Sep/Oct 2005 - Korean War Veterans Association

Canadian Corner
62
Hats Off To Derby
There appeared in the September 12, 2005 Kingston [Ontario]
Whig-Standard an article featuring retired Canadian surgeon Dr. A.
Campbell Derby, who served a six-month tour in Korea with the
25th Canadian Field Dressing Station alongside the American
M.A.S.H. unit.
Derby, who has recently published a new book about his experiences
as a field surgeon in WWII and Korea, Not Least in the
Crusade: Memoirs of a Military Surgeon, noted that he never particularly
liked the television program M.A.S.H., which was based on
Korea. He told the reporter, Derek Baldwin, that he, “Rarely
watched it, because it bore little resemblance to the horrors of frontline
conflict.”
In his memoirs, Derby wrote that the extreme conditions of war
often necessitate improvements in the treatment of casualties and
important surgical advancements have been conceived and tested on
the battlefield before they are introduced into the operating rooms of
civilian hospitals.
One of the most important surgical measures used in Korea,
Derby said, was debridement, a procedure in which surgeons would
remove as much dead tissue as possible from around an injury until
the wound was bleeding and contracted, then you knew you were
into living tissue.
The wounds were then dressed and left open for five to seven
days before being closed. The secret to success
was ensuring that nothing was left in the wound
to fester and become infected.
The operating room was deadly serious, he
said, but it also proved to be a valuable learning
tool. Surgery in the field taught him methods that
later saved lives when he returned to Kingston as
chief surgeon at Canadian Forces Hospital.
After retiring from the army in 1965, Derby
went on to accept a variety of surgeon-in-chief
and teaching positions in both Canada and the
United States.
Derby, Keirstead, and Jack O.
Lantern
An excerpt from Derby’s book
Derby recalls an October night in 1952 when
he, two other doctors and his jeep driver, wellknown
Kingston painter James Keirstead, shared
a few sodas. Keirstead is quoted in Derby’s book,
recounting a scene that could have been lifted
straight from the pages of the television show’s
script.
“After several hours of partying, we headed for
home,” writes Keirstead. “But, just before we left,
the doctors swiped a large jack-o-lantern and
plunked it back into the jeep. One of them grabbed a
big wad of cotton waste, dipped it into the gas tank under the seat,
tossed it into the pumpkin, and lit it.
With Derby, by then a major, firmly ensconced in the passenger side of
the jeep, the foursome roared off into the Korean night. Keirstead writes,
“We whistled down the road in the open jeep, the wind roaring through
our orange fireball, flames and sparks flying, making a wonderful, glowing
spectacle in the dark night.”
Such unbridled fun, however, was the exception rather than the rule at
the M.A.S.H. unit, Derby said.
Wisconsin Honors Canadian Korean War
Veterans
by Colonel Cliff Borden, AUS-Retired
On Sunday, June 5, 2005 Wisconsin veterans of the Korean War
paid homage to the 516 Canadians who were killed in action while
fighting alongside United States, South Korean and other United
Nations forces in a monumental struggle against Communist aggression
which threatened to deny FREEDOM to the people of South
Korea.
The commemorative program, held at the Wisconsin Korean War
Veterans Memorial complex in the Village of Plover, in Central
Wisconsin, was sponsored by the Wisconsin Korean War Veterans
Memorial Association of Wisconsin, an independent non-profit corporation
which established the Memorial in 1994, and which is
responsible for its maintenance in perpetuity.
Wreath bearers and escorts process across causeway to island memorial. In the lead are
Memorial Association president Laveral Pieper (in blue blazer), escorted by Richard Staley (KWVA
Chapter 245). To Staley’s rear is wreath presenter, Memorial Board Vice President Verlyn Larson
(Chapter 275), followed by escort Gordon Faust (Chapter 245). Faust is escorting KVA- Canada
presenter Paul Rochon (hidden from view). Next is Gold Star Wives representative Deb Kiser,
escorted by SSG Brian Jopek (in desert camo). Behind Jopek is Jim Harvey (VP, Chapter 245).
September - October 2005
The Graybeards