Defence Forces Review 2008

‘Bullets, Bacteria and Boredom’
Worse was to come two days later. We were getting ready for dinner when Ground Hog was
called. As everybody went to ground, I received a call for an ambulance and doctor to proceed
to Brashit 6:42. Two mortar shells had landed in the village. What I saw on arrival was
pathetic – three mutilated elderly Arabs tattooed with shrapnel alongside a dead lamb. They’d
been dead for about 30 minutes. While transmitting back to headquarters, another mortar
exploded about 30 metres from our soft-skinned ambulance. We ran for cover as another
round exploded to my right. For the next 40 minutes, we struggled to shelter from the 30 or
more explosives that screamed to ground around us.
After a lull, we ventured out again and proceeded to Brashit camp. There, we set up a dressing
station and tended to the wounded. It was my first time under direct fire and the first time I
realised how vulnerable our ambulance was. We needed an armoured one – something that
would take 20 years to arrive. But the fighting wasn’t all on the Israeli side. One day, in late
April 1981, the Irish were to learn this to their cost. At the listening post in Dynatar, two Irish
soldiers, one from the 48th and one from the 49th battalion, were attacked by PLO elements.
Private Hugh Doherty was shot and killed on the spot and Private Caomhan Seoighe was
taken. He has never been found since although the UN has never given up looking for him.
Throughout our 23 years there, we continued to search and hoped to find his body – sadly, to
no avail.
Not only did we have to beware of bullets and boredom as doctors, we were also in constant
battle with bacteria. In Camp Shamrock, it was the medical officer’s task to oversee the hygiene
team and to make sure that everything met the highest possible standards. If we didn’t do
this, the resulting fallout would be devastating. An entire formation, section, platoon or even
company could be rendered useless. Despite our vigilance, the bacteria sometimes won the
day. We once had a salmonella outbreak when one egg led to more than 100 personnel being
sick for days on end. At such times, the medical team are under great stress, working non-stop
to ensure that everyone survives and makes it back to full health as soon as possible.
There are other times when the bugs take a more insidious route. One officer came to me with
what seemed to be a minor flu-like ailment. It did not respond to treatment. He eventually
required evacuation to Naquora and from there to the Rambam Hospital in Haifa – one of
Israel’s top medical facilities. What had started as a simple sore throat turned into a serious
illness that left him hospitalised for months. However, he made a full recovery – thanks
in part to the help Professor Maurice Abrahamson who was my teacher at the College of
Surgeons and had retired from Ireland to run his own hospital in Israel. While we were in the
Lebanon, he was of invaluable help to us Irish doctors on many occasions. He gave of his
time. He gave a second opinion. He used his influence to help us. He was so respected in the
county that at this time, he was the personal physician to the President of Israel. Professor
Abrahamson never accepted any remuneration in return for his work. He saw such actions as
his contribution to his native country. I thank him for his total and selfless kindness.
As a doctor, you encounter illness and disease every day. You realise that they can hit anyone at
any age and at any time. I saw much sadness during my 23 years in South Lebanon. However,
fate was to keep one of its harshest experiences until the very end. There was a young solider
with whom I was friends. He was one of the most cheerful people I knew. He came to me
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