Preface
The purpose of this volume is to bring together the manyaspects of public health as an adjunct of Civil Affairs in Military Governmentin conquered and occupied areas, as experienced by the Army Medical Departmentin World War II. With each conquest, the conquering force became the MilitaryGovernment that was the supreme authority over land, property, and inhabitantsof the enemy territory and, by force or agreement, substituted its authority forthat of the sovereign or previous government. Whether a country was conquered orliberated, the Civil Affairs element of Military Government concerned itselfwith the language, history, governmental structure, and customs of the occupiedcountry; and public health was an integral and essential function of thisgoverning authority.
The administration of Civil Affairs by the Army in connectionwith Military Government had been quite limited in the previous one-enemy,one-nation, one-war conflicts. Thus, the magnitude of the operations in WorldWar II was only vaguely perceived in early planning, and the worldwide scope ofthis war challenged the ingenuity, determination, and fortitude of members inthe United States Army at every level. Compounding the scope of the earlyefforts was the invasion of Africa, which demonstrated that the militaryorganization rather than the State Department was by far the primary agency todeal with these matters.
In 1942, The Provost Marshal General was assigned theresponsibility of training Civil Affairs officers as specialists in language,history, governmental structure, and customs of the country to be occupied. Thatsame year, The Provost Marshal General established a school at Charlottesville,Va., to train officers for Civil Affairs and Military Government positions.Within a few months, it became apparent that public health was an essentialfunction of Civil Affairs and Military Government, and The Provost MarshalGeneral asked The Surgeon General for a liaison officer to assist with the fewhours allotted to instruction pertaining to the public health aspects of CivilAffairs and Military Government. While this course did provide personnel toimplement Military Government and administer Civil Affairs, it was neitherintended nor designed to train and qualify public health officers.
Civilian public health personnel were scarce in the UnitedStates. Thus, with no source of trained public health specialists to draw fromin the civilian community and with too few available in the Army, The SurgeonGeneral had to negotiate with several universities to train public healthofficers who would serve in countries worldwide; that is, in the Americas; inthe Mediterranean area, Europe, and the Middle East; and in China, Burma, India,Japan, Korea, and the entire Southwest Pacific. The problem of training publichealth officers for their varied and complex roles in Civil Affairs and Military Government was expanded by the factor oftraining them to cope with restoring health care delivery systems andimplementing disease prevention programs in Allied Nations, in friendly occupiednations, and in belligerent conquered nations. What differed mostly between thewartime aspects relating to public health activities in Civil Affairs andMilitary Government and the public health activities in the local hometowncommunities during peacetime were the problems of logistics, supply,transportation, and medical practice-all of which were taken for granted in ahome community, but which had to be coped with by the governing agency in theoccupied territories. And to the Army Medical Department, often in coordinationwith the U.S. Navy or the Allies, fell the responsibility for directing andexecuting public health measures to prevent disease and to restore health careto preoccupation standards for the inhabitants of the occupied territories.
To provide a composite and factual accounting of thisworldwide endeavor, the few public health specialists who were directly involvedwere requested to write of their roles, experiences, problems, and solutions inthis vast and complex operation. Their combined efforts depict this milestone ofArmy Medical history. It is fitting to give thanks to the foresight anddetermination of the few regular officers in the Army Medical Department wholaid the groundwork for this major undertaking and who effectively achieved theoptimum under the existing conditions. In their behalf, this text will havefulfilled its purpose if it helps a future generation engaged in anotherconflict to meet these problems.
Many people, in addition to the several coauthors,contributed to the preparation of this volume. Particular appreciation isexpressed to personnel of the U.S. Army Medical Department Historical Unit, whotook the basic contributed material, molded it into a cohesive whole, andpersevered in the complex and time-consuming process of prepublicationpreparation to a most successful conclusion: Mr. Roderick M. Engert, assisted byMrs. Esther E. Rohlader, reorganized and condensed the manuscript whilemaintaining the integrity of the substantive material; Mrs. Martha R. Stephensedited the manuscript and prepared the comprehensive index; Miss Jean A.Saffran,the Unit cartographer, prepared or adapted all of the maps; Mrs. Mary D. Nelsonprepared the artwork; and Colonels William S. Mullins, MSC, Leland B. Carter,VC, and John Lada, MSC, successive Directors of The Historical Unit, guided thisproject through its final stages.
THOMAS B. TURNER, M.D.
