Contents

CHAPTER XI - CONTINUED

387-394

TABLE 36.-Operating strength of MedicalDepartment units in oversea areas,¹ 30 April 1943-31 August 1945

Theater	Aggregate	Type			Function
		Air	Ground	Service	Hospitalization			Preventive			Animal care	Miscellaneous
					Supply	Fixed	Mobile	Total	Malaria	Food inspection		Total	Air	Ground	Service
	30 April 1943
Total overseas2
Strength	67,015	905	16,078	50,032	1,920	46,257	10,843	38	18	20	320	7,684	410	4,989	2,285
Rate	52	0.7	12	39	1	36	8	0.03	0.01	0.02	0.2	6	0.3	4	2
North America:
Strength	3,002	0	0	3,002	47	2,941	0	20	0	20	0	41	0	0	41
Rate	40	0	0	40	0.6	39	0	0.3	0	0.3	0	0.5	0	0	0.5
Alaska:
Strength	3,493	82	206	3,205	18	3,146	0	0	0	0	0	329	64	206	59
Rate	33	0.8	2	31	0.2	30	0	0	0	0	0	3	0.6	2	0.6
Caribbean:
Strength	2,394	0	415	1,979	9	1,970	0	0	0	0	0	415	0	415	0
Rate	21	0	4	17	0.08	17	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	4	0
South Atlantic:
Strength	328	0	0	328	0	328	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Rate	67	0	0	67	0	67	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Europe:
Strength	7,734	156	430	7,148	401	6,370	0	0	0	0	0	963	0	430	533
Rate	69	1	4	64	4	57	0	0	0	0	0	9	0	4	5
North Africa-Mediterranean theater:
Strength	19,833	345	8,625	10,863	743	8,808	6,444	0	0	0	0	3,838	261	2,181	1,396
Rate	50	87	22	27	2	22	16	0	0	0	0	10	0.7	6	4
Africa-Middle East:
Strength	2,424	40	0	2,384	40	2,377	0	0	0	0	0	7	0	0	7
Rate	65	1	0	64	1	64	0	0	0	0	0	0.2	0	0	0.2
Persian Gulf:
Strength	1,529	45	101	1,383	45	1,383	0	0	0	0	0	101	0	101	0
Rate	83	2	5	75	2	75	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	5	0
China-Burma-India:
Strength	3,324	131	1,271	1,922	208	1,824	655	0	0	0	102	535	0	514	21
Rate	110	4	42	64	7	61	22	0	0	0	3	17	0	17	0.7
Southwest Pacific Area:
Strength	11,996	21	3,598	8,377	285	7,974	2,954	18	18	0	144	621	0	500	121
Rate	85	0.2	26	60	2	57	21	0.1	0.1	0	1	4	0	4	0.9
Pacific Ocean Areas:
Strength	10,958	85	1,432	9,441	124	9,136	790	0	0	0	74	834	85	642	107
Rate	42	0.3	5	36	0.5	35	3	0	0	0	0.3	3	0.3	2	0.4
	30 September 1944
Total overseas2
Strength	237,079	5,413	53,370	78,296	5,733	161,863	22,462	2,560	2,230	330	700	43,793	3,816	25,800	13,577
Rate	55	1	12	42	1	38	5	0.6	0.5	0.08	0.2	10	0.9	6	3
North America:
Strength	879	0	0	879	0	839	0	0	0	0	0	40	0	0	40
Rate	25	0	0	25	0	24	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
Alaska:
Strength	2,860	38	0	2,822	46	2,736	0	0	0	0	0	17	17	0	0
Rate	43	0.6	0	43	1	41	0	0	0	0	0	0.3	0.3	0	0
Caribbean:
Strength	1,910	0	0	1,910	0	1,805	0	0	0	0	0	105	0	0	105
Rate	27	0	0	27	0	25	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
South Atlantic:
Strength	432	43	0	389	0	364	0	25	25	0	0	43	43	0	0
Rate	79	8	0	71	0	67	0	5	5	0	0	8	8	0	0
Europe:
Strength	121,076	2,759	27,759	90,558	2,913	83,828	9,461	122	0	122	0	24,732	2,259	15,743	6,730
Rate	59	1	13	44	1	41	5	0.06	0	0.06	0	12	1	8	3
North Africa-Mediterranean theater:
Strength	38,587	884	10,714	26,989	762	25,160	5,020	367	282	85	154	7,124	632	5,250	1,242
Rate	54	1	15	38	1	35	7	0.5	0.4	0.1	0.2	10	0.9	7	2
Africa-Middle East:
Strength	1,093	0	0	26,989	0	917	0	111	111	0	0	65	0	0	65
Rate	67	0	0	67	0	56	0	7	7	0	0	4	0	0	4
Persian Gulf:
Strength	1,657	0	123	1,534	33	1,498	0	36	36	0	0	90	0	90	0
Rate	58	0	4	54	1	52	0	1	1	0	0	3	0	3	0
China-Burma-India:
Strength	12,360	485	3,533	8,342	670	7,843	1,855	306	306	0	264	1,422	380	869	173
Rate	72	3	21	49	3	46	9	1	1	0	1	8	2	4	0.8
Southwest Pacific Area:
Strength	35,245	344	8,628	26,273	760	21,667	4,946	1,296	1,183	113	167	6,409	174	2,902	3,333
Rate	51	0.5	12	38	1	31	7	2	2	0.2	0.2	9	0.3	4	5
Pacific Ocean Areas:
Strength	20,980	860	2,613	17,507	549	15,206	1,160	297	287	10	115	3,146	311	946	1,889
Rate	50	2	6	42	1	37	3	0.7	0.7	0.02	0.3	8	0.7	2	5
	31 December 1944
Total overseas2
Strength	273,133	4,056	65,200	203,877	7,250	183,654	28,382	2,784	2,355	419	925	50,238	2,978	30,680	16,580
Rate	57	0.8	14	43	2	38	6	0.6	0.5	0.09	0.2	10	0.6	6	3
North America:
Strength	822	0	0	822	0	782	0	0	0	0	0	40	0	0	40
Rate	33	0	0	33	0	32	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	2
Alaska:
Strength	1,856	15	0	1,841	46	1,747	0	0	0	0	0	63	15	0	48
Rate	33	0.3	0	33	0.8	31	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.3	0	0.9
Caribbean:
Strength	1,735	0	0	1,735	0	1,953	0	12	12	0	0	130	0	0	130
Rate	25	0	0	25	0	23	0	0.2	0.2	0	0	2	0	0	2
South Atlantic:
Strength	288	0	0	288	0	263	0	25	25	0	0	0	0	0	0
Rate	58	0	0	58	0	53	0	5	5	0	0	0	0	0	0
Europe:
Strength	165,173	2,001	42,631	120,541	4,052	109,050	17,282	124	24	100	154	34,511	1,553	21,863	11,095
Rate	61	0.7	16	45	1	40	6	0.05	0.01	0.04	0.06	13	0.6	8	4
North Africa-Mediterranean theater:
Strength	24,226	784	5,366	18,076	563	16,932	2,553	328	258	70	0	3,850	542	2,668	640
Rate	48	2	11	36	0.5	33	5	0.7	0.5	0.1	0	8	1	5	1
Africa-Middle East:
Strength	1,054	0	0	1,054	0	884	0	111	111	0	0	59	0	0	59
Rate	49	0	0	49	0	41	0	5	5	0	0	3	0	0	3
Persian Gulf:
Strength	1,638	0	123	1,515	33	1,479	0	36	36	0	0	90	0	90	0
Rate	59	0	4	54	1	53	0	1	1	0	0	3	0	3	0
China-Burma-India:
Strength	15,176	540	4,393	10,243	545	9,567	1,751	485	365	120	451	2,377	370	1,816	191
Rate	74	3	21	50	3	46	8	2	2	0.6	2	12	2	9	0.9
Southwest Pacific Area:
Strength	39,941	500	10,343	29,098	1,519	25,128	5,779	1,378	1,249	119	90	6,047	324	3,366	2,357
Rate	53	0.7	14	39	2	34	8	2	2	0.2	0.1	8	0.4	4	3
Pacific Ocean Areas:
Strength	21,224	216	2,344	18,664	492	16,229	1,017	285	275	10	230	3,071	174	877	2,020
Rate	51	0.5	6	45	1	39	2	0.7	0.7	0.02	0.6	7	0.4	2	5
	30 April  1945
Total overseas2
Strength	295,351	4,295	71,877	219,179	7,764	199,580	31,189	3,216	2,622	414	1,025	53,941	3,301	34,184	16,456
Rate	56	0.8	14	42	1	38	6	0.6	0.5	0.08	0.2	10	0.6	7	3
North America:
Strength	672	0	0	672	0	632	0	0	0	0	0	40	0	0	40
Rate	25	0	0	25	0	24	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
Alaska:
Strength	1,354	15	0	1,339	44	1,194	0	0	0	0	0	116	0	15	101
Rate	32	0.35	0	31	1	28	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0.3	2
Caribbean:
Strength	1,679	0	0	1,679	0	1,539	0	12	12	0	0	128	0	0	128
Rate	25	0	0	25	0	23	0	0.2	0.2	0	0	2	0	0	2
South Atlantic:
Strength	271	0	0	271	0	246	0	25	25	0	0	0	0	0	0
Rate	54	0	0	54	0	49	0	5	5	0	0	0	0	0	0
Europe:
Strength	181,914	2,018	49,307	130,589	4,220	120,227	20,557	66	24	30	154	36,636	1,594	25,120	9,922
Rate	59	0.7	16	42	1	39	7	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.05	12	0.5	8	3
North Africa-Mediterranean theater:
Strength	25,038	831	5,936	18,271	529	16,781	2,979	366	133	65	86	4,297	622	2,749	926
Rate	50	2	12	37	1	34	6	0.7	0.3	0.1	0.1	9	1	6	2
Africa-Middle East:
Strength	1,343	0	0	1,343	0	1,105	0	136	111	25	0	102	0	0	102
Rate	49	0	0	49	0	40	0	5	4	0.9	0	4	0	0	4
Persian Gulf:
Strength	841	0	27	814	27	778	0	36	36	0	0	0	0	0	0
Rate	49	0	2	47	2	45	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
China-Burma-India:
Strength	16,154	681	4,237	11,236	568	10,116	1,918	641	496	145	643	2,267	510	1,422	335
Rate	70	3	18	49	2	44	8	3	2	0.6	3	10	2	6	1
Southwest Pacific Area:
Strength	42,629	447	9,269	32,913	1,605	30,038	4,700	1,419	1,295	124	90	6,196	314	3,359	2,523
Rate	53	0.6	11	41	2	37	6	2	2	0.2	0.1	8	0.4	4	3
Pacific Ocean Areas:
Strength	23,456	303	3,101	20,052	771	16,924	1,035	515	490	25	52	4,159	261	1,519	2,379
Rate	51	0.7	7	44	2	37	2	1	1	0.5	0.1	9	0.6	3	5
	31 August 1945
Total overseas2
Strength	247,295	2,715	62,139	182,441	6,162	163,845	28,224	3,549	2,686	689	862	44,653	2,081	28,620	13,952
Rate	57	0.6	14	42	1	38	7	0.8	0.6	0.2	0.2	10	0.5	7	3
North America:
Strength	348	0	0	348	0	308	0	0	0	0	0	40	0	0	40
Rate	19	0	0	19	0	17	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	2
Alaska:
Strength	1,339	0	0	1,339	44	1,194	0	0	0	0	0	101	0	0	101
Rate	33	0	0	33	1	29	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	2
Caribbean:
Strength	1,641	0	0	1,641	0	1,481	0	12	12	0	0	148	0	0	148
Rate	23	0	0	23	0	20	0	0.2	0.2	0	0	2	0	0	2
South Atlantic:
Strength	271	0	0	271	0	246	0	25	25	0	0	0	0	0	0
Rate	30	0	0	30	0	27	0	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
Europe:
Strength	139,446	1,217	40,718	97,511	2,559	89,398	17,730	128	37	91	149	29,482	1,011	20,797	7,674
Rate	64	0.6	19	45	1	41	8	0.06	0.02	0.04	0.07	14	0.5	10	4
North Africa-Mediterranean theater:
Strength	16,808	132	3,886	12,790	308	12,047	2,121	275	72	35	86	1,971	56	1,557	358
Rate	68	0.5	16	52	1	49	9	1	0.3	0.1	0.3	8	0.2	6	1
Africa-Middle East:
Strength	1,143	0	0	1,143	9	869	0	129	98	25	0	136	0	0	136
Rate	40	0	0	40	0.3	30	0	4	3	0.7	0	5	0	0	5
Persian Gulf:
Strength	301	0	0	301	0	289	0	12	12	0	0	0	0	0	0
Rate	37	0	0	37	0	35	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
China-Burma-India:
Strength	15,176	737	2,841	11,598	740	9,950	1,513	814	559	255	487	1,672	566	431	675
Rate	66	3	12	50	3	42	7	4	2	1	2	7	2	2	3
Pacific Ocean Areas:
Strength	70,822	629	14,694	55,499	2,502	48,063	6,860	2,154	1,871	283	140	11,103	448	5,835	4,820
Rate	48	0.4	10	38	2	33	5	1	1	0.2	0.09	8	0.3	4	3

