Bucks Montgomery Physician Fall 2020 - 19

CREATIVE CORNER

Silence of the Yams -
A Thanksgiving Tale
by Richard Weiss, MD
During my time in Korea as a surgeon in a
M*A*S*H unit, many strange things happened.

The next day, those who chose the latter were
strangely absent from duty. A quick search
of the Pusan Perimeter was conducted-the
potato troops were nowhere to be found.

There was the time the troops were
entertained by Whitney Austin, who called
herself "the Queen of Seoul."
There was the music of a local politician who called
himself "Singman Rhee." When we were overrun and
nearly obliterated by the Chinese Army in the winter
of 1950, we conceived of Hell as frigid-not hot.
But the weirdest thing had to do with our
rations: unappetizing to say the least, bland
in the extreme, and ritually questionable for
those who attempted to keep kosher.

Finally, reconnaissance located a small knot of soldiers
grouped about latrines situated on the periphery
of the base. Their fatigues were all down around
their ankles, and they were in obvious distress.
Those who had stumbled upon them attempted
to make such conversation as the conditions
would allow. But it was a one-way situation.
These poor guys were too weak to talk-too spent the
day after their "feast" that they couldn't utter a sound.

Thanksgiving 1951 came around. Some of us had
miraculously survived the previous year's Chinese
offensive, which drove our terribly exposed ranks
from North Korea back across the 38th parallel into
the South. Months after this debacle the famous
commanding general had finally been sacked
by the President, for this and other reasons.

Years later, in civilian life, over Thanksgiving
Dinner, they referred to this episode
as The Silence of The Yams.

Our once-depleted forces were slowly being
replenished. In order to bolster morale, the brass
promised us a Thanksgiving feast, one that rank
and file troops had never before experienced.
We had a choice of traditional turkey with cranberry
sauce and stuffing; roast beef a jus; lamb chops;
and for those who chose, an assortment of pastas.
Side dishes included broccoli rabe, fifteen
varieties of olives, and sweet potatoes.

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Bucks Montgomery Physician Fall 2020

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