As I Recall
‘
The Autobiography
of
Marshall Harding
Buchman, M.D.
August 2007 Draft
Chapter One
pre-Teen and Teenage years
I
was born on 22 July 1924 at the
The
first eighteen years of my life were spent in and near
I
attended James H. Smart elementary school.
The principal was Robert C. Harris.
22
July 1937. My 13th birthday. My dad took me to the
In
the Spring of 1939, my grandmother Buchman’s uncle, Richard Gotleib Foss, or
Uncle Dick, came to live with my grandparents.
He would tell me stories of his time serving in the Civil War, of seeing
President Lincoln and often ask, “Is H. V. Kaltenborn, a radio newscaster and
commentator of that time, on yet?”
7
June 1939. I was promoted from the James
H. Smart elementary school to
1
September 1939. Age 15. I was at Eldred and Lillian Sherrick’s
cottage at
The
7
December 1941. Age 17. A lazy Sunday afternoon, laying on the living
room floor, home listening to the radio and reading the comics in the Sunday newspaper
when we heard the bulletin on the radio that the Japanese had just bombed
In
my senior year of High School, I took and passed an examination for an Army
sponsored two-year course in meteorology at
Later
in my senior year, I took and passed an examination for the Army Specialized
Training Program (A.S.T.P.)
3
June 1943. Age 18. I received my Selective Service Induction
Notice to appear at the induction center two weeks later.
11
June 1943. I graduated from
16
June 1943. I reported to an
My
next stop was Fort Benjamin Harrison,
Chapter Two
A.S.T.P and Basic Training
(The following two chapters are from a
typewritten record which
I wrote in the Philippines in 1945, near the end of the war,
and which I reviewed, extended and revised in 2003.)
30
June 1943. We arrived at Fort Benjamin
Harrison, near
My
first week was spent getting equipment, getting shots and exams, and pulling
details. As I had been assigned to the
company supplying the K.P. (Kitchen Patrol) detail, I was on K.P. three times
that first week.
7
July 1943. I was called to the company
headquarters and told to pack my equipment in preparation for catching a train
at 0915. Upon arriving at a higher
headquarters, I was told that I would be an acting corporal to lead sixteen
other A.S.T.P.s via train to
We
left Fort Benjamin Harrison via the New York Central railroad and arrived in
10
July 1943. We arrived at
When
we initially saw the camp sign, “Home of the Tank Destroyers,” I felt that if
the specialized training I had signed up for was to be destroying German tanks,
then I had made a very bad choice indeed.
It turned out we would be stationed there only for the Army’s standard Basic
Training.
After
a 14-day quarantine, during which I turned 19-years old, we of the 126th TDRTC Battalion,
Company A, began our basic training – hikes, classes, details, rifle ranges,
bayonet training, bivouacs and military code were all liberally scattered
through the course. Some of our N.C.O.s
(Non Commissioned Officers) could not get it through their thick skulls why the
government should want to take us out of school, train us for the military, and
then send us back to school again. It seemed
as if they made things as rough for us as they could. We, however, managed to take all that they
dared throw at us, and still kept a high morale. Their roughness really kept us on our
toes. That summer remains in my memory
as the hottest three months I have ever experienced.
After
the three-day infiltration course, the dirty fighting course, the demolition
course, and the Nazi village course had all been run, we were through with
Basic Training. We were in top condition
then. But for the next two months we just
sat around and awaited for our assignment to some college or university. Earlier A.S.T.P.s had gone to
2
November 1943. After leaving
4
November 1943. I enrolled at the
Between
terms (from 31 January to 6 February 1944) we were given furloughs. At that time, for holiday breaks, and every other
opportunity I could, I went home via the Illinois Central to
23
March 1944. Some 800 former A.S.T.P.ers left
the
A
favorite slogan of older members of the “Thundering Herd” Division was, “You
should have been on the “D” series!”
Then they would launch into some tale of how rough the D series training
was. They thought that the only Army
life that we knew was inside of a classroom.
They had no idea that all of us had already completed the Army’s Basic
Training program.
Maneuvers
were cold, dreary and damp and it was at
23
April 1944.