 

¹Basic data for April 1943 from Troop Section,Logistics Group, Operations Division, War Department General Staff, OverseasTroop Basis, 1 May 1943: for all other dates from  Troop List forOperations and Supply for dates approximate thereto; all data includenon-Medical Department personnel. Data for April 1943 comprise actual strength;data for all other periods comprise "operating strength" which iseither table-of-organization strength or strength authorized within the theater.April 1943 data also include non-table-of-organization organizations, and AirTransport Command personnel. Divisional medical units are not included at anytime. All rates greater than unity are rounded to the nearest whole number.Rates for April 1943 are per 1,000 troop strength for that date as shown intable 31 and rates for April and August 1945 are per 1,000 adjusted troopstrengths shown for these dates in table 31, appendix. Rates for September andDecember 1944 are based on adjusted strengths, determined in a manner similar tothat used in determining April and August 1945 rates, as follows:

---

395

Area	Army			Medical Department			Ratee
	Unadjusted strengtha	Air Transport Commandb	Adjusted strength	Unadjusted strengthc	Air Transport Commandd	Adjusted strength
	30 September 1944
North America	24,290	10,216	34,506	1,334	184	1,518	44
Alaska	63,495	3,727	67,222	3,563	67	3,630	54
Caribbean	70,556	577	71,133	4,008	10	4,018	56
South Atlantic	2,989	2,453	5,442	479	44	523	96
Europe	2,053,417	3,698	2,057,115	183,634	67	183,701	89
North Africa	712,915	6,675	719,590	54,932	120	55,052	77
Africa-Middle East	9,354	7,026	16,380	1,159	126	1,285	78
Persian Gulf	27,739	855	28,594	2,009	15	2,024	71
China-Burma-India	149,014	22,866	171,880	13,052	412	13,464	78
Southwest Pacific Area	689,804	3,871	693,675	60,895	70	60,965	88
Pacific Ocean Areas	412,618	3,748	416,366	34,388	67	34,455	83
	31 December 1944
North America	19,223	5,458	24,681	1,140	120	1,260	51
Alaska	52,024	3,630	55,654	3,112	80	3,192	57
Caribbean	70,070	567	70,637	3,816	12	3,828	54
South Atlantic	2,715	2,291	5,006	432	50	482	96
Europe	2,699,467	7,516	2,706,983	247,377	165	247,542	91
North Africa	498,675	9,182	507,857	36,972	202	37,174	73
Africa-Middle East	9,321	12,092	21,413	1,147	266	1,413	66
Persian Gulf	26,647	1,214	27,861	1,980	27	2,007	72
China-Burma-India	180,405	25,642	206,047	17,892	564	18,456	90
Southwest Pacific Area	744,373	4,668	749,041	63,473	103	63,576	85
Pacific Ocean Areas	408,085	5,948	414,033	33,789	131	33,920	82

 

^aFrom source of area data reported in table 31,footnote 2.
^bFrom source shown in table 31, appendix, footnote 2.
^cFrom "Strength of the Army," for dates approximate tothose shown.
^d1.8 percent of Air Transport Command general strength for 30September 1944. 2.2 percent of Air Transport Command general strength for 31December 1944.
^eRatio of adjusted medical strength per 1,000 troops of adjusted Armystrength.

²Total "Oversea" strength is theaggregate of strengths shown for individual areas.

---

396

The veterinary care of animals was a more important functionof the Medical Department in the China-Burma-India area than elsewhere, but eventhere it did not increase the proportion more than a few points (table 36). Theprevention of disease is one of the major functions of the Medical Departmentyet, in terms of special personnel for the purpose, it too increased theproportion only slightly in most areas. In certain small theaters, however, itwas of considerable significance primarily because of the malaria control andsurvey teams which were stationed there. This results from the fact that theneed for antimalaria personnel is more a matter of geography than of the troopstrength to be served.

Besides the organizations directly concerned withhospitalization, most theaters possessed Medical Department units whosefunctions were accessory to the provision of hospital service. Among such unitswere dispensaries of various types, ambulance companies, medical depots,medical laboratories, clearing companies, collecting companies, medical gastreatment battalions, and sanitary companies. In the European theater in thelatter part of the war, they constituted a substantial element of medicalstrength which helped to give that area its preeminent position in this respectamong the major theaters and its high position among all of them. The Europeantheater utilized more types of Medical Department units (including hospitals)than any other theater (table 37), distributed among air, ground, and serviceforce units.

For the most part, Medical Department personnel in oversea areas wereassigned to and served in table-of-organization units. Some medical personnelwere in units that had been set up overseas under the non-table-of-organizationallotments of the various theaters. Although the maximum number of medicalofficers who might come under the allotment was fixed by the War Department,

TABLE 37.-Types ofMedical Department units in use in the various theaters of operations, by area,30 September 1944

Area	Total	Air	Ground	Service
North America	3	1	0	2
Alaska	4	2	0	2
Caribbean	2	0	0	2
South Atlantic	4	1	0	3
Europe	35	4	14	17
North Africa	33	3	14	16
Africa-Middle East	2	0	0	2
Persian Gulf	5	0	2	3
China-Burma-India	21	3	12	6
Southwest Pacific Area	29	4	15	10
Pacific Ocean Areas	21	3	10	8

 

Source: Troop List for Operations and Supply, 1 Oct. 1944.

---

397

TABLE 38.-Estimated additions by AirTransport Command to theater medical strength per 1,000 troops, 1944¹

Area	30 September 1944	31 December 1944
North America	5	5
Alaska	1	1
Caribbean	.1	.2
South Atlantic	8	10
Europe	. 03	.06
North Africa	.2	.4
Africa-Middle East	8	12
Persian Gulf	2. 5	1
China-Burma-India	.6	.3
Southwest Pacific Area	.1	.1
Pacific Ocean Areas	.1	.3

 

¹For the estimated medical strengthsof the Air Transport Command on the dates shown and the adjusted theaterstrengths on the same date, see table 36, footnote 1.

other types of officers could be substituted. In the case of nurses, nosubstitutes could be made. In either case, the theater surgeon could makerepresentations concerning the size of these allotments, and this was one of thefew opportunities he had to deal directly with strength; that is, strengthconsisting of individuals rather than strength composed of units. Thus, thechief surgeon of U.S. Army Forces, Far East, dispatched an emissary after V-EDay on a successful mission to obtain a large increase in the overhead allotmentof medical officers for the Southwest Pacific.¹⁹ Yet, it does notappear that the theater surgeons materially augmented the medical strengthratios of the areas under their jurisdiction through increases in medicalallotments. In the larger theaters, especially, it would have been difficult todo so because of the relatively small role played by overhead in the strength ofsuch theaters.

The medical personnel of the Air Transport Command, the Airways CommunicationSystem, and certain other troops under the command of the Army Air Forces werecounted as part of the strength of the individual theaters only in the earlypart of the war. From the limited statistics available, it would appear thatthey contributed a substantial proportion of the strength in the South Atlanticand Africa-Middle East theaters and to a lesser degree in the North America andChina-Burma-India areas. In the major theaters, on the other hand, they were ofinfinitesimal importance (table 38).²⁰

¹⁹(1) Memorandum, Maj.Gen. G. B. Denit, Surgeon, U.S. Army Forces, Far East, to Colonel Pincoffs, 22May 1945. (2) Memorandum, Brig. Gen. R. W. Bliss,Assistant Surgeon General, for Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations, 23 June1945, subject: Revised Authorization of Medical Corps Officers for Army ForcesPacific Overhead. (3) Memorandum, Maj. Gen. B. M. Fitch, Adjutant General, U.S.Army Forces, Pacific, for The Adjutant General, 11 Aug. 1945, subject : TheaterOverhead Authorized Grades and Strengths.
²⁰See appendix to table 31 for furtherdiscussion of this matter.

---

398

Distribution of Oversea Strength by Major Commands

At the end of September 1944, approximately 5.7 percent of alloversea medicalpersonnel excluding overhead were serving with the Air Forces, 36.9 percent with the Ground Forces, and57.8 percent with the Service Forces or in communications zone installations.²¹ Thepercentage of medical strength actually assigned to the Air Forces but 1 monthearlier was 7.74, but this includedoverhead personnel (table 39). Itrepresented a decline from a higher percentage prevalent in 1943. At all times, however, the percentage was lower than theAir Forces fraction of the worldwide Medical Department strength. The ratio ofmedical Air Forces strength to total Air Forces strength was always lower thanthe ratio of medical strength to general Army strength both worldwide andoverseas, but because of the lack of Air Forces hospitals abroad, the strengthof the Medical Department personnel assigned to Air Forces organizations inoversea areas was always lower proportionately than the like strength in theZone of Interior.

While the majority of oversea medical personnel served in theServices of Supply or communications zones, the proportionate strength of suchpersonnel fluctuated greatly. For example, in the European theater in Septemberand October 1942, duringthe buildup for the North African invasion, medical personnel comprisedapproximately 30 percent of totalpersonnel in the Services of Supply. After the invasion of North Africa, thetotal Services of Supply strength in the theater declined approximately 20percent while Medical Department Services of Supply strength increased by nearly60 percent (table 35). DuringNovember, a number of medical units had landed in the United Kingdom because,although they were destined for North Africa, port facilities which would havemade possible their debarkation in the Mediterranean area had not yet becomeavailable, and were therefore probably counted as part of the European theaterstrength.²²

As 1943 progressed,however, emphasis was placed on supplying Air Forces and Engineer troops to theBritish Isles. The result was a decline of the percentage of medical troops inthe Services of Supply from the peak attained in February 1943. Despite resumption of shipments of medical units in thelatter part of the year, the influx of ground troops in preparation for invasionof the Continent led to a continued decline of the percentage of medicalpersonnel under the Services of Supply.²³ Before the end of the year,it had fallen below 50 percent.

²¹The percentages are based on the strength of MedicalDepartment units shown in table 36 and the strength of attached and divisionalmedical personnel shown in table 34. These statistics are based onauthorized strengths since actual strength figures for oversea areas by majorcommands are lacking.
²²Information from Col. James B. Mason, 6 Oct. 1942.
²³Ruppenthal, Roland G.: Logistical Support of the Armies, Volume I. UnitedStates Army in World War II. The European Theater of Operations. Washington:U.S. Government Printing Office, 1953, table 5, p. 232.

