CHAPTER IX
Further Changes inOrganization and Responsibilities for Hospitalization
Relationship of The Surgeon General With Other War DepartmentAgencies
With the emergence of problems created by a shift from thedefensive to the offensive phase of the war, changes occurred in theorganization for hospitalization. One of the most fundamental was implicit in agradual change in the relationship of The Surgeon General with ASF headquartersand the General Staff. Although The Surgeon General remained under thejurisdiction of ASF headquarters until after the end of the war, there was agrowing trend in 1944 and 1945 toward his restoration to a position of directcontact with the General Staff. This trend resulted from efforts made by GeneralKirk to regain authority for his office commensurate with its responsibilitiesand from gradual resumption by the General Staff of some of the functionsassumed earlier by the Army Service Forces.1
In the last half of 1943 the authority and responsibility ofOPD for logistic matters as well as the strategic direction of theater forceswere confirmed and strengthened. G-1 became concerned about allocation ofpersonnel for medical service throughout the world, and G-4 devoted growingattention to bed requirements and the hospital system in general. In addition,two Special Staff units, the War Department Manpower Board and the InspectorGeneral's Office, took a hand in such matters.
As this happened ASF headquarters lost some of its formerauthority and tended to become in some matters merely a formal channel ofcommunication. Finally, early in 1945 this trend culminated in a War Departmentcircular which, while not removing him from ASF jurisdiction, affirmed TheSurgeon General's position as the chief medical officer of the Army andofficially authorized him to deal directly with the Chief of Staff and
1For full information on this development see John D. Millett, The Organization and Role of the Army Service Forces (Washington, 1954), Chs. IX and X; and Ray S. Cline, Washington Command Post: The Operations Division (Washington, 1951), Ch. XIV; both in UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II.
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the General Staff, without interference by ASF headquarters,on matters affecting the health of the Army.2In approving the publication of this circular the Secretary of Warannounced that it should be further interpreted as also giving The SurgeonGeneral direct access to the Secretary himself.3
A change in the organization of ASF headquarters reflectedboth its decrease of authority in phases of hospitalization in which the GeneralStaff took a more active interest as well as a gradual return to the SurgeonGeneral's Office of certain functions connected with hospitalization andevacuation. In April 1943 the ASF Hospitalization and Evacuation Branch, whosehead after February 1943 was Col. Robert C. McDonald, was reduced to a sectionof the Zone of Interior Branch of the Planning Division. In the followingNovember the statement of this section's functions was revised to eliminatewording that could be interpreted as giving it operational responsibilities forany aspect of hospitalization. Meanwhile, Medical Department officers who hadbeen assigned there in 1942 were transferred to other posts, two of them to theSurgeon General's Office. In February 1944 the entire section was abolishedand its remaining functions were transferred to other units of the ASF PlanningDivision.4 This Division, along with otherssuch as the Mobilization and Control Divisions, continued to exerciseconsiderable authority over hospitals at ASF installations and over ASF hospitalunits being prepared for overseas service.5
Another aspect of General Kirk's drive to regain authoritywith which to discharge responsibilities of his office was his effort toincrease control by the Medical Department in general and by his Office inparticular over medical installations, including hospitals, in service commands.Soon after he took office, General Kirk tried to have service command surgeonsrecognized as staff officers of service commanders rather than as chiefs ofmedical branches under the intermediate control of supply divisions. His effortswere not at first successful, but toward the end of 1943 General Somervelldirected service command headquarters to conform as closely as practical to ASFheadquarters. In most service commands the surgeon was then elevated, as wereother technical service heads in the service commands, to a position as staffofficer directly under the service commander himself.6After that, the Surgeon General's Office began to achieve closer co-ordinationwith service command surgeons and, through them, to exercise closer supervisionover hospitalization.
Early in 1944 comparative studies of matters affecting theoperation and administration of hospitals, such as the amount of personnelassigned to them, the efficiency with which they treated and disposed ofpatients, and the number of beds which they set up for use, were made by theSurgeon General's Office, and letters calling attention to the implications ofthese studies were sent to service command surgeons monthly.7Also, in 1944
2(1) WD Cir 120, 18 Apr 45. (2) Millett, op. cit., pp. 298-310.
