大象传媒

This story is taken from an interview with Edwin Cole, and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions. The interview and transcription was by Bruce Logan.
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[Edwin Cole was French-Canadian, serving in the Canadian Army]

In Italy, in a town called Cervia. This one particular day a young girl, about 7-9 yo, she got into the garbage area beside our cookhouse.
She got a can of bully beef that had expired, and she became contaminated with the illness you get from eating contaminated meat. That evening she was taken v v ill
One of the civilians lived on a rue which is v nice to associate the two; Via Hospitale - "Hospital Street"!
She came to me and [explained that] her cousin was in v v bad shape, and asked if I could do something. I said "I myself can't, but I'll try to do something, to get some medication for you".
So I got my truck out - it was in the wee hours or the late hours of the night, I guess. I got my truck out of the compound, which was against all rules, and took it on my own volition. I went to the canadian general hospital and got in touch with the duty medical officer.

He came out, and I told him I need some penicillin. He said "We can't supply penicillin for the civilian population".
I told him, "Look, doctor, I need it because this youngster is in dire need of proper medication to kill this infection".
"Well, we haven't got it. We have it for our own troops."
"Look, Doctor. When you go to shave in the morning, look yourself in the eye and say 'I killed that young girl'."
He said, you're not putting it in a way that was fair to him. And I said, "I'm putting it in the way that I have to express".

So he him'd and he haw'd, and he said "How many dosages [do you need]?"
"What is the proper?"
I think he said "3".
He gave me the medication with the instructions on how to administer. I went back to this house where this youngster was v ill. I walked in the door, and there was the priest, the doctor and the family. And they were uptight - really beat! I gave the medication to the doctor, with the instructions of what he should do or how he should apply, and I said "When are you going to start this?"
He said "Right now".
"How long might it be before we know something?"
"Well, it depends on how much of the infection has gone into the stomach. You'll have to wait, the same as the rest of us."
He didn't know how to apply penicillen, because it was something so new to them ... we thought it was something, you know - you go to the drugstore and buy penicillin.
The family, as I say, were uptight. They were all just waiting for the last rites. About 2 hrs later, maybe 3 hrs, the door opened. The temperature had gone down, her body is reacting to the medication and everything seems to be fine. We all could breathe so much easier, so I went back to my barrack area and had a little bit of sleep. Next morning I went over there - no, it was about noon time. I had just finished a little bit of work on my truck. I went in there, and th family was seated in the usual way for these farming areas. They sit in front of the fireplace in a semicircle, around the area, with the father, the mother, then all the way down through to the youngest. And when I went in I went to where I sat before as a visitor, sat next to the youngest.
And he said "No. Eduardo, come here". And he sat me in his [chair].
The biggest thing in my life!

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