It Was A Surprise

It Was a Surprise, and Not a Good One

*****

It was at Rowdy's, a country-western place about a mile out of town. She was sitting with two other girls and as soon as I set eyes on her I knew I just had to try or I'd regret it forever.

The band was Without a Net, and they were playing a twostep. I walked over to their table and asked her for a dance. She smiled, said she'd love to, got up and moved out onto the floor. She felt good in my arms. We fit. It was like we were made for each other. I learned her name was Amanda, but she preferred to be called Mandy.

The twostep ended and the guitar picker said, "Everyone out on the floor for the Electric Slide." The Slide was followed by a Tush Push and we stayed out for both of them. Then the band took a break and I walked her back to her table and her friends and she invited me to join them. I was introduced to Pam and Shelly and they learned that I was Augustus Weaver, but I preferred Auggie to Augustus.

Mandy asked, "What brings Auggie Weaver to Rowdy's on this fine summer evening?"

"I just felt like dancing tonight."

"You wanted to dance but you came without your girlfriend?"

"Don't have one, but then I don't need one to line dance."

"Why don't you have a girlfriend? Something wrong with you?"

"Not that I'm aware of. I just travel a lot and I'm never around long enough to get into a relationship."

"What is it you do that causes you to travel so much?"

"I'm in armament sales and I'm always going somewhere to make a sale or train people on our products."

That was a flat out lie. I was in fact Sergeant Auggie Weaver, I was in the Army and on a three-day pass, but I had learned the hard way that the local ladies didn't cotton much to soldiers. Probably because when they got interested in a guy he got reassigned and transferred and left them behind.

Before they could dig farther I asked them what they did, and Mandy told me they were nurses at the local hospital out to shake off the stress of dealing with sick and afflicted and have some fun. Before the talk could go any farther, the band came back and Shelly said, "My turn," and we went out onto the floor. After that I had to give Pam her turn.

When I got Mandy out on the floor again she asked, "Am I losing you to those hussies?"

"Not hardly. When I walked in the door and saw you I somehow knew you were the one I was supposed to be with. When I approached the table to ask you to dance I was scared shitless you would say no."

"Your fears were groundless. As soon as I saw you I had the same feelings. Let me get my purse and let's get out of here."

Once outside she said "There's a motel right across the street. I'm not easy at all, but I've got the feeling that I have got to lock you in right now."

I felt the same so I took her hand, walked across the street and got a room. Once in the room we stripped and then sat on the bed and made out like horny teenagers. I made love to her body. I kissed my way down from her lips to her pussy. I kissed and spent a little time on each breast, then kissed and licked my way down to her belly button and I kissed and tongued it before kissing my way down to the real feast.

I ate her to orgasm and then she said, "Make love to me Auggie," and I did.

It was the first of several, we fell asleep exhausted and cuddled up to each other.

We went again when we woke up and then we went next door to Mom's Diner. Not kidding; it was actually named Mom's. As we ate, Mandy asked what I'd like to do for the day and when I said "Find someone to marry us" she laughed.

"I'm ready, but it can't be all that quick. I have to let my mother know and she is going to want to plan the wedding. You think about something we can do while you drive me home. I have to let my roommates know I'm okay."

"Roommates?"

"Shelly and Pam. Shelly drove last night, which is why you have to drive me home."

I drove her home and my life went to hell when we walked into her apartment. Shelly and Pam were in uniform with the gold bars of a Second Lieutenant on their collar points. As I said, it was a surprise and not a good one. I looked at Mandy and said:

"I assumed when you said you were nurses at the local hospital you meant County General."

"To us, the post hospital is the local hospital. Give me a minute to change and then we can go."

She left the room and once she was gone I turned to Shelly and Pam and told them:

"Tell her I'm sorry and that I'll never forget her."

I turned and left. Why? Because Mandy was an officer and I was an enlisted man and the Army would never have permitted us to have a relationship. It hurt, it hurt bad, but not as bad as it would have hurt if we had gotten in deeper before finding out. It killed me to walk away. She was the one. I knew it the moment I saw her, but there was no hope for us. If I was a short timer and close to getting out we could have made it, but I was only a year into my second enlistment and I still had almost five to go.

