Books and Documents
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The Second World War - Medical Department of the United States Army in World War II
The Medical Department: Hospitalization and Evacuation, Zone of Interior
NONE
Hospitalization, like other activities of the Medical Department, was planned and supervised by medical officers called surgeons. The commander of every non-medical military organization, from headquarters of the Army in Washington (War Department) to battalions in the field, had on his staff a surgeon whose duties were both advisory and administrative....
A History of the United States Army Dental Service in World War II
George F. Jeffcott
Dentistry, during the pioneer days of the profession in the United States, had no military status; and there exist only a few unofficial references to dental treatment in the accounts of the first wars in which the country was engaged. A notable exception, however, was the dental treatment accomplished for General George Washington, who experienced dental difficulties during the time he served as Commander in Chief of the Colonial Army and later during his terms as President....
Cold Injury, Ground Type
Colonel JOHN BOYD COATES, Jr., MC
The inevitable consequence of war is physical injury to large numbers of men. The injury may be caused directly by the weapons and engines of combat (battle injuries) or may arise from the environment in which soldiers must operate (nonbattle injuries, disease). ...
United States Army Veterinary Service in World War II
NONE
Military veterinary medicine began with the origin of the U.S. Army and rather closely parallels the development of the profession of veterinary medicine in the United States. Between 14 June 1775 and 3 June 1916, or until congressional legislation created a commissioned officers' corps of veterinarians in the Army, much of the history of military veterinary medicine must be gleaned from the histories of the mounted combat arms and medical and supply services....
Wound Ballistics
MAJ James C. Beyer, MC
In conducting a casualty survey to get information for a study on wound ballistics, it is imperative that the members of a survey team be cognizant of the types and capabilities of enemy ordnance materiel. To facilitate the collection of such data and to recognize and evaluate the wounding potential of enemy missiles, the medical personnel of such a survey team should be familiar with enemy weapons and missile types and their ballistic properties....
Vascular Surgery
Daniel C. Elkin, M. D.
The arrest of hemorrhage and the preservation of an adequate arterial supply to injured extremities have been the primary concern of military surgeons in all the wars of history. In each successive war the relative number of vascular injuries has steadily become larger because the development of weapons of increasingly higher velocity has magnified the chances of vascular trauma....
Thoracic Surgery, Volume II
Frank B. Berry, M.D.
The simplest form of chest wound, the type which involved only the thoracic wall and produced no bony or visceral injuries (fig. 1), always had one serious possibility: The pain which followed might cause voluntary restriction of respiration and of the cough reflex, which, in turn, could cause retention of secretions and introduce the problems of wet lung....
Thoracic Surgery, Volume I
Frank B. Berry, M.D.
Military surgery is as old as man himself, and battle wounds of the chest, and fatalities from them, are as old as military surgery. Homer described thoracic wounds vividly and with anatomic correctness. He also described how arrows rebounded harmlessly from the plated steel breastplates worn by soldiers during the Trojan War (1)....
Physiologic Effects of Wounds
Brig. Gen. Albert G. Love, USA (Ret.)
The effects on the human body of the destructive forces of warfare have been described many times in terms of organic damage and tissue loss. Our concern was rather with the internal state of the severely wounded man....
Orthopedic Surgery in the European Theater of Operations
Mather Cleveland, M. D.
The first formal step in the establishment of orthopedic surgery as a recognized specialty in the European Theater of Operations was the appointment of Col. Rex L. Diveley, MC, as senior consultant in orthopedic surgery in July 1942. The Professional Services Division, Office of the Theater Chief Surgeon, to which he was appointed, had been set up about a month earlier....
Orthopedic Surgery in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations
MAJ GENERAL S. B. Hays
The combat experience in the Mediterranean area lasted from November 1942 until May 1945. During this period of approximately 30 months, battle casualties were treated by the officers of the United States Army Medical Corps in the various echelons of the theater. Casualties were often heavy, and they continued to be received, in smaller numbers, even during the infrequent periods when combat activity was diminished. ...
General Surgery, Volume II
B. Noland Carter, M.D.
It may be said that the foundation for the consultant system in the European theater of World War II was laid during World War I. Many of the campaigns in Europe in the Second World War were fought over the same battlegrounds of the only major theater in which American Forces were involved in the First World War. ...
Activities of Surgical Consultants, Volume I
B. Noland Carter, M.D.
At the onset of the war, the Professional Service Division of the Office of the Surgeon General consisted of seven subdivisions among which was the Medicine and Surgery Subdivision. It was soon realized that, in order to carry on the medical and surgical activities of the Office of the Surgeon General in an adequate fashion, it would be necessary to create a separate organization for each....
The Army Immunization Program (Chapter 8 Excerpt from Vol. III, Personal Health Measures and Immunization)
Colonel Arthur P. Long, MC, USA
The Army immunization program was a positive, direct, and specific approach to disease prevention and control. This program as it developed just before and during the war period represented a very considerable expansion of the application of immunization procedures in the Army....
Enemy Prisoners of War, Chapter VI extracted from Volume IX, Special Fields
Ebbe Curtis Hoff, Ph D, M D
This chapter is concerned with policies, programs, operations, and events in activities of preventive medicine for enemy prisoners of war during World War II. The prisoners of war were Italian, German, and Japanese soldiers who had been captured by U.S. Army forces, or transferred to U.S. Army control by British forces. ...
Volume VIII: Civil Affairs/Military Government Public Health Activities
Ebbe Curtis Hoff, Ph D, M D
The complexities of modern war made it necessary for the U.S. Army in World War II to engage in many new and expanding activities to meet a demonstrated military need. Some of the measures appeared to be remote from military operations at the outset of the war, and many of them were developed with increasing experience and were adapted to changing and widely varying conditions. Civil affairs and military government activities may be placed in this category....
Volume VI: Communicable Diseases: Malaria
Ebbe Curtis Hoff, Ph D, M D
But, as to public matters, it is clearly in military service that the ravages made by the diseases of malaria have been frequent, serious, and often ruinous; while if those have sometimes been inevitable, they have much too often been the results of neglect, or of what should be called ignorance * * * --MACCULLOCH, 1829....
Volume V: Communication Diseases: Transmitted Through Contact or By Unknown Means
David T. Smith, M.D.
Actinomycosis was of minor importance in World War II. The annual admission rate per 1,000 average strength was about 0.01 and remained remarkably constant in the continental United States and in the various theaters of operations overseas. There were no epidemics or seasonal variations in the incidence of the disease....
Volume IV: Communicable Diseases: Transmitted Chiefly through Respiratory and Alimentary Tracts
Ebbe Curtis Hoff, Ph D, M D
The control of communicable disease remains the basic activity of military preventive medicine. Preventive medicine had its origin in the control of communicable disease and for many years was largely restricted to this field. As reasonable and useful additions were made to the program for prevention, the infections came to have relatively less emphasis, but the total effort expended in their control is still much the same....
PREVENTIVE MEDICINE IN WORLD WAR II Volume III: Personal Health Measures and Immunizations
Ebbe Curtis Hoff, Ph D, M D
The development of preventive medicine has been an evolution which progressed rapidly during the first half of the twentieth century. In World War I, major efforts were devoted to sanitary science and to the control of infectious diseases. ...
Neuropsychiatry in World War II Volume I: Zone of Interior
Colonel Albert J. Glass, MC, USA (Ret.)
Awareness of mental disorder as a major military medical problem came about gradually, beginning in the latter half of the 19th century and developing parallel with the evolution of modern psychiatry. Little was written of psychiatric illness as such in the large six-volume official "Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion."...
INTERNAL MEDICINE IN WORLD WAR II Volume I: Activities of Medical Consultants
W. Paul Havens Jr., M.D.
The Army of the United States in World War II was by and large a citizen's army administered at the higher levels by a relatively small number of professional soldiers. This was true for practically all arms and services, including the Medical Department which was primarily responsible for health services. ...