In
early June 1944, I received my PFC (Private First Class) stripe. I was given a furlough from 4 July 1944 to 19
July 1944 and went home to
The
hardest time for those of us in supply was the time of preparation for going
overseas. We were responsible for seeing
that we had all of our company equipment, that it was in good condition, and
that each man in the company had a full issue of equipment in good
condition.
27
November 1944. We left
8
December 1944. We boarded the H. M. S.
Dominion Monarch, an English ship, and sailed from the States toward the war in
the early hours of 9 December 1944. Our
group was assigned to three lowest decks where, as the company commander told
us upon boarding, we would, “Eat, sleep, and shit for the next two weeks.”
For
fourteen days we rode the ship, or rather it rode us. The quarters were lousy and the food was even
worse. Some slept on the tables in the
dining room, others in hammocks.
Porridge for breakfast. Salt
water showers. The PX had only Reese’s
Cups.
We
were the largest ship in the convoy, which left us all a bit concerned until we
arrived safely at
Chapter Three
World War Two;
21
December 1944. Landed at
2
January 1945. The company armorer got
caught by M.P.s in town and was demoted back to private. I was appointed as the new company armorer, promoted
to Technician Fifth Grade and sent to armorer’s school in
With
the Germans making advances in the Battle of the Bulge in Europe (wearing US GI
uniforms, changing road signs and the like) NCOs from the Fighting 69th came to
Gloucester to provide everyone below the rank of Corporal with a quick Infantry
Basic Training course. If the
After
the
One
day while resting in my pup tent I heard a voice say, “
7
February 1945. I was given that great
award, “The Good Conduct Medal,” for fooling all of my C.O.s for the period of
one consecutive year into giving me “excellent” for each of my efficiency
ratings.
17
March 1945. I managed to get a three-day
pass to
10
April 1945. We left
11
April 1945. We traveled to Camp Twenty
Grand where we picked up our ammunition.
It was here that we learned of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s
death. We didn’t have much time to think
about it, so we just hoped President Truman could carry on in FDR’s footsteps.
14
April 1945. We left Camp Twenty Grand
for
Geldern
was our home base from 15 April to 24 April.
Most of the platoon was out doing odd jobs or looking for souvenirs. Then we crossed the Rhine at
About
the 12th or 13th of May 1945 we moved to Deutz, a suburb of Koln (
25
May 1945. We moved into a former Nazi
neighborhood just as they moved out. Those
of us in supply shared a three flat apartment.
Sergeant Scully, the supply sergeant and stock clerk, had the lower flat
with living room, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. Bob Herr and I had an identical unit on the
second floor. Too bad it lasted but
three days.
28
May 1945. At the major’s request, we
moved to Troisdorf, Germany in order to take part in a parade to award a couple
of G.I.s and an officer Purple Heart Medals for running over a mine that some
Jerry had probably placed for G.I.s who were close behind, but instead got some
“lucky” boys out souvenir hunting weeks later.
2
June 1945. We left
Bob
Herr and I sure saw some beautiful country while we rode in the seat of the
unit bulldozer which was being towed on a flatbed trailer behind one of the
company trucks. (Now that I think about
it, it might not have been the softest, or the safest, seat I have ever had.)
The
staging area at
Most
of us went on a pass to Marseille only once.
There we saw some of the dirtiest and unsanitary habits and actions that
we could imagine in what was a supposedly civilized country.
10
July 1945. We set sail on the U.S.S.
General S. D. Sturgis (none of us having any idea who he was), a Navy troop
transport carrying about 3,000 G.I.s.
All in all, the trip was 42 days from Marseille, through the Straits of
Gibraltar, the Panama Canal, across the International Dateline, to
Along
the way we disembarked only once, on 22 July, my 21st birthday, at the Atlantic
port to the
We
exited the canal and entered the
12
August 1945. With all due celebration,
and the initiation of all officers not previously initiated into the “Imperivm
Neptvni Regis,” we crossed the Equator. The
“initiation” involved requiring the officers to jump off a diving board and
swim across an improvised pool of salt water and garbage. The rest of us were initiated into the
“Ancient Order of the Deep,” without the required “ceremony.”
