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In the Ambulance

This is where we spent our time from September of 1943, to July, probably of ‘45, and this was our home. We carried our barracks bag, with our clothing, on the fender. We tied the strap around the front, and it stayed right there. And there was a gas can that was here, on each side. Extra gas for us. And then we just lived inside. Come on, get in. We can't get in, can we?

Sure, go ahead! How about if they get in, and you stay out here and keep talking?

Okay, climb in the back, there's a ladder.

Just don't close the door.

Nope. Sit down here, on the pull-down seat. Now see, we're still in the process of refinishing in here. It was all olive drab, semi-gloss olive drab inside, and there were walls here. Down at the bottom along here were compartments where we kept bandages and various tools and so on. There was one over in that side, and then there were two brackets on the wall on each side where the litters would go up here on top. So when I told you about the accident, where they took my front wheel off, it had to be a good blow! So there were four walking wounded, and then two litters, one up here and one down there, and this man on top, his leg jumped out of the splint. We carried fourteen blankets and four litters. There is a litter right down, where, under here.

Four litters, and fourteen blankets. So that meant we were exchanging all the time. When we took four litters in, we'd pick up four litters. If we used four or five, six blankets, then we picked up six blankets. So we always had four litters and fourteen blankets. At nighttime if we were parked somewhere in a field, we'd sling a litter between the hangers and strap them down from these hooks. So we could sling one in the middle and then there was another fold-down seat like that that's got to go on that side, and it held three people. So, we could sit with seven people, and there was a light up above. There it is. And we'd play poker at night. We'd cover the windows with a blanket so it didn't show any light outside. And we'd have poker games at night. And then a German plane would go over, they called him "Bed Check Charlie" he was always out flying around at night to see where we might be, but he never saw us. We finished the outside pretty well, but the inside still…

How long did it take you guys?

It took us about six months…Well, a friend of mine—These seats were gone and I repaired them, and got them re-covered by a nice little Mexican fellow downtown that did a good job on them. And Charlie helped me and we got the engine running, and we drove it in the 4th of July parade this year, just like it is. I have a friend that has a Chevrolet dealership. Chevrolet Cadillac. Of course he's got a couple of good paint booths, so I talked him into painting it for us. He did a nice job outside. But we've got the inside to finish up. But this is where we'd spend all our time. We'd sleep in here at night; we'd use the litters. One of us would sleep up on top, and one of them in the bottom. So we had a lot of experiences that way.

How many people slept in an ambulance?

Just the two of us, the two drivers. We did have one night—I woke up, and there was somebody getting in the seat. He was some infantry guy, he had a rifle and his guns. I heard him and I said, "Lockhart, this guy is trying to take our ambulance!" We got up real quick, because we didn't take our clothes off, you know, we were always dressed. We went around, and Lockhart, we got him out, and then the guy started chasing Lockhart with the bayonet! Then, by that time, other ambulance guys awakened, and we were all standing there. Pretty soon, the circle got tighter, and Lockhart turned around and hit the guy in the jaw and knocked him down. He was stealing the ambulance to get his buddy who had been shot, he said, but I think he was drunk or something was wrong with him, because they hauled him away. So there were little incidents like that along the way, you know. Different things, you never knew what might happen next.

I'm curious, how much of the time were you just alone with your partner on missions versus with a lot of other vehicles?

A lot of times. I mean, when we went back, we went back by ourselves. We didn't go back—Normally, you didn't go back in any type of a convoy because, when the battalion was ready for whatever they had, whether it were four walking wounded, two litters, or four litters. They put them in there, and then we left to go back to the EVAC hospital, and the next ambulance then was waiting to take the next ones back. We did haul German prisoners, but we had to take all of the American prisoners back before we could take the German prisoners. But we did carry German prisoners back in the ambulance that was wounded. German wounded. There was just two of us most of the time. Together we were kind of lone wolves out there.

Did you ever have to shoot anybody?

No we didn't. The guns we had we hid under the blanket, and we'd pick them up in different places and we'd just go out in the countryside on the way back somewhere, and we'd fire them just to shoot them, you know? You know, my grandson that teaches up there in the Bay Area, he said, "Grandpa, I've been wanting to ask you, and I've always been afraid to ask you...Did you ever have to shoot anyone?" I said, "No Matt, I never shot anybody, I was a medic!" That was funny, why would he be afraid to ask me that? I have no idea. But this is what it was. You're in an ambulance right now. And this is an ambulance driver's story. You know, they made a movie out of that one in WWI.

Which one?

An ambulance driver in Italy. Remember? So let's make a movie about ambulance drivers in WWII. We don't get mentioned very often. Although, Brendan Phibbs, in the book that you have, tells about the ambulances and how they had to drive back through hostel territory to take the wounded back. And since I've got as much money as mic muffled and I'm the only ambulance driver they know, they let me put my numbers on this one. See? On the hood there, is supposed to be the serial number of the ambulance or the vehicle, it's my serial number. My own one, 3-9-4-1-3-3-5-3, I'll never forget it. My personal serial number.

Serial number for what?

For me, that's my number.

Given to you by the Army?

Yes.

Tell us about that signature on the side, there.

Well, Charlie Payne, his wife's an artist I guess. What kind is she... Anyways, Charlie's the one that helped so much on this ambulance, and I told her to put Charlie's name first. "No, no, you're the ambulance driver!" Well, she put Charlie's name under mine. Mic gets muffled