The sun., 1919-03-30
Coming $4,000 a Month From Over.
seas Disabled Soldiers Get Swift Yet
Gentlest of Treatment Under Col.
Kennedys Direction at Hoboken

with a consideration which money
could not buy.
"Of course it's a system" said one of
the Colonel's chief assistants, but you
must realize that as soon as a man
comes to us in a condition that calls
for unusual care, or develops anything
UNUSUAL that needs special treatment.
he at once ceases to be one of many
and becomes highly important indi-
vidual."
Col. Kennedy has made 1t that way.
A short time ago three men came in
on the Manchuria very i'll with pneu-
monia- In the ordinary course of
things these men would have been
taken off the boat and transferred to
hospital. but 1t did not seem the wise
thing to do. 1t finally came up to
Lieut.-Col. F. J. PIERCE, chief OF the
transport division under Col. Kennedy.
the two men having served together
and Lieut.-Col. PIERCE having learned
his chiefs way of doing things, which
in this instance conceded with his
own wishes.
Don't move them" was the order.
There was a chance that they might
reach their crisis before the Manchu-
ria left. They did not, ana wnen ne
final decision came to medical head
quarters 1t was decided to send tho
three men back to France so as to give
them a fighting chance for their lives
They went over and came blackwell
men. That is the way the system Is
tempered with common sense.
Two Distinct Branches.
There are two distinct branches to
the medical corps of the debarkation
port. One department gets them OF
the ships and into the hospitals, the
other takes them from the hospitals
and sends them to their homes, or as
near their homes as good judgment
dictates.
When Col. Kennedy first came to
Hoboken as medical officer 1t was the
beginning OF a debarkation port, ane
his staff consisted of two officers and
one private. 1t had grown and been
changed as the occasion demanded
Then with the signing of the armistice
the whole plan had to be switched
around and adapted on a few days
notice to the receiving rather than tho
sending of troops. That this was done
successfully, despite the handicap of
lack of boats at first, speaks volumes
for the efficiency of the Office.
AS soon as a transport or hospital
ship leaves France word is sent to
Col. Kennedy and through his stan
arrangements are made to care for the
particular cases that are on board. A
radio message is sent later telling
when the ship may be expected. and
when it drops anchor at Quarantine
the reception OF the patients has been
planned to the last man.
Two boarding officers meet the ship
at quarantine. They get what infor-
nation they require and then one
leaves the ship and telephones to Col.
Kennedy's headquarters what the con-
ditions are on this particular ship. A
list of patients, with their name, army
serial number. rank, organization, and
a brief diagnosis Of the case, is given
to the boarding officer. and the list Is
numbered in rotation, so that when
the men debark they may be checked
of. easily. Each patient Is tagged with
a number CORRESPONDING to his number
on the list.
So we'll does this system work that
when the transport Louisville came in
the other day 500 patients were de-
parked in fifty-three minutes. On
Monday ship came in with 2,400 cases
aboard. 1t locked at $50 and by GAS
o'clock the last of these cases was in
the hospital. The medical corps OF
the port keeps nine boats to facilitate
this work, one OF which is the Shinne-
cock, which in the Spanish war was
used as a hospital ship.
speedy. nut Gentle.
The stretcher bearers have been
carefully trained in their work. They
come off almost on the run, and slip
their stretcher from their hands TO
the deck or dock with hardly a pause,
but If the movement is watched care
fully it Is seen that there is not a lar
to disturb tho wounded man. Ore
looks in vain for a vince OF pain.
They wouldn't break an egg" says
| their chief admiringly.
One of the unwritten rules of the
debarkation OF wounded is that a man
shall never be taken across the river
II his condition is serious. II the shin
docks on the Hoboken side the badly
wounded or very sick are taken to n
hospital on that side; IL the shin
comes in on the Manhattan side they
are taken to Manhattan hospital.
III the patients are to go across the
| river one OF the nine boats OF the
Medical Service slides up alongside and