---

399-403

TABLE 39.-Strength of Medical Departmentpersonnel assigned to Air Forces,¹30 September 1942-31 May 1945

Date	Total strength2	Air Forces			Total strength4	Air Forces
		Strength3	Percent of total strength	Rate per 1,000 Air Forces troops		Strength5	Percent of total strength	Rate per 1,000 Air Forces troops
	Army				Medical Department
30 September 1942:
Worldwide	3,971,016	1,122,208	28.26	---	349,253	38,260	10.95	34.10
Overseas	822,962	186,843	22.70	---	58,827	2,914	4.95	15.60
30 June 1943:
Worldwide	6,993,102	2,114,175	30.23	---	619,020	86,714	14.01	41.00
Overseas	1,637,419	421,763	25.76	---	129,955	11,208	8.62	26.60
31 January 1944:
Worldwide	7,556,157	2,310,673	30.58	---	628,758	89,159	12.50	42.90
Overseas	2,814,658	740,605	26.31	---	238,914	19,508	8.17	26.30
31 August 1944:
Worldwide	8,102,545	2,392,364	29.53	---	688,537	86,076	12.50	36.00
Overseas	4,262,247	1,066,240	25.02	---	354,379	27,446	7.74	25.70
31 May 1945:
Worldwide	8,291,336	2,316,805	27.94	---	666,710	71,179	10.68	30.72
Overseas	5,406,779	1,181,804	21.86	---	455,068	27,627	6.07	23.38
	Medical Department officers4 5				Medical Corps4 6
30 September 1942:
Worldwide	65,922	6,627	10.05	5.91	31,309	---	---	---
Overseas	10,280	466	4.53	2.49	4,945	342	6.92	1.80
30 June 1943:
Worldwide	93,994	13,402	14.26	6.34	37,189	---	---	---
Overseas	23,882	2,136	8.94	5.06	10,302	1,509	14.65	3.60
31 January 1944:
Worldwide	113,634	21,644	19.05	9.37	41,859	8,686	20.75	3.80
Overseas	42,218	3,748	8.88	5.06	16,631	2,236	13.44	3.00
31 August 1944:
Worldwide	121,269	20,844	17.19	8.71	44,726	8,480	18.96	3.50
Overseas	60,739	5,583	9.19	5.24	23,522	3,186	13.57	3.00
31 May 1945:
Worldwide	142,378	18,797	13.20	8.11	46,750	7,711	16.49	3.33
Overseas	77,837	6,005	7.71	5.08	27,639	3,092	11.19	2.62
	Dental Corps4 6				Veterinary Corps4 6
30 September 1942:
Worldwide	8,432	---	---	---	1,408	---	---	---
Overseas	798	92	11.53	0.50	97	6	6.19	0.03
30 June 1943:
Worldwide	12,048	---	---	---	1,839	---	0	0
Overseas	1,859	322	17.32	.80	289	19	6.57	.05
31 January 1944:
Worldwide	14,193	3,845	27.09	1.70	1,957	44	17.83	.20
Overseas	3,301	552	16.72	.70	471	349	9.34	.06
31 August 1944:
Worldwide	15,121	3,960	26.19	1.70	2,024	355	17.54	.10
Overseas	4,980	928	18.63	.90	572	47	8.22	.04
31 May 1945:
Worldwide	14,705	3,826	26.02	1.65	2,050	352	16.15	.14
Overseas	7,103	1,089	15.33	.92	705	58	8.23	.05
	Sanitary Corps4 6				Medical Administrative Corps4 6
30 September 1942:
Worldwide	983	---	---	---	3,646	---	---	---
Overseas	47	2	4.26	0.01	590	14	2.37	0.07
30 June 1943:
Worldwide	1,755	---	---	---	11,630	---	---	---
Overseas	242	9	3.72	.02	1,843	126	6.84	.30
31 January 1944:
Worldwide	2,246	207	9.22	.10	14,990	2,060	13.74	.90
Overseas	538	16	2.97	.02	4,746	289	7.71	.40
31 August 1944:
Worldwide	2,350	271	11.53	.10	14,902	2,029	13.62	.80
Overseas	995	69	6.93	.06	6,695	477	7.12	.40
31 May 1945:
Worldwide	2,560	292	11.41	.13	19,385	2,318	11.96	1.00
Overseas	1,288	89	6.91	.08	10,936	821	7.51	.69
	Army Nurse Corps4 5				Hospital Dietitians4 6
30 September 1942:
Worldwide	20,144	1,733	8.60	1.54	---	---	---	---
Overseas	3,803	10	.26	.05	---	---	---	---
30 June 1943:
Worldwide	28,423	4,633	16.30	2.20	666	96	15.97	0.05
Overseas	9,189	151	1.64	.35	93	0	0	0
31 January 1944:
Worldwide	36,672	6,286	17.14	2.70	1,100	176	16.00	.007
Overseas	16,958	604	3.56	.80	326	5	1.53	.08
31 August 1944:
Worldwide	39,970	5,519	13.81	2.30	1,312	183	13.95	.005
Overseas	22,970	868	3.78	.80	569	5	.88	.08
31 May 1945:
Worldwide	54,128	4,028	7.44	1.74	1,550	148	9.55	.06
Overseas	28,842	755	2.62	.64	757	1	.13	.00
30 September 1942:
Worldwide	---	---	---	---	282,331	31,633	11.16	13.1
Overseas	---	---	---	---	48,547	2,448	5.04	28.2
30 June 1943:
Worldwide	403	20	4.96	0.009	525,026	73,312	13.97	21.5
Overseas	65	0	0	0	106,073	9,072	8.55	34.7
31 January 1944:
Worldwide	559	35	6.26	.02	515,124	67,515	13.11	20.50
Overseas	241	2	.83	.003	196,696	15,760	8.01	29.20
31 August 1944:
Worldwide	807	47	5.82	.02	567,268	65,232	11.50	20.50
Overseas	427	3	.70	.003	293,640	21,863	7.45	27.30
31 May 1945:
Worldwide	1,190	50	4.20	.02	524,332	52,382	9.99	22.61
Overseas	546	0	.00	.00	377,231	21,622	5.73	18.30

 

¹No Pharmacy Corps personnel wereassigned to Air Forces organizations on any date shown except May 1945, whenthere were two in the Zone of Interior.
²Worldwide strength from tables 5 and 45. Oversea strength fromsource shown in table 31, footnote 2.
³Oversea strength from "Officers and Enlisted Men Strength ofthe Departments and Bases. Recapitulation by Arm or Service. Assigned to AirCorps and Other Than Air Corps" (records of AGO Statistical and ControlBranch, Office of The Adjutant General), for all dates shown prior to 1945 ordates approximate thereto; from "Personnel Assigned to Air ForcesOrganizations by Arms and Services by Command," in "Strength of theArmy," 1 June 1945, pp. 24-25, for 31 May 1945. Worldwide strength equalsoversea strength plus continental United States strength as shown in"Strength of the Army" for dates listed or dates approximate thereto.
⁴Worldwide strength (including personnel assigned to Veterans`Administration) from tables 1 and 27. Oversea strength from sources stated underthis heading in footnote 3.
⁵Oversea strength from sources for oversea strength shown in footnote3. Worldwide strength equals oversea strength plus continental United Statesstrength as shown in "Strength of the Army" for dates listed or datesapproximate thereto.
⁶From sources shown in footnote 5. However, no data on continentalUnited States strength for September 1942 and June 1943 are available.Consequently, it is not possible to state worldwide strengths on these dates.

---

404-409

After the invasion of Normandy began, however, it wasnecessary to increase the rear echelon medical support of the campaign and morefixed hospital installations were brought into the theater.²⁴ The percentage ascended somewhat above the50 percent mark although it may have been held down by thereduction of table-of-organization strength of fixed hospital units. Bymid-March of 1945, the MedicalDepartment strength in the communications zone of the European theater was lessthan 45 percent of the total medicalstrength in the theater. This was exclusive of headquarters personnel, but it isunlikely that even with such personnel it reached 50 percent.²⁵By that time, the theater had returned much of its patient load to the Zone ofInterior.²⁶ Use of civilians and prisoners of war also may have reduced the proportion ofmilitary personnel in the Communications Zone medical service.

COMPOSITION OF THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT OVERSEAS

Army Components

For some time after mobilization began in 1940, the majority of U.S. troopsoverseas were Regular Army due to the time element necessary to train the othercomponents. At the same time, the proportion of Regulars in the Army as a wholewas greater than it was in the Medical Department. This was true overseas in theearly part of 1942 although the reverse had been the case in the middle of 1941(tables 40 and 41). But as the relative strength of the Regular Army declined inthe Medical Department overseas, that of every other component increased, atleast for a time.

²⁴Data from monthly "Troop Lists forOperations and Supply."
²⁵Computations based uponcommunications zone strength (122,100) as shown in "Unit Strength-ComZ-ETOUSA. Comparison of Actual andT/O-15 Mar. 1945", in Progress Report, Communications Zone, ETO-USA, 31 March 1945, p. 4. Theatermedical strength used here equals the mean of strengths shown in "Strengthof the Army" for 1 Mar. and 1 Apr. 1945.
²⁶See footnote 9, p. 382.

TABLE 40.-Strength of Medical Departmentby Army components, worldwide and overseas, 31 January and 31 August 1942¹ 

---

410

TABLE 41.-Strength of male personnel byArmy components, worldwide and overseas, on 31 July 1941¹

Component	Total Army		Medical Department
	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
Worldwide	1,524,375	100.0	120,914	100.0
Regular Army	508,383	33.3	32,255	26.7
National Guard	2280,333	18.4	317,261	14.3
Reserves	65,143	4.3	11,567	9.6
Selectees	670,516	44.0	59,831	49.5
Overseas	122,913	100.0	4,761	100.0
Regular Army	100,534	81.8	3,919	82.3
National Guard	47,472	6.1	5154	3.2
Reserves	4,118	3.4	490	10.3
Selectees	10,789	8.9	198	4.2

 

¹Basic data from "Strength of the Army,"31 July 1941.
²Includes approximately 22,000 Army of the United States enlisted menor 1.4 percent of the worldwide Army male strength. See table 12, footnote 18.
³Includes approximately 750 Army of the United States enlisted men or0.6 percent of the worldwide Medical Department male strength. See table 12,footnote 18.
⁴It is uncertain whether Army of the United States enlisted men areincluded. Since in January 1942 the number of such enlisted men serving overseaswas only 725 (see table 40), the number on 31 July 1941 could not have beenlarge.
⁵It is uncertain whether Army of the United States enlisted men areincluded. In January 1942, the total oversea strength of such personnel was 25(see table 40); hence, they could hardly have been more than a handful in July1941.

The actual size of the components, however, cannot be traced beyond the earlypart of 1943 except in the case of Regular Army officers. In April 1944, RegularArmy officers, numbering 618, constituted2.01 percent of the male Medical Department officer strength in foreign areas.The corresponding figure for all male officers (6,323)was 2.37 percent.²⁷

It can be said with certainty, however, that by the closing days of the warat least 80 percent of the oversea medical enlisted strength comprised selecteesand not less than half of the male Medical Department officers abroad wereso-called Army of the United States personnel; that is, neither Regulars,National Guardsmen, nor reservists.

The trend of Army components among nurses probably was the same as that amongmale officers until about the middle of 1942. At that time, a largereclassification of members of the Army Nurse Corps took place, and many who hadbeen considered reservists were given Regular Army status. Some delay occurred,however, in the reclassification of those nurses who were abroad or at least inthe recording of this reclassification. Thus, on 31 August 1942,

²⁷On 30 April 1944, the Regular Army strength of the maleMedical Department officer corps overseas and the percentage of Regulars in thetotal oversea strength of each corps were as follows: Medical Corps, 509 (2.5percent); Dental Corps, 66 (1.6 percent); Veterinary Corps, 35 (6.5 percent);Pharmacy Corps, 9 (88.8 percent). Basic data are from AG Machine Records Branch,Military Strength of Bases. Recapitulation by Arm or Service by Station,Officers and Enlisted Men, 30 Apr. 1944.

---

411

the proportion of nurses serving in oversea areas and whowere reported to be in the Regular Army was considerably smaller than thecorresponding worldwide ratio (table 32). By the end of October, this situation had changed, and by30 April 1944, theproportion of Regular Army personnel among nurses serving in foreign areas wasnot much different from the corresponding ratio among other personnel.

