World War II, Walter McBride

Walter McBride thought he would be spared from the draft.

“I was sitting there on the farm and thought I was safe. After Dec. 7, orders came in and put me in the 1A,” said McBride.

He was 28 years old working on his own farm in Nebraska. The Army drafted him in February 1942.

He went to Camp Robinson, Ark., for two months of extensive medic training. He learned how to give shots by practicing on oranges. Then the men had to give shots to each other.

Though he received numerous shots, he said his arms weren’t sore. “I was tough then,” he said.

The men learned about pressure points that could save a man’s life if he were bleeding.

He went to the medical barracks in Barksdale, La., where he was put with the 35th Bomb Training Group, which had B-26 bombers. His unit was attached to the Air Force. He gave the crews medical safety training and made sure they had all of their shots before they were sent overseas.

While in Louisiana, he received a Dear John letter from his girlfriend back in Nebraska. Meanwhile, the women at Memorial Methodist Church sent word to the chaplain that the men were welcome to attend church there. He met the woman he married there. They did most of their courting by mail.

One of the doctors he worked with in Louisiana was transferred to the B-29s with the 3rd Air Force. He requested McBride come with him to Colorado Springs.

McBride typed accident and injury reports. He wrote a lot of reports about B-26 crashes. He quickly learned the importance of flawless typing. Once he had to type a three-page, single-space report. He hyphenated one word incorrectly and had to retype it.

He also cared for men with minor injuries and headaches.

TIME IN SAIPAN
In 1944, he flew over on a transport plane to Saipan. The island was secure, but the men weren’t allowed to go back in the hills. They feared some stragglers were hiding in the caves.

McBride worked in the wing headquarters and did more accident reports. He was the head enlisted man in a medical wing section of 15,000 men. He spent most of his time typing.

McBride saw a lot of wounded men come to the wing hospital. If they had serious injuries, they were sent to the main hospital on Saipan. A lot of the injured men came from Iwo Jima.

One day McBride received the honor of taking the temperature of Brig. Gen. Emmett O’Donnell Jr. He came into the office for a headache. The main doctor was horrified when he walked into the room.

He said, “Mac, why did you use the rectal thermometer to take his temperature?”

When recalling the moment, McBride said: “I don’t know whether that was my fault or what. I think it hurt the general more than it hurt me.”

FREE TIME
During free time, the men walked down to the ocean to look at fish of various colors around the coral reefs. They also enjoyed watching movies.

One night the men were outside sitting on oil barrels, watching a movie. “A Betty, a Japanese plane, went between us and the screen with a P-38 behind it,” McBride said. “When the plane went through there, Col. Green reached over to pick his helmet up and three men ran over him, before he got straightened up.” The Betty didn’t drop any bombs down, because it was too busy was trying to get away.

AFTER THE WAR
McBride served on Saipan a little more than a year. “I’m glad I went, even if they had to drag me,” McBride said. He returned to Nebraska with his bride. They moved to Missouri about five years later.

The bond the men shared on Saipan lasted a lifetime. About five years ago, a man from Pennsylvania who was observing his 80th birthday wanted to talk to McBride. His wife fulfilled that wish by locating McBride on the computer and calling him. The men talked for a long time.

McBride is 94 and lives in Sedalia.