3Memo, SecWar for [CofSA], 6 Apr 45. HRS: G-1 file, 020 "SGO (10 Feb 45) 20 Apr 45."
4History of Planning Div, ASF, vol. I, pp. 33, 40-45, 61, 67, 78, 79, 80, 81. HRS. Officers transferred from ASF headquarters to SGO were Lt. Col. John C. Fitzpatrick and Maj. Henry McC. Greenleaf.
5(1) ASF Manual M 301, ASF Orgn, 15 Aug 44.
6Edward J. Morgan and Donald O. Wagner, The Organization of the Medical Department in the Zone of the Interior (1946), HD., pp. 97-99.
7Such letters are filed in SG: 323.7-5 for each service command.
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the Surgeon General's Office adopted the "flyingcircus" method of inspection for hospitals. Representatives of suchsegments of the Office as the Professional Consultants Divisions, the NursingDivision, the Supply Service, the Personnel Service, and the ConstructionBranch, under the leadership of the chief of the Hospital Division andaccompanied by service command surgeons or their representatives, flew from onehospital to another making thorough inspections of their operations. Suchinspections achieved closer co-ordination between offices of The Surgeon Generaland service command surgeons and reduced confusion in the field which hadformerly resulted from successive inspections by separate individuals and fromthe receipt of instructions from different staff officers.8
Only minor changes were made in the division ofresponsibility for numbered hospital units between the Ground and ServiceForces. Upon recommendation of AGF headquarters and the Surgeon General'sOffice, responsibility for portable surgical hospitals was lodged with theGround Forces in the winter of 1943-44.9 In the middle of the next year theGround Surgeon concurred in a recommendation of the Surgeon General's Officefor transfer of responsibility for convalescent hospitals (units designed forthe care of short-term patients in combat zones) from the Service to the GroundForces.10 Whereas both the Surgeon General's Office and ASF headquartersjoined with the General Staff and the Ground Forces in establishing a generalbasis for the allotment of mobile hospital units to theaters, AGF headquarterswas primarily responsible for the more detailed preparation of mobilehospitalization for separate theaters. Planning for fixed hospitalization intheaters for troops of all major commands-Air, Ground, andService Forces-continued to be, but not without opposition by the Air Forces,a responsibility of the Surgeon General's Office and ASF headquarters.11
Uncertainty about the extent of the Air Forces' authorityover hospitalization continued. Surgeon General Kirk believed that all hospitalsin the United States should be combined into one system under his supervision,12but the Air Surgeon renewed his efforts to establish a separate andcomplete hospital system for the Air Forces. Activities in this connectioncaused a major change in the zone of interior hospital system.13Attemptsto establish separate AAF hospitals in theaters of operations, though lesssuccessful, exemplified the Air Surgeon's drive for a completely separatemedical service.
8Tab F, sub: Dev of a New Syst of Hosp Insp, to Memo, Dir HospDiv SGO and Resources Anal Div SGO for Dir HD SGO thru Chief Oprs Serv SGO, 18Jun 45, sub: Add Mat for An Rpt for FY 1945. HD: 319.1-2. Examples of reportsof flying circus inspections are found in SG: 333.1 for each service command.
9(1) Memo for Record, by [Col] R. B. S[kinner], 26 Aug 43.Ground Med files: Transfer Binder Journal, 1943. (2) 6th ind SPMCP 322.15-17 (CpMackall)C, Chief Oprs Serv SGO to SG, 11 Nov 43, on Ltr, CG Airborne Comd AGF toCG AGF, 4 Sep 43, sub: Ptbl Surg Hosp. AGF: 321 No 5. (3) Memo 353-GNGPS (4 Sep43), CofS AGF for CofSA attn ACofS G-3 WDGS, 29 Nov 43, sub: Ptbl Surg Hosp.AGF: 321 No 5. (4) Memo, ACofS G-3 WDGS to CG ASF, 1 Dec 43, sub:Ptbl Surg Hosp. AGF: 321 No 5.
