Ralph Laedtke US Navy USS Solace |
I am a Pearl Harbor Survivor having served aboard the USS Solace, the Navy Hospital Ship that was moored about a city block aft of the Arizona when the attack began. I had been in the Navy for 26 months and was a Pharmacist's Mate, third class (now the rating is called Hospital Corpsman). We were a non-combatant ship, painted in accordance with the Geneva Convention all white with a large red cross on either side amidships and the hull was marked with a green stripe. We were not harmed by Japanese planes, but we were all scared to death for fear that we might be attacked. We had about 150 patients on board when the attack began. Many were aboard for elective surgery and a decision was made to return as many as possible so they could fight the war. My duty station was in the Medical Records Office where we maintained all the health records of the crew and the patients. We typed those health records shortly after the attack. Meanwhile, my fellow shipmates were staffing the wards as new patients were brought aboard---many with severe burns, orthopedic cases, and the like. Other hospital corpsmen were manning the ship's two motor launches rescuing serious burn cases from the burning waters of the harbor. Patients continued coming aboard all day. Later that night the Medical Records crew had to go to each bedside to interview the patients for statistical data. All had come aboard without any records. Later on the afternoon of December 7th, I tried to fingerprint 26 unidentified seriously burned dead bodies in the hospital morgue. One of my duties was the preparation of the death certificate. Rigor mortis had set in and the flesh had been cooked as they were pulled from the fiery waters of the harbor. Unfortunately, the flesh came off the fingers and we were unable to obtain fingerprints of any of the 26 bodies. All were listed as unidentified remains. Later that night just before midnight, General Quarters was again sounded as an incoming flight of planes approached Pearl Harbor. This time it was a flight of US Army Air Corps. planes from the west coast. My ship remained at Pearl Harbor caring for casualties until early in March 1942 when we sailed to Samoa for about 30 days, then to the Tonga Tabu in the Society Islands for 100 days where we received casualties from the Coral Sea Battle and the Midway Battle. Thence on to Noumea, New Caledonia in early August 1942. There were handled patients from Guadal Canal making 20 trips to Mobile Hospitals at Auckland and Wellington, NX. We participated in the invasions of the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, and the battle to regain Guam and Saipan from the Japanese. After 37 months in the war zone, all the remaining Hospital Corpsmen who commissioned the ship on August 9, 1941, were sent back to the USA for recuperation and reassignment. I made a career of the US Navy, serving 35 years of active duty and retired as a Captain, Medical Service Corps. US Navy on August 31, 1974. At that time, I was serving as Commanding Officer of the Naval Hospital Corps School at Great Lakes, IL, and the first Medical Service Corps officer to command the school. I joined the faculty of The Chicago Medical School and taught a series of management courses in their baccalaureate degree program for x-ray technologists, Medical Laboratory technologists, and Physical Therapists. I obtained a masters degree in Management and Health Care Management and then joined the faculty of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale as program coordinator of two baccalaureate degree programs at Great Lakes and in Chicago. I retired from the university on August 31, 1988. |
Information provided by Ralph Laedtke. |
