[00:01.98]C I got a phone call from the chief nurse,
[00:06.06]saying,"You've got a patient there
[00:07.79]that is going to get an award.
[00:09.64]Make sure that the ward looks good."
[00:12.02]This really turned me off to begin with:"
[00:14.20]"Let's clean up the ward
[00:15.56]because we've got VIPS coming in."
[00:18.18]Well,the VIPs happened to be the general
[00:20.94]of the 25th Infantry Division
[00:23.40]and an entourage of about twelve people.
[00:26.10]This was this patient's second visit to us,
[00:28.67]this time with both his legs blown off-
[00:31.26]he was all of about twenty years old.
[00:33.94]When he was waking up from his anesthesia
[00:36.30]he whispered:"
[00:37.62]Don't you remember me,ma'am?" I said,
[00:39.42]"Oh yeah!"But really I didn't
[00:43.05]because there were so many of them.
[00:45.04]The entourage was coming to give him the award
[00:47.34]because he happened to be number twenty
[00:49.05]thousand to come through this hospital.
[00:51.55]They had this little ceremony,
[00:53.43]gave him a Purple Heart and a watch.
[00:55.88]As the general handed him the watch,
[00:57.79]"from the 25th Infantry Division,
[00:59.65]as a token of our appreciation,"
[01:02.28]the kid more or less flung the watch back at him
[01:05.46]He said something like,
[01:06.56]"I can't accept this sir;
[01:08.17]it's not going to help me walk."
[01:10.57]After this little incident,
[01:11.81]I went over and just put my arms around him
[01:14.55]and hugged him.
[01:14.55] |