I was on a three day pass and didn't need to be back until the next day, but I lost interest in doing anything so I reported back early which surprised a lot of people because no one ever did that.

*****

The next two months I silently cried myself to sleep every night, thinking of Mandy and what could have been. Then what I hoped would never happen, happened. On the rifle range a private got stupid with his weapon. He turned away from the target for some reason and his rifle was pointed in my direction when one of the other noncoms saw it, slapped him on the shoulder and told him to keep his weapon pointed down range. The slap surprised the man and in a reflex he pulled the trigger. The bullet passed through the meaty part of my left calf. It didn't hit bone, but it bled like hell.

I was rushed to the post hospital and the first person who came to look at me was Shelly. She gave me a nasty look and said:

"I should let you bleed to death for what you did to Mandy, but asshole or not, it is my duty to help."

"I just looked at her.

"What's the matter asshole? Nothing to say?"

"No ma'am. Nothing to say ma'am."

"Well I'm not going to tell her you are here because I don't want to see her up on charges for what she might do to you, but you better pray she doesn't somehow find out."

But of course she did find out and it wasn't as bad as Shelly thought it would be. Mandy just looked at me for maybe fifteen seconds without saying a word and then she said:

"How could you?"

"You didn't think it killed me to do it? I'm still crying myself to sleep at night thinking of you."

"You will never know how much you hurt me, Auggie. The man who owned my heart from the moment I met him walked away from me without a word? Leaving me to think that all I was to him was a one night stand?"

"I'm more sorry than you will ever know, but I am a realist. I knew as soon as we walked into your apartment that night and saw your roommates in uniform that we were toast. You know as well as I do that the Army would never tolerate an officer dating an enlisted man, let alone being married to one."

"We could have found a way."

"No we couldn't. As soon as the Army found out, and you know that they would have, one of us would have been reassigned as far away from the other as possible. If I was close to the end of my enlistment we could have given it a go, but I still have almost five years left on my hitch."

Before she could say anything the doctor, a Captain, came in and said "How's the patient, Lieutenant?"

"I haven't looked at his chart, sir. I was discussing a personal matter with the Sergeant."

He gave her a strange look, looked at my chart and then he took the dressing off and looked at my leg.

"Looking like you won't be marching for a while Sergeant, but you should be able to return to limited duty in a day or so."

He turned to Mandy, told her to bandage the wound and then he wanted to see her in his office.

"Yes, sir."

She silently replaced the dressing and when she was done she gave me a long look and then said:

"We will talk about this later" and she left the room.

But we didn't talk about it later. At least not at the hospital.

Forty-five minutes after he left, the doctor was back and he went straight at it.

"This place isn't all that big so there isn't much privacy. I overheard two nurses talking about the enlisted man that Lt. Mandrake was hung up on and when I entered the room and she told me she was handling a personal matter I assumed that you were the enlisted man. When she came to my office she confirmed it. I've ordered her to stay away from you while you are here. From what I hear, you have distanced yourself from her since you discovered she was an officer. True?"

"Yes sir."

"My experience is that in the affairs of the heart what is right and what is wrong are often overlooked or ignored. Lt. Mandrake is one of my best and I can't afford to lose her. I will be speaking to your commanding officer about this, so do not be surprised if you are suddenly transferred out to a place far away from here. I'm sorry it has to be this way Sergeant; I really am."

A day later I was released and when I reported in to my unit I was placed on light duty. Two days later I was told to report to the company commander. When I got to his office the first sergeant told me to go straight in. I walked in, stopped six paces from the desk, saluted and said:

Sgt. Weaver reporting as ordered, sir."

He returned the salute, said "Stand easy, sergeant. I assume you know why you are here?"

"I have a rough idea, sir."

