POW Diary of John Teune: Arrival at the Hospital

The Teune brothers in their Army Air Corps uniforms. John is second from right.

We then took what seemed to be an endless trip to the other hospital. I was in bad pain as the truck rocked over the bumpy roads. I arrived at the hospital and what a relief I had when I saw the lodge-like buildings surrounded by lawns and flowers. The grounds were in the midst of a woods. I was rolled in and before I went into the operating room, I bade goodbye to the soldier who first carried me who now had tried to make me comfortable on that truck. I received a shot of morphine and Dr. Petrescu cleaned my wound still further and replaced two stitches which the military had sown in. I was surprised and pleased when one of the men present spoke to me in good English -- he was Yoppey Koppes, a medical student. I was placed in a room with two other Americans: Ed Lyman, from Breeze Point, Vienna, Virginia, and John Williams, from Dwight or Pontiac, Illinois. Both were fighter pilots and came down about two weeks before not due to enemy action. I also met Lt. John Palm, a pilot from El Paso, Texas, downed on the low level attack of August 30, 1943 and Lt. John Mariolos, a navigator from Lowell, Mass. He was shot down April 5th, just got out the nose wheel door before the plane blew up.