2

At some point she had nodded off, the last time she noticed the clock it read midnight. Choppers woke her up with a start as she groaned and then looked at the clock, just as the PA broke out with, "Attention, Attention all personnel, incoming wounded, all medical staff to the pad and compound, come one come all!"

Margaret noted that the clock now read 4am, several hours after the wounded were supposed to arrive. She hoped that meant that the aid station had sent all the serious cases to another MASH and left only minor injuries for them. The worst case scenario would be if they simply couldn't rescue the men and get them out for this long, then their wounds could have advanced to the point where they were fatal.

She jumped up and ran out with Klinger closely behind her. The chopper landed and she climbed in the jeep with him as he drove them both up to the pad along with two other corp men. It landed and she hurried over and found the first man laying on the side in the litter. There was a lot of blood, she could see that as they stopped the jeep. 'What did they send us?' she thought in a second of panic.

As she pulled back the cover, with the help of Klinger she found a man, or boy rather, maybe 18 years old with bandages all around his head and chest. She felt for a pulse, thready, and then peeked under the bandages, shrapnel wounds clearly and it appeared a bullet wound in the temple, but at an angle. She shook her head and shouted to Klinger over the chopper blades, "Let me check the other side!"

She ran over and found another young man, about the same age with chest wounds. Margaret couldn't believe it. They knew she didn't have a surgeon! Of the two, this one was more likely to make it than the first man. She hated making this decision, but told Klinger, "Get this one to the OR now, then come back and get the other one."

The men did as instructed as she continued to try to get vitals on that first soldier they were taking. The pilot jumped out and helped as the jeep took off and he stayed behind with a corpsman working to get the other man prepped for a jeep ride.

Margaret almost fell out of the jeep twice as Klinger sped down the hill. She called out, "Kellye!"

Lt. Kellye ran over from the ambulance she and the other nurses were unloading and assessing. She called out as she ran over, "Major, they've sent us some serious cases. At least three of them are in shock and most have bullet wounds and shell fragments in limbs. I thought we weren't going to get anything serious!"

Kellye's eyes widened as she looked over and saw the patient Margaret had her hand in, literally. Margaret told her, "I thought they weren't either. I need you with me. Get Anderson and Able to handle triage." She spotted Zale running around and grabbed him, "Sergeant! I want you to go with Kellye. You are to follow Lts. Anderson and Able and write down every soldier's name and injury as they dictate it to you. Then bring me that report and read it to me in the OR. Hurry Kellye, I need you with me."

They nodded to one another and ran off. She told Kilinger, "Get this man into the OR now. We'll have to decide what to do in there. Then, get on the horn to I Corps and the Aid Station and find out what the hell is going on." Klinger saluted and Mulcahy ran over.

Mulcahy's eyes were wide and he said, "Major, I thought..."

She cut him off, "I thought too, look we need every hand we can get." They had unloaded the patient and were going into the OR, Mulcahy was following her. She had put her hand into the bandage in the man's chest to try to stop the excessive bleeding. Trying not to think too hard about everything she told him as they sat him on the table, "Unfortunately Father, I think you will be needed with the next soldier coming off that chopper."

Mulcahy lowered his head for a second and said, "There's nothing that can be done?"

Margaret shouted to Kellye who walked in then, "Scrub up and replace my hand here." Then she turned back to Muclahy, "No, he has a head wound, there's grey matter..." She had to swallow hard and then told him, "Not even Pierce could save him I'm sure. He has a pulse though I doubt he regains consciousness. You should be with him now and perform your office." She said it softly.

Mulcahy nodded to her and said, "Of course, major." He could see how this was getting to her so he said, "I know you will do your best. We are lucky you are here to guide us though these troubled times." He patted her shoulder.

She told him, "Thank you," softly as he walked out.

Kellye came in, in scrubs and said, "Alright major, I'm scrubbed. What can we do though?"

Margaret swallowed and told her, "Come over here by me. Put your hand here. Hold that." She had directed her to the bandage where she could feel the blood pulsating. "Now just stay there until I get back. I'm going to check on the others quickly and scrub up." She called out to Rizzo who had just returned in the jeep, just outside the door, "Rizzo!" He ran to her, "Stay here in case Lt. Kellye needs me. Call me if she does."