"When Captain Beyers called me and told me I needed to get you off post and why, I told him I couldn't do it because I couldn't afford to lose a noncom of your caliber. He wasn't happy to hear that so the good doctor went higher and I received orders from battalion to transfer you out. How's your Japanese?"

"Sir?"

"You are being sent to the 187th, in Japan."

"How much time do I have, sir?"

"None I'm afraid. Sgt. Meadows will give you your orders when you leave this office. I did get you a ten day delay enroute, but you are to clear post today. Any questions?"

"No sir."

"Good luck Sgt."

"Thank you, sir."

"Dismissed."

I came to attention, saluted, did an about face and left the office.

The first sergeant handed me my orders and said, "Sorry to see you go, Auggie."

"Sorry to be leaving, Tom. Not my choice. I'm being railroaded out of here all because I met the woman who was meant for me."

*****

I was off post by six and I was pissed. What goddamned right did the Army have to punish me for falling in love! And I didn't kid myself that it wasn't punishment. When I got to my next unit there was no doubt in my mind that my new commanding officer wouldn't be thinking, "What kind of fuckup is this Weaver that he got jerked out of his billet and sent to me? I'm going to have to be on top of his ass."

By the time I picked up my car from where I had to park it I'd made up my mind to say, "Fuck you Army!"

I called the number I had for Mandy and Pam answered.

"It's Auggie, Pam. Is Mandy available?"

A couple of seconds later, "Auggie?"

"Yes, baby; I just got orders transferring me to Japan. Dr. Beyers wants me as far away from you as possible. My orders give me a ten day delay enroute and I would like to spend that time with you if possible."

"Are you sure? I don't want to get you in trouble."

"I'll take all the trouble they want to give me if I can spend time with you."

"Rowdy's in half an hour?"

"See you there."

I drove over to the Bide-A-Wee Motel because they had weekly rates and got a room, and then I put my civvies on. I was waiting for Mandy when she got to Rowdy's and she threw herself into my arms. We had a drink and then we went to the motel. We made love and talked, talked and made love, made love and talked for eight days, and then I was on a bus headed for Fort Lewis, Washington.

On the bus ride I thought about our talks. We were both realists. She couldn't resign her commission for another two years, and the only way I could get out of the little less than five years I had on my enlistment was to do something that would get me discharged under less than honorable conditions, and I wouldn't do that. What we finally decided to do was tough it out and get together whenever we could. As an enlisted man, the Army didn't give a rat's ass about what I wanted, but as an officer Mandy could request assignments and sometimes even get it. We decided that as soon as I knew where I was going to be I'd let her know and she would try to get reassigned to somewhere close to me. We had a rough road ahead of us and we knew it, but under the circumstances it was all we had.

*****

When I arrived at Ft. Lewis, I was told it would be seventeen days before the next ship would depart for Japan. Since I was a transient and not permanent party, I was able to get a pass most every night and I let Mandy know. She arranged to take some leave and spent ten of those seventeen days with me.

Two days after she left I was on the USNS Marine Lynx and bound for Japan. The ship docked at Sasebo, and from there I was moved to U.S. Army Base Camp Chickamauga at Beppo, Japan, where I was assigned to the 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment as part of the U.S. Occupational Forces.

Once settled in I wrote to Mandy, told her where I was and crossed my fingers and prayed she could get a transfer to the U.S. Army hospital in Tokyo.

My fears on the punishment issue turned out to be groundless. I was received as any other soldier being reassigned would be.

I received a letter a week from Mandy. She was having no luck in being reassigned to Japan.

On June 25th of 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea and Harry S made the decision to step in, the Army landed at Pusan and started the push north. The 187th, which was part of the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team, was put on a war footing and we waited to see when we were going to be sent to Korea.

Then God decided he had to fuck with us again. I received a letter from Mandy telling me she had finally wangled a transfer to the 8167th Army Hospital in Tokyo, and soon we would be together again. The very next day we were moved to Kimpo Airfield in Korea.