Personnel in World War II
Stewart F. Alexander. M.D., formerly Colonel, MC, AUS
n the years immediately following World War II, changes in organization and policy were made that should eliminate or modify some of the personnel difficulties that make up much of the subject matter of this book. Important among these postwar developments is the centering of responsibility for health and medical aspects of mobilization planning and for the maintenance of effective relations with the public health and medical professions at the level of the Secretary of Defense....
Organization and Administration in World War II
Blanche B. Armfield, M.A.
In September 1939, when President Roosevelt proclaimed a limited national emergency, the U.S. Army Medical Department was serving an army whose mean annual strength was 191,551 officers and men.1 The Medical Department functioned as one of six services; the others were the Chemical Warfare Service, the Corps of Engineers, the Ordnance Department, the Quartermaster Corps, and the Signal Corps....
Medical Supply in World War II
William D. Shaver
The disruption of the national economy and the delay in delivery of military supplies which developed during World War I convinced Congress of the wisdom of industrial preparedness. The National Defense Act of 1920 charged the Assistant Secretary of War with the "supervision of the procurement of all...
Medical Training in World War II
Colonel William S. Mullins, MSC, USA
Training facilities of the U.S. Army Medical Department in 1939 reflected adaptation to peacetime medical requirements. From a World War I peak of over 340,000, the Medical Department's strength had been reduced to a little over 11,500 officers and enlisted men by June 1939....
Medical Service in the Mediterranean and Minor Theaters
Charles M. Wiltse
Improvements in medical practice and in standards of living in the U.S. Army in World War II meant for the American soldier better medical service than during any previous war. Improved techniques in the treatment of wounds and in the prevention and cure of disease went far toward preserving the lives and bodies of Army men and women both at the fighting fronts and in the bases and lines of communication that led to them....
Blood Program in World War II
Brigadier General Douglas B. Kendrick, MC, USA
Although the concept of the therapeutic value of blood dates back to antiquity, transfusion in the modern sense of the term was a practical impossibility until William Harvey, in 1616, announced his discovery of the circulation of the blood.1 This discovery opened the way for serious experiments on the infusion of various substances into the bloodstream and eventually led to the use of whole blood for transfusion....
Volume III: Infectious Diseases and General Medicine
Harry Most, M.D.
Cutaneous leishmaniasis did not constitute an important or a disabling medical problem in World War II, and the effective troop strength in the areas involved was not appreciably altered. An estimated 1,000 to 1,500 cases occurred, and all but the few reported from Latin America,1 North Africa,2 and Panama3 originated in stations of the Persian Gulf Command, mainly in the vicinity of Ahvaz, Iran....
INTERNAL MEDICINE IN WORLD WAR II Volume II: Infectious Diseases
W. Paul Havens Jr., M.D.
Diseases of the respiratory tract may be divided into two groups: The acute infections and the chronic diseases which may or may not be infectious. Most of these conditions will be dealt with in this chapter, although certain exceptions will be made. For example, in World War II, the interrelationship of tonsillitis, scarlet fever, rheumatic disease, and nephritis was intensively studied;...
The Second World War - Theaters
Crisis Fleeting
James H. Stone
A first aid station on a minor trail in North Burma in 1943 is beneath the notice of medical or military science. Nothing of clinical importance happened there. A few men from an idle medical battalion kept busy until more worthy enterprises were afoot. Indeed, the ways in which the station operated vaguely foreshadowed the means whereby medical support would be provided next year in the Second Burma Campaign....
Battle for Schmidt
John T. Greenwood, Ph.D.
The attack of the 28th Infantry Division on the town of Schmidt in the Hürtgen Forest in early November 1944 occupies a special place in the history of the U.S. Army’s operations against Nazi Germany in World War II. ...
Objective Schmidt from Three Battles by Charles B. MacDonald
Charles B. MacDonald
By October 1944, the First United States Army in Western Europe had ripped two big holes in the Siegfried Line, at Aachen and east of Roetgen.1 (Map V) Having captured Aachen, the army was next scheduled to cross the Roer River and reach the Rhine....
Operation MARKET-GARDEN
Albert J. Crandall Major, M. C.
Our voyage was very rough; in fact, it was said to be the roughest the Queen Mary ever made. In a very heavy storm seven hundred miles off the coast of Scotland we nearly capsized. After landing in Scotland our unit was sent to Oxford, England. During the first few months there was little actual work for us to do. We were sent around to various British hospitals for courses and observation and to render some assistance to the British....
20 October 1943 to 31 July 1944
NONE
The Surgeon’s Office, in compliance with directive from the Chief of Staff, First U. S. Army was organized in Bristol, England, on 20 October 1943 with nineteen (19) officers and two (2) warrant officers (one (1) of which was filling the position of Captain, M.C.), and twenty-four (24) enlisted men....
1 August 1944 to 22 February 1945
NONE
Contingent on this collapse, a new problem presented itself to the surgeon of First U. S. Army. Heretofore, field hospitals had operated at division clearing station level, functioning solely for the purpose of providing definitive surgery for badly wounded cases whose ability to stand transportation was limited. ...
23 February 1945 to 8 May 1945
NONE
Simultaneously with the drive of the First Army from the Erft River toward the Rhine, First Army medical units were moved to support the operation. On the first of March six evacuation hospitals were open in support of these troops. ...
From the Roer to the Elbe with the 1st Medical Group
Donald E. Hall
The deliberate river-crossing operation is one of the most difficult tasks facing a ground combat commander. Forcing his way across a formidable natural barrier, expanding a bridgehead, and moving additional combat forces and their logistical support into the bridgehead for subsequent breakout--all compete for a commanders attention....
General Surgical Team No. 14
Benjamin R. Reiter, MAJOR
Preliminary period in England: This team went to Torquay March 29, 1944 (D minus 39) where it was attached to the 634th Clearing Station of the 60th Medical Battalion which was the Medical unit supporting the 6th E.S.B. [Engineer Special Brigade]....
Surgical Team No. 16
Francis M. Findley
The personnel of this Team were not selected until 18 April 1944. Of the Officers chosen, only the leader had experienced previous field or combat duty. The enlisted men had done duty in North Africa and Sicily although not on the same team....
Surgical Team No. 20 (Airborne Surgical Team No. 1, 101st Airborne Division)
William E. Barfield
The regimental and battalion medical detachments entered combat with the following personnel strengths: parachute regiments - nine (9) Officers and sixty (60) enlisted men; glider regiments - seven (7) Officers and sixty-four (64) Enlisted Men; engineer battalion - two (2) Officers and seventeen (17) enlisted men; antiaircraft battalion - two (2) Officers and twenty-four (24) Enlisted men;...
1st Infantry Division, Annual Report of Division Surgeon, 1944
Michael Kowal Major, DC
Training in the medical service of the division was easily converted from technical to tactical subjects and primarily interpreted in terms of preparation for combat. The majority of the medical personnel at this time were considered as "well trained" because they had undergone some combat duty and had taken part in the intensive training program which had been, completed in Sicily following the Sicilian campaign....
82nd Airborne Division, Annual Report of the Division Surgeon, 1944
NONE
The organization of the Airborne Division at the beginning of 1944 was unchanged from that authorized prior to departure from the United States. Actually, however, the authorized organization of two glider, one parachute Infantry Regiment, with similar battalions of artillery was never used....
Operation OVERLORD
Graham A. Cosmas
Medics in Britain performed their many and complex BOLERO tasks as preliminaries to their principal and most urgent mission: support of the amphibious assault on continental Europe. In the early period of the buildup, planning and preparation for that assault engaged the attention of only a few members of the chief surgeon’s staff....
