Status of medical personnel in the military hospital

"A nurse once came into our room, she had had three day shifts in a row, plus she was looking after her sick mother, so she couldn't go to the market. She told us she hadn't eaten for two days and asked if we could spare a piece of bread. I had a piece, but I didn't give it to her. I regret that to this day, that I didn't. One time I came into the doctor's room, they were just heating up some buckwheat porridge. It thought to myself when had I had that, and I realised that it was three days ago. They were only allowed to have the food that no one wanted anymore. If a soldier would want an extra helping and they would've already eaten the food, they would be in trouble. Soldiers always had precedence."

• Volhynian Czech, born 3rd June 1926 in Český Boratín, Volhynia
• 1944, joined the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps
• infantryman of the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps on the Eastern Front
• fought at Machnówka and Wrocanka, where he was badly wounded - complicated injuries on both his arms
• 1946, moved to Czechoslovakia
• 1947, released from the army and acknowledged an 85%-invalid status by the army doctor
• 1947, received an estate in Chotiněves formerly belonging to the German family of Klaar
• 23rd November 1947, married Libuše Šeráková, they have a son Jan and a daughter Marie
• an independent farmer until 1960, when he joined a co-op