He nodded and she ran back out into the compound. The nurses had lined up all the wounded according to injury. She shook her head as she walked around. Klinger came running over and told her, "I struck out, major. No one is willing to send anyone and patrols have gone the distance between here and the conference and there's no sign of anyone." He was out of breath at that point.

Margaret looked around, "My God...I can't operate and I can't send the one in OR anywhere else because he won't make it with his wounds, or these three here..." She pointed to three men laying on litters on the ground. "Binding their wounds won't be enough, they'll bleed out in two hours unless I give every unit of blood we have to them and just keep it constantly streaming in. Then those 14 won't have what they need and they could go into shock and die." She shook her head.

Klinger then told her quietly, "You could do it, you know."

She looked back at him and said, "What do you mean, do what?"

He told her, "Operate." She shook her head but he continued, "I've seen you do it, major. Remember the aid station?"

Margaret shook her head and said, "Klinger that was different. Pierce was there to guide me and nothing I worked on was this serious. He handled all the serious cases. I can maybe handle those over here, but not the three most serious."

Klinger then asked solemnly, "What choice do you have? What do they have to lose? No one is coming and you are their only chance, major." It seemed to be sinking in, but he could tell she was terrified. So he told her after taking her arm, "I know you can do it, I've seen it."

Margaret then came to a decision after looking at the list Zale had made for her of them and their injuries. She told the nurses, "Get these men into the OR..." She pointed to the three most serious cases and then pointed to the others, "Bring these in as we normally do. Those four..." She walked over with the nurses and pointed to four men, "can be given a very low dose morphine as long as there is nothing on their dog tag that says otherwise, after you check for head injuries. These 8..." She pointed and walked over to the other 8 and said, "can be given aspirin. Again, check the dog tags. Most of these have more superficial wounds. Bind them and have them ready for when we finally get a doctor here. We've handled triage before, start them on IVs or plasma or whole blood as necessary. If you have a question about it, ask myself or Kellye, alright? The rest of them have broken bones, x ray everyone though and have the film lined up with each one in post op, got it?" They nodded and ran off.

Margaret at that point turned to see Mulcahy with the soldier on the jeep administering last rites. She took another deep breath as Klinger who had just brought her a cup of orange juice told her, "Here major."

She smiled and drank it as they practically ran back to the OR. "Thank you, come on, Klinger. Scrub up, I'll need you assisting me."

They scrubbed and went in where Kellye was still holding the man's bandage. Margaret directed her to monitor vitals while she tried to operate. She had no more than made the first incision when a shell went off very close to the compound. Everyone screamed and tried to cover the patients.

Margaret shouted, trying not to betray how terrified she was, not just at the situation, but she also had a closet fear of loud noises, and shell fire was the worst. She had to force the major in her to take over. "Cover the wounded! Do we have anyone else outside? Get them all indoors, now!"

The corpsman who had come in with coffee, dropped the cups and ran out to bark out the commands. More shells went off, one after the other. Nurse Baker then came over to take over for Klinger so he could go call to radio for help. Margaret was having flashbacks to the time when she and Hawkeye had worked together when everyone else in camp got the Asian flu. She had a new understanding of how frustrated he must have been as she seemed to face a similar impossible situation.

More shells were going off, but she thought she got all the shrapnel out of the patient in front of her. 'So far, so good,' she thought to herself. Kellye told her, "Pulse and pressure are stable, major. You did it!" She smiled to Margaret.

Margaret nodded and told Baker, "Close for me, but keep it a little loose. I want the doctors, whenever we get them, to be able to go back in and double check."

She took off the gloves and as another corpsman brought over an X-ray film on the next patient. It looked like he has swallowed a junkyard. She had to squint to count the shell fragments, "11, ok...Kellye, make sure he's under and give me the vitals." At that point another shell hit, so close they lost the lights for a second. She had to steel herself and then heard a scream coming from the compound.

Margaret ran out and told them to continue on while she checked things out. A new private who had just come into the camp a few days before had been in the mess tent when the camp was hit. He had mostly superficial wounds in his arm as he had covered his face with it when it went off.