Negroes

In the early part of the war, proportionately fewer Negroeswere shipped overseas by the Medical Department than whites, partially becauseof the reluctance of theater authorities to utilize such personnel. Manpowershortages together with the War Department policies to better utilize Negropersonnel and to ship abroad personnel that had not seen foreign servicereversed the proportion of Negro and white Medical Department personneloverseas.²⁸ For much of the period between October 1944 and the end of hostilities, the number of MedicalDepartment Negroes overseas was proportionately greater than the oversea portionof the Medical Department as a whole. Contributing to this change was a declinein the Medical Department`s overall Negro strength, a decline which wasrelatively greater than the corresponding loss to the Army as a whole.

While every Negro table-of-organization hospital unit organized in the Zoneof Interior eventually went overseas,²⁹ the number of such unitsdid not exceed five. The increasing use of Negro medical personnel outside theUnited States was perhaps primarily manifested in regard to sanitary companies.As late as June 1943, only two of these companies were abroad; one, the 708th,had gone overseas in 1942 andwas operating in the North African Theater of Operations, U.S. Army, and theother, 716th, had arrived on Guadalcanal in the spring of 1943. Between August and December1943, only five more sanitary companies were shipped abroad,three to the European theater and two to the Pacific. In 1944, however, at least 35 medical sanitary companies were movedoverseas; in January 1945, oneadditional company was activated in Hawaii. Thus, if January 1945 be taken as the month marking the peak oversea Negromedical strength (14,150), it may be assumed that at least 5,000, or more thanone-third of this oversea strength, were allotted to sanitary companies (tables31 and 42). Virtuallyall of the companies were concentrated in the European theater and the Pacific(table 42). Thesewere the areas which were receiving the largest number of personnel of all typesand this at a time when the War Department policies to promote oversea use ofNegroes were becoming effective.

The sanitary companies were trained primarily for thepurposes of malaria control, but even in the Pacific, many were occupied inhospital construction and some were used as pools of Medical Department commonlabor.³⁰

²⁸Information from Mr. Ulysses G. Lee, Jr., 24 July 1953. 
²⁹Seefootnote 9, p. 382.
³⁰Quarterly Report, 714th Medical Sanitary Company, 5 July 1944.

---

412

TABLE 42.-NegroMedical Department units overseas, Pearl Harbor to V-J Day¹

Type	TOE2	Europe	North Africa	Africa-Middle East3	China-Burma-India	Pacific4	Authorized strength5
							Officers	Enlisted men
Medical Sanitary Company	8-117	17	1	0	0	26	132	4,928
Station Hospital6	8-560	0	0	1	2	1	130	244
Medical Prophylactic Platoon	8-500	0	1	0	0	0	0	6
Medical Battalion7	8-15	0	1	0	0	1	872	858
Motor Ambulance Company	8-317	10	2	0	0	3	60	1,275
Malaria Survey Unit	8-500	0	0	1	0	1	2	24
Malaria Control Unit	8-500	0	0	2	0	0	2	22
Veterinary Company	8-99	91	91	0	3	0	20	236
Veterinary Animal Service Detachment	8-500	0	0	0	0	1	1	4
Medical Supply Platoon (Aviation)	8-497	0	1	0	0	0	2	17

 

¹Compiled chiefly from copies of unit cards, W.D., A.G.O. Form 016, 1 Feb. 1942.
²A 1944 TOE has been selected, if published in that year. In all other cases, a TOE prior to 1944 was used. In many cases-particularly in the 8-500 series-the T/O was totally changed during the war.
³All units listed in this column were in Liberia.
⁴Certain units saw service in both thePacific Ocean Areas and in the Southwest Pacific. However, the one stationhospital and the three malaria control units served exclusively in the SouthwestPacific and the veterinary animal service detachment operated only in thePacific Ocean Areas. Some of the other units also may have served in only one ofthe theaters.
⁵T/O strength times number of units.Totals therefore are merely approximations to actual strength, particularly inview of changing T/O`s, the undetermined number of white officers utilized, and overstrengths.
⁶The 168th Station Hospital, with white officers and enlisted men, is notincluded in the unit tabulation, but the Negro nurses in that unit are countedin the "Authorized strength" column.
⁷The medical battalions were thelargest medical units staffed with Negro personnel in World War II. The 318thsupported the 93d Infantry Division in the Pacific; the 317th supported the 92dInfantry Division in Italy.
⁸Includes 4 warrant officers.
One Negro veterinary company moved from the North African to the Europeantheater with the invasion of southern France in August 1944.

In the absence of a serious malaria problem in the Europeantheater the personnel of the sanitary companies serving therein, though usedprincipally as litter bearers, were also used to guard prisoners of war occupiedas Medical Department labor, to perform elementary carpentry and masonry tasks,to handle mail, and to pack supplies as well as operate small dispensaries andcarry out basic sanitary measures in the vicinity of Medical Departmentunits.³¹ Among other Negro Medical Department organizations that servedoverseas, the most important from a numerical point of view were the motorambulance companies. Many of these units were employed in the European theaterand lesser numbers in the North African theater and in the Southwest Pacific(table 42).

³¹(1) Annual Report, 726th MedicalSanitary Company, 30 June 1945. (2) Periodic Report (1 Apr.-10 May 1945), 274thMedical Sanitary Company, 23 May 1945. (3) Annual Report, Surgeon, Normandy BaseSection, European Theater of Operations, U.S. Army, for 1944, dated 31 Jan.1945. (4) Periodic Report (1 Jan.-30 June 1945), 703d Medical Sanitary Company,15 Aug. 1945.

---

413

Distribution by Sex

For much of the period of hostilities, female personnel ofthe Medical Department serving in oversea areas constituted a larger percentageof total Medical Department strength in such areas than they did of totalMedical Department strength worldwide (tables 43 and 44). This situation existeduntil the threat of a draft brought the Army Nurse Corps up to authorizedstrength. Furthermore, Medical Department female personnel constituted the largemajority by far of military female personnel in oversea areas during World WarII. In the Zone of Interior, this ceased to be true as early as January 1943(table 43).

TABLE 43.-Proportion of Army femalepersonnel in the Medical Department¹

Date	Total Army female2 personnel	Medical Department3		Total Army female5 personnel	Medical Department percent of total Army female personnel6
		Percent of total Army female personnel	Percent of total Medical Department personnel4
	Worldwide			Overseas
1942
30 September	23,841	84	5.8	3,803	100
1943
31 January	45,126	52	4.7	5,978	97
30 April	79,059	35	4.7	8,033	97
31 July	92,146	33	4.9	10,796	91
31 October	89,485	40	5.8	15,716	86
1944
31 January	98,932	39	6.1	19,872	88
30 April	109,822	37	6.3	26,566	82
31 July	121,341	35	4.3	32,464	73
31 October	132,697	33	6.4	39,947	66
1945
31 January	137,929	33	6.8	42,644	66
30 April	153,991	36	8.1	45,876	65
31 July	152,882	38	8.9	46,374	63
30 September	141,306	39	9.4	37,161	63

 

¹Female strength is that of the female componentsand excludes the small number of women who served in the Medical Corps. Forworldwide strength of women doctors, see table 1, footnote 3. In oversea areas,probably no more than 18 women doctors saw service.
²Aggregate of worldwide Medical Department female personnel as shownin table 1 and WAAC and WAC personnel as shown in "Strength of theArmy," 1 Jan. 1947, pp. 44-45.
³For basic data on Medical Department strength, see table 1.
⁴For Medical Department strength, see table 1.
⁵Aggregate oversea Medical Department female personnel as shown intable 44 and overseas WAAC and WAC personnel as reported in "Strength ofthe Army," 1 Jan. 1947.
⁶For basic data on Medical Department female personnel overseas andthe percentage of Medical Department oversea strength in female components, seetable 44.

---

414

TABLE 44.-Oversea strength of MedicalDepartment-male and female officer components, 30 September 1942-30 September1945

Date	Male officer corps		Female officer corps
	Strength1	Percentage of total Medical Department strength2	Strength1	Percentage of total Medical Department strength2
1942
30 September	6,477	11.0	3,803	6.5
1943
31 January	10,003	11.4	5,779	6.6
30 April	13,008	11.5	7,759	6.9
31 July	15,543	11.1	9,859	7.1
31 October	19,422	10.8	13,533	7.5
1944
31 January	24,693	10.3	17,525	7.3
30 April	30,809	10.3	21,690	7.2
31 July	35,482	10.3	23,658	6.9
30 September	37,884	10.3	24,360	6.6
31 October	39,877	10.2	26,532	6.8
1945
31 January	43,894	10.2	28,362	6.6
30 April	48,358	10.4	29,834	6.4
31 May	47,692	10.5	30,145	6.6
30 June	46,583	10.5	29,269	6.6
31 July	43,725	10.3	29,339	6.9
31 August	39,467	10.5	26,558	7.0
30 September	34,815	10.5	23,397	7.1

 

¹From table 32.
²Medical Department strength from table 31.

Officer Strength

Overseas, as in the Zone of Interior, the Medical Departmentcontained a greater proportion of officers than did the Army in general, andbetween 16 and 19 of every 100 officers serving overseas were members of theMedical Department. For reasons already set forth, however, officers ordinarilyconstituted a somewhat smaller percentage of the Medical Department`s strengthoverseas than they did of its worldwide strength. The year 1943 witnessed anexception to this rule (table 45).

---

415-416

TABLE 45.-Medical Department officerstrength, worldwide and overseas, 30 November 1941-30 September 1945

Date and area	Number1	Percentage of total Army strength2	Number3	Percentage of worldwide Medical Department officer strength	Rate per 1,000 troops2	Percentage of Army officer strength	Percentage of total Medical Department strength4
	Army officer strength		Medical Department officer strength
30 November 1941:
Worldwide	121,094	7.4	23,484	---	14	19.4	17.8
Overseas	10,217	6.2	1,412	6.0	9	13.8	17.7
31 March 1942:
Worldwide	157,867	6.6	31,535	---	13	20.0	15.7
Overseas	21,475	6.5	3,581	11.4	11	16.7	18.8
30 June 1942:
Worldwide	214,151	7.0	43,755	---	14	20.4	17.2
Overseas	36,393	6.0	7,518	17.2	12	20.7	17.6
30 September 1942:
Worldwide	307,009	7.7	65,922	---	17	21.5	18.9
Overseas	54,797	6.7	10,280	15.6	13	18.8	17.5
31 January 1943:
Worldwide	438,499	7.5	79,948	---	14	18.2	16.1
Overseas	83,384	7.4	15,782	19.7	14	9	17.9
30 April 1943:
Worldwide	525,669	7.8	88,673	---	13	16.9	15.1
Overseas	110,474	7.9	20,767	23.4	15	18.8	16.1
31 July 1943:
Worldwide	602,831	8.5	99,000	---	14	16.4	15.8
Overseas	143,911	8.1	25,402	25.7	14	17.6	18.2
31 October 1943:
Worldwide	660,892	9.0	107,491	---	15	16.3	17.4
Overseas	182,209	8.1	32,955	30.7	15	18.1	18.3
31 January 1944:
Worldwide	707,828	9.4	113,634	---	15	16.1	18.1
Overseas	231,610	8.2	42,218	37.2	15	18.2	17.7
30 April 1944:
Worldwide	743,075	9.5	118,391	---	15	15.9	18.2
Overseas	296,141	8.3	52,499	44.3	15	17.7	17.5
31 July 1944:
Worldwide	784,726	9.7	120,728	---	15	15.4	17.8
Overseas	352,850	8.6	59,140	49.0	14	16.8	17.2
30 September 1944:
Worldwide	815,691	10.1	122,532	---	15	15.0	18.0
Overseas	383,590	8.1	62,244	50.8	14	16.2	16.9
31 October 1944:
Worldwide	815,709	10.1	124,712	---	15	15.3	18.1
Overseas	397,547	8.6	66,409	53.3	14	16.7	17.0
31 January 1945:
Worldwide	844,646	10.5	129,904	---	16	15.4	19.5
Overseas	431,299	8.4	72,256	55.6	14	16.8	16.8
30 April 1945:
Worldwide	879,775	10.7	139,938	---	17	15.9	20.8
Overseas	465,932	8.5	78,192	55.9	14	16.8	16.9
31 May 1945:
Worldwide	892,167	10.8	142,378	---	17	16.0	21.4
Overseas	465,636	8.6	77,837	54.7	14	16.7	17.1
30 June 1945:
Worldwide	890,798	10.8	142,616	---	17	16.0	21.5
Overseas	440,311	8.4	75,852	53.2	14	17.2	17.1
31 July 1945:
Worldwide	896,611	10.9	145,342	---	18	16.2	22.0
Overseas	415,205	8.4	73,064	50.3	15	17.6	17.3
31 August 1945:
Worldwide	897,929	11.2	144,475	---	18	16.1	22.7
Overseas	393,943	8.5	66,025	45.7	14	16.8	17.5
30 September 1945:
Worldwide	879,542	11.6	138,655	---	18	15.8	23.4
Overseas	357,131	8.6	58,212	42.0	14	16.3	17.6