101st Airborne Division, Annual Report of the Division Surgeon, 1944
William E. Barfield
The 101st Airborne Division was activated on 16 August 1942 at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. The original complement of Officers and Enlisted Men were cadred from the 82nd Infantry Division. Following activation the division moved to Fort Bragg, North Carolina for airborne training which was augmented by some time spent at the Laurenberg-Maxton Army Air Support Base at Maxton, North Carolina....
Atlantic Defense Areas
NONE
The war against Germany, which began for United States ground forces with the invasion of North Africa on 8 November 1942, could never have been won if the Atlantic approaches had not first been secured. Although less spectacular than combat operations, the establishment and defense of sea and air routes to Europe, Africa, and the Middle East were no less essential to the final victory....
Africa and Middle East Theaters
NONE
The U.S. Army entered the scene of conflict in the Middle East on a limited scale in 1941 as a result of the urgent need of the British and Russian Armies for military supplies and equipment. Aid to the British in the Middle East began with the first deliveries of American planes to the Royal Air Force in the spring of that year,...
61st Medical Battalion, Annual Report for 1944
NONE
The 61st Medical Battalion was activated at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky, 25 September 1942. Basic Training was completed 4 January 1943. From 22 February 1942 to 21 March 1943, 16 Officers and 50 enlisted men furnished second and third echelon medical service for the 2nd Infantry Division Winter Maneuvers held at Iron River, Michigan....
134th Medical Group
James L. Snyder
The 134th Medical Regiment was formed as a National Guard Unit in September 1940 by a cadre of personnel from the 102d Medical Regiment. During the period from September 1940 to 27 January 1941, personnel were 5elected from numerous applicants to bring the Regiment up to peace time strength. At the time of Federalization, 27 January 1941, the Regiment consisted of the following companies...
Interview with Major Albert J. Crandall, M.C., 3d Auxiliary Surgical Group
Albert J. Crandall Major, M. C.
Our voyage was very rough; in fact, it was said to be the roughest the Queen Mary ever made. In a very heavy storm seven hundred miles off the coast of Scotland we nearly capsized. After landing in Scotland our unit was sent to Oxford, England. During the first few months there was little actual work for us to do. We were sent around to various British hospitals for courses and observation and to render some assistance to the British....
The Medical Department: Medical Service in the Mediterranean and Minor Theaters
Charles M. Wiltse
Improvements in medical practice and in standards of living in the U.S. Army in World War II meant for the American soldier better medical service than during any previous war. Improved techniques in the treatment of wounds and in the prevention and cure of disease went far toward preserving the lives and bodies of Army men and women both at the fighting fronts and in the bases and lines of communication that led to them....
Medical Service in the Atlantic Defense Areas
Charles M. Wiltse
The war against Germany, which began for United States ground forces with the invasion of North Africa on 8 November 1942, could never have been won if the Atlantic approaches had not first been secured. Although less spectacular than combat operations, the establishment and defense of sea and air routes to Europe, Africa, and the Middle East were no less essential to the final victory....
Orthopedic Surgery in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations
Mather Cleveland, M. D.
During the approximately 2,500-mile advance by United States Army troops from Casablanca in North Africa, where landings were made in November 1942, to Como on the Swiss border of Italy, which was reached early in May 1945, a continuous flow of casualties were treated in United States Army hospitals. This was the largest continuous combat experience for United States troops since the War of the Rebellion....
Interview with COL Paul H. Streit, M.C., Surgeon, Central Pacific Base Command
Paul H. Streit Colonel, M.C.
Colonel Streit received his M.D. degree at the University of Texas in 1916. He accepted a commission as 1st Lieutenant in the Medical section of the Officers' Reserve Corps 17 July 1917 and entered on active duty the following day. He is a graduate of the Medical Field Service School (1922) and of the Army Medical School (1923). ...
Preventive Medicine
Dr. John T. Greenwood
Health conditions were among the worst in the world. The incidence of malaria could only be reduced by the most rigid and irksome discipline and even then the dreaded disease took a heavy toll. Dengue fever was common while deadly blackwater fever, though not so prevalent, was no less an adversary....
Papuan Campaign
Lt. Col. Simon Warmenhoven, M.C.
Orders to alert one combat team of this division were received on or about 15 September 1942 and the 126th Infantry Combat Team was alerted. This task force was loading boats when orders to send another combat team were received and the 128th Infantry Combat Team hurriedly packed, reported to Amberly and Archer Fields, and were flown to Port Moresby, New Guinea, by air. The 126th Combat Team followed on boats immediately, the entire movement being accomplished from 18 September - 1 October 1942....
Interview with LTC William J. Shaw, M.C., Division Surgeon, 41st Infantry Division
William J. Shaw
At present the 41st Division is on Biak Island, a sandy coral reef off the Northwest coast of New Guinea. A mountain range, reaching about 6000 feet is barely visible through the top of the dense jungle and the surrounding terrain is unusually rugged....
1st Infantry Division - Annual Report of Medical Department Activities 1944
Michael Kowal Major, DC
On 6 June1944, the 1st US Infantry Division and attached landed on the continent (Normandy). A heavy naval and air bombardment preceded the assault on the beach which was carried out by one combat team of the division and by one combat team of the 29th Division attached....
99th Infantry Division
K. T. Miller
The 99th Infantry Division was activated 15 November 1942 at Camp Van Dorn, Mississippi. The basic directive concerning the activation was WDAGO letter, file AG 320.2 (8-25-42) MR– MGN dated 28 August 1942, subject, “Ordering Into Active Service the 99th, 100th and 103rd Infantry Divisions during November, 1942.” ...
3d Auxiliary Surgical Group, 1944
NONE
Like every organization committed in the invasion of Europe, the Third Auxiliary Surgical Group met its first full-scale, all-out test in 1944. It is true that there had been one previous period of combat service in another theater but this included only half the Group and lasted little more than three months....
67th Evacuation Hospital
Colonel H. B. Gantt
The 67th Evacuation Hospital, a hospital of seven hundred and fifty (750) beds, forty-seven (47) officers, fifty-two (52) nurses and three hundred and eighteen (318) enlisted men was activated at Fort Rodman, Mass, on March 16th. About March 27th, nineteen (19) men, all regular army, from 3rd Evacuation Hospital, Fort Benning, Ga., reported for duty. These men had completed their basic training so were used in the internal administration of the unit....
HuertgenForest
John T. Greenwood, Ph.D.
When American forces reached the German border in September 1944, they ran into miles of steel-reinforced, concrete anti-tank defenses, for obvious reasons called "dragon's teeth," that formed part of the German fortifications of Adolf Hitler's West Wall, better known to Allied soldiers as "the Siegfried Line."...
Battle of the Bulge
NONE
The progression of the Third U. S. Army in an easterly direction up to and across the German Border and constant preparation for a major attack on the SIEGFRIED LINE led to a consequent disposition of medical units to support these operations. ...
53d Medical Battalion
Joseph B. Gordon
The 53 Medical Battalion, consisting of Headquarters & Headquarters Detachment and Companies “A”, “B”, “C” and “D”, was activated 15 February 1941at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. The Battalion completed a thirteen week basic training period and participated in the 1941 Louisiana Maneuvers, where the Battalion serviced V Corps troops of the Third United States Army....
326th Airborne Medical Company, 101st Airborne Division
NONE
The 326th Airborne Medical Company was the organic medical unit that supported the 101st Airborne Division during its operations in World War II. As the size and structure of the airborne division changed during the war, the airborne medical company (Table of Organization and Equipment 8-37) grew from a strength of 20 officers and 195 enlisted men in September 1942 to 27 officers and 273 enlisted men in December 1944....