She bent over him and told the frantic soldier, "Private! Let me see your arm." She checked it out as she told him, "Many times the wounds feel like they are burning, but young man you are stationed in the best possible place for this, a hospital." She helped him stand up and told him, "Now, come on over to pre op and we can get you something for the pain, alright?" At that point another shell went off that knocked her back about 5 feet.

It took a second for her to get up and when she did, she realized blood was oozing from her own arm. She winced as she tried to move it and said softly through grated teeth, "No, not now!"

The private looked at her and said, "Are you alright?"

She told him after swallowing, "Yes, soldier, I am. It does burn though, it burns me the way it burns you. Don't worry, like I said we are in the best possible place." They both then made their way back to pre op.

Nurse Bigelow greeted them and gasped, "Major! You're wounded!" She grabbed Margaret and tried to lead her over to a table herself.

Margaret shook her head and handed off the private first saying, "No, treat him. I'll be fine, its superficial." Bigelow then got the man to a table and went back to Margaret who was trying to wrap up her arm.

She told her, "Major, here let me." She poured alcohol over it, which stung like nobody's business. Margaret had to bite back a scream, but nodded to her head.

Once it was bandaged, Margaret got back into the OR. She noticed one table had been cleared, so she asked, "What happened to the soldier that was here?"

Kellye told her solemnly, "I'm sorry, ma'am, but we lost the pulse and couldn't get it back."

Margaret put her head down for a second and then called for new gloves going back to the patient with 11 holes. She proceeded to work on him. Shells were still going off all around them. More than once they almost lost power. She had Klinger and Father Mulcahy calling every hour for help and to check the patrols. She operated on the last man, three now in all and when she was done, came out of OR more beat than ever, the shelling had abated at least.

It was now 9am according to the clock on the wall. She told Kellye as she was taking off her scrubs, "I'm going to check on post op and the patients. I already sent Baker and Able to bed and their two hours are over. Get them up as you go in to the nurses' tent and have them relieve Anderson and Bigelow in post op. Then you three get two hours after getting a couple of corpsmen to help clean up in here. We're either going to ship out the men or get doctors in here. One or the other by noon. I'll drive them myself if I have to. If doctors do come in or ours show up, we'll need everybody back up again and this place ready."

She started to turn around, but Kellye stopped her, "In a minute, ma'am. That needs to be treated first though." She motioned to Margaret's arm.

Margaret almost laughed as she had forgotten about it. She relented and said, "If you insist."

Kellye smiled and said, "I do." They then went back in and she pulled out the shell fragments as Margaret sat on the table. She told her, "You should let me give you at least a local."

Margaret shook her head, unable to speak because of the pain. She finally got out in broken speech, "The wounded may need it."

Kellye told her, "Ma'am, in case you haven't noticed, you are one of the wounded."

Margaret tried to smile and then said, "How's the private doing?"

Kellye answered, "Anderson told me he was recovering fine. All the fragments stayed close to the surface, not as deep as these and he is bandaged up and ready to go back on patrol."

Margaret then told her as she finished with another swab of alcohol as Margaret refused penicillin, again for the wounded, "Hand me that bucket."

Kellye did and Margaret proceeded to vomit up that nasty coffee. Kellye then took a blood pressure cuff since Margaret couldn't really object. "130 over 90, major, you're in pain. Come on, you need something."

Margaret wiped her mouth and said, "Fine, aspirin." Kellye rolled her eyes but got it for her.

She told her then, "Major, I don't know how to tell you this, but I was quite amazed."

Margaret asked after swallowing the pills, "What do you mean?"

Kellye explained, "You operated on those men, during a shell attack with no doctors. Ma'am if you weren't here I don't know what we would have done! Every one of those men in post op owe their lives to you, you know."

Margaret tried to smile but said, "Thank you, but at least two of them don't."

Kellye told her, "No. Major, you saved over a dozen men last night. No one could have saved that first man, I know, I saw him a little while ago. And the one in here, major I'm not sure even Dr. Pierce or Potter could have saved him. You really deserve a commendation for what you did here."

