Joseph Matkovcik: A Medic With Many Stops

By Mark Menconi, Honor Flight Chicago Veteran Interview Volunteer

Joseph Matkovcik grew up in Berwyn and enlisted in the Army in 1972 at the age of 27. Between high school and enlisting, Joseph worked for the County Police, the County Sheriff and worked in a machine shop.  He did not see a career in this and was always interested in being a medic. He became an EMT after 3.5 months of training and passing a board examination. 

“After I enlisted, it took a few months to get assigned to Basic Training,” he said. “Navy training to become a hospital corpsman was a full year.  The Army training was a few weeks so I went with the Army.”

Joseph’s Basic Training was at Ft. Polk in Vernon Parish, LA. After Basic Training, he was assigned to Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio, TX for medical training, then to Ft. Bragg in North Carolina. “I was assigned as a medic at Womack Army Medical Center in Ft. Bragg, NC,” he said. 

“After 11 months I was ordered to Gelnhausen, Germany.  We mostly did readiness training with the mechanized infantry company.  I drove out in the fields for training.  If there was a conflict or someone was trying to cross the Iron Curtain, an alert would be sounded.  You were assigned a spot and you went to that spot until the alert was over.” Interestingly, at that post there was a church and a non-commissioned officer club that was built by Elvis Presley.

Joe’s time in Germany was cut short by family tragedy, however.

“I went to Germany ahead of my wife to find housing,” Joe said. “Once I had that set up, my wife came to Germany.  Within a few weeks my wife was diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer.  The doctors in Germany had to do surgery to find out what was wrong.”

“My wife was airlifted to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. After being at Walter Reed for a while she was transferred to Great Lakes in Waukegan, IL.  She had family there and wanted to be near them.  My total time in Germany was 1.5 months.  If my wife had not gotten sick, I would have been stationed in Germany for 3 years.”

After things eventually settled down following his wife’s death, Joe was assigned to Walter Reed Hospital for three years, working his way up to Wardmaster.  During training, he was told to not become attached to patients. “You can’t help but get to know the patients,” he said. “You play cards with them or other games.”

At Walter Reed, Joe worked in the Laminar Flow Unit.  “I had to wear scrubs, a gown, a face mask, gloves and hairnet. This was to keep the patients in a sterile environment to reduce infection.  This was used for leukemia patients.”

Among other memories, Joe was able to meet Colin Powell during his time at Walter Reed. “He was an interesting man,” Joe said.

In Joe’s military career that covered parts of four different decades, he had been assigned to 19 bases in one 21-year span. “I don’t recall all the stops,” he says now. At one of those stops, Joe recalls an anecdote: “On one occasion there was a person laying on the ground.  They couldn’t figure out why.  I told the sergeant, ‘this man was bitten by a snake.’  The sergeant asked if I was giving him (a superior) orders?  There was a colonel standing nearby and he said ‘It’s obvious he has medical training so I would do what he said.’  The sergeant picked the person up and took him to the hospital.  The sergeant asked how I knew it was a snake bite. I told him you must know where you are; there are scorpions and other things all around. That incident influenced a new part of training – medics were taught to look for insect bites.”

Joe eventually returned to Gelnhausen, Germany and was assigned to Coleman Kaserne Army Base for one year where he was a medic assigned to an infantry dispensary.  This was a clinic where personnel could obtain needed pharmaceuticals.  We had sick call duty every day from 0600-0800.  If needed during the day, we would be contacted to take care of soldiers who may have injured him or herself.

Joe remembers: “The Fulda Gap was in Germany.  It had mine fields along the road.  You couldn’t vary off the road.  The east side of the Fulda border was free, the west side was communist.  The Iron Curtain was still in place while I was there.”

When Joe returned to the U.S., he went to Chicago to become a recruiter in high schools around the city. This was a mandatory three year assignment because of the training he received.

After the service, Joe worked five years for an armored car company doing field training. He retired in 2015.

Joe met his current wife, Susan, through a chance encounter. “I was in Hawaii and when I returned, a friend of mine was going to Hawaii,” he said. “I went to speak with him about Hawaii.  This was Susan’s brother-in-law.  I saw Susan in another room and told my friend I wanted a date with her.  Our first date I fell asleep at a concert in front of a six-foot speaker.  That cost me a dozen roses and an apology card.  We’ve been married for 37 years.”

Joe has one sister who is deceased, two brothers, four sons, two daughters, nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. One of his granddaughters is in the Army stationed at Ft. Lewis in Washington State. She has received a Soldier of the Year award. Joe is very proud of her accomplishment.

Thank you Joe for your many years of service to our country. Enjoy your day of honor as part of the 101st flight of Honor Flight Chicago.