 

¹Includes all commissioned officersas well as warrant officers, flight officers, and WAAC officers. Worldwidestrength except for March 1942 is worldwide officer strength as shown in"Strength of the Army," for 1 October 1945, minus worldwide MedicalDepartment officer strength as shown in table 1 plus worldwide MedicalDepartment officer strength as shown here. Worldwide strength for March 1942consists of Medical Department officer strength shown here plus worldwidenon-Medical Department officer strength as determined in accordance withprocedures for determining all strengths on that date described in table 31,footnote 2. Oversea strength for all months except March 1942 from"Strength of the Army," 1 October 1945.Oversea strength for March 1942 determined in accordance with procedure forascertaining all oversea strength on that date described in table 31, footnote2.
²For worldwide total Army strength, see table 1; for the samestrength overseas, see table 31.
³Oversea strength is the sum of the oversea strength of theindividual officer corps as shown in table 32. Worldwidedata from table 1.
⁴For worldwide Medical Department strength, see table 1; for the samestrength overseas, see table 31.

Quality

Medical Corps

By the middle of 1945, the great majority of Medical Corpsofficers-amounting to at least 69 percent of the peak strength of the corps-hadseen service overseas. The early shipment overseas of medical officers inaffiliated units resulted in a decided improvement in the professional qualityof medical care in those areas. Medical officers in these units were byexperience and professional training highly skilled physicians. At the sametime, the gains obtained in oversea theaters by the acquisition of theseofficers were a loss to Zone of Interior installations. Many older specialistswho had served long in the Zone of Interior as specialists were transferred bytheir own request to oversea assignments. In mid-1945, about half the medicalofficers over the age of 50 who were not Regular Army personnel were overseas. Asizable majority of this age group serving in the Zone of Interior were assignedto the Veterans` Administration. In the entire medical service, including bothRegulars and non-Regulars, the majority of the group in the over-50 categorywere overseas.

---

417

On the other hand, in the Zone of Interior, as large medicalrequirements for definitive and specialized care built up during the war, it wasnecessary concurrently to retain highly qualified specialists in the UnitedStates and, in fact, to return some from oversea theaters. 

In the early part of the war, despite the departure ofaffiliated units, the Zone of Interior retained more specialists than itreleased for oversea shipments. As the war progressed and the Zone of Interiorinstallations were stripped of their specialists, the oversea theaters wereconsiderably better staffed. Toward the end of the war, with the return of somespecialists to the Zone of Interior and the induction of others, the two areasbecame approximately equal in quality. After V-E Day, the Zone of Interioragain was better staffed. A greater proportion of its doctors were specialiststhan was the case overseas, and a greater proportion of these also hadproficiency ratings above the minimum of D. What was more significant was thefact that this advantage was centered in the A and B categories (table 46).

TABLE 46.-Strength and proficiency ratings of MedicalCorps specialists, worldwide and overseas, 20 June 1945¹

Group	Worldwide	Overseas
Medical Corps strength2	47,938	25,449
Total specialists	26,525	12,679
Percent of specialists in total strength	55.33	49.82
Specialists rated A:
Number	197	79
Percent of total specialists	.74	.62
Specialists rated B:
Number	4,989	2,033
Percent of total specialists	18.81	16.03
Specialists rated C:
Number	9,124	4,559
Percent of total specialists	34.40	35.96
Specialists rated D:
Number	12,215	6,008
Percent of total specialists	46.05	47.39

 

¹Basic data from "SummarySheet, Specialists Inventory Report Form as of 20 June 1945" in"Classification Count" (prepared in the Personnel Service, MilitaryPersonnel Division, Office of The Surgeon General).
²Strengths vary considerably from those shown for approximate datesin tables 1 and 32.

It is very difficult to compare with any degree of accuracythe overall quality of the medical officers in the individual theaters. In theearly part of the war, because of the military strategy adopted, theMediterranean and European theaters were favored from a qualitative point ofview. But as the war progressed, efforts were made to raise the level ofprofessional quality in the Pacific and in China-Burma-India as those theatersgained in military importance.

---

418

Dental Corps

In the early part of the war, the distribution of dentalpersonnel according to quality probably resembled that of the Medical Corps. Theaffiliated units which went overseas early contained highly skilled dentists aswell as doctors. But the dental service overseas was never augmented to the samedegree that the medical service was. One reason for this may be the fact thatthe Dental Corps never had as much as half its strength abroad, with theconsequent likelihood that a great many of its members failed to see overseaservice. It is also possible that the need for high quality dental personnelin oversea areas was relatively limited. Thus, the Zone of Interior managed toretain more of its highly qualified dental personnel than it sent overseas.³²

Enlisted personnel

There may have been a tendency for a brief period early inthe war to retain the better type of Medical Department enlisted man in theZone of Interior and to send abroad the misfits and other less desirablepersons. One observer, at least, found that in the Southwest Pacific certainstation hospitals activated just before departure for that area in 1942contained what he considered an "abnormally high proportion" ofproblem cases.³³The same observer noted, however, that many otherunits were not staffed in this manner and that the personnel authorities in theOffice of The Surgeon General made vigorous efforts to prevent the objectionablepractice. The various regulations covering oversea service of enlisted menissued after the beginning of 1944 increased the difficulty of retaining higherquality medical enlisted personnel in Zone of Interior installations. It issignificant that The Surgeon General stated in October 1944 that the personnelmost suited to be commissioned in the Medical Administrative Corps were warrantofficers and Medical Department noncommissioned officers serving overseas.³⁴

Late in the war, conditions overseas leading to a large-scaleexchange of enlisted personnel between the Medical Department and the combatbranches served to lower the quality of the enlisted personnel in the overseamedical service. A similar exchange and like deterioration also was taking placein the continental United States. Hence, it is difficult to determine whether,at the end of the war, the quality was higher at home or abroad. The laterstages of the war also witnessed a tendency to send limited-service menoverseas, particularly as members of communications zone units. Thus, in thecommunications zone of the European theater, there were 36,042 MedicalDepartment

³²Letters, to Col. C. H. Goddard, Office of The SurgeonGeneral, from (1) Brig. Gen. L. H. Tingay, DC, Brooke Army Medical Center, 20Sept. 1952; (2) Col. E. W. Cowan, DC, 15 Sept. 1952; (3) D. J. Holland, D.D.S.,Boston, Mass., 18 Sept. and 21 Oct. 1952; and (4) Col. T. A. McFall, DC, 4 Oct.1952.
³³Letter, M. C. Pincoffs, M.D., Baltimore, Md., to Col. C.H. Goddard, Office of The Surgeon General, 29 Aug. 1952.
³⁴Memorandum, The Surgeon General, for War Department,Assistant Chief of Staff, G-1, 9 Oct. 1944, subject: Medical OfficerRequirements and Availabilities.

---

419

enlisted men who, as of 15 March 1945, were so classifiedand who constituted nearly 38 percent of the total strength of such personnel inthe zone. The corresponding percentage for all the theater personnel wassomewhat under 22 percent.³⁵It need not be assumed, however, fromthe fact that large numbers of Medical Department enlisted men were regardedas unable to perform general duty, that they could not accomplish the tasksassigned to them in a satisfactory manner. Furthermore, it is likely that thelimited-assignment Medical Department enlisted personnel in the communicationszone constituted the great bulk of such personnel in the theater; in relationto the total Medical Department enlisted strength in the broader area, theywere less than 16 percent.

Non-Medical Department Personnel Overseas

As in the Zone of Interior, chaplains, engineers, and otherofficer specialists worked in Medical Department installations overseasalthough, as already indicated, it is difficult to state the strength of suchpersonnel with the precision possible in the case of Medical Departmentpersonnel proper.³⁶ A similar group comprised the workers of theAmerican Red Cross Hospital Service-field directors, assistant fielddirectors, medical social workers, recreation workers, staff aides, and theirassistants-who were assigned to or worked with Army medical units in virtuallyevery oversea area. As in the continental United States, the Red Cross personnel handled patients` communications with their homes, aided soldierswith their financial and personal problems, and, in general, did all kinds ofwelfare work for members of the Army. They not only set up recreation programsin the hospitals, but also obtained social histories of the patients for theirown or the medical officers` use.

It was originally planned that Red Cross personnel assignedto the Army for service overseas should be placed only in general and stationhospitals, but the importance of field, evacuation, and convalescenthospitals made it desirable to assign workers to these units too, and this atleast in the case of evacuation hospitals was done within the theaters.Normally, Red Cross personnel were assigned to Army hospitals as follows: 5workers per 1,000-bed general hospital, with 3 more for each additional 500beds; 3 per station hospital (between 500 and 1,000 beds); 10 per convalescentcenter (in the European theater); and 2 for each field and 400-bed evacuationhospital. In cases where more workers were available, more might be assigned.Smaller medical units were usually covered by Red Cross field directors.

Available statistics do not differentiate Red Cross personnelworking in Army hospitals from those employed overseas in Navy and civilianmedical

³⁵"Unit Strength-ComZ-ETOUSA. Comparison ofActual and T/O-15 Mar. 1945," in Progress Report, Communications Zone,ETO-USA, 31 March 1945, p. 4.
³⁶The number of table-of-organization positions forchaplains in oversea hospitals on 30 April 1945 was 1,050. (Data from"Troop List for Operations and Supply, 1 May 1945.") This was a figurein excess of the number of veterinary officers, dietitians, or physicaltherapists serving abroad on that date (table 32).

---

420

installations, but it is safe to assume that the bulk ofoversea hospital workers of the American Red Cross worked in Armyestablishments. The total number of these workers increased from 73 in mid-1942to 2,197 in the middle of 1945 (table 47).³⁷

TABLE 47.-The American National Red Cross:Oversea hospital workers on duty and en route, 1942-45

Type of worker	1942	1943	1944	1945
Supervisory and administrative field staff	0	0	24	24
Field director and assistant field director	0	78	165	231
Staff aide and assistant to field director	0	0	260	568
Medical social worker	5	86	192	190
Recreation worker	47	183	557	711
Recreation consultant	0	0	0	7
Hospital visitor	0	34	0	0
Clerical, stenographic, secretarial	21	114	366	466
Total	73	495	1,564	2,197

 

Source: "Oversea Hospital Workers on Dutyand Enroute as of June 30 (or nearest comparable date) 1943 through June 30,1949," enclosure to letter, C. H. Whelden, Jr., Chief Statistician, TheAmerican National Red Cross, National Headquarters, to Historical Unit, Officeof The Surgeon General, 6 June 1952.

Members of the Women`s Army Corps, civilians, and prisonersof war also swelled the strength of the medical service overseas beyond thefigures revealed by statistics of Medical Department elements proper.

PERMANENT LOSSES OF PERSONNEL

Influences Affecting the Rate of Loss

Factors tending to reduce the Medical Department`stemporary as well as permanent losses, in comparison with those of the Army atlarge, were the location of the great bulk of medical personnel overseas in Armyservice areas, various communications zones, and base sections where the hazardsof combat, though not absent, were minor, and the location of large numbers ofpersonnel in the Zone of Interior. The extent to which these factors operated toreduce the dangers of combat is indicated by a comparison of the battle-casualtyrates of the Medical Department with that of the Army as a whole (table 48). Forofficers, the Army rate was 36.6, while the Medical Department rate was 3.2; forenlisted personnel, the Army rate was 32.6, the Medical Department rate, 11.6;for officers and enlisted men combined, the Army rate was 32.6, the MedicalDepartment rate, 10.1. (See also tables 49, 50, and 51.)

