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War and Injury

Bob Dole enlisted in the Army in December 1942 and was called to active duty in June 1943. From June 1943 until November 1943, Dole was a trainee in the Army Medical Corps (Dole had studied premed in college). From November 1943 until March 1944, Dole was placed in the Army Specialized Training Program for engineering studies at Brooklyn College. After completing medical and engineering training, Dole was sent to Fort Breckinridge, Ky., and became a gunner in an anti-tank company. In June 1944 Dole applied for and was sent to Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Ga.

By November 1944, Dole was assigned to 24th Replacement Depot as a pool officer outside Rome, Italy, not a very dangerous assignment. Dole called it the "best duty you could have." Dole, inspired by watching the athletes running around the Colosseum, and wanting out of the Army, decided put in for a change of assignment. "I remembered going to Rome. They had a big sports school in Rome. I figured the best way to get out of the army over there was to get in the sports school," Dole told The Washingtonian in December 1982.

In February 1945, Dole requested and received a transfer to the "I" Company, 3rd Battalion, 85th Mountain Regiment, also in Italy. Then, on April 14, 1945, with little real exposure to combat, Dole was ordered to lead an assault on hill 913, a last-ditch German machine gun nest in the Po Valley of northern Italy. Dole was struck by Nazi fire (it couldn't be determined if it was machine gun or mortar fire, or an exploding shell) after he dragged his platoon's radio man to cover. [Soldier Dole]

Whatever hit Dole, it destroyed his right shoulder, fractured vertebrae in his neck and spine, and spread metal slivers throughout his body (Dole later said that all he remembered was a sting). The medics who should have rescued him were hit by German fire and Dole was left on the battlefield for hours, all limbs paralyzed. Doctors thought he would die at first, then said that he might never walk again. His right kidney was removed because of infections. At another point, Dole was given the then-experimental drug streptomycin, which kept him from dying of infections. Dole's will to recover was strong, and, in time, he regained his sense of humor and began standing and moving about.

Dole spent most of his recovery time at Percy Jones General Hospital in Battle Creek, Mich., where he received physical therapy from November 1945 to June 1948 -- with brief periods at home, in Russell, in between. Directly after his battlefield injury in April 1945, Dole was treated briefly in Italy, northern Africa and Florida. In June 1945, Dole split his time between his home in Russell and Winter General Hospital in Topeka, Kan.

Dole searched for a doctor who could give him more mobility and soon heard of a specialist in Chicago who might be able to help. The neurosurgeon, Dr. Kelikian, was an Armenian immigrant who worked as an elevator operator while he attended the University of Chicago. Kelikian's brother was killed in Italy. Wanting to "do what I can do for the country," the doctor operated on Dole for free. Kelikian (or, as Dole called him, "Dr. K") performed three operations on Dole at his hospital in Chicago on June 3, Aug. 4 and Nov. 5, 1947. [Cigar box]

Even though his surgery was free, there were costs such as travel. A cigar box was set up at the V.F.W. post in Russell and Dole's hometown folks gave what they could. (The cigar box would later become a prop in Dole's 1988 presidential announcement.) His right hand and arm were beyond recuperation (which is why his right hand appears withered and claw-like. Dole often puts a pen in the hand to give it a more normal appearance). His left hand, while lacking abductor and adductor control, had some feeling. Dole eventually mastered the use of that "good" hand.

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