Veteran Interview with Bill Gober (C)
5:00 Mr. Gober describes the conditions that were endured at the Chosin Reservoir.Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive Interview with Bill Gober June 23, 2011 Florence, Alabama Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood Clip 3 Bill Gober: We tried to bring out our dead and wounded. An...
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| Format: | Electronic |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library
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| Online Access: | https://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/war/id/148 |
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Electronic |
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War Years at Home and Abroad Collection |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library |
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Military life |
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Military life Veteran Interview with Bill Gober (C) Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
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Military life Military rations; War casualties; Korean War, 1950-1953 |
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5:00 Mr. Gober describes the conditions that were endured at the Chosin Reservoir.Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Bill Gober
June 23, 2011
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood
Clip 3
Bill Gober: We tried to bring out our dead and wounded. And, of course, when you get into that temperature, you don't have any hot food, you don't have any baths, you don't have any nothing—
Clint Alley: Yeah.
BG: —but freeze. And there were between thirty-five hundred and four thousand guys lost both hands and feet from frostbite.
CA: Goodness.
BG: Plus the wounded and the dead. And when we got back to, got back to here there were about five thousand of us was still able to walk. [Mr. Gober points to a point on a map]. The rest of them, rest of them was casualties, one way or the other.
CA: Five thousand out of twenty-three thousand?
BG: Um-hm.
CA: My goodness, um. Well, did you have any, any frostbite?
BG: Around forty percent.
CA: Forty percent.
BG: But I've still got my hands and feet.
CA: Yeah.
BG: And I had to go to Birmingham here about seven years ago and have evaluation done and, and I talked to a doctor for four hours.
CA: Um.
BG: That's unheard of. He wanted, what's they's wanting, why I still have two hands and feet. They's so many have lost their hands and feet, few fingers or toes. I'm lucky; I've still got all five fingers and all five toes. And they wanted to know why. CA: So they wanted to study you, huh?
BG: Well they's four of us in this area. Laverne Tate, used to be the DA over at Lauderdale County, he was the Army guy and John Green at Lexington and Bobby Bray at Russellville. But Laverne and Bobby is dead. They died last year.
CA: Um-hm. And did you say they, they had their hands and feet as well.
BG: Yeah, all four, all four of us had hands, still had our hands and feet. And we all four had to go to Birming—, they sent us to Birmingham. We didn't have to go.
CA: Um-hm.
BG: They asked us, the VA out here asked us to go.
CA: Okay. My goodness.
BG: And we all volunteered to go.
CA: Yeah.
BG: And the opinion why we still have hands and feet is our size inside. We didn't have as much fluid. Do you know what, really what frostbite is?
CA: Unh-uh.
BG: You have any idea?
CA: Not really, I, I've always just thought it's where your limbs get too cold and, and quit working.
BG: No, your, your body fluid freezes inside your body.
CA: Oh.
BG: You have, actually have ice inside your body.
CA: Um.
Rhonda Haygood: Um.
BG: Looks like a crossword puzzle when you see it on a film—
CA: Um.
BG: —a video.
RH: Um.
CA: Um, my goodness. And they think because y'all were small fellows that y'all didn't have as much fluid.
BG: You'd have probably lost your hands and feet.
CA: Yeah, yeah.
BG: You've got more fluid.
CA: Um-hm.
BG: You'd have had more ice in your body than I did.
CA: Hum, my goodness. That makes sense.
RH: I've never heard that. Yeah.
CA: I'd never heard that either.
RH: That's interesting.
CA: Wow. Well, so, had a lot of frostbite. How did y'all treat that? Was there anyway of treating it while you were in the field?
BG: No, ah, there ain't but one, really, not but one treatment for it. And you use it every day.
CA: Yeah?
BG: Warm water.
CA: Warm water.
BG: And we didn't have no warm water in, in forty below zero weather. You don't have nothing but ice.
CA: Yeah. Um. So did y'all have any shelter at all during this time?
BG: No shelter.
CA: Um.
BG: No shelter, no heat, no baths, no [unintelligible]. You go almost ninety days without a bath.
CA: Um, my goodness.
BG: No hot food. We lived on two crackers, a little jam, had a little can of fruit, Tootsie Rolls, or a Hershey bar. That was the meal.
CA: Um-hm.
BG: Period.
CA: And y'all had just one meal a day?
BG: Well, you just ate it.
CA: Just whenever.
BG: Whenever you—
CA: Whenever you could.
BG: —when you had a chance to eat, you ate.
CA: Yeah. Um, my goodness.
BG: See most time we were, we were in combat constant, practically. Sometimes at night you wouldn't, they'd let off a little bit, but it was nearly constant. And ever, when you went around a curve, or went over a, have a high hill above you, the Chinese was there. They didn't want you to go through, so you had to eliminate them to get through. The company up front would do that, then they'd pick up the rear and the next company would get the next one. And that's how we came out.