15
August 1945. Three days later, at 0808
ship’s time while anchored off the coast of
Naturally
rumors flew around the ship that we would immediately turn around and head back
to the States. But that was not to
be. Instead we found ourselves on our “
21
August 1945. We disembarked in L.C.I.s
to
We’ve
moved more times in less time than any circus could ever hope to. Always just missing the fighting. Maybe they will give us an “also ran”
ribbon. We’ve now moved another 90 miles
north of Bagabag where I sit writing this for some unknown reason, and you’re
reading it for an even more unknown reason.
From
now on our future hangs on hopes. We
were lucky that General Yamashita surrendered when he did for he had about
thirty or forty thousand troops in the hills north of here.
Now
we hope that we are merely marking time until we go home, we hope.
(End
of 1945 typewritten record.)
Our
battalion’s major job at this time was to restore some mountainside roads. This we understood was to enable General
Yamashita’s surrendered and ill troops to be transported out. Our troops would attempt to fill in and
restore roads during the day, only to have it rain at night and wash out even more
than before. Finally, I was told that Japanese
rifles were dumped in, soil was dozed on top of them, we had a brief dry spell
and the fill finally held.
On
an extremely sad note, during the reconstruction a truck carrying troops from a
fill site was returning to base, and stalled out in a stream bed. I was told that a wall of water came down
from the mountains and by sheer force took the truck and thirteen G.I.s on
board down the stream. They all died.
26
October 1945. We returned to
19
December 1945. I was promoted to
Technician Fourth Grade. My duties? Technically speaking I was a chaplain’s
assistant charged with maintaining the company library and via my jeep driver, a
guy named, “New York L. Ferachio,” picking up and returning the movie film to
and from the Naval base each morning.
Our
1268th battalion’s final duty prior to being disbanded was to convert the
former Navy Seabee base into a temporary housing area for U.S.O.
entertainers. With posts, burlap and
barbwire we were to maze the area to separate married from single as well as
colored from white. That accomplished we
were disbanded and deactivated.
I
was then assigned to a Mareno Engineer Depot in
Finally
my A.S.C. 40 point level for discharge (based on tenure, number of battles,
etc.) came up and I left
28
March 1946. I received an honorable
discharge and was officially “separated from service.”
I
declined an offer to apply to O.C.S (Officer’s
April
1946. Spent several days looking for a
job, but no one was interested in offering a position to a returned G.I. who
had plans to go off to college only four months later. Dad got me a temporary job at Fisher Brothers
as a stock clerk for 75 cents an hour.
At dad’s suggestion, I paid my mother a dollar a day for room and
board.
Chapter Four
Being
eligible for the G.I. Bill, I thought I would return to the
September
1946. I enrolled at
Summer
1948 (or 1949). Painted the outside of
Grandmother Buchman’s house at
May
1950. I received a telegram from Harry
R. Davidson, the Superintendent of the New Albany Indiana School Corporation,
offering a position as a mathematics teacher with a starting salary of
$2,650.00 per year. I moved to
Summer
1951. Completed the second of two summer
school sessions at Purdue toward my Master’s degree. That fall, I took a room in the home of Mrs.
Irma Hammond at
September
1951. I met Winifred Geddes for the
first time thanks to an introduction by a fellow teacher, Milo Eiche. (
Later
that year, with Milo Eiche’s help, I learned to drive and bought my first car,
a 1949, 2-door green Chevy which dad had found for me in
3
August 1952. I completed graduate
studies at
12
December 1952. Faculty Christmas Party
Poem written and recited by Maxine Largent:
“Marshall Buchman, that eligible
bachelor,
Should resolve, and mean it, too
That never again will he hold out
A whole, long, Leap Year through.
“Winifred Geddes – now she is the one
Who keeps Buchman feeling meek.
She should resolve to set aside
A “Be-Kind-To-Marshall” Week.
Chapter Four
Marriage and
October
1953. I applied for admission to the
University of Louisville School of Medicine and was accepted for the 1955 class
pending completion of some 22 hours of required pre-med coursework. I tendered my resignation from my faculty
position effective at the end of the 1953-1954 school year.
