“Are you sure you need to be here, we will need help on the USS Solace as well.” Mr. Thomas said before I could open the door.
“No, I think I will stay here and help. Thank you.” I said as I opened the door and stepped out into the chaos.
“You’re welcome. Please take care!” Dr. Thomas drove off towards the harbor. I raced inside the building ready to help. The sounds of the moaning, screaming, and clatter of medical instruments did not drown out the noise of the bombs in the harbor. It wasn’t long before I heard my name being called.
“Ruth, I need your help now!” I rushed over to Dr. Arthur leaving another nurse to attend to a man lying against a wall. When I was at his side he told me to get him some pain medication and a syringe. I did. After, I was told to hold the patient down because he was very squeamish; he kept on yelling about how he has to get out and kill some Japanese, even if he was missing his left arm. Without warning, a bomb explodes near the hospital causing the building to vibrate. I stood there trying to concentrate on the task at hand, despite my beating heart pounding frantically inside my chest. I held the man down while the doctor inserted the needle into the man’s right arm and soon the man calmed down.
Dr. Arthur instructed me to go outside and separate the men into groups, men that can be saved and men that have no chance of making it alive. He gave me a red marker to use before he tended to another patient. I took a deep sigh before I headed outside. A group of men walked up to me carrying a man with no legs. On his forehead I marked the letter “T” for terminal. I told the men carrying him to lay him in the grass next to the hospital. “He’s not going to make it.” I tell them. I mark a few more men with T’s making me feel very nauseous; I hated to be the one to determine whether or not a man will have medical treatment or not.
Only an hour had passed since I entered the hospital. Smoke filled the once clear air around the burning harbor. I hear the roar of engines behind me causing me to turn around. A small group of Japanese Zero planes fly overhead heading for the air fields. I watch as they descend on their targets and drop bombs. Before the explosion a single tear rolled down my cheek as I think of all the men who will have lost their lives for nothing.
YOU ARE READING
Day of Infamy
Historical FictionThis is a story that was made for school. It is about a nurse who is stationed at Pearl Harbor at the time the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941.
