True story.
When I was in basic training (11/61 - 1/62) we had a guy in our platoon from Maine and I mean, way up in Maine. North of the Caribous.
He had one of those polio arms (left arm) that never grew properly and was only half the length and size of his right arm, a stub really.
When the doctors at Ft. Dix did their medical examination on entry they were stunned he was accepted into the Army.
Needless to say, he was medically discharged and sent home to Maine.
The sad thing about this story is the guy really, really wanted to serve and the day before he left for his home he was speculating that he could remove the brass buttons from his Class A's, replace them with black buttons and he would have a wonderful suit to attend Sunday church.
So help me God.
Probably not polio. More likely his mom took Thalidomide during pregnancy. That happened to one of my classmates in high school. His left forearm and hand never developed past the fetal stage. His right arm was fine. Aside from the left arm, he was a perfectly bright and capable person.
We had a guy in our basic training platoon(Ft. Ord, Ca. 1975)who was an escapee from a mental institution. He was carted away a couple of weeks into the cycle.