10(1) Memo SPMOO 400.34 (24 Jul 44), CG ASF for CG AGFthru SG, 25 Jul 44, sub: Present Status of Certain MAC Offs with Conv Hosps,with inds and incls. (2) DF 320.3 (24 Feb 44), Dep ACofS G-3 WDGS to CG ASF,22 Jul 44, same sub. Both in SG: 320.3-1.
11Interv, MD Historian with Col Arthur B. Welsh, 27 Dec 50. HD:000.71.
12Rpt, SGs Conf with Chiefs Med Br SvCs, 14-17 Jun43, p. 7. HD: 337.
13See below, pp. 182-85.
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Efforts of the Air Surgeon To Get Separate Hospitals forTheater Air Commands
Under the War Department reorganization and policiesestablished early in 1942, theater air commands, unlike ground commands, had noauthority or control over hospital units used in support of troops in combatzones. Like ground forces, on the other hand, they were dependent upon serviceforces hospitals for the care of personnel in communications zones. In sometheaters local air and theater surgeons arranged for the attachment, but not theassignment, of a limited number of either mobile or fixed hospitals to theaterair commands,14 but the Air Surgeon considered this arrangementunsatisfactory. He wanted theater air commands to have complete control of theirown hospitals. The reasons he most often gave for this position were the loss ofcontrol by air commands of personnel sent to service forces hospitals, the lossof man-days caused by transferring patients to service forces hospitals andawaiting their return to duty through the replacement system, the lowered moraleof air forces personnel which resulted from their temporary absence from aircommands, and the need of air forces men for professional care that was"directed from an aero-medical viewpoint."15 The Surgeon General, onthe other hand, believed that supplying fixed hospitals to overseas areas on atheater basis, rather than on a major command basis, achieved a more effectiveuse of available resources.
In the fall of 1943 the Air Surgeon attempted to get numberedhospital units included in the War Department troop basis as AAF units. Successwould have meant that such units would be activated and trained by the Air Forces and would be sent to theatersas air units for use by air commanders and not by theater or communications zonecommanders. This attempt failed because of lack of support by the Air Staff andopposition of the Surgeon General's Office and ASF headquarters.16Tosecure data for use in winning greater support from the Air Staff and incountering ASF arguments, the Air Surgeon in March 1944 sent to surgeons of alltheater air commands a questionnaire about the desirability of separatehospitals for air forces personnel.17
Meanwhile there arose the question of the assignment to aircommands of hospitals located in Newfoundland at bases transferred in the fallof 1943 from the Newfoundland Base Command to the Air Transport Command. Afterseveral months of negotiations, AAF headquarters, ASF headquarters, the SurgeonGen-
14(1) Air Evaluation Board, SWPA, The Medical Support of Air Warfare in the South and Southwest Pacific, 7 December 1941-15 August 1945, pp. 431ff. HD. (2) Ltr, Surg 9th AF to Air Surg, 20 Aug 44. HD: TAS, "9th AF (Col Kendricks)."
15Study, unsigned, n d [1944], sub: Study of Overseas Hosp. HD:TAS, "Hosp for AAF Units Overseas." Also see Ltrs from Air Surg, citedbelow.
16(1) Memo, Air Surg for C of Air Staff, 29 Nov 43. (2) Comment 2, Col H. C. Chenault, MC, Air Surg Off to ACof Air Staff, Personnel, 6 Dec 43, on above. (3) Comment 1, Col H. C. Chenault,MC to AC of Air Staff OC & R, 13 Dec 43, sub: Air Base Hosps for OverseasAir Bases in 1944 AAF Trp Basis, on unknown basic memo. (4) Memo, unsigned [CGAAF] for CofSA, n d, sub: Hosp at AF Bases and Stas Outside Continental Limitsof US. (5) Memo, CG AAF for CG ASF, 16 Feb 44, sub: Med Care of AAF Pers, with incl. All in HD: TAS, "Hosp for AAF Units Overseas." A full discussionof the Air Surgeon's attempts to get separate hospitals for theater aircommands is in Hubert A. Coleman, Organization and Administration, AAF MedicalServices in the Zone of the Interior (1948), pp. 409-32. HD.