One month later we made a successful parachute assault near the towns of Sukchon and Sunchon to try and capture members of the North Korean government fleeing Pyongyang and to free American POWs who were being moved toward the Manchurian border. Neither goal was realized, but ended in battles at Suan, Wonju and Inye. Then we were pulled out of the line and sent to the rear to refit and rearm.

I received a letter from Mandy telling me she was in Japan and I was toying with the idea of seeing if I couldn't manage to get fucked up enough in our next fight to be sent to the hospital in Japan, but fortunately I got my head out of my ass before I could do anything that stupid.

We were reequipped, brought up to strength and then moved to an assembly area at K-2 airstrip near Taegu and were placed on alert.

On Good Friday, March 23rd, the 437th Troop Carrier Wing, flying C-119 Flying Boxcars dropped us on Munsan-ni.

We were dropped to establish blocking positions to cut off Chinese and North Koreans who were retreating from the fighting around the Pusan Perimeter. We occupied the terrain needed to set up blocking positions and were immediately engaged.

As the enemy retreated toward Uijongbu they were fanatical in their attacks against us and they were supported by accurate artillery fire. One of those attacks was so fierce we were forced to pull back and set up another defensive position. I noticed that Privates Brown and Smith were not with us. I looked around and saw them on the ground, obviously wounded, and about fifty yards out from our position.

I yelled at the guys to give me covering fire and I ran out to them. Smith was obviously the worst off, so I picked him up in a fireman's carry, got him back to our position and then went back for Brown. I picked him up, and just as I got back to our position something took my legs out from under me and things went black.

When I came to, I was in an ambulance with three wounded and on the way to what I found out later was the 8067th Mash (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital). Once there I was stripped and injected with something that knocked me out. I found out later that I was out for a little over five hours.

When I came out of it in pain I looked around and saw a nurse with her back to me and I croaked out "Water." She turned and I thought I was either dead and in Heaven, or was still asleep and dreaming because the nurse was Mandy. She rushed over to me, hugged me and kissed me and then handed me a glass of water with a straw in it. I noticed that she had a serious look on her face and not a happy one and I croaked out:

"What's wrong?"

"It isn't good Auggie. We had to amputate your left foot."

I raised up and looked down, but I couldn't see anything because my lower half was covered with a sheet. In raising up I saw I was in a large tent full of cots with wounded lying on them and doctors and nurses walking around tending to them. I was surprised that Mandy had hugged me and kissed me in front of them.

I fell back on the cot as a wave of pain hit me. Mandy knew the look that crossed over my face and she hurried away and came back with a hypodermic needle, gave me a shot and I faded away.

When I came out of it I again asked for water and the orderly who gave it to me yelled out "He's awake, ma'am."

Mandy came over and asked me how I was feeling.

"Pain in my left leg and my left foot is itching like crazy."

"You don't have a left foot Auggie. I already told you that. What you are feeling is called Phantom Limb Pain. It will take you a while to get past it. The bad news, at least to me, is that you are being evacuated to the hospital in Japan."

She saw the question on my face and said "It's bad news because I'm finally with you and they are going to take you away from me. It just isn't fair!"

"Look at the bright side, love of my life. The Army has no use for a foot soldier with only one foot so I'll be getting a medical discharge. I'll soon be a civilian and there will be nothing to keep us apart. Assuming, of course, you can be happy with a man with only one foot."

She grabbed me, hugged me and kissed me and cried into my shoulder. When she pulled away she said:

"These are tears of happiness you big oaf. I hope you know what you just said was a proposal and my answer is yes! Hell yes!"

*****

It didn't happen right away. I was moved to Japan and from there to Walter Reed. I was fitted with an artificial foot and went through some physical therapy before being discharged. I went home to Detroit and got a job at Ford's Rouge plant and waited for Mandy to join me.

She finished her tour in Korea and resigned her commission. I was waiting for her when she came down the movable air stairs from the Douglas DC-3. She ran to me and hugged me as if her life depended on it. As she hugged me to her she cried into my shoulder blubbering:

"I never thought it could happen; I never believed it would happen. Thank you, God, thank you thank you thank you."

Did we get married and live happily ever after?

Of course we did.