643d Medical Clearing Company, 1944--D Day
NONE
Under the provisions of AR 40-1005 and Letter, AG 319.1 (9.15.42) ECM, War Department, 22 September 1942, Subject: “Annual Report, Medical Department Activities” and Circular Letter #143, Hq, ETOUSA, Office of the Chief Surgeon, dated 18 December 1944, file AG 319.1, the following 643rd Medical Clearing Company activities for the calendar year 1944 is hereby submitted...
Portable Surgical Hospitals
Dr. John T. Greenwood
Soon after his arrival in Australia from the Philippines in February 1942, Col. (later Major General) Percy J. Carroll, the chief surgeon of U.S. Army Services of Supply (USASOS) and also the U.S. Army Forces Far East in SWPA (1942-43), had to face the realities of waging war in this primitive and hostile theater. ...
3d Portable Surgical Hospital
Dr. John T. Greenwood
The 3d Portable Hospital was established on 14 September 1942 with personnel and equipment from the 42d General Hospital at Brisbane, Australia. The 42d General Hospital, an affiliated reserve hospital unit, was organized at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore and staffed with physicians, surgeons, nurses, and enlisted personnel drawn heavily from that medical school as well as Baltimore area hospitals....
67th Evacuation Hospital
Colonel H. B. Gantt
The 67th Evacuation Hospital, a hospital of seven hundred and fifty (750) beds, forty-seven (47) officers, fifty-two (52) nurses and three hundred and eighteen (318) enlisted men was activated at Fort Rodman, Mass, on March 16th. About March 27th, nineteen (19) men, all regular army, from 3rd Evacuation Hospital, Fort Benning, Ga., reported for duty. These men had completed their basic training so were used in the internal administration of the unit....
Cold War
A Decade of Progress: The United States Army Medical Department 1959-1969
Colonel William S. Mullins, MSC, USA
On 1 June 1959, Major General Leonard D. Heaton became Surgeon General of the U.S. Army. Physician-soldier in the tradition begun by Dr. Joseph Warren at Bunker Hill, he was congratulated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a warm personal friend as well as the Commander in Chief. ...
Cold War - U.S. Army Europe
Annual Report for 1945
NONE
The Hospital Plant now occupied by the 279th Station Hospital is located at 44-46 Unter den Eichen, Lichterfelde West, in the City of Berlin. Construction of the hospital was begun in 1898 for the District of Teltow by direction of the Landrat von Stubenrauch, and was opened as a 150 bed hospital on 26 June 1901....
8 May 1945 to 30 September 1945
NONE
0n 8 May 1945, the Military Personnel Section of the 279th Station Hospital was with the unit at Govilon, Monmouthshire, Wales. The unit was operating with a strength of 35 male officers, 1 warrant officer, 64 female officers and 350 enlisted men....
1 October 1945 to 31 December 1945
NONE
The Hospital Plant No 4464 now occupied by the 279th Station hospital is located at 44/46 Unter den Eichen, Lichterfelde-West, in the city of Berlin. Construction of the hospital was begun in 1898 for the District of Teltow by direction of the Landrat von Stubenrauch, and was opened as a 150 bed hospital on 26 June 1901....
The Korean War
Battle Casualties in Korea: Studies of the Surgical Research Team, Volume IV, Post-traumatic Renal Insufficiency
John M. Howard, M. D.
This volume contains selected reports of members of the Surgical Research Team, Army Medical Service Graduate School, who concerned themselves primarily with study and treatment of battle casualties with renal failure. Many of the reports are published or are in press in current civilian journals, but they are collected here to provide a one-volume reference and to give perspective to evolving concepts....
The Blood, Plasma, and Related Programs in the Korean War
NONE
When the Korean War broke out on 25 June 1950,1 less than 10 years after the United States had entered World War II and less than 5 years after that war had ended, the situation was improved over the situation in December 1941 in only one respect: No well-organized blood bank system was in operation, but a plan for the supply of whole blood and plasma did exist. ...
Korean Unit Histories
NONE
This part of the Korean War section of Books and Documents focuses on the historical reports that AMEDD units prepared and submitted either to the Office of The Surgeon General or to The Adjutant General's Office (TAGO) during their time in Korea. These accounts come from the official records of these organizations that are currently located in the National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland....
Battle Casualties in Korea: Studies of the Surgical Research Team, Volume I, The Systemic Response to Injury
John M. Howard, M. D.
Research in the combat theater is as old as the inquiring mind. Throughout the history of military medicine, the occasional medical officer has seen his comrades die and dared to wonder that the death was not inevitable. Life and death were the only yardsticks. ...
Battle Casualties in Korea: Studies of the Surgical Research Team, Volume II, Tools for Resuscitation
John M. Howard, M. D.
Volume I of this series has described the response of the body's several systems to injuries produced by wounds received in combat. Great emphasis was placed upon the nature of this response, that it is not confined to the wounded tissues or systems or organs alone but involves the entire physiologic economy for a prolonged period of time. ...
Battle Casualties in Korea: Studies of the Surgical Research Team, Volume III, The Battle Wound: Clinical Experiences
John M. Howard, M. D.
Although more effective weapons have been devised with each succeeding war, the case fatality rate of the wounded soldier has steadily declined. An evaluation of the methods of treatment of the battle casualty requires accurate and complete recording of data concerning patient care, complications, and case fatality rate. ...
Recent Advances in Medicine and Surgery Based on Professional Medical Experiences in Japan and Korea 1950-1953 Vol I
Colonel William S. Stone, MC
It has been repeatedly noted in World War II, Korea, and in civilian catastrophes that individuals respond to similarly painful situations with unequal degrees of effectiveness. This matter of individual differences has been approached from a variety of points of view, i. e., hereditary-constitutional factors, environmental factors (such as the personal emotional development of the subject in terms of his relationships with significant other people in his past)...
Battle Casualties and Medical Statistics: U.S. Army Experience in the Korean War
Frank A. Reister
At 0400 on Sunday, 25 June 1950, the Russian-trained North Korean Army swept south across the 38th Parallel in four major drives. The U.S. Government, which maintained a small military mission in South Korea at the time, reported the aggression to the U.N. (United Nations) Security Council....
Recent Advances in Medicine and Surgery Based on Professional Medical Experiences in Japan and Korea 1950-1953 Vol II
Colonel William S. Stone, MC
Physical medicine was established as a service in the Army in 1946 for the purpose of coordinating treatment in physical therapy, occupational therapy and physical reconditioning; and, to render direct medical supervision to therapists engaged in these activities....
The Vietnam War
Vietnam Unit Histories
Richard C. Harder LTC, MSC
The stated mission of the 12th Evacuation Hospital (SMBL) under the applicable Table Of Organization and Equipment is "to provide hospitalization for all classes of patients within the combat zone." This mission has been accomplished during the report period; however, an added mission has been concurrently accomplished....
Dust Off: Army Aeromedical Evacuation in Vietnam
Peter Dorland and James Nanney
The small outpost in the Vietnamese delta stood a vigilant watch. For the past twenty-four hours guerrilla soldiers had harassed its defenders with occasional mortar rounds and small arms fire. A radio call for help had brought fighter-bombers and a spotter plane to try to dislodge the enemy from foxholes and bunkers they had built during the night....
Volume I, Skin Diseases in Vietnam, 1965-72
Lieutenant Colonel Alfred M. Allen, MC, USA
Diseases of the skin constitute an important but often underrated source of discomfort and disability among military forces in wartime. This is especially true in the Tropics where environmental factors such as heat, humidity, torrential rainfall, biting insects, and sharp-edged vegetation can damage the skin or reduce its natural resistance to infection....
Orthopedic Surgery in Vietnam
Colonel William E. Burkhalter, MC USA (Ret.)
The soldier cannot be separated from his wound. Nor could the soldier and his wound be separated from the milieu of the Republicof Vietnam, where medical officers caring for the combat casualty met both expected and unexpected difficulties....