17Study, unsigned, n d [1944], sub: Study of OverseasHosp. HD: TAS, "Hosp for AAF Units Overseas."
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eral's Office, and the General Staff agreed that thenumbered hospitals at such bases would be returned to the United States and thatthe North Atlantic Wing of the Air Transport Command would operate dispensariesin their place. While such installations were in reality small hospitals, use ofthe term "dispensaries" kept nominally intact the War Departmentpolicy of having service forces provide fixed hospitalization for all forces intheaters of operations.18
Before this decision had been reached the President receivedcomplaints about the hospitalization of air troops in the United Kingdom, and inMarch 1944 he sent a committee composed of Surgeon General Kirk, Air SurgeonGrant, and Dr. Edward A. Strecker, a prominent civilian physician, toinvestigate the hospital situation there. They found insufficient cause forcomplaints and in April the President approved their recommendation that nochange be made in the hospital system in the European Theater.19
Planning for the B-29 very-long-range-bomber program inApril 1944 presented a favorable opportunity for pressing for separate airforces hospitals in the Pacific. When an OPD representative stated that ASFhospital units were not available for assignment to the Central Pacific area forthe XXI Bomber Command, AAF headquarters offered to furnish them. OPD was on theverge of authorizing it to do so when the Surgeon General's Office proposedinstead the transfer of certain hospital units from the less active SouthPacific to the Central Pacific.20
The Air Surgeon then urged the Air Staff to take such"drastic" action that the Army Chief of Staff would be forced to makea decision as to whether or not theater air forces could have separate hospitals.21To support his position the Air Surgeonused replies which he had received from his March questionnaire. While they didnot show a unanimous desire among air command surgeons for separate hospitals,they gave the Air Surgeon substantiating data for his position. The Air Staffremained nonetheless unconvinced of the wisdom or desirability of pressing forseparate air forces hospitals generally. Instead, the Air Staff directed the AirSurgeon to prepare a study showing the need of the XX Bomber command, at thattime located in India, for separate hospitals. Because he found it hard todivorce a desire for separate hospitals in all theaters from the question ofseparate hospitals for the XX Bomber Command, the Air Surgeon had difficultypreparing a study which the Air Staff would approve. He finally succeeded, onlyto be turned down by the commanding general of the Air Forces, who knew,according to officers in
18(1) Diary, Hosp Div SGO, 4 Apr 44. HD: 024.7-3. (2) 1st ind, SG to ACofS OPD WDGS, thru CG ASF, 5 Sep 44, on DF OPD 320.2 (30 Aug 44), ACofS OPD WDGS to CG ASF, 30 Aug 44, sub: Designation of CertainAAF Sta Hosps. SG: 322 "Hosp Misc 1944."
19(1) Memo, F. D. R[oosevelt] for Gen Marshall, 26 Feb 44. (2) Memo WDCSA 632 (28 Feb 44), CofSA for The President, 29 Feb 44. (3) Memo, Air Surg, and Dr. Edward A. Strecker for CofSA thru Dep Theater Comdr ETOUSA, 20 Mar 44. (4) Ltr, SecWar to The President, 29 Mar 44. (5) Memo, Sec WDGS for CG ASF, CG AAF, SG, and Air Surg, 10 Apr 44. All in AG: CofS files 632, 1944-46.
20(1) Comment 1, Air Surg to AC of Air Staff OC &R, 5 May 44, sub: Med Serv for XXI Bomber Comd. HD: TAS, "Hosp forAAF Units Overseas." (2) Memo, Dep Dir MOOD SGO for Record, 15 May 44. HD:MOOD "Pacific." (3) Memo OPD 320.3 PTO (17 May 44), ACofS OPD WDGS for CG ASF and CG AAF, 17 May 44, sub: Air Base Hosps in Support of VLR, with Memofor Record. HD: TAS, "Hosp for AAF Units Overseas."
