Chapter Two
On April 12, Luke said goodbye to his fellow students at the MFSS, and caught a taxi to the San Antonio Airport, barely making his flight. From the window of his DC-6 he saw the Chisos Mountains and Big Bend National Park in southwest Texas. The wild, remote desert country appealed to him, and he made a mental note to return to see it from the ground in the future.
At El Paso he changed planes and flew up to Colorado Springs, where his parents lived. They were glad to see him, but were somewhat concerned about his secret assignment to Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He consoled them by saying that the army definitely expected him to survive the secret mission, and that he would return to the faculty of the MFSS in the coming fall.
On April 20, he caught a plane from Denver at 4:00 am, and arrived at Washington National Airport some five hours later. He transferred to Walter Reed by taxi, and reported with his orders to the commandant’s office. He was told that his stay there would be only about one week, and that he would be the commanding officer of the 1st Provisional Medical Detachment, probably bound for Greenland to provide medical support for troops building an air base there.
He was warned to say nothing to anyone, not even his family, about this secret mission. He wondered why this would be so hush-hush, but supposed it might have strategic significance, what with the Korean and Cold Wars going on simultaneously. He was told to go ahead and do some sightseeing in Washington, but that he should check in at the commandant’s office daily for further orders. They explained that his assignment to Walter Reed was just a cover for his real mission.
So Luke decided that he might as well enjoy himself for a few days. Spring was in full bloom in Washington, and the cherry trees around the tidal basin, given to the city by Japan, were in full bloom.
He spent hours in the Smithsonian Institute, then saw the White House and the Capitol, and the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. He had dinner with several of his buddies from the Yale School of Medicine, and the next day they drove him by the Pentagon and Mr. Vernon.
The next day he was in downtown Washington to do more sightseeing. As he waited for a red light to change at an intersection, he noted an Army Captain and two enlisted men standing next to him. What startled him was that they were speaking a foreign language, which sounded like Russian. After they crossed the intersection, they stopped him, and the Captain said, "Are you not Lt. Martin now stationed at Walter Reed?"
Luke replied that he was, and asked the Captain what he was doing in Washington.
The Captain replied, "Intelligence. And we would like to talk with you about your assignment at the medical center. Please come up to my hotel room." And he flashed a badge which said "Intelligence Officer" on it.
Luke replied, "I am not at liberty to discuss my orders with anyone, sir."
The Captain said, "You will come with us, Lieutenant!"
At a signal from the Captain, the two enlisted men fell in on either side of Luke and put their hands on his elbows. He resisted, but they started pressuring him. He glanced around and saw an army MP, and a DC policeman talking across the street. Luke put two fingers in his mouth, gave a shrill whistle, and yelled, "I need help over here!"
The policeman and the MP turned towards him and came on the run. Luke broke away from the two enlisted men and gave the Captain a shove. The latter took one look at the oncoming policemen, gave a guttural order, and the three of them took off like bats out of hell.
The two policemen pulled up to Luke puffing. The MP saluted Luke, and asked if he could help. Luke showed his ID card and explained what had happened. The MP looked in the direction where the three men had disappeared, but they were long gone. Luke gave them a description of the men, and the MP told him that intelligence knew of a ring of Soviet spies operating in the DC area, who sometimes dressed as American army personnel. He said he would make a full report on the incident at MP headquarters, and would also notify the military intelligence center for the DC area.
The next day Luke received orders to assemble his 1st Provisional Medical Detachment the following morning and proceed by train to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey to prepare for an overseas mission, which was classified as secret. Luke went to the enlisted men’s area to meet his four enlisted medics, Sgt. Miller, Sgt. Redd, Cpl. James, and Cpl. Zale.
The last three reported to him, and he quickly learned they were long on Army, but short on medical knowledge. He vowed in his own mind to improve the latter. Sgt. Miller could not be found, so Luke was told that his bus would pick up a substitute the following morning on the way to the railroad station.
And that was just what happened the next day. The bus went into a very poor residential area of Washington to pick up the replacement, one Sgt. Neal. He was a big Irishman with a bulbous red nose, who came staggering out of a rundown apartment in a drunken manner. He was followed by a rather attractive young black woman, who was shouting obscenities and throwing things at him.