Medical Support of the U.S. Army in Vietnam 1965-1970
NONE
Formal U.S. military assistance to the Republic of Vietnam may be traced to the signing of the Pentalateral Agreement in 1950, a multinational Mutual Defense Assistance Treaty for Indochina. The American contribution to the defense of the Southeast Asian sovereignties was nominal for several years thereafter, as reflected by the fact that at no time during the next decade did U.S. military personnel in Vietnam number more than 1,000....
Internal Medicine In Vietnam
Brigadier General ANDRE J. OGNIBENE, MC, USA, and Colonel O'NEILL BARRETT, Jr., MC, USA (Ret.)
Vietnam, one of the smaller nations of Asia, has for 2,000 years enjoyed a prominence in history far out of proportion to its size or economic resources. American military assistance there began in 1950 when the United States decided to give military and economic aid to the French and Vietnamese to assist in the fight against the Vietminh....
Volume II, General Medicine and Infectious Diseases
Brigadier General ANDRE J. OGNIBENE, MC, USA, and Colonel O'NEILL BARRETT, Jr., MC, USA (Ret.)
Francis Quarles might also have commented upon the diseases which soldiers encounter in time of war and which are likewise all too quickly slighted or forgotten. As Lt. Col. (later Col.) Robert H. Moser (1965) noted: "Disease is woven intricately into the fabric of war. The story of one cannot be told without the other. Yet each succeeding generation, soldier and scholar alike, seems reticent to concede to the microbe its historical role as an awesome factor in the wars of man."...
Contingency Operations
The Role of the Army Medical Service in the Dominican Republic Crisis of 1965
COL ROBERT S. ANDERSON, MC, USA, Director
The types and numbers of medical units of the U.S. Armed Forces sent to the Dominican Republic to participate in the Inter-American Peace Forces restoration of peaceful order there in 1965 and their assignments after arrival were determined as much by humanitarian and public relations considerations as by the basic mission of the Medical Service--to maintain the fighting strength....
Army Aeromedical Medical Evacuation
NONE
The introduction of the helicopter to the Army Medical Department's traditional battlefield mission of medical evacuation of sick, injured, and wounded soldiers from frontline units to hospitals in the rear had its rudimentary beginnings in World War II. During the Korean War, the helicopter came of age and soon became the primary means for evacuating the most seriously...
The Second World War - Special Subjects
Developments in Military Medicine During the Administration of Surgeon General Norman T. Kirk
NONE
Major General Norman T. Kirk took office as Surgeon General of the Army on 1 June 1943. The country had been at war for one and one-half years. In that time the Army Medical Department had passed from a peacetime to a wartime footing and had achieved the basic internal organization and the general status with respect to other arms and services which it was to retain for the rest of the war period....
Combat Psychiatry
R. W. Bliss,
During the 5? years of World War II there was little published information about the earlier stages of combat neuroses, though there was no lack of articles describing these disorders, weeks, and even months, after their initial appearance....
Enemy Prisoners of War
Colonel Robert S. Anderson, MC, USA
This chapter is concerned with policies, programs, operations, and events in activities of preventive medicine for enemy prisoners of war during World War II. The prisoners of war were Italian, German, and Japanese soldiers who had been captured by U.S. Army forces, or transferred to U.S. Army control by British forces....
Women in the Army Medical Department in World War II
John T. Greenwood, Ph.D.
The large-scale introduction of women into the U.S. Army in World War II eventually extended to the Army Medical Department. Except for Army Nurse Corps personnel, women had not previously been used in any uniformed capacity in the Medical Department....
Standards of Casualty Care
John T. Greenwood, Ph.D.
Early in the World War II, the Surgical Consultants' Division, Office of The Surgeon General, realized that some sort of standardized care and treatment of battle casualties had to be developed for implementation throughout the Medical Department. ...
Operation Noble Eagle
A Time for Reflection
Lt. Gen. James B. Peake, M.D.
Sept. 11, 2002 . one year from an attack on our homeland, in New York City and into the heart of the Pentagon. One year from moving to a wartime footing on multiple fronts. It has been a year of contribution, selfless service and sacrifice by the members of the Army Medical Department in support of our Army and our nation....
Doctor describes 9/11 response
COL Jonathan C. Fruendt, M.D.
There was a very sharp jolt and the sound of an explosion. It was not loud in our office, but it was very clearly the sound of an explosion. The three of us in the office looked at each other and knew something bad had happened. I thought it was a bomb that had gone off. My first reaction was to go see what was going on. Our office doesn't have any windows . so we didn't have any idea of what was going on outside....
Chief Nurse describes 9/11 response
MAJ Lorie A. Brown
On the day [Sept. 11], very fortunately, we probably had seven or eight primary care physicians onboard [in the Pentagon clinic], and then our normal support staff. So probably [the staff numbered] in the 80s and 90s....
Nurse turns back to aid patients
Lt. Col. Patty Horoho
I had decided that life is really fast paced, and I was going to look at how to slow things down and get things back into perspective. And so I was reading this book, God Is My CEO, on the subway, [thinking], "It's a wonderful book." You know, how you just get that good feeling inside? ...
Medic describes 9/11 response
SGT Matthew Rosenberg
The day started out pretty much like any other day. We were doing . minor procedures that day, when we found out that the World Trade Center had been hit. . Somebody came in and said, "The World Trade Center got hit," and we're like, "Yeah, we know. It's horrible." They're like, "No, it got hit again." And that's when we realized it was a terrorist thing....
Lab Tech describes 9/11 response
SPC Kristopher Sorensen
We began the day as always, drawing blood, running lab tests, working the sections. I'm not sure what time it was, still early morning, I was watching on the TV and heard that the World Trade Center got hit. So we were watching it, watching the news coverage of that, still doing our work and everything. Then the second airplane hit the World Trade Center....
SOLDIERS TO THE RESCUE: The Medical Response to the Pentagon Attack
NONE
I worked a swing shift the previous night of September 10, and I was not scheduled to come into work until 10:00 at night for an overnight shift on the 11th. I was home reading the paper, drinking coffee, and a friend had called me on the phone and told me that the World Trade Center was hit by an aircraft....
Operation Iraqi Freedom
In Their Own Words: The 498th Air Ambulance Company in Iraq, 2003
Colonel Richard V. N. Ginn, U.S. Army Retired
The 498th Medical Company (Air Ambulance) served with the Marines in combat during Operation Iraqi Freedom. This was the first time an Army Dustoff unit was placed with the Marines in direct support of combat operations....
Army Medical Department 1918-1941
Walter D. Vail & the History of the U.S. Army Dental Corps
NONE
While serving as assistant to successive Chiefs of the Dental Corps, Col. Rex H. Rhoades and then Col. Frank P. Stone, in the Dental Subdivision (later Division) from 1932 to 1936, Maj. Walter D. Vail had many jobs. ...
Learning from the War: An Analysis of the Wartime Experiences of the AEF's Medical Department
Colonel Joseph H. Ford, M. C.
An often overlooked appendix entitled the "Report on Organization, Equipment, and Functions of the Medical Department" is tucked away in Volume II: Administration American Expeditionary Forces of multi-volume The Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War....
The Veterinary Service
Regulations Governing the Army Veterinary Service (Special Regulations No. 70). Washington: Government Printing Office, 1918
NONE
These regulations are only a part of the general body of regulations with which the veterinary officer must acquaint himself. For regulations, general in nature, or which affect other branches of the service, he should consult the Army Regulations, properly so called....
Guide for the Use of Officers of the Veterinary Corps Medical Department, U.S. Army Washington: Office of Surgeon General
NONE
This guide Consists largely of extracts and summaries from official publications, orders and books bearing on the duties of veterinarians serving the United States Army. It should be read in conjunction with U. S. Army Regulations, Manual for Courts Martial, Field Service Regulations, and the Veterinary Regulations, U. S. Army (S. R. No. 70)....
