The Day the Hand Grenade Exploded - 1951

We were operating a radio station at a mountaintop. My job was to tune and repair the transmitters and receivers when they malfunctioned which was frequent. We were not near the front lines and it was an easy location in that we did not have to climb a high mountain. Our station was along side the road.

One afternoon I was just loafing sitting and reading in the warm sun. It was a pleasant day to relax. We didn't have too many of those days. I noticed an old man walking down the road towards us. Then to my surprise he disappeared in a puff of smoke. I was amazed at the event and wondered how he had done such a trick when the sound of the explosion reached me. The old man staggered and fell. I rushed over to him and discovered he had pulled the pin on a hand grenade and had held it in his hand as it exploded. It was obvious that he did not know what he had done.

Other people came running including his family and I helped carry him home. There was much moaning and crying as they found out what had happened. There is no medical help for civilians and they looked to me for help. I tried to do what I could with my limited resources and skills. The grenade was fortunately a Chinese grenade. They are in a wooden case unlike American grenades that are in a metal case that rips you apart. Even so, he was in bad shape with lots of blood everywhere. His face was badly torn. One ear was barely hanging on.

After a little praying I began to do what I could. I took ordinary straight needle and thread and began to sew up his the worst cuts. He didn't utter a word as I stitched and stitched flesh back together. I got our first aid kit and bandaged him the best I could. I spent perhaps three hours patching him up. I gave him aspirin and a shot of penicillin. I told the family I would come the next day to check on him.

The next day all his bandages were blood soaked and I changed them all. The same thing happened the next day. I could not stop the bleeding. I told them he was not to move for 24 hours. When I came the next day most of the wounds had stopped bleeding. He got better and better and finally fully recovered. The family and I became great friends and they often invited me to dinner.

But I was hooked. After that people from all around would come to me for medical attention. It was sad to not be able to help everyone but satisfying when I could help some.