Margaret then told her, "Thank you for that." She hopped down off the table and told her, "Now you, go get Baker and Able and then the rest of you get two hours. Then we'll do 4. Hopefully we can get the wounded out of here and to a hospital with actual doctors. Let's go." The two left.

Margaret alternated between post op and Potter's office. She ordered Klinger to sleep for two straight hours after making the last of the phone calls. Mulcahy then came in the office, "Major, I have most of the enlisted men in their quarters sleeping. Those that got to bed early are in the mess tent. Igor served what passed for breakfast and then left the rest with another private to dish out. I told him to sleep until it was time to prepare lunch."

She nodded and then told him, "Still no sign of Potter or the others." She shook her head, putting it down for a second. After taking a deep breath she told him, "We're still in command here. I have my nurses switching shifts to get some rest and watch those in post op. I've called the 8063rd and they say they can't handle any more. The 121st is now our only option. I plan to go over and make a list of those that would survive the trip and just evac them out. The others...we'll just have to keep watching I guess until they are stable enough to move."

Mulcahy then asked, "How many are there, of those others?"

Margaret answered, "3 can't be moved at all. They were the ones I worked on and one of those is doing better than the others. 4 others I worry about trying to transport, their pressure is still too low and 3 started running a fever. We can't keep many of the others, they had superficial wounds and broken bones. Those need to be set and I won't have my nurses doing that, I won't have them written up for going beyond the limits of their responsibilities and there is no reason they can't be transported." She swallowed and then looked down.

Mulcahy then took off his hat and walked over to a chair to sit down. He asked, "Major, if you don't mind...are you concerned about how you handled the crisis last night?"

Margaret softly told him, "Father, as a nurse, there are limits to what I can do, there is a line and last night...I went way passed that line." She was looking down at the report she had started to write explaining what happened.

Mulcahy then told her, "Major...Margaret..." She looked up at the sound of her name. He continued, "What you did last night was keep this camp focused and running. You took a potential disaster and saved so many young lives, including a young private scared beyond belief and injured himself. I saw him in post op just after he was treated."

Margaret then tried to explain, "Its against regulations, not just with the army, but..."

He interrupted again, "Margaret in those conditions, regulations don't mean very much. How many of those men would have died last night, had you abided by regulations?"

Margaret then conceded, "The men I operated on would have died I know. It's just..."

Before she could say anything else, Nurse Baker burst in the room, "Major...Private Harrison just went into arrest!"

Margaret jumped up as that was the last soldier she had tried to operate on. He had sustained 3 shell fragments to the chest, two to the shoulder and one in his neck and she was sure she got each one. However, his vital signs had deteriorated rapidly and despite her best efforts, along with those of Baker and Able, she had to finally step aside and let Father Mulcahy do his job. She hung her head down low and went back to Potter's office to finish the report. Now she had one more detail she hated to add.

After finishing the report she left it on Klinger's desk. Then she stepped outside. The warm air and cool breeze hit her at the same time. It really was a beautiful day, she just hoped Potter and the others...especially Hawkeye returned safely. She closed her eyes and headed to post op. Baker and Able were making the last of the notations so they could go take 4 hours this time. It was already 11am. She went over and they explained how the last two men she had operated on were doing, both seemed to be recovering as if any of the doctors had worked on them.

She told Baker to go get Anderson and Bigelow up and have them relieve them, letting Kellye get another 2 hours if possible. Kellye was the one who had put in the most time and the one that was more or less Margaret's second in command of the nurses.

After that, she got Rizzo to get a couple of jeeps running and corpsmen to volunteer to load up as many stable casualties as possible to transport to the 121st. Despite them telling her over and over again that they were not ready, she decided she had had enough. The 4077th wasn't ready and that didn't seem to matter to anyone and at least they had doctors.

As Margaret started assigning men to be moved and coordinating with Anderson and Bigelow they heard the ambulance horn honk over and over and over again. She ran out, about to panic again. Her nerves already shot from the night before and almost worn to a frazzle between the wounded and the shelling and the loss of the patients, she almost passed out when she saw the bright smile of Hawkeye Pierce as he jumped out and shouted, "Honey! We're home!"