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At 82 not very much. Keeping the computer warmed up and trying to stay on the right side of the grass.
After the good life I spent 27 years working in a chem & metallurgical lab then promoted to a paper pusher for McLouth Steel Corps in Trenton, MI. Miss the camaraderie that we have in the Navy.
http://nasgi.org/donfuller.htm
Other Comments:
American Legion Post 217, Wyandotte, MI. Life member
Fleet Reserve Association Branch 27, MI. Life member
US Navy Memorial Foundation member, (lonesailor.org)
DAV Chapter 211 Life member
U.M.C., Riverview, MI. Life member
Wife: Betty Fuller
Favorite Website: nasgi.org
The medical history of Mare Island dates from the day the sloop-of-war USS
Warren arrived; her medical officer, Assislant Surgeon John M. Browne, USN,
became Mare Island's pioneer medical officer in 1854.
Medical facilities of the Navy Yard consisted of the sick bay of the Warren ,
from 18 September 1854 until relieved by the frigate USS Independence on 2
October 1857 . The Independence served as station and receiving ship for the
yard until 2 November 1862 and provided its entire medieaJ facilities until 1863 .
In that year an old granary was moved to near the berth of the Independence
and converted into a temporary hospital of twenty-four beds. This makeshift
structure was used until 1870, when the first permanent hospital was completed,
with Surgeon W . E. Taylor in command.
The new hospital, on the southern part of the island, was a brick !itructure
situated part way up the slope of a hill facing the northeast. The hospital grounds
consisted of 51 acres.
The first hospital, with a capacity of eighty beds, was used until 1898, when
an earthquake so severely damaged the building that it was condemned and torn
down. Congress appropriated the sum of $1 00,000 for rebuilding, which was
completed on 3 April 1900.
By 1912 the capacity of the hospital had increased to 220 beds. During World
War I the erection of four H-typc ward buildings and five single ward buildings
increased the capacity by 1,000, in addition to which tents with wooden platforms
provided cover for 500 more beds.
In the period between World Wars I and" many of the World War I temporary
ward buildings were removed or converted to other uses. Modernization of the
hospital started in 1928 with the construction of a five-story, L-shaped , reinforced
concrete wing, extending to the northwest. By 1941 this wing was duplicated
on the southeast side. In 1943 the hospital reached a capacity of 1,167 beds,
and during World War II it reached a peak capacity of 2,281.
Best Friends Odie Fulps HA1/c (Deceased) Johnny Hagen Marine (amputated leg)Hometown was Birmingham, Michigan
Best Moment Seeing the smile on patients face when they receive their prothesis & able to walk again.
Worst Moment Seeing a patient cry when looking down at no legs. Maybe not the worst but shaving a young marine with a leg & arm amputated & only a little finger & thumb on the other & was BLIND. Asked how far up were we. Windows had wire mesh but I knew what he was thinking.
Other Memories The laughter in the ward when a fellow Marine does something stupid. Up to 67 Marines on ward with at least one limb amputated. Semper Fi was well instilled in these young marines. An "eye opening" experience for me just out of high school.