³⁷(1) Letter, D. C. Smith, American National Red Cross,Washington, to the Office of The Surgeon General (attention: Lt. Col. Markowitz),16 June 1952, with enclosures thereto. (2) Annual Report, Personnel Division,Office of the Chief Surgeon, European Theater of Operations, U.S. Army, 1943.

---

421-423

TABLE 48.-Battle casualties of the MedicalDepartment, officers and enlisted men:¹Total battle casualties, deaths among battle casualties, and killed in action, 7December 1941-31 December 1946

Area and group	Strength2		Total battle casualties		Deaths among battle casualties3		Killed in action
	Median	Number of months of exposure	Number	Annual rate per 1,0004	Number	Annual rate per 1,0004	Number	Annual rate per 1,0004
Total overseas	2,526,729	46	936,259	96.7	234,874	24.2	189,696	19.6
Officers	206,910	46	95,998	121.0	35,984	45.4	30,157	38.0
Enlisted	2,319,819	46	840,261	94.5	198,890	22.4	159,539	17.9
Medical Department	209,414	46	23,962	29.3	4,922	6.1	3,690	4.6
Officers	37,587	46	1,339	9.3	321	2.2	196	1.4
Enlisted	171,828	46	22,623	34.3	4,601	7.0	3,494	5.3
Regional
Alaska:
Total Army	64,918	46	1,875	7.5	877	3.5	853	3.4
Officers	4,007	46	290	18.9	175	11.4	170	11.1
Enlisted	60,297	46	1,585	6.9	702	3.0	683	3.0
Medical Department	3,267	46	74	5.9	30	2.4	29	2.3
Officers	480	46	5	2.7	2	1.1	2	1.1
Enlisted	2,825	46	69	6.4	28	2.6	27	2.5
Caribbean and South Atlantic:
Total Army	89,669	46	57	.2	38	.1	36	.1
Officers	6,474	46	10	.4	5	.2	5	.2
Enlisted	83,824	46	47	.1	33	.1	31	.1
Medical Department	4,690	46	3	.2	2	.1	2	.1
Officers	1,051	46	0	0	0	0	0	0
Enlisted	4,098	46	3	.2	2	.1	2	.1
European theater:
Total Army	935,346	44	586,628	171.0	135,576	39.5	116,991	34.1
Officers	79,897	44	56,804	193.9	19,152	65.4	17,393	59.4
Enlisted	855,449	44	529,824	168.9	116,424	37.1	99,598	31.8
Medical Department	81,616	44	14,589	48.8	2,763	9.2	2,265	7.6
Officers	14,359	44	618	11.7	128	2.4	99	1.9
Enlisted	67,257	44	13,971	56.7	2,635	10.7	2,166	8.8
Mediterranean theater:
Total Army	518,138	34	175,107	119.3	40,455	27.6	35,313	24.1
Officers	47,428	34	19,079	142.0	6,371	47.4	5,638	42.0
Enlisted	473,361	34	156,028	116.3	34,084	25.4	29,675	22.1
Medical Department	38,122	34	3,755	34.8	608	5.6	517	4.8
Officers	7,104	34	191	9.5	43	2.1	38	1.9
Enlisted	33,212	34	3,564	37.9	565	6.0	479	5.1
Africa-Middle East:
Total Army	11,352	39	3,959	107.3	1,031	27.9	930	25.2
Officers	1,097	39	1,636	458.9	462	129.6	407	114.2
Enlisted	9,989	39	2,323	71.6	569	17.5	523	16.1
Medical Department	1,396	38	9	2.0	3	.7	3	.7
Officers	311	38	1	1.0	0	0	0	0
Enlisted	1,085	38	8	2.3	3	.9	3	.9
China-Burma-India:
Total Army	107,595	42	6,925	18.4	3,727	9.9	2,723	7.2
Officers	12,530	42	2,295	52.3	1,480	33.7	1,106	25.2
Enlisted	95,065	42	4,630	13.9	2,247	6.8	1,617	4.9
Medical Department	9,945	42	95	2.7	42	1.2	17	.5
Officers	1,869	42	20	3.1	11	1.7	1	.2
Enlisted	8,076	42	75	2.7	31	1.1	16	.6
Pacific:
Total Army	683,697	46	157,938	60.3	50,385	19.2	30,538	11.7
Officers	51,239	46	14,512	73.9	7,260	37.0	4,536	23.1
Enlisted	632,458	46	143,426	59.2	43,125	17.8	26,002	10.7
Medical Department	59,768	46	5,405	23.6	1,427	6.2	812	3.5
Officers	9,858	46	502	13.3	136	3.6	55	1.5
Enlisted	49,911	46	4,903	25.6	1,291	6.7	757	4.0
U.S. Army Strategic Air Forces:
Total Army	61,900	15	2,897	37.4	2,148	27.8	1,795	23.2
Officers	8,285	15	1,289	124.5	1,016	98.1	857	82.8
Enlisted	53,615	15	1,608	24.0	1,132	16.9	938	14.0
Medical Department	(5)	(5)	1	(5)	1	(5)	1	(5)
Officers	(5)	(5)	1	(5)	1	(5)	1	(5)
Enlisted	(5)	(5)	0	0	0	0	0	0
En route:
Total Army	(5)	(5)	725	(5)	491	(5)	475
Officers	(5)	(5)	53	(5)	33	(5)	33	(5)
Enlisted	(5)	(5)	672	(5)	458	(5)	442	(5)
Medical Department	(5)	(5)	56	(5)	41	(5)	41	(5)
Officers	(5)	(5)	1	(5)	0	0	0	0
Enlisted	(5)	(5)	55	(5)	41	(5)	41	(5)
Theater Unknown:
Total Army	---	---	148	---	146	---	42	---
Officers	---	---	30	---	30	---	12	---
Enlisted	---	---	118	---	116	---	30	---
Medical Department	---	---	5	---	5	---	3	---
Officers	---	---	5	---	5	---	3	---
Enlisted	---	---	0	---	0	---	0	---

 

¹Basic data, unless otherwise noted, from"Battle Casualties by Duty, Branch, Type, and Disposition: 7 December1946" in Department of the Army "Army Battle Casualties andNonbattle Deaths in World War II. Final Report 7 December 1941-31 December1946," pp. 48-69. A full explanation of the categories of casualties isfound in the same document pp. 1 to 4, inclusive. Although casualty data, asreported in this source, are cumulative, 7 December 1941-31 December 1946, it ishere assumed that all casualties were incurred prior to 1 October 1945, sincethe number reported as having occurred subsequent to that date is negligible. (Seepp. 10-11 of the report.)
²Median strength is based on end-of-month strength on the followingdates: 30 November 1941; 31 March, 30 June, and 30 September 1942; 31 January,30 April, 31 July, and 31 October 1943; 31 January, 30 April, 31 July, and 31October 1944; and 31 January, 30 April, 31 July, and 30 September 1945. Indetermining the median strength for any group or area, the first of these dateschosen was the first to show a strength for such group or area in the followingsources: For the Army in general and the Medical Department, both in overseaareas as a whole and in individual theaters, table 31 (unadjusted data); forMedical Department officers and enlisted men in oversea areas as a whole, tables5 and 45, for Army officers and enlisted men in oversea areas as a whole, tables5 and 45, with the addition, in the case of officers, of WAAC officers and, inthe case of enlisted personnel, of WAAC and WAC enlisted women, as shown inStrength of the Army," and for officers and enlisted men in individualoversea areas, including the Army as a whole and the Medical Department, thesources for the corresponding total (unadjusted) strengths in such areasreported in table 31. The final date for the median strength in all cases was 30September 1945. Time of exposure was dated from the first month following thedate on which a strength was first shown for the group or area involved in"Strength of the Army" or the sources thereof. The terminal date ineach instance is 30 September 1945.
³All persons killed in action, dead as a result of wounds or injuriesreceived in action declared dead from missing in action, and dead of nonbattlecauses while in a battle casualty status of captured, interned, or missing inaction.
⁴Rate per 1,000 of median strength.
⁵Information not readily available. 

---

424-426

TABLE 49.-Battle casualties of the MedicalDepartment, officers and enlisted men:¹Wounded and injured in action,²7 December 1941-31 December 1946

---

427-429

TABLE 50.-Battle casualties of the MedicalDepartment, officers and enlisted men:¹Captured and interned,²7 December 1941-31 December 1946

---

430-431

TABLE 51.-Battle casualties of the MedicalDepartment, officers and enlisted men:¹ Missing in action,²7 December 1941-31 December 1946

---

432

The battle-casualty rates for individual officer groups ofthe Medical Department were: Medical Corps, 5.2; Dental Corps, 2.2; VeterinaryCorps, 1.3; Sanitary Corps, 0.3; Pharmacy Corps, 0; Medical AdministrativeCorps, 3.5; Army Nurse Corps, 1.0; Dietitians, 0; Physical Therapists, 0.

Location in rear areas not only reduced the dangers ofcombat but the likelihood of diseases and injuries that were more prevalent atthe front than elsewhere-for example, malaria and cold injury. Littleinformation is available on the incidence of noncombat injury in the MedicalDepartment, but figures for nonbattle deaths amply bear out this statement(table 52). On the other hand, the Medical Department contained a higher thanaverage proportion of women, limited-service troops, and persons of a high agelevel, many of whom had waived disabilities, all factors that tended to raisethe rate of loss through hospitalization or discharge.

Types of Permanent Loss

Permanent losses of the Army comprised not only persons whowere formally relieved from active service but those who, though nominallystill in service, were absent from their duties because they were hospitalized,imprisoned for misconduct, captured by the enemy, missing in action, absentwithout leave, or had deserted. The total numbers of Medical Departmentpersonnel who were captured and missing in action have been determined(tables 50 and 51), but how many in either group were restored to theservice before the end of hostilities is unknown. No figures are available forthose who were permanently hospitalized, imprisoned as deserters, or absentwithout leave, but it is known that a very considerable number of personshospitalized remained under treatment until the end of the war.

---

433-435

TABLE 52.-Nonbattle deaths in the MedicalDepartment:¹ Actual, 7December 1941-31 December 1946; estimated, 7 December 1941-30 September 1945

---

436

Deaths

In the Medical Department, the death rate from enemy action was a littlemore than one-fourth that in the Army as a whole, although there was a greatvariation in rate among the several Medical Department components (table 53).

TABLE 53.-Deaths from enemy action:Medical Department and Army as a whole, 7 December 1941-30 September 1945¹

Group	Battle deaths2		Killed in action
	Number	Rate	Number	Rate
Army	225,618	7.9	189,696	6.7
Officers	35,340	13.5	30,157	11.5
Enlisted personnel	190,278	7.4	159,539	6.2
Medical Department	4,665	2.0	3,690	1.6
Officers	293	.7	196	.5
Medical Corps	203	1.3	129	.8
Dental Corps	25	.5	18	.3
Veterinary Corps	4	.05	1	.01
Sanitary Corps	0	0	0	0
Pharmacy Corps	0	0	0	0
Medical Administrative Corps	45	.8	34	.6
Army Nurse Corps	16	.1	14	.1
Dietitians	0	0	0	0
Physical Therapists	0	0	0	0
Enlisted personnel	4,372	2.2	3,494	1.8

 

¹Basic data on deaths are in tables50 and 52.
²Comprises killed in action, died of wounds and injury, died ofwounds while in captivity, and missing in action and declared dead. 

---

437

Returns to civilian life

The basic reasons for returns to civil life were physical and mentaldisabilities, the attainment of a certain age,inefficiency or misconduct, hardship and civilian needs, and demobilization in its early stages. Statistics onthese causes for the entire war period are available only in the case of male MedicalDepartment officers. A breakdown so far asenlisted men are concerned is available only for the period October 1943-June 1945 (tables 54, 55, 56,and 57).

