A Stand for Duty in a MASH Unit

War is terrible. Working in a MASH unit can be horrible. A salute to doctors and nurses.

After standing for hours on her tired, aching feet
Beside the surgeon as he raced to save each life.
The small young nurse whose day is not complete.
Tries to forget the operating room's strife.

Three times a solder was revived from cold death's door
The amputation bucket was filled with useless and torn limbs.
Her dreams that night would be filled with blood and gore
The outlook for the last soldier was whispered as being 'grim.'

The cold shower could not numb her body's aches and pain
From the memories of corpses that came in surgery that day.
One boy was from her hometown in far northwestern Maine
Another boy was bagged for home on his 21st birthday.

She worked each shift and always gave her best.
Her letters home were short and sometimes late.
But with the loneliness and the feeling of being depressed
Her anger at war and hate for this she could not communicate.

One again the helicopters sung a song of the rain of work to be done
Triage was fast and sterilized equipment were on the tray.
The surgeons' stubborn face showed the horrors they will overcome.
And the call to duty every doctor and nurse must obey.



Written about 20 years ago. The TV show M*A*S*H is pretty close to what happened.