Excerpt from The United States Army in the World War, 1917-1919, Reports of the Commander-in-Chief, Staff Sections and Services, Volume 15, "History of Veterinary Corps, A.E.F., August 24, 1918 to March 1, 1919
NONE
By an act of Congress, on June 3, 1916, the Veterinary Corps of the Am. army was transferred from the Q. M. Corps to the Medical Department. At the outbreak of the present war the Surgeon General took steps to have the Veterinary Corps put on an efficient basis, and on October 4, 1917, G. O. 130, W. D., was published. This G. O. authorized one veterinary officer and sixteen enlisted men of the Veterinary Corps for each four hundred animal strength....
Excerpt from The Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War, Volume II: Administration American Expeditionary Forces, Chapter XX, The Veterinary Service
Colonel Joseph H. Ford, M. C.
As related in Chapter V of Volume I of this history, when we entered the World War the Veterinary Corps of the Army, established the preceding year (1916),1 was not completely organized. This accounts for the fact that, when General Pershing’s headquarters sailed for France in May, 1917, it included no personnel for a veterinary service, nor did it carry plans pertaining thereto; none were existent....
Excerpt from The Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War, Volume I: The Surgeon General's Office, Chapter V, Veterinary Division
COL Charles Lynch
At the outbreak of the war the Surgeon General was confronted with the problem of organizing and training a veterinary service adequate to cope with the tremendous responsibilities incident to the purchase, shipping, training, and shelter of a vast number of animals in the United States, their transportation overseas, and their utilization by the American Expeditionary Forces....
The First World War
Finance Supply 2, Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War, Volume 3
COL EDWIN P. WOLFE. M. C.
The procurement of medical and hospital supplies during the Revolution divides into three quite definite, but somewhat overlapping, periods. The first began with the raising of troops by the individual colonies in 1774, and not only continued until those troops were demobilized in December, 1775, but obtained to a greater or less extent until near the close of the war....
Thesis: MEDICAL SUPPORT FOR THE AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES IN FRANCE DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR by Jonathan H. Jaffin, United States Army
Jonathan H. Jaffin, MAJ, USA
On 28 April 1917, only twenty-two days after President Woodrow Wilson had declared war on Germany, Dr. George Crile received orders to mobilize Base Hospital No.4....
Excerpt from the United States Army in the World War 1917-1919, Reports of the Commander-In-Chief, Staff Sections and Services, Volume 15, History of the Dental Service, A.E.F.
Robt T. Oliver, Col., D. C., U. S. A.
A history of the Dental Service, A. F. F. begins with the departure of the original 26 dental officers from the United States, during the latter part of July, 19 17. Of this number five were of the Regular Dental Corps of the army and 21 were of the Dental Reserve Corps....
Dental Bulletin Supplement to the Army Medical Bulletin, Volume 10, No. 1 (January 1939), The Diary of a Dental Officer
NONE
Among the papers turned over to the Dental Division of the Surgeon General’s Office, after the death of our beloved Col. Robert Todd Oliver, was a letter from Col. Raymond E. Ingalls, Retired. Attached to the letter was a copy of his diary written at the time the first group of dental officers sailed for France in the summer of 1917....
The Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War, Volume II, Administration American Expeditionary Forces, Chapter VI
Colonel Joseph H. Ford, M.C.
The dental subdivision of the chief surgeon’s office, though part of the personnel division,1 was in a large degree separate there from.2 Because of its relationship with the personnel division, its activities are considered here, though these were of a much wider character than control of dental personnel alone....
Excerpt from The Medical Department in the World War, Volume I, The Surgeon General's Office, Chapter IV, Dental Division
NONE
Prior to the World War the affairs of the Dental Corps were administered as part of the routine work of the Personnel Division. On August 9, 1917, the Dental Section of this division was organized with the assignment of a medical officer to duty in this connection.1 The Dental Section became the Dental Division on November 24, 1919....
Yanks in the King's Forces: American Physicians serving with the British Expeditionary Force During World War I, by Michael Rauer; Edited by Dr. Sanders Marble, Office of Medical History, Office of The Surgeon General, United States Army
Mr. Michael Rauer
In the summer of 1917, among the first Americans to enter into World War I was CPT Stanhope Bayne-Jones.1 Reporting for duty at the 69th Field Ambulance in war-torn Belgium he began what he would later describe as “a great job - and rather lively.” ...
INFLUENZA - The U.S. Army Medical Department and the Influenza Pandemic of 1918
NONE
The War Department Annual Report to the Secretary of War was the annual accounting of the entire War Department to the Secretary of War. As such the reports form an incredible source of information on virtually every aspect of the operations of the War Department and U.S. Army during a given fiscal year....
Walter Reed General Hospital during World War I
LIEUT. COL. Frank W. Weed, M. C., U. S. ARMY
Walter Reed General Hospital is a monument to the memory of Maj. Walter Reed, Medical Corps, United States Army, whose biography is so rich in records of research work of far-reaching consequences....
African-American Dental Surgeons and the U.S. Army Dental Corps: A Struggle for Acceptance, 1901-1919
John M. Hyson, JR., D.D.S., M.S., M.A.
There were no dental surgeons in the Medical Department of the United States Army (with one exception) until the formation of the Dental Corps in 1901, and there were no African-American dental surgeons in the army until 1917. Perhaps, it would have taken even longer had not the country mobilized in 1916 for the war in Europe, causing the formation of the Officers' Reserve Corps and the subsequent commissioning of black officers....
War Casualties: Their Relation to Medical Service and Replacements
Albert G. Love
An efficient medical service is essential to the military success of an army, not only in protecting the health of the troops by initiating proper sanitary measures, but also by insuring the return of sick and wounded men from the hospitals to their organizations as promptly as possible....
Divisional Medical Service in the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF)
NONE
The following discussion of methods generally employed in divisions in combat for the care and evacuation of sick and wounded comprehends important details of the usual practices. As will be noted, no one method universally was employed; much was left to the initiative, discretion, and resourcefulness of the division surgeon and his subordinates....
VOL XIV: Medical Aspects of Gas Warfare
Multiple Authors
No attempt is made here to trace the history of gas warfare prior to the entry of the United States into the World War, nor is it intended to dwell upon the work of the other combatants after that time, except as it was concerned directly with our own. The student who may be interested in the evolution of this method of warfare will find it amply covered in published books and in official documents on file in Government bureaus. ...
Volume VII: The Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War
COL William N. Bispham, M.C.
This volume, comprising two sections, deals, in the first section, with the basic and special training which was given the various kinds of personnel making up the Medical Department in the United States, and, in the second section, with training in the American Expeditionary Forces....
Series Preface - The Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War (The Official History Series)
COL Charles Lynch
It is proposed in the history of the Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War to discuss the subject from both administrative and scientific standpoints. In addition, elaborate statistics of professional interest will be included....
VOL XIII: Physical Reconstruction and Vocational Education, Part I; Army Nurse Corps Part II
MAJ. A. G. Crane, S. C.
During the Inter-Allied Conference for the Study of Professional Reeducation, held at Paris, in May, 1917,1 representatives of France, Belgium, Russia, Portugal, Italy, and Serbia took active part in the discussion....
Vol XII: Pathology of the Acute Respiratory Diseases, and of Gas Gangrene Following War Wounds
MAJ George R. Callender, M. C. AND MAJ. James F. Coupal, M. C
We find diseases at the present day, described under new names, which are calculated to seduce the young practitioner, from a correct and established practice. It is true, that improvements have been made in the science of medicine; but it requires a discriminating mind, and an extensive knowledge of ancient as well as modern authors, so to apply these improvements, as to be able to meet diseases, in all the varying shapes, which they assume in the routine of years....
