Bibliographical Note
Sources used in preparing this volume consist largely of official recordsrelating to the Army Medical Department during the years 1939-45, foundin a number of files as indicated below. As stated in the Preface, additionalinformation was obtained from Medical Department officers and a few otherindividuals concerned with the Army`s medical work in World War II.
Records of The Historical Unit, U.S. Army Medical Service
The official records used are contained in large measure, as of thedate of writing, in the files of The Historical Unit, U.S. Army MedicalService. Because of the early incipience of the Medical Department`s historicalprogram, dating from August 1941 (referred to in chapter III). the HistoricalDivision, as it was then called, built up during the war years a file ofdocuments chosen primarily for its historical value. As to type, thesedocuments are of wide variety. They include memorandums, letters, periodicand special reports of medical offices and medical units and installations,histories and monographs on various phases of Army medical service, roughdrafts of plans and incomplete histories, and a few personal diaries, aswell as a good deal of official serial material issued by the Surgeon General`sOffice and the War Department during the war years.
The periodic reports (usually covering the calendar or fiscal year)of the so-called "services" and "divisions" of theSurgeon General`s Office and of the medical offices of major commands inthe United States and overseas were extensively used for the present volume.The Historical Unit`s file of annual reports of elements of the SurgeonGeneral`s Office for the war years is fairly complete. The internal filesof a few divisions of the Office are also among the sources maintainedby The Historical Unit, although most material of this sort is now in thecustody of the Departmental Records Branch in the Office of the AdjutantGeneral.
A few monographs on certain phases of the Medical Department`s activitiesin the United States have served to direct the writer to chief developmentswhich would otherwise have come to light only in the course of examiningthe hundreds of primary documents on which they were based. A monographentitled "The Organization of the Medical Department in the Zone ofthe Interior" by Captain Edward J. Morgan and Dr. Donald O. Wagnerhas afforded this sort of guide for drafting those passages in the presentvolume which are devoted to the internal organization of the Surgeon General`sOffice and of the offices of surgeons of service commands in the UnitedStates. Volume I, Organization and Administration, of a series entitled"History of the AAF Medical Service in World War II," preparedin the Air Surgeon`s Office under the direction of Dr. Hubert A. Colemanbut transferred to the files of The Historical Unit, has served as a guideto chief developments in the Office of the Air Surgeon and the medicaloffices of the Army Air Forces commands in the United States. Inquiry intomatters not covered in these two studies, but related to them, has led,however, to personal examination of a large proportion of the documentsused in their preparation. A number of manuscripts prepared for the clinicalvolumes of the Medical Department`s history have served to point out administrativedevelopments in their respective fields.
Documentary sources in The Historical Unit for the administration ofmedical service in oversea commands are of uneven value. The annual reportsof medical offices of oversea commands, extensively used in the preparationof this volume, include for the most part those of the medical sections(or offices) of the theater headquarters, Services of Supply headquarters,the headquarters of Services of Supply area commands, and of the chiefground force commands. The roster of these is fairly complete.
Another important body of material on the oversea theaters which ison file in The Historical Unit consists of histories, which vary as tofullness of coverage, of Army medical
566
service in certain theaters of operations and oversea base commands.These were prepared by historical units in the medical sections of theaterheadquarters. Fairly complete ones exist for the Mediterranean and China-Burma-India theaters, which have aided greatly in shaping the accountof medical administration in those areas.
On the other hand, the "theater history" of medical serviceis conspicuously lacking for the two areas in which Medical Departmentwork was most extensive in World War II the European theater and the SouthwestPacific Area. The lack of theater histories or other documents of a summarynature, except for a history of the medical service of the CommunicationsZone of the European theater, has made the task of preparing an accountof Army medical administration in those areas much more difficult, as wellas more time consuming, than in other theaters. Summaries of certain phasesof medical service for the European theater have proved helpful, but almostno documents of a summary nature-beyond the scope of periodic reports -existfor the Southwest Pacific Area. In order to piece together the story forthe Southwest Pacific Area it was necessary to resort to hundreds of memorandumsand letters produced in day-to-day operations of the chief medical officesthere, as well as the periodic reports of many commands. The file of periodicreports of medical offices of the Southwest Pacific Area maintained inThe Historical Unit is voluminous by comparison with similar reports madeby the medical offices of other commands, for quarterly, rather than annual,reports were required of the medical offices at the headquarters of themany commands in the area. Although histories of certain phases of medicalservice were compiled for the Central and South Pacific Areas, they aresome-what fragmentary in nature, particularly for the latter. Sources forthe South Pacific Area available in The Historical Unit are less satisfactorythan those for ally other oversea region, since no complete theater medicalhistory was written for the area and the office files of the theater surgeonare not in the possession of The Historical Unit.
The files of The Historical Unit contain a good deal of the officialmaterial in series issued by the War Department, Army Service Forces headquarters,and the Surgeon General`s Office during the war years. Such material becamean important source for appointments of individuals, for changes in functionsof elements of the Surgeon General`s Office, and relations of the Officewith the Army Service Forces headquarters. Among series which contributedto this volume were The Surgeon General`s Office Orders, Army Service ForcesCirculars, and the War Department Regulations. The annual reports of theSurgeon General`s Office (discontinued in printed form after the fiscalyear 1941) were the most widely used of the reports published in the WarDepartment.
Records containing information which was gleaned from Medical Departmentofficers after the war form another important source in The HistoricalUnit`s file. Among them are recorded accounts of a good many of the interviewswhich historians held with Medical Department officers in the postwar periodand a number of letters written by officers to answer specific questionsraised by historians. Written comment which officers made on draft manuscriptsubmitted to them for review served to correct errors of fact and interpretation.