He gained the shelter of the bus, awkwardly saluted Luke, and said, "Sorry, sir! I’ve been shacked up with her, and she’s mad that I’m leaving!"
Luke returned the salute, but thought to himself that this man was certainly no winner, and would bear watching.
They boarded the train at Washington’s Union Station with all their gear. In the process, his men accidentally bumped the luggage of a bird Colonel, who immediately took umbrage, chewed Luke out, and threatened to call the MPs. Luke was quickly finding out that "rank has its privilege".
They travelled north through Baltimore and Philadelphia, finally arriving at New Brunswick, New Jersey, the gateway to Camp Kilmer, a huge army camp set up to process troops going overseas. A bus took them to camp, which was to be their home for about one month.
Camp Kilmer was named for the soldier poet, Joyce Kilmer, who was killed in action on France during World War I. He also was from New Brunswick, and had attended Rutgers University there.
Luke saw to it that his men were properly situated in their barracks, and then checked in at the bachelor Officers’ quarters (BOQ). He ate at the Officers’ mess (What a name for a restaurant!), and he turned in early.
The next morning Luke reported to his new commanding officer, Major John McGinn, 373rd Transportation Major Port, Sub-Port Pine Tree #1. Luke was told that his 1st Provisional Medical Detachment would provide medical support for transportation and engineering corps troops, who were to build radar stations for the Air Defense Command’s Pine Tree, Mid-Canada, and Dew Lines. His unit was to build the eastern anchor of these lines in Newfoundland, Labrador, and Baffin Island, which were to provide early warning of enemy missiles or aircraft coming over the North Pole and aimed at the United States or Canada.
Major McGinn, who was a friendly, red-faced Irishman, also warned Luke that the mission was classified and secret.
Luke busied himself the next few weeks with the training of his medics, the accumulation of equipment and arctic clothing, and trying to locate his ambulance and jeep, which had apparently been sent directly to the port of embarkation. He also spent time in the post library reading about the geography of the area they were going to. Reading about Baffin Island, which lies mostly north of the Arctic Circle, fascinate him, reminding him of the pictures he saw in his grade school geography book, which showed Eskimos paddling around in their kayaks on Frobisher Bay.
His unit was trucked to nearby Fort Dix for more weapons training and indoctrination in arctic warfare. He also took sick call at the post dispensary.
Luke was also temporarily in command of Provisional Medical Detachment #2 until its commander arrived. This medical unit was to provide care for Pine Tree #2, which would build air bases and radar installations up the west coast of Greenland to supplement the large air force base at Thule, on the northwest side of the huge island. This was of course with the sanction of the Danish government. Luke was glad when Captain Barrows arrived to take over his responsibility.
Luke worked hard in preparation for his mission. He studied more about the treatment of frostbite and cold exposure, and the latest treatments for hypothermia. He read in the army’s arctic manual that the temperature of the Labrador Current, which flows south from the Arctic Ocean along the coast of Labrador is only about 33 degrees Fahrenheit, even in summer. If a soldier falls overboard in water this cold, he has only about fifteen to eighteen minutes to be pulled out, or he will die of hypothermia!
Luke found that Eskimo communities would be encountered at several stopping points in Labrador and on Baffin Island, and that he might be asked to help in their medical care. He was simply fascinated by all these challenges, and chomped at the bit to get going.
Luke was kept very busy at Camp Kilmer, but he was able to see a few plays in New York, and several of his new officer buddies who lived nearby invited him to their homes for dinner.
Finally the order came for the whole unit to board a troop train on May 23, for the trip through Richmond to the port of embarkation, Norfolk, Virginia. There Luke led this medics aboard the APA-152, the USS Latimer, a 12,000 ton ship of the Victory class. They bunked down in the army section, and were busy the next few days in getting their supplies and equipment on board. Then the Latimer moved away from its pier and dropped anchor out in Hampton Roads to await the assembly of the full task force.
The next morning the task force moved out to sea. Luke counted nine ships, which included two attack transports, including the Latimer, one tanker, two LSDs, two LSTs, and two destroyers.
The LSDs were interesting ships. The sterns had a large empty area within which water could be admitted, thus providing shelter for small boats. LSD stood for Landing Ship Dock. The LSTs were flat-bottomed with large doors in the bow. They were designed to carry and land tanks and other heavy equipment. These LSTs were also carrying large piers cabled to both sides of the hull. LST stood for Landing Ship Tank.