December
1953. Christmastime. I asked for permission from Winifred’s dad, Frank
Geddes, who granted his consent, and proposed marriage to Winifred. She accepted and we were engaged.
5
June 1954. Winifred and I were married
at
I
completed the required pre-med courses at the
Fall
1954. I completed the required pre-med
coursework, including a chemistry class that had a wrong answer in the back of
the book (I was the only one to get the answer correct on the exam), and
another where a fellow student apparently swapped samples with me; and began my
studies at the University of Louisville Medical School.
21
January 1958. Our son Joseph Geddes
Buchman was delivered at
I
worked as an extern at
7
June 1959. Earned a Doctor of Medicine
degree from the University of
1959-1960.
Was one of seven interns at the Saint
Joseph Infirmary,
December
1959. Purchased home and office at
1
July 1960. Obtained my medical
license.
Chapter Five
Family Life and the Practice of Medicine
3
July 1960. Opened the office with
Winifred as my RN/receptionist, and began the practice of medicine. Held staff privileges at both Saint Edwards
and
6
July 1960. 2:00 p.m. Saw my first patient, John Ganley. At that time an office call was $4.00.
I
served as the secretary of the Floyd County Memorial Hospital Medical Staff for
several years in the 1960s, then as vice president in 1968 and as president of
the medical staff in 1969.
New
Albany Mayor Garnett (Tuffy) Inman appointed me to the
June
1965. Took our first vacation since opening
the office. (Spent the first five years
paying off debts to Mrs. Murphy ($1,000.00) for the dining room set and office
furniture and Frank and Inez Geddes ($5,000.00).) We went to
June
1966. Went back to Gatlinburg where it
rained every day. Escaped briefly to
12
March 1969. Winifred’s uncle, Ernest Ira
Geddes expired.
1
May 1969. My dad, Ross Buchman, passed
away from intractable cardiac failure.
13
July 1969. Winifred’s dad, Frank Isom
Geddes, passed away.
I
served as a delegate to the Indiana Medical Society conventions in 1969 and
1970 and served as the president of the Floyd County Medical Society in 1971.
I
served on the Medical Staff of Silvercrest Tuberculosis Hospital from 1970 to
1972, when it closed. It later reopened
as the Silvercrest Children’s
Summer
1973. Our first vacation in
26
May 1974. Winifred’s mother, Inez
Geddes, passed away.
June
1976. Joe graduated from
May
1980. Joe earned a Bachelor of Science
degree from
30
October 1980. My mother, Dessie Buchman,
passed away.
Summer
1982. Stayed in Gatlinburg in the “Club
Chalet” time share we had purchased the year before. Attended World’s Fair in
August
1982. Joe was accepted as an incoming
MBA student by the Krannert Graduate School of Management at
Summer
1983. Purchased Tree Tops timeshare near
Gatlinburg.
11
July 1983. Winifred’s brother, Vaughn
Geddes, passed away.
December
1984. Joe completed the MBA program a
semester early (64 credit hours in three semesters) and we attended his
December graduation ceremony in a ballroom of the Purdue University Union
building. The following month he began
his PhD studies, sadly, back at
August
1986. Joe accepted a position on the
faculty of
August
1988. Joe resigned from Western Michigan
to accept a position at The University of Tennessee in
November
1989. We agreed to sell our home at
31
December 1989. I retired from office
practice.
My
receptionists over the years were Winifred initially, Mary Pat Murphy, Betty
Smith, Margaret Yates Hanson, Norma Lone, Brenda Taylor, Vicki Dolan Cline,
Peggy Harris, Lisa Hawes, and Winifred again from 1978 to 1989 with her “fill
in” Jane Corrao our neighbor.
Oldest
patients cared for were John Stone who lived to be 106 years old (101 to 106
under my care) and Sadie Bartle who lived to be 103 (87 to 103 under my
care).
Chapter Six
Retirement
June,
1992. Visited Gatlinburg for two weeks
and Joe in his new home, on
Thanksgiving
1992. Joe brought Cindy Arnim and her
two daughters, Kelsey (5) and Hayley (1) home for Thanksgiving dinner. They became engaged the following weekend.
