Evening star., 1919-03-09
Navy Medical Corps
Praised by Marines.

42oAooo W t1Ae%AAS' m n is I
marines and the rest of Regular Army
troops, the division with the heaviest
casualty list of all American forces,
in very personal letter sent back
to this side had a word for the Navy
Medical Corps When he took COM
mana of the division in July. 1913,
all the naval medical officers and
Hospital Corps men were attached
to the 4th Brigade OF marines Gen.
Lejeune laid down the policy that the
medical officers and men of the navy
were eligible for detail in the hefd
hospitals of the division in the same
manner as were medical officers and
enlisted men of the Army.
The men SO assigned did perfectly
splendid work. One Of these officers
was in command of the field hospital,
which did surgical work and was espe-
ciaIly efficient The men and ofhcers
cannot be commended too highly. Many
of them received the D. s. c. and the
croix de guerre and more nave
been recommended for crosses. Gen
Lejeune mentioned one officer whom
he called his ideal of what a medical
untiring and self-sacrificing and OF
great ability and sound judgment 1t
was an inspiration to be with such
men as he and the division surgeon,
who was an Army medical officer"
And the Secretary of the Navy says
that it is the bureau of medicine and
surgery that is hurt more than any
other division of the Navy. through
the failure of Congress to pass the
naval appropriation bill. Thus the
unfortunate Recommendation to create
the biggest Navy in the world in
directly hindered the work of the hu-
Inanitarian bureau of the Navy.
The retirement from the Army OF
Mai Gen. Goethals. Brig. Gen. r. e
Wood and A. D. Thorne, civilian, de-
prives the supply division of the Army
of the three men who controlled the
purchase ard storage of all supplies
not purely military for the Army
These officers came to the Army at a
time when the quartermaster depart
ment was in the greatest degree of
confusion; when freak combination,
neither military nor civilian, had,
through lack of coordination, fallen
into a state OF confusion that approach
ed the chaotic. The catch phrase,
well. we won the war, what more
do you want?" cannot serve as the ex-
cuse for the condition that then exist
ed; and all the credit is due to the
organization which Gen. Goetha1s
brought about, in which even he would
have failed II he had not had the sup
port of the administration.
The experience of Gen. Goethals had
been ideal to fit him for the position
to which he
Ran Army Bureau was assign
on a Business Basis. an Armx en-
gineer. and he knew what the Army
needed and the Army methods of con-
Quoting business. II those methods
were faulty-and this is not an inn
plication that they were-he knew
them. and he knew from personal
knowledge derived from his business
dealings in the Panama ditch how
they differed from the methods Of or
dinary commercial business.
Tho training Of Gen. Wood had been
very similar. Indeed, he had served
under Gen. Goethals In Panama, and
he knew his chiefs methods.
Mr.. Thorne. who was Gen. Woods
assistant, was at disadvantage. felt
at drst heavily. because he had no
military experience, but invaluable be-
cause he knew business thoroughly.
Gen. Goethals reorganized the entire
system, excluded the Council of Ma
tional Defense from the supply de-
! parsmcnt of the Army and raa his
4 IL 4 !. i. i. : -