One of the LSDs was the flagship of Commodore John J. Knight, USN, who commanded the entire task force. They steamed away at ten knots, the maximum speed of the convoy, limited by the heavily laden LSTs. Once out to sea, they headed northeast along the east coast of the United States, headed for their destinations under the jurisdiction of the Northeast Air Command of the United States Air Force, and the Royal Canadian Air Force.
It was slow going, but fortunately the weather was good until they ran into dense fog off the Grand Banks southeast of Newfoundland, which brought out the fog horns, and caused the convoy to slow to three knots.
Luke spent the time with training sessions for his medics, medical lectures to the troops, and daily medical inspections of the ship. He also held sick call in the ship’s sick bay daily with the navy doctor aboard, Lt. Junior Grade BP Small. The main complaint on sick call was seasickness, although the seas were not excessively heavy.
On June 1, they were just east of the northern tip of Newfoundland. There half of the convoy carrying the troops bound for Pine Tree #2 split off and headed northeast for Greenland. A Canadian icebreaker joined Luke’s Pine Tree #1 task force and slowly penetrated the heavy pack ice floating down in the Labrador Current, in order to clear a path for the American ships. Luke noted that there were many chunks of floating ice of all sizes that extended for over ten miles before they safely emerged into the harbor of St. Anthony. The men were glad to see land after about a week at sea.
Although it was after dark, Major McGinn asked Luke to join a landing party going ashore from the ships, which were anchored in the harbor, in order to establish connections with the Canadian authorities and plan for the morrow.
They went ashore in the Captain’s gig, and Luke set up his battalion aid station in a large warehouse overlooking the harbor. Before they could do much, however, a heavy fog rolled in. The line officers were taken to the one local hotel to spend the night, but Luke had to man the aid station, so he made the best of it sleeping on the cold floor in the warehouse.
The fog cleared out in the morning, and Luke saw the picturesque village of St. Anthony, which was a small seaport and fishing village of some 1,400 souls situated on the north side of Hare Bay. Nearby was the hospital established by British physician Sir Wilfred Grenfell for the care of the poor fishermen of Newfoundland and Labrador. It also cared for some sick Eskimos.
Luke watched their LST discharging amphibious trucks called DUKWs, to be used to ferry supplies and equipment from incoming freighters to the shore. It also disgorged trucks, bulldozers, road graders, and jeeps. Luke was happy to find that one of the jeeps was his, and he also found his ambulance, with the red cross painted on both sides.
Although it was June, there was a cold rain much of the time, and there was heavy fog every morning. Several freighters anchored in the bay, and the transportation corps troops worked around the clock to unload them. The engineers built a road to the top of a nearby hill, where the new radar station was to be built.
Luke supervised his corpsmen ashore, where two men worked in twelve hour shifts. He held sick call ashore each morning, and on the ship each evening for army personnel. Most of the visits were for minor injuries or illnesses. There were a few malingerers, whom Luke promptly sent back to duty.
Landing craft called Mike boats ferried men and equipment from the Latimer to and from the shore on a regular hourly schedule. They also carried personnel to and from the freighters being unloaded.
Some of the Army men complained that most of their showers had become non-functional, and that they were having to use unheated salt water at 35 degrees. Luke investigated and found that this was true, and the ship’s crew all had heated fresh water showers. He incurred the enmity of the ship’s captain when he reported the situation to the Army commander, who took prompt action. All officers concerned were ferried to the flagship, where the commodore convened an inquiry. He found that Army troops were indeed being discriminated against by the ship’s captain, and he ordered that Lt. Martin’s recommendations for correcting the situation be followed to the letter!
On the way back to the Latimer in the captain’s gig, Captain Frank Archer, USN, grumbled that it was a bad situation when an Army Lieutenant could exercise such power over a Navy Captain. Major McGinn came to Luke’s defense and said that all the Army asked was that the intolerable shower situation be corrected. And it was; however, Luke tried to steer clear of the Captain, who claimed that Luke’s action might ruin his navy career.
