The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-07-21
A Marines Lie Hangs h TEe Balance Can Prayer And Penicillin Save Him.
BY s-sGT. ED MEAGHER Marine Corps Correspondent

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 Naha, OkinaWa Delayed). Right after the Marine was hit--an ar- tillery shell exploded in his foxhole near here-he told his lieutenant. Get me back. I'm not going to die" |"
 His left leg was sheared off al- most at the hip. His left arm, from fingertips to shoulder, was shatter- ed. A fragment punched hole in his stomach and perforated his bladder.
 Almost incidental in comparison were compound fractures of three bones in his right foot and numer- ous slivers of steel in his right leg.
 He was brought into the Sixth Marine Divisions "A" Medical Company forward hospital. The Leatherneck was conscious. He looked up at the young Navy doc- tor.
 Don't let me die, doc," he said. There's too much in life to live for yet"
 The "doc'A was Navy It. J.g) William c. Manion, of Bethel, Conn, and Washington, D. C., where he earned his medical degree at George town in 1943 and interned at Gar field Hospital in 1914.
 A LITTLE HELP
 Don't let me die, doc," the Mar inc repeated. Not pleading, not frightened. He was just asking for a little help, man in trouble.
 The young doctor paused. T won't :" He hesitated. T won't let you die." he said firmly.
 He injected six pints of whole blood into the Marines viens. Still no noticeable pulse. He then gave him seven and one-half cubic cent meters of coramine, blood pres sure stimulant. The Marine re- sponded slightly.
 The stump was hemorrhaging dangerously. An operation was nec- essary, but the surgeon, Navy It. Comdr. H. Barton McSwain, of New York, was fearful the Marine wouldn't recover from anesthesia.
 Doctor McSwain operated on the leg the next day. Doctor Manion ad- miniStered the anesthetic. T prayed all the way" he said. T kept ex- pecting him to die and praying he wouldn't"
 The Leatherneck survived, The shattered arm was amputated the following day. Gangrene had set in.
 Three days later he was still alive. He was holding his own-and more. He was cocky. He had offered to punch Navy corpsman in the nose if the food didn't improve. He was being fed intravenously at the time. COURAGE
 The Marines courage and the young Navy doctors faith attract ed attention. From the second day, as the word got around, he was "A" med's prize patient.
 The slightest change in his con- dition spread with the rapidity of flash flood from one end of the hos pital to the other. Stories concern ing him were told and retold until, in sense, they became legends.
 He told Doctor Manion one day what his postwar plans had been He had joined the Marine Corps after completing year of college His major was pre-med. He wanted to be a surgeon. That information too, was reported and passed or from man to man. .J
 On the seventh day he wa! evacuated by air transport. He hac been given IS pints of whole blood eight pints of blood plasma, 30 eel of coramine and from two to three million units of penicillin.
 Doctors estimated his chances oi living at one in 100 when he en. tered the hospital. He had at least 80 chances out of 100 when he left, said Commander Nowlin, "and most of the credit belongs to Lieutenant Manion."
 The lieutenant accompanied his patient to the airfield.
 Just before he was carried to hi, plane he shook my hand and wink. ed to me-" the young doctor said "and I winked back. He still had 8 bladder operation to go through but he'll live. He's bound to-"