The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-12-31
BY TOM WOLF
NEA Staff Correspondent

n ". .. f1elQ Hospital IN Italy,
Dec. 31-This tent city, spead over
a large field which is sea Of mud,
is so close to the front that our
artillery Is behind us. That's what
they mean when they talk about
"front-line medicine"
Only the most critically wounded
soldiers come to field hospital.
Those who can stand the ambul-
ance ride are sent to evacuation
hospitals to the rear-in this case
Is miles back.
Most Of the casualties reach here
toward evening. since it's impossible
to get them off the mountains be-
fore dawn and it's seven or eight
hour trip down the mountain to the
hospital.
The main tent Is built like q
cross. The arms and head are the
three operating rooms. At the foot
and middle Of the cross are admis-
sion and shock tents. There are now
eight patients in the shock tents
lying on the filters in which they
arrived.
They are still In the clothes In
which they went into battle. Only
the clothing Immediately around
the wounds has been cut off. Most
of the wounds are from Shrapnel
or land mines.
PLASMA GIVES STRENGTH
Strung on the electric light cord
which runs the length of the shock
tent are bottles of plasma and
blood. Life from civilian donors at
home is pouring into soldiers whose
own life has almost ebbed away.
The whole blood comes from soldier
donors here. The patients must wait
in the shock tent until they gain
enough strength for an operation.
Back in the surgery. three oper-
ating teams are getting ready. In
struments are boiling in huge
pot on K. I. stove. All water
for this hospital has to be brought
several miles in flve-gallon jugs.
In each Of the three surgery
tents, field operating table stands
in the center and Is supported on
boards to keep 1t from sinking into
the soggy ground. The tents leak
little where they are Joined, and
mud Is inevitably tracked in.
Down the center of each sur
gerry are strung lights powered by
a portable generator. You can find
your way to surgery on dark night
by listening to the generators hum
ming. The operating lamps are
makeshifts. Portable lights and even
flashlights often have to be used
during operations. Oxygen bottles
are stacked around the center pole
of the head Of the operating table.
A small coal stove at one end of
the tent makes o feeble attempt to
keep 1t warm.
Each surgical team consists Of
surgeon and an assistant, an
anesthetist, q nurse and two en-
listed men.
They are now ready for the first
of the new patients. Just as the
litter bearers bring In the first man
an artillery duel starts. Shells
whine overhead all night.
THREE SERIOUS CASES
The surgical team specializing IN
orthopedics and headed by Capt.
william NJ. Ewing, Louisville, KY.
has q Shrapnel casualty. Part Of his
jaw has been shot away. He has
two holes clean through one thigh;
one through the bone lower In the
same leg. There's hole clean
through the other thigh. two
through that leg. His arm Is
peppered with small shell frag-
mentS.
In the second surgery a team led
by Maj. F. w. Hall. Cape Cir
ardeau. Mo-, is patching up groin
laid open by shrapnel.
simultaneously. IN the third sur
gerry. another team headed by Capt.
Lawrence Hurt, Lexington. KY. Is
removing fragments from a chest
and abdomen. The operations are
long-between two and three hours.
Back In the shock tent, other
patients are waiting. AS the opera
tions are finished. litter bearers
carry the patients to nearby
ward tent. It's tricky going with a
litter through the mud. One slip
might undo hours Of operating. The
litter bearers don't slip.
BLOOD DONORS READY
Between operations. the teams
slip over to the mess tent for q
midnight snack. Then back to sur
gerry. BY 2 a. m, only two pa
tients are left. Blood donors are
sleeping OH cots In readiness next
to them. The rain and artillery have
ceased. The operating goes ON.
Sometimes an aid must 60 run
ming to another surgery to borrow
special instruments or equipment.
Always IT'S necessary to improvise.
Once toward morning thu GanerA-