A week after while a freighter, the SS Beven, was being unloaded, an Army private fell overboard into the 35 degree water. He was hauled out within five minutes, wrapped in blankets, and quickly taken to the sick bay of the Latimer. He was semi-conscious, shivering and blue, and Luke determined that his rectal temperature was only 86 degrees. They kept him wrapped in blankets, applied hot water bottles, gave him oxygen, and started warmed intravenous normal saline. In about thirty minutes he felt and looked better, so they put him in a hot shower. His body temperature quickly came up to normal, and he soon felt fine.
Luke complimented the men who had pulled him out of the frigid water so quickly, and gave a brief talk over the ship’s loud speaker system saying how important it was to rescue people who fall overboard immediately.
Luke received a letter from his parents saying that a nationally popular magazine had come out with a major article on the construction of radar stations and air fields in the arctic, and even named some of the sites. His parents suspected that Luke was there, particularly when they heard from the parents of a Lieutenant in Luke’s outfit that their son was there.
Luke showed the letter to Major McGinn, who was also concerned about this major breach in their security. He fired off a radio message or TWX to the headquarters of the 373rd TMP at Goose Bay, Labrador, complaining about this. A reply came back that someone at the Pentagon had leaked the information to the magazine by mistake. An investigation was to be made, but the Major was told that the mission was still classified as secret. Luke’s fellow officers classified it as usual military snafu.
Intermittently heavy fog continued at St. Anthony. On one occasion Luke was returning from shore to the Latimer at about 8 pm when a twelve hour shift at the aid station ended. There were about a dozen tired transportation corps troops with him in the Mike boat. As they pushed out into the bay they were immediately surrounded by a very dense fog. There was not a breeze stirring, and the fumes from the diesel engines filled the boat. Luke rather like the smell of diesel fumes, but most of the troops did not.
After about forty minutes of slow progress there was no sign of the ship, and no ship’s bell was audible. Everyone was getting uneasy, so Luke asked the coxswain if he knew where they were. The coxswain replied, "I haven’t the faintest idea, sir! And the compass is not very reliable this far north."
Luke told the coxswain to shut down the engines momentarily to determine if they could hear any noise from the ship. They could hear nothing. Luke tried to locate the sun which was setting late in these northern climes, but the fog completely obscured it. The water seemed rougher, so Luke wondered if they were not heading out to sea. He order the coxswain to make a wide circle at slow speed. They did this for a half hour, but still had no idea where the ship was.
Luke commented, "They should realize we are late by this time, and should be looking for us on the ship’s radar."
This made the men feel a bit better, but their apprehension increased after another hour of circling, and darkness was closing in. Luke ordered the coxswain to fire up a flare. Then far off in the distance they heard the ship’s fog horn start up. It was music to their ears, and all the men cheered!
It took them over an hour to find the ship, which was surprisingly outside the bank of fog, and was silhouetted against the setting sun. Captain Archer and Major McGinn met them at the top of the gangway. There was concern on their faces, and the Major said, "You were already rather far out to sea when our radar picked you up. We also saw your flare, which was good thinking on your part. Thank God you are back safely!"
It was not until Luke returned home on leave the following Christmas that he discovered that another physician had also nearly lost his life in the same area, in somewhat similar fashion. His mother showed him her book, Adrift on an Icepan, by Sir Wilfred T Grenfell, the same physician who had founded the hospital at St. Anthony. It gave the harrowing account of his attempt to cross the bay with a dog team on Easter, 1908 to visit a sick patient, only to have the ice break up. Leaving him stranded on a small ice-pan for several days, drifting out to sea, until several fishermen spotted him and rescued him.
By the end of June the task force had finished its mission. The new radar station at the top of the hill was completed and operational. They backloaded all their equipment onto LST 601, and prepared to move to their next site, but the destination was still a secret. There were rumors which ranged from Labrador to anywhere along the coast of Greenland.
Luke treated several cases of bacterial pneumonia in the ship’s hospital, and he and the navy doctor repaired a hernia on a GI, while waiting to sail. They also had to transfer a soldier with a severe seizure disorder to a destroyer escort, which stopped at St. Anthony to transfer him to the hospital in St. Johns, Newfoundland. Luke went aboard the destroyer with his patient to brief the navy doctor about the case, and then returned to the Latimer.
Updated: July 31, 2002