10. Poison Oak

10. Poison Oak

Royal G. Jackson: So far as you know during your period there, no one ever got killed at Camp Arboretum?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Ah, no. I think our worst disease now -- most of the customers we had was poison oak.

Royal G. Jackson: Tell me about that.

Edward Sekermestrovich: You look like a big fellow. Man, when they get poison oak, they just swell up bigger than you.

Royal G. Jackson: Did you ever get poison oak?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Yes, but I got it between my fingers here and this and that, and they tried everything, and I used what they called GI soap. Why they called it GI soap, I don't know. They used to give us that soap to wash our laundry if we wanted to wash our own laundry, and it was a kind of yellow soap, and they called it GI soap. I used to just kind of warm it up on the stove, you know, with a little bit of water in it, melt it, and put it in here like this here between my fingers, and heck the poison would go away. But other people, oh, my God, they would swell -- like that, their fingers would be, so you could tell what the rest of their bodies were like.

Royal G. Jackson: So that was a continuous problem then?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Yes, poison oak.

Royal G. Jackson: You had your own doctors at Camp Arboretum?

Edward Sekermestrovich: We had our own doctors.

Royal G. Jackson: How many were there when you were there?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Well, there was just one all the time.

Royal G. Jackson: Do you remember who it was?

Edward Sekermestrovich: I don't remember his name, but I could find out for you. I think as long as I was there, there were only two of them there, a short fellow, and a big, tall fellow. But I don't know. I think the tallest fellow was from the side camp of Triangle Lake, used to come over and take this other fellow's place.

Royal G. Jackson: What were the usual kinds of illnesses besides poison oak?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Well, your regular colds.