In 1942 , Dole joined the United States Army 's Enlisted Reserve Corps to fight in World War II , becoming a second lieutenant in the Army 's 10th Mountain Division . In April 1945 , while engaged in combat near Castel d'Aiano in the Apennine mountains southwest of Bologna , Italy , Dole was seriously wounded by German machine gun fire , being struck in his upper back and right arm . As Lee Sandlin describes , when fellow soldiers saw the extent of his injuries , all they thought they could do was to " give him the largest dose of morphine they dared and write an 'M ' for ' morphine ' on his forehead in his own blood , so that nobody else who found him would give him a second , fatal dose . " Dole was transported to the United States , where his recovery was slow , interrupted by blood clots and a life-threatening infection . After large doses of penicillin were not successful , he overcame the infection with the administration of streptomycin , which at the time was still an experimental drug . He remained despondent , " not ready to accept the fact that my life would be changed forever . " He was encouraged to see Hampar Kelikian , an orthopedist in Chicago who had been working with veterans returning from war . Although during their first meeting Kelikian told Dole that he would never be able to recover fully , the encounter changed Dole 's outlook on life , who years later wrote of Kelikian , a survivor of the Armenian Genocide , " Kelikian inspired me to focus on what I had left and what I could do with it , rather than complaining what had been lost . " Dr. K , as Dole later came to affectionately call him , operated on him seven times , free of charge , and had , in Dole 's words , " an impact on my life second only to my family . " Dole recovered from his wounds at the Percy Jones Army Hospital . This complex of federal buildings , no longer a hospital , is now named Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center in honor of three patients who became United States Senators : Dole , Philip Hart and Daniel Inouye . Dole was decorated three times , receiving two Purple Hearts for his injuries , and the Bronze Star with " V " Device for valor for his attempt to assist a downed radioman . The injuries left him with limited mobility in his right arm and numbness in his left arm . He minimizes the effect in public by keeping a pen in his right hand
Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
Bob Dole