Being a Star Trek fan, I knew who Arnold Moss was, in fact, the picture of him here is taken from the episode he appeared in, I think (the Conscience Of The King).

I heard this on my local radio station, over thirty years ago, and was delighted to find it again.  Clearly, a story like this could not be told on television, for obvious reasons.

CAUTION:  SPOILERS BELOW
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It seems the poor fellow (I\\\'m going to call him Bob, just to make things easier) in this story suffers from the same amnesia that Drew Barrymore\\\'s character did in 50 First Dates, namely his wound destroyed his ability to retain new memories.  He remembers everything up to the point he was wounded in the back of the head, but can\\\'t keep memories of anything after.  That fits what we see (or hear) in this story, in that he thinks only days have passed, instead of the 60+years that have really passed.

I\\\'m guessing the doctor he meets works at, or as associated, with the hospital the fellow lived at.  The doctor comments that Bob looks familiar to him, so he must have seen him at the hospital at some point.  The doctor puts things together when he asks Bob his age, and Bob says he\\\'s nineteen.

It\\\'s hinted that this is not the first time Bob has gotten out of the hospital.  I wonder how many times he got out, looking to rejoin his unit in a war long over.

Interesting that this time, when Bob gets out, he arrives at Nashville just as their commemorating the Civil War, with everyone in period clothing and such.  It would have given away the ending had Bob seen modern (well 1920\\\'s era) clothes and technology (like automobiles).

When Bob sees his reflection, an old man, and realizes the truth, he dies.  I guess he had a heart attack from the shock (he was eighty-four years old, after all).

The doctor says that Bob was the last of the Civil War veterans.  That\\\'s not exactly true, there were some still around in 1938, when they attended the 75th Anniversary of the Battle Of Gettysburg.  Reportedly, the last one died in 1959, he was over a century old, and had served in the Confederate Army.

A good story.

