Amazing Times

“None of us wanted to interrupt our life plans to participate in a military career, however temporary. But in the mid-twentieth century, we didn’t have a choice.” Ronald Goldfarb’s opening statement in Korea, A Memoir by Harvey Rosenwasser sums up the tale of a 24-year-old Harvey, just out of Pennyslvania School of Optometry in Philadelphia. The young optometrist thought he was going to Heidelberg, Germany, when he suddenly found himself on active duty in Korea with the 24th Medical Battalion of the 25th Army Divison, the 15th Medical Battalion of the First Cavalry and the 121st Evacuation Hospital. While, as Harvey himself says, his tour was not filled with the high drama seen in the TV series M.A.S.H. with its endless emergencies and heartbreak, his military service had is own pathos and comedy; Amazon.com.