| Arty's Story |
In 1942, my father said to me, “You don’t have the guts or the personality to be a successful businessman like me, so you might as well become a doctor.” My interests were in aviation. In September 1942 I entered my last year of high school. The government began a program to develop a professional corps of physicians, engineers and officers. In November, I took a preliminary test for the Navy V-12 program. Interviews followed, and I was called back for a third interview. I met with a captain in the US Navy in March 1943, one month before my 17th birthday. I told him that I wanted to study aeronautical engineering; in those days I dreamed of being a space pioneer. As I left the interview, he put his arm around my shoulder and said, “See you on an aircraft carrier, son.” WOW! On a warm, sunny day in May, a letter arrived at my school. I remember walking part way home with the unopened large envelope, feeling thrilled and excited. I knew I was in. When I opened the envelope and read my orders to report to the V-12 program at the University of Rochester on July l, l943, how fulfilled I felt. So, graduation, and on July 1st I got on the train with other V-12ers. The next day we were to receive schedules. That day an accident occurred which changed my life. We queued up in a single line approaching a desk. Behind that desk were three categories: one for line officer training, the second for engineering and the last for pre-med. “Sternberg” the corpsman called when I approached. “You get on the pre-med line over there.” “No,” I protested. “I belong on the engineering line.” He looked at his list again and repeated pre-med. I made a fuss and an officer came over to check. He said, “You belong on the pre-med line. If you don’t want that, you have the choice to go to a 90 day officer training course, get a commission and go to the Pacific.” I had to think fast and feeling no other recourse, opted for the pre-med line. During the first trimester, I learned about Sigmund Freud and the theory of psychoanalysis and was intrigued. I realized then that I could become a pioneer of the mind rather than of space. By 1954 I’d completed my residency in psychiatry and opened a private practice. In 1956 a man appeared at my office for treatment of depression and anxiety. I recognized him as a fellow student at the University of Rochester where we had studied. His name was similar to mine; he was one year older than me and had had one year of pre-med before starting the V-12 program with me. He had, to his utter chagrin, been assigned to the engineering program and had become an engineer. He wanted treatment because of a deep sense of lack of fulfillment in his career. We had obviously been switched that fateful day in July 1943. I told him of our connection, offering to have him see someone else. He chose not to and I treated him successfully. I went on to study psychoanalysis and had a lengthy and positive career in psychiatry. In 1963 I learned to fly. |
