Oranges and Dead Fish
Mirna Šitum

When Mirna Situm decided to pursue medical career, never in her wildest dreams did she thought that some day she would practice medicine dressed in a battle dress uniform, with bullets and shrapnel whizzing around her. In this collection of short stories, she shares her memories of a physician on the frontline during the 1991-1995 war in Croatia. The war saw her as the Head of Medical Corps that accompanied the 4th Split Brigade of the Croatian Army: a brave, strong, collected woman who, staying true to her vocation, risked her life to save comrades whenever needed, without giving it a second thought. Like her brothers in arms, she has never talked much about the horrors she witnessed and experienced during the two years of hard-fought battles in the rocky and hostile area of Southern Dalmatia. However, as the destiny wanted it, she met the editor-in-chief of Croatian Medical journal, Matko Marusic, who talked her into writing a regular column for the journal. Thus her memories slowly started to unfold before the eyes of journals readers. Mimas column "Physician in War" brought each time a new and often surreal experience, always instructive and informative in medical respect and deeply touching in personal sense.