[Sounds of guns and planes under opening slide show and title.]
Raymond W. Scallen: Staying alive in Europe seemed to be the priority of the moment and since we were a fairly fresh troops over there, they would move us from one Army to another. We were in the First, Third, Fifth, Seventh, and I think Ninth Armies, including Patton’s Third Army. Every time we would come out of the line and think we were going to go back and get some rest, they’d put us on trucks and pretty soon we’d be in another Army and we’d back up on the front.
We walked everywhere. We were associated with tanks on certain days of combat, but they were riding and we weren’t. They wouldn’t move without us being ahead of them, which kind of irritated us. But, on the other hand, if a tank got hit by the enemy, it was almost a certain death for everybody in the tank, and we, at least, could dive into a hole someplace and dig a foxhole. So, on balance, while I got very tired of walking across Europe, because we would fight sometimes twenty miles a day.
Maxine Davis: From 1944 to 1945, Corporal Ray Scallen and the men of B Company, 343rd Infantry walked from France, through Germany, and Germany to Austria. Mostly they walked in front of tanks. They dug their foxholes deep, they tried to stay alive. Ray Scallen walked to save himself and his buddies. He walked to save people he never met.
In 2006, Dr. Raymond W. Scallen is still walking. Up every morning at 6 a.m., he is usually at Abbott Northwestern Hospital by 8. He walks gingerly and quickly. Though slightly bent, he walks with the pace of a man half his age because he’s still walking to save people. Dr. Raymond Scallen is a soft-spoken gentleman who, almost daily, saves lives. He usually wears a suit and a tie and looks the gracious professional he is.
He was born at St. Mary’s Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota on a warm August day in 1925. Born twenty minutes before his twin brother, he was the oldest of 4 boys. His mother was Lenore King; his father, Raymond A. Scallen, a respected trial lawyer. He was raised in a comfortable South Minneapolis home. The home still stands. Raymond Scallen went to Catholic schools: Annunciation Elementary, and then St. Thomas Military Academy. Summers were spent in nature, swimming Minnesota’s brilliant lakes and winters skating on the local Park Board rinks.
Raymond W. Scallen: In high school, they threw me off the football team because I didn’t weigh enough, so I was in track. I was on the track team and lettered for all 4 years.
Maxine Davis: Ray was always good in school. From the time that Ray was a boy, he wanted to be a doctor.
Raymond W. Scallen: I found out [that] I wanted to be a doctor when I was a sophomore in high school. I had a biology teacher who taught the course as a college course. I graduated in 1943, [when] the war had begun and I knew that I was going to be in service. The lady I married I had met at the University before going in the Army and we corresponded fairly regularly. She was without any question the most beautiful medical student I have ever seen in my life. I ended up in France, it was right after D-Day, and I was fortunate enough to miss the invasion of D-Day and I’m not complaining about that or I probably wouldn’t be here. So, they sent us over to Europe to get a little combat experience and get us ready for the invasion of Japan. We were trained amphibiously, where our job was to paddle in before the troops came in and cut the barbed wire and get the beach ready. It was not a lot of fun trying to swim with a field pack on and a rifle on your shoulder and combat boots on. You would wear a life preserver, but it was still quite difficult.
Maxine Davis: After the bombs dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Ray Scallen’s war was over. He continued to follow his dream to become a doctor. Soon he would be able to save lives and every life he saves, he tries to make up for a death caused by World War II.
Raymond W. Scallen: My return from the Army, adjusting a little bit to civilian life, and performing well enough in pre-Med to get into Medical School was probably my greatest task. I guess the other most difficult thing was working very hard to stay alive when I was in combat. That wasn’t a very pleasant prospect. Of course, the physical life was enormously demanding. We were dirty, didn’t/hadn’t changed clothes in a couple of weeks or maybe even a month. No warm food, just living on what was called K rations, which were mostly like eating cardboard. It was a tough, dirty, hard life. Yeah, I remember it very well. I did not enjoy it. Most of us who came back from the service never told war stories. Most World War II veterans are very private.
Maxine Davis: Like many GIs, Ray Scallen killed boys like himself as he walked with the 343rd Infantry. Dr. Scallen received his MD in 1952. He worked at the University Hospital, General Hospital and Veterans Hospital, then received a fellowship to study Cardiology.
Raymond W. Scallen: In those days, the interns rode the ambulance. They didn’t have any paramedics, so we rode the ambulance. That was very nice because you got out of the Emergency Room for a little while.
Maxine Davis: Soon, he had children and a busy practice and for years split his time between teaching and clinical work.
Raymond W. Scallen: I’m proud of being what I consider to be a good doctor. I made a vow to myself I was going to be a good doctor and I’ve really tried to live up to that. One thing I – when I was a medical student, I saw people being treated differently if they were wealthy or had influence. I swore to myself that I wasn’t going to do that, that I would treat every patient like they were my private patient when I was an intern, and I did. When I was a resident, I did, and to this date, I like to think that I still do that.
Maxine Davis: Ray Scallen is thoroughly Minnesotan.
Raymond W. Scallen: I love Minnesota and I love our lakes. I love the people. I’m a Minnesotan and I’m proud of it. I was born here, and I’ll die here – hopefully not too soon.
Maxine Davis: If lucky, a kid from Minnesota will grow up around family, friends, and water. During World War II, 300,000 young men from Minnesota, men like Ray Scallen, fought an enemy very far away. Thank you to all who served. Thank you to those who never came home, you will not be forgotten. And those who returned, they gave, and continue to give, the best they have. Men whose lives were changed forever by war. Men like Ray Scallen, who had to take lives but now has been saving them for over fifty years.
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