Evening star., 1943-05-19
97q6 Of Men Wounded
Al Pearl Harbor
Survive INJURIES
owl Report Louds Quality
Of Medical Equipment,
Care Given Armed Forces
BY the Associated Press.

care owen Armed FORCES
BY the Associated Press.
More than 81 per cent of the
sailors and marines wounded at
Pearl Harbor have survived, the
Once of War Information reported
today.
"The Wounded Don't Die" was the
theme of an exhaustive owl report
on the treatment of Army and Navy
casualties. It's findings we're summed
up in these words:
Never before in the history of
the world has the fighting man had
available the medical care and
equipment the United States now
furnishes its defenders"
OF all the naval and marine per-
sonnel listed as wounded at Pearl
Harbor, only 26 per cent died sub
sequently, Owl said; So per cent
had returned to duty by March 81,
1943, while 435 per cent were still
under treatment, and nine-tenths
of l per cent were invalided from
service.
Figures for Army wounded were
not available, but Owl said obtain
able data showed that "recoveries
are comparable to naval and marine
percentages"
I'm the original occupation of
North Africa, the only deaths were
those of men killed outright or so
badly wounded that nothing could
have saved them" the report said.
This was true also in other thea
ters of war.
When medical supplies are de-
layed in reaching the front-and
not even the Red Cross can stop a
bomb as the Nazis and Japs know
velour doctors are trained to per-
form their duties with whatever
equipment is at hand.
I'm the North African campaign.
ships carrying medical material
we're torpedoed Yet our medical
care system was established right
from the beaches of the Mediter-
ranean, and the hundreds of recov-
cries from wounds testify to its
effectiveness.
The Army's hospital system, uni
fed from the battalion aid station
right behind the line to the great
hospitals in this country was de-
scribed as ''our hospital chain which
extends halfway around che world"
Often, said owl, men picked up on
tA Sa1I ~f
to this country by ambulance plane
and have telephoned their families
before the report of their wounding
has reached this country.
Planes Bring Home Wounded.
"One soldier, with severe abdom-
inal wound, was brought by ambu-
lance planes from Egypt in u hours,
and is now recovering rapidly in an
Army hospital Others have been
flown from the Far East, Europe,
India, Africa. The fact that a man
knows he can be hone in a couple
of days from almost any part of the
world is tremendous morale
builder"
The system starts with the soldier
himself, who carries flrst-aid
packet, a package of sulfadiazine
tablets to be taken as soon as he is
hurt, and sulfa powder to dust into
his wound. Usually hospital corps
man has reached him before he has
a chance to treat himself. The
corpsman injects a relieving
drug, gives emergency aid, and
moves forward with the attack,
leaving tag on the wounded man
to describe the treatment given and
tying a bit Of gauze to bayonet to
show where the soldier is.
Litter bearers who spot the white
cloth carry the soldier to battalion
aid station 400 to 1000 yards back.
This is "a miniature hospital on
wheels which goes wherever the
soldier goes equipped for surgery,
anasthesia and for administering
blood plasma to combat shock and
loss of blood.
Remains for Day.
The soldier remains here a day
or less, then is taken to the collec-
ton station. another mobile unit.
The more seriously wounded are
sent to field hospitals or evacuation
hospitals, which are usually to 7
miles behind the line Though be
ing highly mobile, they can be
brought right up to the front"
Farthest back are the great gen.
eral or base hospitals. having 1000
beds or more and considered the
equal of the most elaborate city
hospitals" Men may remain there
until cured and returned to duty
or may be sent to general and con-
valescent hospitals in the United
States