Central Files of the Surgeon General`s Office
Of secondary importance for the present volume, the central files, ofthe Surgeon General`s Office include copies of memorandums, letters, periodicand special reports, and various other documents produced in the courseof the daily operations of the office throughout the war. They are nowin the custody of the Army`s major depository of historical records, theDepartmental Records Branch in the Office of the Adjutant General.
Records of the Army Service Forces
The Departmental Records Branch, Office of the Adjutant General, isalso in possession of another body of documents, which proved of considerablevalue for the present volume. These are the files maintained by Headquarters,Army Service Forces. These, particularly
567
the records of the Control Division, Army Service Forces, and of theimmediate offices of Gen. Brehon B. Somervell and his chief of staff, Gen.Wilhelm D. Styer, were a chief source for relations of The Surgeon Generaland his office with individuals and organizational elements of Headquarters,Army Service Forces.
Records of the Office of the Air Surgeon
A special collection of records of the Air Surgeon`s Office, which wasamassed for the purpose of preparing a separate history of medical servicein the Army Air Forces, was on loan to The Historical Unit, U.S. Army MedicalService, for several years. These records consist primarily of periodic(chiefly annual) reports, special reports, reports on trips of inspection,and histories of the medical service of a number of air commands; theyalso include some correspondence of the Air Surgeon`s Office with air forcesurgeons overseas. They were the chief source for medical administrationwithin the commands of the Army Air Forces and contributed substantiallyto the various accounts in this volume of the dealings between the AirSurgeon and The Surgeon General.
Office of the Chief of Military History: Manuscripts and Studies
Various monographs and draft manuscripts for volumes to be publishedin "United States Army in World War II" contain brief summaryaccounts of the medical service within certain oversea commands. A numberserved to throw light on the command channels above the medical sectionsat the headquarters of these oversea commands. A few manuscripts dealingwith the Army Service Forces and its elements aided in clarifying the relationsof the Surgeon General`s Office with the Army Service Forces.
Miscellaneous Files
A number of other files, both in the Washington area and elsewhere,have been less widely used. The records of some of the technical services-QuartermasterDepartment, Engineer Department, and Chemical Warfare Service-furnisheda few documents dealing with the participation of these services in onephase or another of the Army`s medical work. The Army`s Kansas City RecordsCenter has supplied a good many documents relating to the field medicalservice-that is, the medical service of headquarters, units, and installationsin the United States outside of Washington and in oversea areas. The filesof the Research Studies Institute, Air University, now at Maxwell Air ForceBase, Ala., and of the Military Air Transport Service furnished supplementalinformation on the organization and administration of the medical servicewithin the Army Air Forces. Some of the wartime records of the medicalsection (the so-called "Ground Surgeon`s Office") at Headquarters,Army Ground Forces, have proved useful, but inquiry by the General Referenceand Research Branch of The Historical Unit has failed to produce satisfactoryrecords on the internal organization of that office. The personal filesof a few individuals were also consulted.
Documents Relating to the Investigation of the Medical Department
One group of documents, which should properly have been found in a singlefile, had to be drawn together from a number of sources. These are thepapers relating to the Committee to Study the Medical Department whichform the basis for most of chapter V dealing with the work of the committee.A protracted search throughout the files of the Department of the Armyhas failed to turn up the official file known to have been main-tainedby the executive secretary of the committee. The author has been informedfrom time to time that this file was probably destroyed. Various papersrelating to the Committee`s work, including copies of the testimony beforethe committee and a number of supporting documents, are in The HistoricalUnit`s files, while the important final report and various memorandumsand other papers authored by officials of the Army Service Forces wereobtained from the files of that organization maintained by the DepartmentalRecords Branch, Office of the Adjutant General, mentioned above. The recordswhich the Hospitali-
568
zation and Evacuation Branch, Army Service Forces, kept during the warwere on loan to The Historical Unit for several years. By tracing downinternal references within documents to other documents, it was possibleto locate originals or copies of what appear to be all major documentsrelating to the work of the committee. The author has also had access tothe personal files of Col. Sanford H. Wadhams, chairman of the committee,and those of Dr. Lewis H. Weed, who acted as representative of The SurgeonGeneral on the committee. Additional information concerning the committee`swork was elicited by addressing specific questions to committee membersand others concerned with the investi-gation and by submitting the manuscriptof chapter V to a number of them for comment.
Papers relating to the investigation proved of historical value beyondthat of furnishing material for an account of the investigation itself.A number of them review developments during the early war years down toSeptember 1942, the date of the investigation, in the internal administrationof the Surgeon General`s Office and its relations with higher elementsof the War Department.
Published Works
Although a number of published works and some articles appearing inperiodicals are cited in the footnotes, they are not listed here, as mostwere used only for the purpose of substantiating one or two specific passages.However, certain published books and series proved consistently usefulin furnishing information on the command structure within which the MedicalDepartment operated. The chief contributor of this sort was the "UnitedStates Army in World War II," published by the Office of the Chiefof Military History. A similar contribution was made by the series entitled"The Army Air Forces in World War II." A few volumes of the officialhistory of the Medical Department`s experience in World War I, "TheMedical Department of the United States Army in the World War"-principallyVolume I, The Surgeon General`s Office, and Volume II, Administration,American Expeditionary Forces-afforded a basis for comparison of Army medicaladministration in World War II with that in World War I.
