Naha and Kadena.In the ER all my clothes were
cut-off. Army Doctor ask
me how do I get tar off,i tell him Jet fuel,at that time jp-1,he sent an aid to
get some,when he returns it takes about an hour an ahalf to get it off my right
hand and arm,face,left arm and the bottom of my legs, Well when all this is done
i feel ok,the jet fuel was cool runing over my skin,Right hand look ok at that
moment,wheeled me off to the surgery ward,Felt good,had given me a shot,went to
sleep and was woken very early. I was treated by a Navy Doctor,he check me out
and told me what was happening,As each day went by i started developing
blusters,soon i had to keep my right hand up at shoulder because of the pressure
in hand an arm,with-in a week i had to keep my hand on top of my head,only when
standing,laying down wasn't to bad..
On the 14th day was taken into surgery to remove all blisters.
A few days latter My Navy Doc and the head Army surgical Doc had a talk with me
that morn and the Army Doc told us that my right hand had to be amputate,well i
kind of belived what i was told,but the the Navy Doctor ask the Army
Doctor for permission to try and save my hand,telling him that he had a
lot of schooling in treating burns,was granted.
My hand had shrunk at the wrist and turned toward the inside of elbow,I had
two holes to the bone on right arm and three on left arm,I was barbecued,my face
was healing good,a few days go by ,then one morning my Doc ask me to try moving
my fingers,i could,next day tells me to grab my right hand at wrist with my
left,put my right elbow into pit of my stomach and move hand toward him,well it
moved some,buy a lot of pain,he tells me to take a break, we had a
talk,then he has me try again,but as i went for my wrist with left hand he the
Doc shoved his right hand on top of my right elbow and with his left hand
he grabs my right wrist and pulls as hard as he can and bends my wrist toward
him.it moved alright and split wide open and the blood hit the celling and me
right along with it ,screaming,The Navy Doctor Saved my Hand,was in the hosiptal
till the 15th of July 1951,Had some trouble with the hand over the years that
went by,but mostly in the winter months here in the nor-east,some times lose
feeling in hand,sometimes in the past while holding a glass it would slip out of
my hand.
Les Hanson A LongAgo Airman
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