CA: Um. |
| title |
Veteran Interview with Bill Gober (C) |
| titleStr |
Veteran Interview with Bill Gober (C) |
| author |
Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
| author_facet |
Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
| id |
FLCPLwar148 |
| url |
https://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/war/id/148 |
| thumbnail |
http://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getthumbnail/collection/war/id/148 |
| _version_ |
1705462192849027072 |
| spelling |
Veteran Interview with Bill Gober (C)Military rations; War casualties; Korean War, 1950-19535:00 Mr. Gober describes the conditions that were endured at the Chosin Reservoir.Florence-Lauderdale Public LibraryFlorence-Lauderdale Public LibraryBill Gober2011-06-23sound; textaudio/mp3; text/pdfEnglishPart of the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library CollectionMay be protected under U.S. Copyright laws. Contact the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library for permission to use.Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Bill Gober
June 23, 2011
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood
Clip 3
Bill Gober: We tried to bring out our dead and wounded. And, of course, when you get into that temperature, you don't have any hot food, you don't have any baths, you don't have any nothing—
Clint Alley: Yeah.
BG: —but freeze. And there were between thirty-five hundred and four thousand guys lost both hands and feet from frostbite.
CA: Goodness.
BG: Plus the wounded and the dead. And when we got back to, got back to here there were about five thousand of us was still able to walk. [Mr. Gober points to a point on a map]. The rest of them, rest of them was casualties, one way or the other.
CA: Five thousand out of twenty-three thousand?
BG: Um-hm.
CA: My goodness, um. Well, did you have any, any frostbite?
BG: Around forty percent.
CA: Forty percent.
BG: But I've still got my hands and feet.
CA: Yeah.
BG: And I had to go to Birmingham here about seven years ago and have evaluation done and, and I talked to a doctor for four hours.
CA: Um.
BG: That's unheard of. He wanted, what's they's wanting, why I still have two hands and feet. They's so many have lost their hands and feet, few fingers or toes. I'm lucky; I've still got all five fingers and all five toes. And they wanted to know why. CA: So they wanted to study you, huh?
BG: Well they's four of us in this area. Laverne Tate, used to be the DA over at Lauderdale County, he was the Army guy and John Green at Lexington and Bobby Bray at Russellville. But Laverne and Bobby is dead. They died last year.
CA: Um-hm. And did you say they, they had their hands and feet as well.
BG: Yeah, all four, all four of us had hands, still had our hands and feet. And we all four had to go to Birming—, they sent us to Birmingham. We didn't have to go.
CA: Um-hm.
BG: They asked us, the VA out here asked us to go.
CA: Okay. My goodness.
BG: And we all volunteered to go.
CA: Yeah.
BG: And the opinion why we still have hands and feet is our size inside. We didn't have as much fluid. Do you know what, really what frostbite is?
CA: Unh-uh.
BG: You have any idea?
CA: Not really, I, I've always just thought it's where your limbs get too cold and, and quit working.
BG: No, your, your body fluid freezes inside your body.
CA: Oh.
BG: You have, actually have ice inside your body.
CA: Um.
Rhonda Haygood: Um.
BG: Looks like a crossword puzzle when you see it on a film—
CA: Um.
BG: —a video.
RH: Um.
CA: Um, my goodness. And they think because y'all were small fellows that y'all didn't have as much fluid.
BG: You'd have probably lost your hands and feet.
CA: Yeah, yeah.
BG: You've got more fluid.
CA: Um-hm.
BG: You'd have had more ice in your body than I did.
CA: Hum, my goodness. That makes sense.
RH: I've never heard that. Yeah.
CA: I'd never heard that either.
RH: That's interesting.
CA: Wow. Well, so, had a lot of frostbite. How did y'all treat that? Was there anyway of treating it while you were in the field?
BG: No, ah, there ain't but one, really, not but one treatment for it. And you use it every day.
CA: Yeah?
BG: Warm water.
CA: Warm water.
BG: And we didn't have no warm water in, in forty below zero weather. You don't have nothing but ice.
CA: Yeah. Um. So did y'all have any shelter at all during this time?
BG: No shelter.
CA: Um.
BG: No shelter, no heat, no baths, no [unintelligible]. You go almost ninety days without a bath.
CA: Um, my goodness.
BG: No hot food. We lived on two crackers, a little jam, had a little can of fruit, Tootsie Rolls, or a Hershey bar. That was the meal.
CA: Um-hm.
BG: Period.
CA: And y'all had just one meal a day?
BG: Well, you just ate it.
CA: Just whenever.
BG: Whenever you—
CA: Whenever you could.
BG: —when you had a chance to eat, you ate.
CA: Yeah. Um, my goodness.
BG: See most time we were, we were in combat constant, practically. Sometimes at night you wouldn't, they'd let off a little bit, but it was nearly constant. And ever, when you went around a curve, or went over a, have a high hill above you, the Chinese was there. They didn't want you to go through, so you had to eliminate them to get through. The company up front would do that, then they'd pick up the rear and the next company would get the next one. And that's how we came out.
CA: Um.http://server15947.contentdm.oclc.org/u?/war,148 |