21Memo, Air Surg for C of Air Staff, 26 Jun 44, sub:AAF Med Serv and Hosp Overseas. HD: TAS, "Hosp for AAF UnitsOverseas."
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AAF headquarters, that the Army Chief of Staff opposed "duplicatemedical services."22 Thus, overseas air forces never received officialauthority to establish separate hospitals. In some theaters they set uphospitals under the guise of dispensaries, while in others they operatedhospitals that were loaned to them by theater commanders.23
Expanding and Strengtheningthe Surgeon General's Office
Correlative to General Kirk's attempts to gain greater authority and higherstatus for The Surgeon General was the expansion and strengthening of his ownOffice.24
In July 1943 The Surgeon General combined his Hospitalization and EvacuationDivision with his Hospital Construction Division to form a single unit: theHospital Administration Division. Proposed by ASF headquarters as a means ofsimplifying the organization of the Surgeon General's Office,25 thisstep concentrated related functions-hospital construction, hospitaladministration, and evacuation-under one officer, who was subordinate in turnto the new chief of the Operations Service, Col. (later Brig. Gen.) Raymond W.Bliss. The new Division, whose director from August 1943 to August 1945 was Col.Albert H. Schwichtenberg, had four branches. The Policies Branch, under Lt. Col.Basil C. MacLean until he was succeeded by Lt. Col. James T. McGibony in thefall of 1944, was responsible for establishing and publishing policies onhospital administration. The Evacuation Branch was in charge of the bed-creditsystem in general hospitals. The Construction Branch, whose new chief after 5October 1943 was Lt. Col. (later Col.) Achilles L. Tynes, was responsible for co-ordinatingthe work of the Surgeon General's Office with the Engineers in theconstruction and maintenance of hospital plants. The fourth branch, the LiaisonBranch, was new and was established to meet needs that had developed in thecourse of the war. It was charged with maintaining liaison with theTransportation Corps in the movement of patients, with The Provost MarshalGeneral in the hospitalization of prisoners of war, and with the Women's ArmyCorps in the hospitalization and employment of Wacs.26
During the winter of 1943-44 a major expansion andreorganization occurred. Personnel limitations and prospective combat-casualtyloads complicated problems of planning and providing hospitalization for theArmy. Furthermore, there was some belief in both ASF headquarters and theSurgeon General's Office that the latter should be more active than in thepast in planning hospitalization and in
22(1) Comments 1 to 12, on Memo, Air Surg for C of AirStaff, 26 Jun 44, sub: AAF Med Serv and Hosp Overseas. (2) Memo, unsigned [CGAAF] for CofSA, 23 Jul 44, sub: Twentieth AF Responsibilities. (3) Comments 13to 16, on Memo, unsigned [CG AAF] for CofSA, n d, sub: XX Bomber Comd. All inHD: TAS, "Hosp for AAF Units Overseas."
23This statement is based upon numerous letters between Col.Walter S. Jensen, MC, Chief Surgeon of Hq. AAF, Pacific Ocean Area, and Maj. Gen.David N. W. Grant, USA, Air Surgeon. HD: TAS, "20th AAF/POA (ColJensen)."
24Although reorganizations that were made were generaland affected many units of his Office, only those concerned with hospitalizationand evacuation will be considered here. For a discussion of the generalreorganization, see Blanche B. Armfield, Organization and Administration (MS forcompanion vol. in Medical Dept. series), HD.
25Memo, SG for CG ASF, 18 Jun 43, sub: Orgn of SGO, with1st ind, CG ASF to SG, 1 Jul 43, and 2d ind, SG to CG ASF, 7 Jul 43. SG: 024.-1.
26Morgan and Wagner, op. cit., pp. 28-33.Information about personnel assignments was taken from SG office orders andpersonnel records on file in SGO.
