I graduated from high school in 1961 and then joined the Navy. I was 17. I went to Great Lakes Naval Training Station and was attached to Company 569. Unbeknownst to me, this was an experimental shot company. I wasn’t afraid of shots, so this meant nothing to me. However, I didn’t have a choice.
We had received a few shots, and then we received a shot that was supposed to keep us from getting pneumonia. With your pants off, you approached this table, you hung on to this table, bent over about 90 degrees, and crossed your right foot behind your left knee. I then saw the needle and serum. The needle was about 3” long and a serum tube about 4’ long and as big around as my thumb. They stabbed you in the butt and then the burn came. It seemed like forever, as they tried to get all the serum in the tube in you. Some guys hit the deck. They got the shot anyway! When the shot was over, you rubbed the area to help the serum spread throughout your muscle. All P.T. was cancelled that day for Company 569, as most of us had trouble walking.
At 05:30, revelry the next morning, all boots from Company 569 were limping. It took 3 to 4 days before most of us returned to normal.
Then the worst of the worse happened. Sailors began to drop from high fevers. Five days after I got the shot, they found me in the drying room unconscious with a fever of 105. When I awoke, I was in the dispensary packed in ice. Sometime in the night or early morning, I was operated on. I had begun to hemorrhage and they had to stop the bleeding. The next time I woke up, I realized I had been transported to Great Lakes Naval Hospital.
My father and mother had been called by the Navy and they and my oldest brother came to see me. My mother broke down. My brother told me later he didn’t think he would ever see me alive again. I don’t remember any of this.
The first thing I remember is being beat in the back and chest, as they tried to loosen the sputum that was chocking me to death. The doctors told me I had double pneumonia. As I coughed up blood and sputum, I realized I was in a fight for my life.
I never left my bed for 30 days, but I noticed that some of the young men were gone. Some went home, some went back to basic, and I heard some had died.
Just a few weeks earlier, I left high school and was 6”3 ½ and 203 lbs., and a 29 ½ waist. I worked out 3 to 4 times a week and played 5 sports in school. I kept in good shape.
My first trip to the head was hell. I needed a corpsman under each arm. I couldn’t support my own weight. When I looked in the mirror, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Tears ran down my cheeks. I was looking at a skeleton with skin covering it. I had lost 50 lbs., ¼ of my body weight, all my muscle was gone. I was in the hospital 93 days. My doctor told me that because of my severe double pneumonia I had a lung disease called bronchiectasis. I had it in both lungs and I would have it for life. With a few lifestyle changes, I should live a good life. (That’s another story).
My doctor then asked me if I would accept or wanted a medical discharge. Failing at anything is hard for me to accept, so I stayed in the Navy. I was recycled and attached to Company 617. Before I got sick, basic was a breeze for me. I was at the top of my class in Company 569. Everything was hard for me in Company 617 and I think they overlooked some things because of my past with experimental shots. It took me a year to get back to about 80 percent. I received an honorable discharge in 1967. I was 6’3 ½ and 188 lbs. when I left the Navy.