Evening star., 1944-05-28
Cutting Down the Mortality Of War

NEW YORK.-If your boy is wounded
during the invasion he has 81 out Of 100
chances that the injury will not be
fatal.
The chances OF amputation and
permanent disability. are only per
cent as opposed to Is per cent in the
last war.
If he gets to an evacuation hospital
he has four times the chance that the
World War I soldier had 81 returning
to a useful civilian life.
And the odds of his getting to an
evacuation hospital are very good, in
deed. These hospitals are only 80 to
100 miles from the front. There are
today in Halloran General Hospital on
Staten Island-4,000 miles from the
front-boys. who fell In Italy only seven
days ago.
New Safeguards
The new '1ife insurances" of this war
can be traced to two things: Medical
treatments which, according to the
Army's surgeon general, were con-
sidered hopeless only two decades ago."
and a new Chain of evacuation" from
the battlefield.
Sulfa drugs, penicillin, the use of
blood plasma and tetanus toxoid were
unknown in the last war. So was the
assembly line" technique of evacuation,
Wounded often lay on the battlefield for
several days.
Front-line. surgery, air ambulances
and collecting stations are innovations
IN the new evacuation chains 1t has
nine steps and works like this:
When the invasion begins company
aid men" go in on the first wave with
the assaulting troops. They never leave
the foremost troops. Each soldier
carries sulfa tablets and crystals to
swallow and sprinkle into his wound
if he is hit.
Company aid men help those unable
to treat themselves They administer
morphine, apply tournequets and splints,
tag the casualty indicating wound and
morphine dose, stick his rifle into the
ground with flag attached and 90 on
"Aoti VAN e'oNotiSliiS tloOHS.
Close behind them are the battalion
aid men. They have waded ashore car
rying four trunks of medical supplies
They set up station at any shelter.
sometimes only 40 yards from the front
Stretcher bearers run to sight the tagged
rifles and carry the wounded back.
Plasma is given and emergency surgery
If necessary.
Jeeps, carrying two to four ltters, take
the wounded to collecting stations where
treatment Is given to insure the wounds
against the rigors of an ambulance ride
to clearing stations, Complete surgical
and kitchen equipment Is available here,
as we'll as giant air ambulances TO fly
men to evacuation hospitals (still within
the combat zone).
There are four remaining steps In the
chain: Station, surgical, convalescent
and finally general hospitals, such MS
Walter Reed and Halloran.
Their Own Stories
These steps are more than blueprlnts.
They are being carried out. These
casualties are more than statistics. They
are men suffering and suffered for.
Their own stories mean something.
1t. Clair Carpenter, from Plainview,
Nebr., was hit at Salerno, five hours
after landing. A machine gun bullet
entered under his jaw, emerged below
his right eye.
Within an hour small Navy boat
carried him from the beachhead to a
hospital ship, where an emergency op-
Grafton laid the foundation for his re-
covery at Halloran.
Pvt. Joseph Martelo of Brooklyn,
dark, stocky calvaryman, was about 10
miles inland at Salerno when bomber
got him. In little over an hour he