World War II Vets: Overcoming Traumatic Wounds.

I think I can safely say that we’ve all been amazed by the progress of Arizona Representative, Gabrielle Giffords, in the aftermath of the shooting at Tucson.  Some would call her climb thus far nothing less than a miracle.  We all certainly wish her well.

It got me thinking of others, that I’ve talked to personally, that likewise survived seemingly insurmountable odds.  Two in particular, both infantrymen from World War II, come to mind.

Tom Franks, from Wawaka, Indiana, was a machine gunner with Company I, 121st Infantry, 8th Infantry Division in Northern Europe.  He and his group landed at Utah Beach and fought their way west, through the hedgerows of Normandy.

On September 1, 1944, Franks and his unit began their assault on heavily fortified Brest, France.  “They asked me to go up ahead and set up my machine gun to cover the advance,” he said.  ” So I went up a couple of hedgerows to get a real nice field of fire.  Then, I let loose.  Once you start firing one of those things, you really bring attention to yourself.  I hadn’t been firing too awful long when I got shot, right through the neck.  I knew I had been hit pretty bad and could immediately feel the blood running down my back.

“I remember being transferred out of there on a stretcher on top of a jeep.  They took me to an airplane hangar on an airstrip.  Cargo planes hauled gasoline in and wounded men out.  The weather was bad, so they couldn’t get the planes in for awhile.  …I remember lying on the ground for three days and being fed by German prisoners.  Finally, the planes landed and I was flown to England.  …It was the first time I had ever been on an airplane.

“…It’s what you call a million dollar wound.  It was a through and through to the right of my spine and the doctor said it missed my big artery by a quarter of an inch.  …They gave me the Bronze Star for going up ahead and getting things started, but I wasn’t any hero.  I was just doing my job.”

Franks would not only survive the neck wound, but would return to the front, where he was shot again, this time at the Huertgen Forest.  He again would make a full recovery, to live a rich full life after war.

Sergeant Allan McInnis, of Saco, Maine, fought through Northern Europe with Company M, 358th Infantry, 90th Infantry Division.  Already having been wounded twice and returned to the front,  McInnis would again feel the sting of enemy steel, this time at the Battle of the Bulge.

On January 15, 1945, east of Bras, Belgium, McInnis and his machine-gun crew were buttoning up another bunker, when he took a Kraut bullet in the worst of locations. The round cut through the right side of his neck, severed his trachea, scraped the top of his left lung, then exited just below his armpit.

“I’d been hit before, so I knew what it was,” he said. “But when I started coughing up blood, I knew it was bad. I passed out. I came to as they were taking me out on a stretcher. A North Carolinian named George Harrell came up to say good-bye and wish me luck. I’ll never forget it. I passed out again and when I regained consciousness, I was in a field hospital. They had put a tracheotomy tube in so I could breathe. There was a nurse sitting beside my bed. She worked a hand-operated suction device that kept the mucus from building up in my breathing tube. I went from Paris, directly to the States. It was at least five months before I could even talk, which was hard because I was a horrible speller.”

Three times proved the charm for McInnis. After nearly a year in and out of various hospitals, he returned home to Saco with his trio of Purple Hearts.

One Response to “World War II Vets: Overcoming Traumatic Wounds”

1. Kathryn McInnis-Misenor says:

   February 7, 2012 at 11:12 pm

   This is my Uncle Allan and we are proud of him and my Dad Arthur who both fought in the Battle of the Bulge! Thanks for posting this!

   Reply