Yes, even nurses have war stories.

We all worked hard, 12 hours a day, 6 days a week and at times, like when LZ Mary Anne got overrun, 16-20 hours straight with only an occasional potty break.

But, we also had silly times, times to let off steam. Every once in awhile, someone would "find" a bunch of steaks and we would get a cutup steel drum, some charcoal and have a bar-b-que on the beach. Wonder where that steel drum came from. Off-duty was spent in the "O" club or the beach, what little off-duty time we had.

To break the stress in the wards, we would pull practical jokes on each other and even on the patients. I remember this one guy, a 6 footer from the Ranger Company who was in our hospital for malaria. This guy was a big chicken when it came to getting his blood drawn and needles in general. So, one day I thought I would play a joke on him, kind of a pay-back for all the time he gave me grief when I went to draw his blood. I took a 60cc syringe, attached a 6-inch spinal needle to it and proceeded down to his bed. When he saw that contraption, his eyes just about bugged out and he jumped off the bed and ran to the end of the ward. All the other guys in the ward laughed themselves silly. You know, I never had anymore trouble out of that guy.