TABLE 54.-Returns to civil life: Officersof the Medical Department and of the Army as a whole, 7 December 1941-30September 1945

Group	Median strength1	Returns
		Number2	Rate3
All Officers:
Army	684,360	89,510	33.8
Medical Department	110,563	16,887	40.1
Male officers:
Army	641,188	78,711	31.6
Medical Department	73,602	7,288	25.8
Medical Corps	40,983	4,060	25.8
Dental Corps	13,776	2,280	43.2
Veterinary Corps	1,963	155	20.6
Medical Administrative Corps	14,385	655	11.9
Sanitary Corps and Pharmacy Corps	2,236	138	16.1
Female officers:
WAAC and WAC officers only	5,754	1,200	65.9
Medical Department:
Army Nurse Corps	35,381	9,358	69.0
Dietitians and Physical Therapists	2,066	241	46.7

 

¹From table 52 for all officers, Army and MedicalDepartment, as well as for Medical, Dental, Veterinary, Medical Administrative,and Army Nurse Corps, individually. All other median strengths were computed onthe basis of the dates used in computing the median strengths of the groupsalready mentioned. Strength data constituting the course for the determinationof the median strengths of the combined male Medical Department personnel, thecombined Sanitary and Pharmacy Corps, and the combined Dietitians andPhysical Therapists are in table 1. Corresponding data for WAAC and WAC and allArmy male officers appear in "Strength of the Army," 1 Jan. 1947.
²Basic data for the Medical Department are from table55; for the nurses, dietitians, physical therapists, and the Army in general,from "Strength of the Army," 1 Oct. 1950. Basic data in this issue of"Strength of the Army" may be more complete than that in table 55; hence,the figures for male Medical Department officers may be somewhat higher thanthose shown here.
³Per 1,000 per annum of median strength.

---

438

Physical and mental disability-The rates of dischargeof Medical Department personnel for physical and mental disability werefrequently high in comparison with those of the Army as a whole, particularly inthe case of officers. The rate for male officers in general was 11.1. The higherrates of discharge were concentrated almost entirely in the Medical and DentalCorps; the Medical Administrative Corps and the combined Sanitary and PharmacyCorps had rates well below those of male officers in the Army at large (tables55 and 58).

It will be noted that in the latter part of 1943 the rate ofdischarge for medical and dental officers was particularly high despite thefact that at that time the regulations authorizing release on physical groundswere less lenient for them than for other Army officers: In July of that year,the General Staff authorized the release of line officers qualified only forlimited service, but specifically excepted doctors and dentists from the termsof its directive.³⁸

Late in 1943, the rate at which male Medical Departmentofficers of all corps were being granted discharges for physical reasons causedan investigation. At that time, the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-1 (personnel)of the War Department General Staff, called the attention of Army Service Forcesheadquarters to the fact that in September 1943 the rate of discharge forMedical Department officers on grounds of physical disqualification was almostfour times that for the rest of the Army. It was intimated that more carefulscrutiny of doctors under consideration for discharge on those grounds mightlead to their retention in a limited-service capacity.³⁹

At the request of Army Service Forces headquarters, TheSurgeon General appointed a board of officers to investigate the matter. Theboard reported that a careful review of the 143 separations for physical causesin September 1943 showed the action of retiring boards to be justified in 84percent of the cases and unjustified in the remaining 16 percent. With regardto the latter groups, the board emphasized that, in the review, professionaljudgment rather than rigid interpretation of existing regulations was used toevaluate the officers` status. In the group of 123 whose separation appearedjustified, 49 were retired because of defects which had existed prior toappointment. It was evident, the board declared, that none of the 49 should havebeen commissioned. "The chief apparent explanation of the acceptance ofdoctors who later had to be separated from the service lay in the fact that theurgent need for medical officers made it necessary frequently to commissionindividuals who did not meet the strict physical requirements of Armyregulations."⁴⁰

³⁸Medical Department, United States Army. Dental Service inWorld War II. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1955.
³⁹Memorandum, Maj. Gen. Miller G. White, G-1, forDirector of Personnel, Army Service Forces, 12 Oct. 1943, subject: MedicalDepartment Officer Separations.
⁴⁰The board did not mention that examining officers maynot always have been familiar enough with the physical standards required forcommissions. This was very likely the case with at least some members of theMedical Officer Recruiting Boards, which lacked centralized direction but whichhad brought in large numbers of officers in 1942.

---

439-441

TABLE 55.-Returns of male MedicalDepartment officers to civilian life, December 1941-September 1945¹

---

442

TABLE 56.-Returns of Medical Departmentenlisted men to civilian life, October 1943-June 1945¹

Date2	Mean strength3	Total releases	Honorable discharges					Transfer to inactive status	Discharges other than honorable
			Physical and mental disqualifications4	Overage	Retired5	Demobilization	Miscellaneous
1943
October-December	510,282	15,586	13,662	136	369	---	466	6295	658
1944
January-June	527,048	12,135	8,371	44	678	---	1,522	578	942
July-December	558,469	25,103	16,857	9	72	---	7,136	412	617
1945
January-June	532,729	19,787	11,051	1,980	69	4,942	917	345	483
Total		72,611	49,941	2,169	1,188	4,942	10,041	1,630	2,700

¹All data from Monthly Progress Reports, Army Service Forces,War Department, November 1943 to July 1945, inclusive, Section 5: Personnel.
²Dates are the periods in which processing of thepertinent papers by the Office of the Adjutant General was completed.
³Average of monthly mean strength within the periods shown,obtained by averaging the strength at the end of the month with the strength atthe end of the preceding month, both as stated in table 1.
⁴Includes releases for inaptitude.
⁵From November 1943 through June 1944 also includes"dropped held for unterminated enlistment" and "dropped from therolls resulting from AWOL." After June 1944, "dropped held forunterminated enlistment" are included in miscellaneous; "dropped fromthe rolls resulting from AWOL" are not included at all. Data, which coverthe Army as a whole but not the Medical Department specifically, show thatduring the period when "dropped" were grouped with retired, theretired were only 7.5 percent of the combined categories. (The percentage isdetermined by comparing the combined figures in the contemporary reports with arevision, published in Monthly Progress Report, Army Service Forces, WarDepartment, December 1944, showing retirements alone.)
⁶November and December only. Transfers to inactivestatus in October are included in "miscellaneous."

TABLE 57.-Returns to civil life: Enlisted men of the Medical Department and of the Army as a whole, October 1943-June 1945

Date	Army1		Medical Department
	Number	Rate	Number	Rate
October-December 1943	195,128	117.1	15,586	123.6
January-June 1944	173,128	50.0	12,135	46.1
July-December 1944	262,902	73.1	25,103	89.9
January-June 1945	288,803	80.0	19,787	74.3

 

¹Revised figures exist for the Army, indicating thatsome revision of the Medical Department figures is also needed. The revised Armyfigures (from "Strength of the Army," 1 Jan. 1950) are as follows:October-December 1943, 190,187 (rate, 114.2); January-June 1944, 159,853(rate, 46.0); July-December 1944, 262,958 (rate, 73.1); January-June 1945,340,920 (rate, 94.5). The Army and Medical Department figures in the text arecontemporaneous, both being drawn from data in the Monthly Progress Reports,Army Service Forces, for the periods shown. The same data for the MedicalDepartment appear in table 56, where the mean strengths of medical enlistedpersonnel are shown. The mean strengths of Army male enlisted personnel were:October-December 1943, 6,664,339; January-June 1944, 6,949,670; July-December1944, 7,193,678; January-June 1945, 7,217,133. Mean strengths are the averageof the monthly means for the periods covered. Monthly means are the average ofend-of-month strength of the particular month and the strength at the end of thepreceding month as shown in "Strength of the Army," 1 Oct. 1945.

---

443

TABLE 58.-Rates of discharge for mental and physicaldisability: Male officers of the Medical Department and of the Army as a whole,December 1941-September 1945¹

Date	All officers (male)	Total Medical Department officers (male)	Medical Corps	Dental Corps	Veterinary Corps	Sanitary Corps and Pharmacy  Corps	Medical Administrative Corps
December 1941-June 1943	7.6	16.3	18.7	17.3	10.2	7.9	5.2
July-December 1943	11.3	24.3	31.2	25.7	12.4	9.6	7.1
January-June 1944	10.9	13.3	14.5	17.7	20.1	5.6	5.5
July-December 1944	14.3	15.8	11.5	37.2	10.9	10.6	9.1
January-June 1945	17.5	35.4	30.9	83.4	23.5	16.2	12.7
July-September 1945	22.4	29.3	35.5	40.7	5.8	20.4	10.1

 

¹Basic data ondisqualifications of all male officersare from "Strength of the Army," 1 Oct. 1950; of Medical Departmentofficers, from table 55. Mean strengths for male officers in general, includingwarrant and flight officers, were computed from monthly means of end-of-monthstrengths shown in "Strength of the Army," 1 Jan. 1947. These meanstrengths are as follows: December 1941-June 1943, 286,887: July-December1943, 602,393; January-June 1944, 668,487; July-December 1944, 708,695;January-June 1945, 811,693; July-September 1945, 831,028. For mean strengthsof male Medical Department officers, see table 55.

The board report also stated that "the racialdistribution of medical officers separated by reason of physical disability maybe significant," but it did not explain this statement further. Althoughadmitting it was conceivable that professional relations between members of adisposition board and the officer whose record was under review could have beena factor in the high rate of Medical Department officer separation, the boardconsidered this "highly improbable."

The board also suggested that the high discharge rate ofMedical Department officers in general was attributable partly to the fact thatthey were older, on the average, than other officers. A report on MedicalDepartment officers retired in September, October, and November 1943 added thefollowing points:⁴¹

There is a relative excess of Medical Corps officers amongthe Medical Department officers retired.

There is a relative excess of 1st lieutenants in the group** *.

The average period served by retired MedicalDepartmentofficers was approximately 14 months.

In nearly 90 percent of cases the disability leading toretirement was judged not contracted in line of duty.

The types of disability leading to retirement and theirincidences were similar to those in the retirement of non-Medical Departmentofficers.

The rate of discharge of Medical Corps officers for physicaldisability was markedly lower in the first half of 1944 than it had beenpreviously. Possible reasons for the decline may have been the influx into thecorps of younger men of greater stamina from the medical schools, theelimination

⁴¹Reports, Brig. Gen. Hugh J. Morgan, Office of TheSurgeon General, 15 Nov. 1943 and 31 Dec. 1943.

---

444

earlier of some officers who might otherwise have been discharged during this period, and perhaps also a less liberal attitudeon the part ofreviewing boards in consequence of criticism. The rate of discharge of dentalofficers declined at the same time, though not so sharply as that of doctors,and in the last half of 1944, it leaped upward while the rate for doctorscontinued to decline. The policy of discharging dentists to avoid a surplus hadbeen inaugurated as early as April 1944, and in the same month, theauthorization to discharge limited-service officers had been extended, undercertain conditions, to dentists.

The upward trend in discharges for disability during 1945 among maleofficers throughout the Army no doubt represented, in part, the effect ofphysical deterioration as the war was prolonged. The fact that the ratewas so much higher in the Medical Department than in the Army as a whole probably reflectsthe higher age level of the group, as well as itslarger proportion of men who had waived disability in entering the Army.

So far as enlisted men were concerned, the disability-discharge rate fromOctober 1943 until June 1945 was not greatly different in the Medical Department from what it was in the Army as a whole (table 59).

Physical and mental disability caused most of the separations of maleMedical Department officers from service during the war period. The same is trueof separations of Medical Department enlisted men during the period fromOctober 1943 to June 1945; in this case, physical and mental disability causedtwo-thirds of the discharges (table 56).

Data on discharges resulting from this cause exist for all three women`sofficer components of the Medical Department for the period 1 September 194--30June 1945 and also for the following 3 months. One cause of the great disparitybetween these two periods in the rates of discharge is the fact thatduring the first period the reporting was very incomplete. Since pregnancycaused the great majority of disability discharges, the rates for that causeare shown separately in table 60.

