World War II Veteran and A Life Well Lived
Dick
Bozian is a positive, modest, charismatic 100-year-old community member who
says luck is the real reason he has lived this long, adding “I could have died
with all the others in World War II. But I was lucky.”
Lucky
because after voluntarily enlisting in 1944, General MacArthur gave new
directives that kept Dick off the front lines. Dick had a deferment from the
draft due to his college degree and a good job at a pharmacy, but he declined
it to join his peers fighting in the war and to earn credits in the G.I. Bill
of Rights. Dick entered the service as a private, and then attended leadership
school followed by Officer candidate school at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.
“I had this chance to go to leadership and officer candidate school – but I had
not been anywhere. Others had combat service, and I hadn’t.” Dick didn’t
realize that the purpose of training Officers in the Medical Administrative
Corps at that time was to send them to the front lines in command of Battalion
Aid Stations. But, Dick was lucky, as MacArthur spared Dick that experience by claiming
in 1944 that only doctors were to be on the front lines (this was a complete
reverse in policy, and a decision that is generally regarded by historians as
unnecessary since, as Dick described, “wrapping bandages and carrying gurneys doesn’t
require a medical degree”).
Dick
instead served as an Administrative Officer on the hospital trains, travelling
back and forth across the country many, many times ferrying patients. “It was a
wonderful experience – I saw troops coming back from the South Pacific and from
the European theater.” Dick found the hospital trains to be the most rewarding
and enlightening experience of his lifetime, “my father was an orphan immigrant
from the Middle East, and here I was making contact with people at every level
of society. I had exposure to so much, I had relationships with all types of
people – governors, senators, politicians. The service exposed me to
everything.”
One of
Dick’s responsibilities on the hospital trains was collecting money from the Officers
for meals – 25 cents each. By the end of the coast to coast trip, he would have
$50. And while Dick was supposed to deposit the money at the end of the trip, he
simply forgot one time, leaving with the money. He returned after the weekend
off the train with all the money, but that wasn’t good enough for one
supervising Officer who was furious. The Officer filed a complaint, angry with
Dick and his seeming lack of concern over the issue, and Dick got in trouble
over the incident. The Officer had Dick transferred to a new assignment, and Dick
rolled with the punches and did as instructed. Dick’s new assignment was at the
General Officers train – that some could say was an upgrade. And one of the
very first assignments was, ironically, the angry Officer’s retirement party.
Dick laughed “I can still see his face all these years later, ‘YOU, what are
YOU doing here?’ It was great.”
The
Importance of Being Educated
Dick had
always been a bright, curious student growing up in New Jersey. After
graduating from high school at age 16, with assistance from the National Youth
Administration, Dick earned a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy. Before the war
Dick had applied to medical school without success, “you really had to know
someone in the school in those days”. But one Friday afternoon after the war
and with only 30 days left of service in the army, Dick received a phone call,
“Lieutenant Bozian, you still interested in medical school?” Apparently an
elderly distant relative of Dick’s was dating a New York State politician, and
this couple had influence at Albany Medical College of Union University.
Initially, Dick had not heard anything from the school, but a month into the
start of the school year, that call came with a last-minute vacancy. It seemed
one of the enrolled students, a female (which was rare at that time), had left
school because she could not stand the sight of the cadaver. If Dick could be
in Albany by Monday morning, the long-coveted opportunity for medical school
was his. Dick asked his Sergeant, and he said NO – Dick must serve his 30
additional days. Unwilling to take no for an answer, Dick went above the
Sergeant to the Commander in Chief. The Commander was reasonable and demanded
that Dick be relieved of the 30 days, wishing him best of luck in medical
school.
Dick
thrived in medical school, so he took a shot applying for his internship at the
prestigious University of Chicago – a top 10 medical school. While Albany
Medical College “wasn’t in the same league”, Dick obtained a spot and he did so
well that he was also offered a residency at University of Chicago. But he
turned it down. Why? Because of Mike.
Marguerite,
a.k.a. Mike
Dick met
Marguerite “Mike” Wilkinson, a nurse, when she was rinsing out a bed pan at the
hospital. The two began dating, but Mike was from the south and not a fan of
the brutal Chicago winters. She told Dick, “If we stay in Chicago, I won’t
marry you.” Dick replied, “okay, we’ll leave.” The couple married and started
their young married life in Manhattan as Dick accepted a residency at New York
University’s Bellevue Medical Center instead of University of Chicago.
Dick and
Mike loved Manhattan and their $30 per month rent in subsidized housing for
young doctors. They would see plays and musicals on Broadway for only $2-$5. In
a big city, their neighbors became their community, and they started a family.
While at
Bellevue, Dick enjoyed his training in internal medicine and metabolism. He
joined the faculty and directed the outpatient clinics while conducting research
in lipid metabolism and obesity. And Dick developed an interest in nutrition –
which he firmly believed would be the future of medicine, although that didn’t
happen for another 40 years, if that, “doctors still don’t know a damn thing
about nutrition.”
A
Pioneering Professional Career
Dick
obtained a fellowship in the graduate program in nutrition and biochemistry at
Vanderbilt University, where Mike had earned her degree in nursing, so it was
on to Nashville for the Bozian family. Dick spent five years researching
vitamins and lipids – this was the time when DNA had just been unraveled.