22
July 1993. My 69th birthday. Winifred and I took our first flight together
(and only the second one in my life (the first having been for perhaps 20 or 30
minutes on my 13th birthday). We flew
from
June
1994. We returned to
24
December 1994. Just before the early
evening Christmas Eve services at
July
1997. We flew to
December
1998. Winifred and I flew back to
8
April 1998. Winifred fell off a couch,
while standing on it to polish a wall mirror, and fractured her left radius.
January
6 1999. The
A
FAITHFUL PUBLIC SERVANT LEAVES BOARD OF HEALTH
AFTER 34 YEARS by Dale Moss
The
sheriff, a judge, a commissioner –
Dr.
Marshall Buchman left as well.
Buchman
retired from a
But
if only the other departments were noticed, Buchman didn’t mind. He didn’t join the new board in 1964 for
attention, and he didn’t expect it when he left. “Somebody had to do it,” Buchman said of an
appointive tenure that may be unmatched locally.
“And
I’ve enjoyed doing it.”
Those
who know Buchman’s contributions know they’ll be immensely missed. “There aren’t any replacements for him,” said
Dr. Everett Bickers, the county health officer.
They say Buchman not only made every quarterly meeting but also made
every meeting more meaningful. “Mr.
Dependability,” Bickers called Buchman.
From the grammar of the minutes to the objectives of soil tests to the
details of disease screenings, Buchman invariably had questions and
suggestions. “He always was willing to
listen, and he did his homework,” said Cindy Andres, clinic director.
But
Buchman never blamed or obstructed.
“He’s always been very fair, very interested, very thorough,” said Jan
Craig, another longtime board member.
Ever positive and uniquely wise, Buchman guided and pitched in. “He gently prodded me in the proper
direction, and he’s so kind in that manner,” said Harriet Chalfant, board
chairwoman. “That doesn’t sound like a
lot, bit it really is.”
Health
departments that expect too much of the public or too little are the ones under
fire. Floyd’s is steadfastly middle of
the road, a course that not surprisingly reflects Buchman’s low-key approach.
Buchman
urged that neither the law nor common sense be ignored, Bickers said. He insisted on progress – ambitious
vaccination and prenatal programs come to mind.
He was happiest when the public was happy.
Buchman
is getting out now in part because the getting was good. The department is overdue for controversy –
perhaps regarding an expansion of suburban sewers that Bickers favors – a part
that Buchman doesn’t covet.
“It’s
time to step aside while it has still been fun,” he said, “I want to go out
feeling fine.
Buchman
is also 74, and he’s been away from medical practice for nearly a decade. He feels good personally but a bit out of
touch professionally to represent physicians on the board to his own high
standards. “There’s a time (to retire),
and I think this is a good time,” he said.
A
Fort Wayne native, Buchman came to New Albany not to be a doctor but to teach
math, which he did at the old Spring Street Junior High. Always interested in medicine, though, he
went to medical school in
At
that point Buchman semi-retired, helping at the state’s Silvercrest Children’s
Asked
to serve on the board by the late New Albany Mayor Garnett “Tuffy” Inman,
Buchman agreed because it was a way to teach again. As he tried to teach patients to be healthy,
he tried to teach the public likewise.
He
did so for many years without pay and then for many years with very little pay
(about $530 per year). He did so despite
the time it took from his private practice.
Obviously,
he did so without broad appreciation or so much as a public
acknowledgement. No matter. Buchman hadn’t thought about how he would
like to be thought of until I asked.
“I
hope they’d say I did a good job. I was
interested and concerned and dedicated,” he said.
“And
if they didn’t say anything, that’s all right too.”
June
1999. Joe accepted an appointment as a
visiting associate professor at
September
1999. Joe, Cindy, the kids, Winifred and
I all met at the French Lick Spring Hotel in order to attend the dedication
ceremony for the partial restoration of the nearby West Baden Springs
hotel. The Friday evening ceremony
featured a horse show with show horses, a variety of carriages, an orchestra on
the lawn, and a tour of the restored portion of the West Baden Springs
facility.
After
our return to
May
2000. Joe accepted a second year’s
appointment at
Christmas
2000. We visited their home on
5
April 2001. Winifred fell in her
bedroom. From that time on she had
increasingly limited function in her left arm.