Section III: Neurosurgery
NONE
In June, 1918, upon the reorganization of the professional services of the American Expeditionary Forces, neurological surgery was made a separate subservice of the genaral surgical services, and a senior consultant was appointed thereto....
Section II: Orthopedic Surgery
NONE
At a meeting of the American Orthopedic Association held in Washington in May, 1916, it was voted that, in consideration of the possible contingencies which might arise in this country from war in Europe, there should be appointed a preparedness committee, whose duty it would be to consider the needs and equipment of orthopedic hospitals should such be required in any future emergency....
Section I: General Surgery
Bash-ford Dean, Ph. D.
The nature of a projectile determines in no little degree the character and treatment of a wound. Bullets or fragments of shell of high velocity are less serious sources of infection than those of low velocity. A ball which mushrooms is eminently destructive-to such a degree, indeed, that bullets designed to mushroom have been forbidden in warfare. It follows that abreastplate of metal which tends to mushroom any impinging hall (fig. 1)...
Volume XI: Surgery
MAJ. GEN. M. W. Ireland
Considering the volume of surgery done during the World War, and the mass of literature resulting from surgical experiences in that war the natural inference is, the developments were many. ...
Volume IX: Communicable and Other Diseases
MAJ Henry C. Michie, M. C
The subject matter of this volume, which, for the most part, comprises the more important communicable diseases that concerned the Army and particularly the Medical Department during the World War, is arranged so as to consider, first, a statistical analysis and then the usual aspects of each of the diseases (diagnosis, treatment, etc.)....
Volume IV: Activities Concerning Mobilization Camps and Ports of Embarkation
MAJ. Albert S. Bowen, M. C.
For purposes of orientation it is necessary to explain here that, for the World War Army, two classes of camps were used, divisional and miscellaneous. The divisional camps comprised the tent group, for the National Guard divisions, and the cantonment group, for the National Army divisions. The reasons for having these two kinds of shelter, as well as the details connected with the selection of the sites for the camps and cantonments, are adequately set forth elsewhere....
Volume III: Finance & Supply 2, Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War
COL EDWIN P. WOLFE. M. C.
The procurement of medical and hospital supplies during the Revolution divides into three quite definite, but somewhat overlapping, periods. The first began with the raising of troops by the individual colonies in 1774, and not only continued until those troops were demobilized in December, 1775, but obtained to a greater or less extent until near the close of the war....
Volume II: Administration American Expeditionary Forces
Colonel Joseph H. Ford, M. C.
On May 10, 1917, the Surgeon General wrote The Adjutant General of the Army as follows:1 I recommend: That Col. Alfred E. Bradley, Medical Corps, in addition to his present duties as observer with the English Army, be designated as chief surgeon United States forces in Europe....
Volume I: The Surgeon General's Office
COL Charles Lynch
I have the honor to submit herewith Volume I of the history of the Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War. As this is the first volume, and as the work is an exhaustive one, it seems appropriate here to state the purposes of the history in question, and to give certain other information to enable the reader to study it with fuller knowledge....
The Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War (The Official History Series)
COL Charles Lynch
During World War I, at the direction of Major General William Gorgas, The Surgeon General (1914-1918), the Office of The Surgeon General initiated an extensive historical program based on its previous experience with the monumental six-volume The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion (1870-88) after the Civil War....
Report of the Chief Surgeon, Headquarters, Services of Supply, American Expeditionary Forces, 28 February 1919
Walter D. McCaw
Although the date when General Pershing organized his Headquarters in PARIS in June 1917, marks the official beginning of the Chief Surgeon's Office of the A. F. F., the history of the Medical Department of the A. E. F. began prior to that date....
Volume X: Neuropsychiatry
COL Thomas W. Salmon - M.C. SERGT. Norman Fenton, M. D.
Before the United States entered the World War, the attention of both the American medical profession and the public had been attracted by the prevalence of some apparently new types of mental reactions under the stress of actual campaign....
Volume VIII: Field Operations
COL Charles Lynch - M. C. COL. JOSEPH H. FORD - M. C. LIEUT. COL. FRANK W. WEED, M. C.
No hard and fast boundary line between the front and the Services of Supply was, or could have been drawn, so far as medical personnel and mat?riel were concerned. Naturally, however, so far as might be, the needs of the front had precedence....
Volume V: Military Hospitals in the United States
NONE
Of those who, during the World War, were patients in any of our large, especially constructed military hospitals there were probably few who reflected that they were having the unique experience of being the first soldiers in the history of the world so favored as to receive treatment in a military hospital, the perfections of which rivaled the refinements of the best contemporary civil institutions for the care of the sick....
Army Medical Department 1865-1917
The U.S. Army Medical Department in the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906
John T. Greenwood, Ph.D.
The devastating earthquake and fire that struck San Francisco, California, and vicinity early on the morning of 18 April 1906 immediately challenged the personnel of the U.S. Army Medical Department (AMEDD) who were then assigned to the headquarters of the U.S. Army's Division of the Pacific and Department of California and the Army General Hospital at Presidio of San Francisco as well as at nearby Fort Mason....
The Spanish-American War
John T. Greenwood, Ph.D.
The Spanish-American War was a major watershed in the history of the U.S. Army Medical Department. That story and its aftermath are fully covered in Mary Gillett's, The History of the U.S. Army Medical Department, 1865-1917, which can be found elsewhere in Books and Documents on the AMEDD History website. To facilitate access, the following links are provided to the three chapters that cover the Spanish-American War...
The Medical Department of the United States Army from 1775 to 1873
Harvey E. Brown
The history of the Hospital Department of the army commences with the siege of Boston in 1775, for the first legislative enactments of the Colonial Congress only legalized what was already in existence, and gave a fixed organization to what the emergencies of the occasion had called into being months before. ...
Reports of Chief Surgeons
Reports of Chief Surgeons
MAJ William B. Banister
I have the honor to make the following report of the expedition to China in the capacity of surgeon, Ninth United States Infantry, and as chief surgeon China relief expedition, as far as concerns the operations of the Medical Department. ...
The Army Medical Department 1865-1917
The Army Medical Department 1865-1917
Mary C Gillett
In writing The Army Medical Department, 1865-1917, I followed several precedents established in the first two volumes. As a result, I made no attempt to provide coverage of military operations beyond that necessary to an understanding of the challenges facing the Medical Department, and I observed the same principle in dealing with developments in the world of civilian medicine and in the armed forces of other major powers in Europe and Asia....
Chickamauga
Thesis: A Study of the Medical Support to the Union and Confederate Armies During the Battle of Chickamauga: Lessons and Implications for Today's U.S. Army Medical Department Leaders by David A. Rubenstein
David A. Rubenstein, MA
To a variety of lay and profeSSional historians the American Civil War was fought in Virginia with only minor battles, of little consequence, fought in the west. This obviously is not correct. In fact, much is to be learned from the battles of the Western Armies. ...
Civil War 1861-1865
Gettysburg
Assistant Surgeon J. J. Woodward and Assistant Surgeon George A. Otis
As the subject of transportation had an important bearing upon the manner in which the wounded are attended to after a battle, it is necessary to make some allusion to the manner in which this department was supplied. ...
Letterman Report, July-December 1862
Assistant Surgeon J. J. Woodward and Assistant Surgeon George A. Otis
In obedience to orders from the War Department, dated June 23d, 1862, I reported, on the 1st day of July, to General McClellan, at Haxhall’s Landing, on the James River, for duty as medical director of the Army of the Potomac, and, after the arrival of the army at Harrison’s Landing, I was placed on duty as such, on July 4th....