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supervising hospital operations.27 Perhaps withtongue in cheek, the director of The Surgeon General's Control Divisionproposed in September 1943 that this should be considered a "newactivity."28 At any rate, early the next year the Surgeon General'sOffice began to negotiate with ASF headquarters for the transfer of personnel toestablish a "Facilities and Personnel Utilization Branch" in theHospital Administration Division. Organized by Dr. Eli Ginzberg, an economistand statistician on loan from the ASF Control Division, this Branch was chargedin February 1944 with making comprehensive hospitalization plans, including thecalculation of bed and personnel requirements, the utilization of availablebuildings and personnel, and the modification of the hospital system to achievegreater efficiency and economy in operations.29 Soon afterward, in anattempt to achieve greater co-ordination among operational segments of hisOffice, The Surgeon General reorganized his entire Operations Service.30 Therevamped Service had two deputy chiefs. One was responsible, among other things,for the provision of hospitals for theaters of operations, while the other dealtwith hospitalization and evacuation in the zone of interior.
Under the Deputy Chief for Hospitals and Domestic Operationswere a Hospital Division and four liaison units. Three of the latter hadpreviously existed as sections of the Liaison Branch of the HospitalAdministration Division: the Prisoner-of-War Liaison Unit, the Women's MedicalUnit, and the Transportation Liaison Unit. The fourth, the Army Air ForcesLiaison Unit, was mainly a paper unit, for it was headed by the HospitalDivision director who was already charged with maintaining liaison with the AirSurgeon's Office. Like the Hospital Administration Divisionwhich it succeeded, the Hospital Division had four branches. The Evacuation andConstruction Branches continued without change; the Policies Branch was renamedthe Administration Branch; and there was the newly created FacilitiesUtilization Branch.31
These changes were more apparent than real because Colonel Schwichtenberg, who was already serving as chief of the Hospital Division, continued in that post and became also the Deputy Chief for Hospitals and Domestic Operations. Thus, chiefs of the branches of the Hospital Division and heads of the liaison units continued under his supervision in much the same relationship as before. The changes were significant, however, in that (1) the person responsible for hospital activities was given higher status than formerly, (2) the new branch of the Hospital Division, the Facilities Utilization Branch, was charged with making comprehensive plans for hospitalization in the United States and with arranging for the execution of those plans with other interested units in the Surgeon General's Office, and (3) the amount of personnel available for work on hospital plans and operations was increased until there were twenty-three officers and thirty-six civilians un-
27(1) Memo, Dir Control Div SGO for [Maj] Gen [Norman T.] Kirk, 13 Jan 44, sub: Proposal for Overall Planfor Most Effective Util of Off Almt, Civ Pers, and Space in the SGO and forModifications in Present Orgn. SG: 320.3 GG. (2) Tab A, sub: Estab of aStatistical Management Unit in the Oprs Serv, to Memo cited n. 8.
28Memo, Dir Control Div SGO for Chief Liaison Br OprsServ SGO, 30 Sep 43. Off file, Gen Bliss' Off SGO,"Util of MCs in ZI" (19) #l.
29Diary, Hosp Admin Div SGO, 3 and 8 Jan 44; and Diary,Fac Util Br (later Resources Anal Div) SGO, [7 Feb 44]. HD: 024.7-3.
30Morgan and Wagner, op. cit., pp. 44-51.
31Ibid.
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der the supervision of the Deputy Chief for Hospitals and Domestic Operationsin July 1944.32
The Office of the Deputy Chief for Plans and Operations replaced the old Plans Division, which had been headedsince July 1943 by Col. Arthur B. Welsh. In this Office were three divisions: theMobilization and Overseas Operations Division, the Technical Division, and the Special Planning Division.
The Mobilization and Overseas Operations Division, developed from a branch ofthe same name in the former Plans Division, had three branches. Its TheaterBranch maintained current information on the status of Medical Department unitsin each overseas theater; made studies of bed requirements of the severaltheaters; formulated plans for the employment of Medical Department units,personnel, and equipment in each theater; and prepared recommendations to highercommands on changes in the status or organization of medical services overseas.In this work it maintained close liaison with the ASF Planning Division. TheTroop Units Branch planned and recommended the types and numbers of ASF medicalunits required under current authorizations for each theater; planned theactivation, reorganization, shipment, disbandment and inactivation of suchunits; and maintained liaison with the ASF Mobilization Division. The InspectionBranch, formerly a branch of the Plans Division, continued to receive and reviewreports from theaters of operations, such as the reports of essential technicalmedical data (ETMD's); maintained records of trips of inspection made byrepresentatives of the Surgeon General's Office; and interviewed andcirculated reports of interviews with medical personnel returned from overseasareas.