She was hospitalized at Floyd Memorial on 25 April and transferred to
the Southern Indiana Rehabilitation Hospital on 27 April 2001. She was diagnosed with total immobilization
syndrome, essential hypertension, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, and
atherosclerotic dementia, mild.
24
May 2001. Winifred was admitted to
Providence Retirement Home. She would
not return home. I visited twice a day
and fed her all of her evening and Sunday noon time meals.
27
May 2001. Kelsey’s 13th birthday. Joe resigned from Utah Valley State College
to remain in
29
June 2003. Winifred had a syncopal
(momentary unconscious) episode and remained much weaker.
2
July 2003. After an all-night flight
from
We
went back to the nursing home for a brief visit before dinner. Over dinner at a nearby Cracker Barrel
restaurant Joe asked me where I had been when my mother (his grandmother) had
died. Winifred and I had also gone out
to dinner after visiting my mother in the hospital. She passed away in the hospital from a second
heart attack while we were away at dinner.
Joe and I quickly finished eating and returned to
We
received a call on Joe’s cell phone from a
Winifred’s
funeral services were well conducted and attended with visitation at the
funeral home on 6 July and a memorial service at Trinity on 7 July. Kelsey produced a beautiful computer slide
show which was shown on a small screen at the funeral home, and later on the
large screen projector at the church.
Later
that summer Joe and Cindy sold their
15
September 2003. Joe flew back from
We
visited the gravesite of Marshall O. Buchman, the gravesite of the A. O.
Buchman family, including Uncle Dick, and the Joseph Harding family (all in
Lindenwood), the Robert and Cora Harding family gravesite including my parents
Ross and Dessie Buchman (in the I.O.O.F. cemetery near New Haven), and Henry
and Louisa Woods (my paternal grandmother’s parents) in a cemetery among the
cornfields near Decatur, Indiana. We visited
the Taylor Chapel and searched, without success, for my maternal grandmother’s
parents, George and Mary Miller.
Joe
took us to the Coney Island Hot Dog Stand and we drove by my old home on
3
April 2004. On what would have been
Winifred’s 83rd birthday, Joe and the four grandchildren drove to
20
July 2004. Joe flew to
The
following day we toured the World War II memorial, the FDR memorial from which
we walked to the Jefferson Memorial and back, the Lincoln Memorial, the
Pentagon, Supreme Court and some of the Smithsonian complex. Joe suggested I might like to visit
21
July 2005. Joe and family came to
Next
came a visit to the
All
in all, it was another enjoyable, educational, and entertaining birthday
tour.
5
October 2005. Joe and I drove together to
November
2005.
Christmas
2005. Flew to
Sunday
12 March 2006. (On what would have been
my Dad’s 113th birthday.) Joe visited
1
June 2006. I flew Comair to
Joe
had been encouraging me to go to
7
June 2006. We visited Hoover Dam and
after a late afternoon nap and dinner at Denny’s, we attended two shows –
8:00p.m. Danny Gans, impressionist/comedian at the Mirage, and the 10:00pm
production of O by Cirque Du Solei at the Belligio. For the latter, thanks to a “ticket broker”
Joe had found, we had front row center seats, got splashed a bit with water,
and Joe was pulled from the audience to dance on the stage with one of the two
clown performers in the show.
8
June 2006. After sleeping in from the
previous night’s performances, we had lunch at the Nine Fine Irishmen and saw
the afternoon Mac King comedy magic show at Harrah’s. One the way out of town, we visited the
Freemont Street experience and had ice cream sundaes at the original Golden
Gate Hotel and Casino.
9
June 2006. We arrived back in
Joe
and I attended the Davinci Code movie, and later Over the Hedge with Anna and
Kristian on the 10th and 11th. I also
read the Purpose Driven Life before leaving.
It
was another enjoyable and memorable visit with family.
22
July 2006. Joe arrived in
5
August 2006. Joe returned to
7
August 2006. We visited the Wright
Brothers memorial near
Christmas
2006. I flew to
15
June 2007. Joe, Cindy, Kristian and Anna
arrived in
17
June 2007. Headed from