Captain Edward Morrison was a field surgeon at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. His field hospital was hit by artillery. Power failed. Heating failed. For 72 hours, he performed 47 operations by flashlight held by an exhausted medic.
His hands froze between patients. He warmed them in an armpit and returned to operating. When the flashlight died, a nurse held a candle. When the candle burned down, Morrison operated by the light of the burning building next door.
One of the men he saved was a 19-year-old named Thomas from Yorkshire. Morrison worked the shrapnel from his abdomen for four hours. Thomas asked his name. Morrison said: Just call me Teddy.
After the war, Morrison found a letter he had written to his wife in 1945: I lost a man tonight. Nineteen years old. I tried everything. But the cold, the dark, the shaking — it was too much. I held his hand while he died. I do not know if that was the right thing to do, or simply the only thing. I hope you can tell me when I come home.