Dick’s research was fruitful and highly valued in the medical community. In
fact, Dick’s work on vitamin B12 that was completed at Vanderbilt still serves
as the basis for the current Recommended Daily Allowance for vitamin B12. While
working on his thesis on biochemistry for the essential fatty acid deficiency
in rats for his PhD in biochemistry, Dick was offered the job of Associate
Professor and head of the Division of Nutrition in the Department of Medicine
at the University of Cincinnati (UC) for $15,000 a year. The Bozians moved to
Cincinnati in 1963.
Dick spent
25 years at UC as a professor, a researcher, and in clinical practice and
consultation. Dick was a pioneer in his field – especially with regard to
intravenous nutrition. In 1968 a 21-year-old nurse named Sharon had an
emergency surgery that left her with only six inches of small intestine.
Sharon’s long-term outlook was not good, but then Dick changed medicine and
saved her life. Dick created an intravenous nutrition plan that has kept her
alive these 50 years, and she was able to birth two children. Today, Sharon is
the longest living human maintained on intravenous nightly nutrition. Sharon,
now age 71, keeps in touch saying, “I’m only alive because of you, Dr. B!” As a
result of his research and knowledge, Dr. B had the opportunity to travel the
world giving lectures on vitamins, nutrition, and intravenous nutrition plans,
visiting every continent but Africa in the 1960s and 1970s.
Laughing, Dick
explained he retired from UC in 1989, “because I thought I was old!” But he
wasn’t done. Dick became involved with SMART Recovery program (Self-Management
And Recovery Training - SMART) which Dick described as an addiction treatment
program that focuses on a cognitive behavioral approach – without religion.
“Your perception is not your reality – so change your perception. Anything that
gives you pleasure or avoids or relieves pain or relieves fear or anxiety can
be addictive. SMART focuses on a cognitive behavioral change.” SMART Recovery
started as a single program and has grown into 20 programs in the region. After
working as a pharmacist, a medic, a professor, and a doctor, Dick only retired
from this latest career in addiction treatment three years ago.
Family
Ties
Mike, who
turned 93 in October, had her own successful career in nursing. She taught
nursing education at UC’s College of Nursing for 25 years. She was also
recognized as Teacher of the Year at UC. Together Dick and Mike raised five
children: Russell, Robin, Jamie, Richie, and Jolie. Sadly, Russell passed away
last year at the age of 63. Dick reflected, “I am very proud of my kids – they
are very active in the community.” Collectively, five kids led to five
grandkids and two great grandkids, all serving our communities as lawyers,
community activists, actors, and computer programmers.
The
Five Tenets to a Long Life
When asked
“what is the secret to living to 100?” Dick has a quick answer of five key
components:
- Genetics - Dick’s father lived to age 91 and his brother
lived to 89. “Nothing you can do about bad genetics.”
- Good nutrition – as a nutritionist, Dick emphasized the
importance of nutrition citing the major benefits of a Mediterranean diet.
- Psychology – “This is extremely important – if you beat
your head against the wall or don’t allow yourself to roll with the
punches it isn’t good. Be adaptable – don’t get destroyed by negativity!”
- Exercise
– it is critical to keep your body moving. Dick attends the Silver
Sneakers at Wyoming Rec Center twice a week (the group had a surprise 100th
birthday party for Dick in August)!
- Luck – “Luck is the most important. I could have ended up on the front lines in the South Pacific. In fact, there are five incidents in my lifetime where I could have died and didn’t. Once Mike and I were in the Yucatan travelling in a rental car when we came upon branches in the road. I got out of the car swearing and yelling, but when I moved the branches, I realized the local people had laid them in the road because there was a volcanic shift and the branches were blocking a cliff. It was luck we hadn’t just driven off.” The week we met with Dick, luck was not on the side of Dick’s beloved Jack Russell Terrier. The furry companion died after having been hit by a car, “you can’t have some pleasures without paying the price for it. It’s part of the ball game.”
Given the
secrets to a long life, Dick laughed that the human who lived the longest was
Jeanne Caulman, who lived to 122 in Arles, France, “she smoked, drank cheap
wine, and ate chocolate every day. But she had good genetics.” Currently the
oldest living people are all Japanese and all are 117 years old – five women
and one man. One of the items on Dick’s bucket list is to be the longest living
veteran of World War II. The oldest currently is 103 years old, so Dick has a
lot of living to do!
100
Years in Reflection
As Dick
reflected on his long life - and his luck, he summarized a long life of
activism and service. “My father, a hardworking immigrant, was a very
conservative man. He only voted for a democrat once – FDR. Then he went back.”
Laughing, he added, “I was conservative my first 40 years, but I am adaptable, and
Nixon was the last republican I voted for.” Emphasizing, you must be open to
change.
Dick
believes in investing in our youth and our future, “FDR created the GI Bill and
the National Youth Administration that enabled me to go to college.” As a
result, Dick firmly believes that it is very important to give two years of
college for free to all Americans, and he believes youth need to take advantage
of opportunities given to them, for some that includes military service.
“Army, the
service, it depends on your philosophy, but the service can spread your world. Service
is the opportunity for growth. For me it was a fantastic experience and
prepping for a career. The army was unbelievable in broadening my world and my
world view.” Pulling it all full circle Dick explained, “It would be wonderful
if we didn’t need a military. But we do. And I have great respect for the
service and my time in the service.”
Friends from his exercise class at the Wyoming Rec Center gathered for a surprise 100th birthday party for Dick. |
The potluck party was a surprise to Dick, and his wife Mike joined them at the Civic Center for the celebration along with his exercise instructor Susanna Smith and friends. |
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Dick Bozian served as an Administrative Officer on the hospital trains during World War II. |
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