Memoir of Jonathan Letterman, M.D. by Lt. Colonel Bennett A. Clements
Lt. Colonel Bennett A. Clements
BY BREVET LIEUT.-COLONEL BENNETT A. CLEMENTS, SURGEON UNITED STATES ARMY. "- the iniquity of oblivion blindly scattereth her poppy, and deals with the memory of men without distinction to merit of perpetuity. * * * * Who knows whether the best of men be known, or whether there be not more remarkable men forgot, than any that stand remembered in the known account of time. "-SIR THOMAS BROWNE, 1686...
Medical Recollections of the Army of the Potomac by Jonathan Letterman, M.D
Jonathan Letterman
In obedience to orders from the War Department, dated June 23, 1862, I reported on the 1st day of July to Major-General McClellan at Haxhall's Landing, on the James River, for duty as Medical Director of the Army of the Potomac, and on the 4th took charge of the Medical Department of that army....
The Mexican War 1846-1848
The Army Medical Department 1818-1865
Mary C Gillett
The years between 1818 and the start of the Civil War were in many ways the darkest in the history of medicine in the United States. Doubts as to the validity of time honored medical practices were growing. Licensing requirements fell victim to egalitarianism, and medical education became a profit-making venture. In any army, disease still caused more deaths than wounds, even during wartime....
U.S. Army Casualty Statistics of The War with Mexico, 1846-1848
Richard H. Coolidge, M. D.
The regulations for the Medical Department of the army require all medical officers, when serving with troops in the field, to render monthly, to the medical director at the seat of war, and quarterly to the Surgeon General, "reports of sick and wounded, and of deaths, and of certificates for discharge for disability."...
Army Medical Department 1775-1846
Medical Men in the American Revolution, 1775-1783
Louis C. Duncan
At a few times in the world's history it has happened, either through the orderly working of the laws of evolution, or through the direction of a Divine Providence, that the fate of the whole human race has been bound up with and depended on the action of a small number of people in a very limited area. ...
The Medical Department of the United States Army from 1775 to 1873
Harvey E. Brown
The history of the Hospital Department of the army commences with the siege of Boston in 1775, for the first legislative enactments of the Colonial Congress only legalized what was already in existence, and gave a fixed organization to what the emergencies of the occasion had called into being months before. ...
Army Medical Department 1775-1818
The Army Medical Department 1775-1818
Mary C Gillett
The colonial physicians who formed the American Army's Medical Department in 1775 were all civilian practitioners, many without any military experience. A small percentage had earned M.D. degrees, but most were either apprentice or self-trained, and few made any attempt to specialize in the manner customary in Europe, where a choice was usually made among medicine, surgery, and pharmacy....
Histories of the AMEDD Corps
The History of the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps
COL Richard Van Ness Ginn
The U.S. Army Medical Service Corps (MSC) traces its roots to the American Revolution. Today, MSC officers in twenty-six specialties (see Appendix M) are valued members of the Army's medical team. They provide administrative skills ranging from health care administration to aeromedical evacuation, scientific expertise in fields as diverse as optometry and microbiology, and administrative services at all levels of the United States military medical establishment. ...
Army Medical Specialist Corps (through 1961)
Colonel Robert S. Anderson, MC, USA
Since World War I, Occupational Therapists and Physical Therapists (formerly known as reconstruction aides) and Dietitians have served the Army in a civilian capacity. On April 16, 1947 the Women’s Army Specialist Corps, comprised of officers from those three professions, was established by Public Law 80-36....
Army Hospitals - Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Walter Reed General Hospital during World War I
LIEUT. COL. Frank W. Weed, M. C., U. S. ARMY
Walter Reed General Hospital is a monument to the memory of Maj. Walter Reed, Medical Corps, United States Army, whose biography is so rich in records of research work of far-reaching consequences. It is also an unfinished monument to the Medical Department, whose aim it is ultimately to make it not only an adequately-sized group of attractive buildings, permanently constructed and equipped for the definitive care...
General Studies
Tabulating Equipment and Army Medical Statistics
Brig. Gen. Albert G. Love, USA (Ret.)
The medical statistics program of the Army has had a profound impact not only on military personnel and policies but on civilian programs as well. It is a rare and fortunate event when the major evolution of an important program can be put into the historical record by one who has played a vital role in it....
Women in the Army Medical Department in World War II
John T. Greenwood, Ph.D.
The large-scale introduction of women into the U.S. Army in World War II eventually extended to the Army Medical Department. Except for Army Nurse Corps personnel, women had not previously been used in any uniformed capacity in the Medical Department. The establishment of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), later changed to the Women's Army Corps (WAC) made a fundamental change in the manner in which the Medical Department viewed and used female military personnel....
The Demands of Humanity: Army Medical Disaster Relief
Gaines M. Foster
The term disaster usually evokes images of massive material damage and great human distress caused by some swift catastrophe. In offering a more rigorous definition, a leading sociologist has defined a disaster as a sudden event that disrupts the social structure, and prevents execution of some or all of its essential functions....
The Evolution of Preventive Medicine in the United States Army, 1607-1939
Stanhope Bayne-Jones, M.D.
Preventive medicine programs for armies, from antiquity to the present, have been designed and operated to prevent physical and mental diseases and disabilities, and to preserve and promote health among all personnel essential to the military effort....
Armed Forces Epidemioligical Board
Its First Fifty Years
Theodore E. Woodward, M.D.
The Armed Forces Epidemiological Board (AFEB) was founded on rock. A system of commissions, comprising some of the most capable medical scientists available, was assembled with the scientists being assured that they would perform relevant research that would aid the military. (This research was not intended to compete with other military medical research programs.) ...
The Histories of the Commissions
Theodore E. Woodward, M.D.
The annals of military preventive medicine provides a remarkable record of achievement extending from Beaumont to Billings to Sternberg, Reed, Strong, Siler, Simmons, and so many more. Their work was a culmination of intelligent thought and scientific innovation all aimed at solving problems that arose from those social forces and political upheavals that involve society as a whole. ...
The Korean War - Task Force Smith
Interview with Col Edwin L. Overholt, Medical Corps
NONE
During the 1960s, the former Historical Unit, Army Medical Department, conducted a large number of interviews and requested reminiscences from AMEDD personnel who served during the Korean War period, whether they were stationed in Korea itself or elsewhere. The materials collected during this project are today stored in the archival collections of the U.S. Army Military History Institute at the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, PA....
Reminiscence: Sgt. Ezra Phil Burke, NCOIC, Medical Platoon, Task Force Smith
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On 17 March 2003, Col. William E. Wyrick, U. S. Army (retired), wrote to the Office of Medical History, Office of The Surgeon General, U.S. Army, concerning the reminiscence of Sgt. Ezra Phil Burke, the Noncommissioned Officer in Charge (NCOIC), Medical Platoon, Task Force Smith. It is important here to present both Col. Wyrick's background on Sgt. Burke and Sgt. Burke reminiscence of his experiences with Task Force Smith....
Interview with Col Raymond E. "Bodie" Adams, Medical Service Corps
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Lt. Col. Adams reports that TF Smith had one of the three battalion medical platoons of the 21st Infantry Regiment's medical company. This force was commanded by Captain (now Lt. Col.) Edwin L. Overholt, MC, and was only a few men short of its TO/E authorization. 1st Lt. (now Lt. Col.) Adams, MSC, was the Assistant Battalion Surgeon under Capt. Overholt. ...
Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm
Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm Introduction
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During 1992, The Journal of the U.S. Army Medical Department, edited and published by the 7th Medical Command, U.S. Army, Europe, produced four special issues covering medical activities during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm and the aftermath. The articles and interviews contained in those four issues provide a unique perspective on the operations of the Army Medical Department during the Gulf War....
AMEDD in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm
Lt. Gen. Frank F. Ledford, Jr., MC
The massive and rapid deployment of US forces beginning in August 1990 in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait could not have been accomplished without an efficient and prepared medical support system. ...