The Technical Division included among its many duties thepreparation and revision of tables of organization and equipment, MedicalDepartment equipment lists, and tables of allowances.
The Special Planning Division was responsible for plans forthe demobilization of the Medical Department and for the medical care ofcivilians in occupied countries.33
A separate unit of the Operations Service, the Strategic andLogistic Planning Unit, was responsible for determining "the adequacy ofall phases of Medical Department operations, and plans therefor, to the extentnecessary to insure timely placing of sufficient personnel, equipment andsupplies to meet all authorized requirements,"34 from March to November1944. On the latter date it was absorbed by the Mobilization and OverseasOperations Division.35
This multiplicity of offices might give an erroneousimpression of division of responsibility were it not pointed out that one man,Colonel Welsh, served at the same time as Deputy Chief of the entire OperationsService, Deputy Chief for Plans and Operations, and Director of the Mobilizationand Overseas Operations Division.36 (Chart 7.)
Further changes, representing perhaps a logical extension ofthose already made, occurred during the remainder of the war.
32An Rpt, FY 1944, Hosp and Dom Oprs SGO. HD.
33(1) Morgan and Wagner, op. cit., pp. 44-51. (2) AnRpts, MOOD SGO, FY 1944 and 1945. (3) An Rpt, Spec Planning Div SGO, FY 1944.(4) An Rpt, Tec Div SGO, FY 1945. All in HD.
34Memo, Dir Strategic and Logistic Planning Unit SGO for Chief Oprs Serv SGO, 6 Jun 44, sub: Rpt of Accomplishments of the SGO. HD: 319.1-2 (MOOD Oprs Serv SGO).
35An Rpt, MOOD SGO, FY 1945. HD.
36Orgn Directory, SGO, 20 Mar 44. HD: 461.
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CHART 7-ORGANIZATION OF THE SGO FOR HOSPITALIZATIONAND EVACUATION, 1943-45
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In May 1944 the Evacuation Branch was removed from theHospital Division and was merged with the Transportation Liaison Unit to form aMedical Regulating Unit under Lt. Col. John C. Fitzpatrick.37 Thisstep combined under one head the control of the use of beds in general hospitalsand the movement of patients to those beds. In August 1944 the Women's MedicalLiaison Unit, whose function was more advisory than operational, was transferredfrom the office of the Deputy Chief for Hospitals and Domestic Operations to thenew Professional Administrative Service. In October 1944 the FacilitiesUtilization Branch was removed from the Hospital Division and given higherstatus and responsibility, as the Resources Analysis Division, under the directsupervision of the chief of the Operations Service. Its head was Doctor Ginzberg,who by this time had been formally transferred from ASF headquarters to theSurgeon General's Office.38 Continuing the trend of centralizingoperational activities and separating administrative from advisory functions, responsibility forthe operation of the reconditioning program was transferred in April 1945 to theHospital Division, leaving the Reconditioning Consultants Division free toconcentrate in an advisory capacity on matters of policy.39
Other units in the Surgeon General's Office continued tocontribute, in varying degrees, to hospital operations. Among them, thePersonnel and Supply Services were perhaps the most important. As increasingattention was given to management techniques, the Control Division entered thehospital operations field and, in co-operation with the Hospital Division,attempted to standardize and simplify hospital administrative procedures.40
37Memo for Record, by Col Tracy S. Voorhees, Dir ControlDiv SGO, 3 May 44, sub: The MRO Set-up. SG: 024.-l.
38An Rpt, Resources Anal Div SGO, FY 1945. HD.
39(1) Morgan and Wagner, op. cit., pp. 49, 50, and 69.
40See below, pp. 261-65.