TABLE 59.-Disability-discharge rate:Enlisted men of the Medical Department and of the Army as a whole, October 1943-June 1945

Date	Rate
	Army1	Medical Department
October-December 1943	107.1	100.6
January-June 1944	36.4	31.8
July-December 1944	60.2	60.4
January-June 1945	41.2	41.5

 

¹Basic data on Army discharges are from Monthly Progress Reports, ArmyService Forces; on Medical Department discharges, from table 53. For meanstrengths of Army enlisted men, see footnote to table 54. For mean strengthsof Medical Department enlisted men, see table 55. Revised figures for medicaldischarges of enlisted men of the Army as a whole are given in "Strength ofthe Army," 1 Oct. 1950, as follows: October-December 1943, 167,148 (rate,100.3); January-June 1944, 120,570 (rate, 36.4); July-December 1944,262,958 (rate, 60.2); January-July 1945, 162,022 (rate, 44.9).

---

445

TABLE 60.-Discharges for disability: Army Nurse Corps, Dietitians, and Physical Therapists, 1 September 1944-30 September 1945¹

Female officers	1 Sept. 1944-30 June 1945				1 July 1945-30 Sept. 1945
	Total discharges for disability2		Pregnancy discharges		Total discharges for disability2		Pregnancy discharges
	Number	Rate3	Number	Rate3	Number	Rate3	Number	Rate3
Army Nurse Corps	318	8.2	269	7.1	690	50.1	615	44.7
Dietitians	8	6.6	6	4.9	17	43.3	14	35.5
Physical Therapists	5	5.8	4	4.7	9	22.9	8	20.4

 

¹Basic data are from records in Statistical andAccounting Branch,Statistical Section, Personnel Statistics Unit, Office ofThe Adjutant General.
²Includes pregnancy discharges.
³Annual rate per 1,000 of mean strength for the period shown. Meanstrengths are the average of monthly mean strengths computed by averagingthe end-of-month strength for a particular month with the strength at the end ofthe preceding month, both as shown in table 1. The mean strengths areas follows: September 1944-June 1945-Army Nurse Corps, 45,560; Dietitians,1,465; Physical Therapists, 1,030; July-September l945-Army Nurse Corps,55,091; Dietitians, 1,571; Physical Therapists, 1,265.

Attainment of a certain age.-Age alone caused the discharge ofvery few male officers of the Medical Department. Retirements, which alsoincluded retirements for physical disability after 20 years` service,occurred at the rate of 0.56 not materially different from the rate of 0.67for male Army officers in general.⁴² Another basis forthe dischargeof officers was "overage in grade." Of the very few male MedicalDepartment officers released for this reason, the majority came from theMedical Corps (table. 55).

In December 1943, the War Department authorized the discharge of all Armyofficers 45 years of age and over for whom no suitable assignmentexisted. A month later the age limit was lowered to 38.⁴³At the end of1944, the age limit for discharges on this ground was removed, but it wasindicated that persons over 38 would be given more consideration than others.⁴⁴Actually, the great majority discharged afterward under this rule were over 38.In the approximately 21 months of war during which the rule was in operation, more male MedicalDepartment officers were released through itsworkings than were discharged throughout the war for any other reason exceptphysical and mental disability, and more than 80 percent of those so

⁴²Basic data for Medical Department are from table 55, and for Army from"Strength of the Army," 1 Oct. 1950. Data for the Medical Departmentare not so complete as for the Army at large. If the figures were complete, theMedical Department rate would probably equal or exceed the Army rate. For medianstrengths, see table 54. Here and in subsequent references, rates are figured onthe basis of number per annum per 1,000 median strength for the period ofDecember 1941 to 30 September 1945.
⁴³Letters, The Adjutant General, to Divisions of War Department GeneralStaff, 8 Dec. 1943 and 12 Jan. 1944, subject: Relief From Active Duty ofOfficers for Whom No Suitable Assignment Exists.
⁴⁴War Department Circular No. 485, 29 Dec. 1944.

---

446

released were members of the Dental Corps. The rates for thevarious corps were as follows:

Medical Department male officers	2.44
Medical Corps	.33
Dental Corps	9.87
Veterinary Corps	.29
Sanitary Corps and Pharmacy Corps	.47
Medical Administrative Corps	.97

 

Nevertheless, the Medical Department rate for most of this period was muchlower than that for male officers of the Army at large. Thus, the Medical Department rate for January-June 1944was 0.8; the Armyrate, 9.2; for July-December 1944, the rates were 4.5 and 11.5; and forJanuary-June 1945, 9.2 and 8.0.

The return of enlisted men to civilian life for reasonsinvolving age included retirements. Comparative figures on retirements areavailable only for the year 1 July 1944-30 June 1945. They show a slightlyhigher rate for the Medical Department 0.3 than for the Army as a whole(0.2) (table 56).

Beginning in December 1942, the Army permitted the releaseof enlisted men over 38 years old who were less useful to the Army than toindustry and who could show that a job was waiting for them in an essentialwar industry. Under this rule, men were discharged outright, but at least asearly as 1943 they could be transferred to the Enlisted Reserve Corps,⁴⁵although some continued to be discharged. Then, in April and May 1945, when thewar in Europe was ending, successive directives⁴⁶ permittedthe discharge ofenlisted personnel, at first over 42 years of age and then over 40, almostwithout restriction. Figures for the Army at large show heavy discharges in theage category for the months following December 1942, and then a decline. Inthe last few months of 1943, when comparative figures for the MedicalDepartment first became available, the rates for the Army and the MedicalDepartment were on the way to becoming insignificant until they shot upwardduring the period when the directives of April and May 1945 took effect.Comparative rates for October-December 1943 were: Medical Department 1.07,Army 0.23; for January-June 1944, Medical Department 0.16, Army 0.14; for July-December1944, Medical Department 0.03, Army 0.04; and for January-June 1945, MedicalDepartment 7.43, Army 7.08.

Meanwhile, the rates of transfer to the Enlisted ReserveCorps, at first much higher than the rate of discharges, descended withouta break. In this case, the comparative rates for November-December 1943 were:Medical Department 3.5, Army 5.0; for January-June 1944, Medical Department2.2, Army 2.4; for July-December 1944, Medical Department l.5, Army 1.2; and

⁴⁵(1) War Department Circular No. 397, 7 Dec. 1942. (2) WarDepartment Circular No. 92, 3 Apr. 1943.
⁴⁶(1) War Department Circular No. 125, 25 Apr. 1945. (2) War Department Circular No. 151, 23 May 1945.

---

447

for January-June 1945, Medical Department 1.3, Army 1.4.⁴⁷The majority were transferred for reasons of age. Among the minority transferred for other reasons, probably most returned to active duty beforethe end of hostilities.

Inefficiency and misconduct-Among male officers of the MedicalDepartment, 324 were discharged specifically for inefficiency and misconduct duringthe course of the war (table 55). Of these, 120 were separated from the servicethrough the action of reclassificationboards. Another eight were discharged for unsatisfactory service, presumablywithout such proceedings. Of the remainder, 139 were given discharges withouthonor and 57 received dishonorable discharges; as already noted, these are tobe understood as separations in addition to those resulting from action byreclassification boards, although the latter could recommend any type ofdischarge-honorable, dishonorable, or without honor. These boards, whichexisted throughout the Army, could propose (among other things) the separation of officers brought before them on allegations of inefficiency,misconduct, or undesirable habits and traits of character. The person involvedmight be returned to his command for trial by court martial. A board was torecommend honorable discharge if it found the officer to be merely incompetent;it could recommend a dishonorable discharge or one without honor in case ofmisconduct or undesirable habits or traits.⁴⁸

For both officers and enlisted men, the rates of dischargefor misconduct in the Medical Department were lower than those for the Armyas a whole, reflecting, in part, a greater degree of professionalism and ahigher age and maturity level; in part, the psychological effect of feelingthat they were saving rather than taking lives. Another important factorwas the fact that Medical Department personnel were less subject to the hazardsand strains of combat.

Hardship and civilian needs-Very few male MedicalDepartment officers were separated from the service because of "unduehardship" to themselves or their families, the pertinent annual ratebeing only 0.3 per 1,000. Somewhat more were discharged on the score of theirimportance to the Government or the community in a civilian capacity. Provisionwas made for releasing individuals who were "keymen in industry andGovernment" or who were essential to "the national health, safety, or interest."Both provisions applied to enlisted personnel as well asofficers. Only 19 male officers of the Medical Department were released underthem up to the end of 1944. Well before that time, the Procurement andAssignment Service had advocated releasing physicians who came fromcommunities where there was a shortage, but this plan failed to obtaintangible results. After a conference in January 1945 between representatives ofthe Army and the Procurement and Assignment Service, the Army announced its newpolicy: Medical officers over 39

⁴⁷Basic data for the Army are from Monthly Progress Reports,Army Service Forces; for the Medical Department, from table 56.
⁴⁸Army Regulations No. 605-230, 25 Aug. 1941, 24 Dec. 1942,and 9 June 1943.

---

448

years of age who were qualified for general service or whowere practicing a specialty in the Medical Department, who were deemed"worthy cases" could be discharged. This procedure resulted invirtually no discharges before the end of June 1945, but by 30 September of thatyear, a total of 75 medical officers and 4 other male Medical Departmentofficers had been discharged under the "National and communityhealth" provision. By the same date, 44 male Medical Departmentofficers, mostly members of the Medical and Medical Administrative Corps, hadobtained release as "keymen." These factors produced an annual rateof loss among male Medical Department officers amounting to 0.5 per 1,000. The number of enlisted men discharged forthe same reasons is not available.

Demobilization-Among the permanent losses of theMedical Department during the war must be counted that group of personneldischarged in accordance with established demobilization procedures, limitedas they were, between May 1945, when these regulations went into effect, andthe end of hostilities. The regulations apparently had no effect on thedischarges of male Medical Department officers before July 1945, and by the endof September had caused the release of less than 90 officers. For nurses, on the otherhand, the demobilization regulations were operative as early asMay; up to the end of September, somewhat more than 200 nurses had been discharged under them.⁴⁹ The number ofMedical Departmentenlisted men demobilized before the end of the war is available only throughJune 1945; by that date, it amounted to 4,942 (table 56).

Transfers to other branches of the Army

Transfers of Medical Department personnel to other branchesof the Army represented another type of Medical Department loss. Althoughfigures on this point are lacking, transfers of officers from the MedicalDepartment were necessarily less than that of Medical enlisted personnel, thehighly specialized training of most of the Department`s officers andthe fact that a large proportion of them were women made it difficult andinadvisable to transfer them. The majority of those transferred were MedicalAdministrative Corps officers who were transferred to combat or other servicebranches of the Army.

Transfer of enlisted men, on the other hand, wasconsiderably more important numerically; the repeated efforts of medicalauthorities to stop the flow of medically trained enlisted men out of theDepartment are an indication that the loss was substantial. This wasparticularly true toward the end of the war when personnel were desperatelyshort. In the Mediterranean theater in November 1944 to February 1945, 25percent of general-assignment enlisted men in station and general hospitalswere replaced by limited-service men.

⁴⁹Data on male officers are from table 55; on nurses,from records in Statistical and Accounting Branch, Statistics Section,Personnel Statistics Unit, Office of The Adjutant General.

---

449

This impression is confirmed by the experience of theEuropean theater. There the number of enlisted men scheduled to begiven up in the latter part of 1944 and in 1945 was in excess of 12,000, and even though by specialarrangements the great majority of these eventually were retained in the medical service,more than 4,000were transferred out of it.⁵⁰

⁵⁰(1) Administrative and Logistical History ofMedical Service, Communications Zone, European Theater of Operations.Chapter X. [Official record.] (2) Report, Operations Division, Office of theChief Surgeon, European Theater of Operations, U.S. Army, 1 Jan.-30 June1945. (3) Annual Report, Surgeon, Third U.S. Army, 1944.

RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS