Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1945-03-15
GlObal Air Evacuation
System Speeds
Wounded Yanks Home

and injured american servicemen
have been transported by airplane
from battle zones in all parts of
the world in the two and half
years since air evacuation became
an accepted part of the military
medical program, the Office of
War Information says in compre-
hensive report on air evacuation
for our wounded servicemen
abroad.
One out of five American war
causualties who returned to this
country last year came by plane.
They totaled 45,0C0--a number 10
times as great as the number
brought home by plane in 1913.
Military authorities today are
enthusiastic about air evacuation
and term it one of the five great
est life-saving measures of modern
military medicine. Without air eva
cuation, reported the Air Surgeon
General of the Army Air Forces,
"neither sulfanilamide, plasma nor
surgical skill could have availed to
save the lives of the wounded"
Not only does air evacuation
provide the speediest means of re-
moving the wounded from battle
zones to neal areas, but it has
proved it's value logistically, the
Army told Owl. The same planes
that fly the wounded out of battle
areas, have flown in laden with
vital supphes-.food, munitions or
medical necessities.
In the fighting zones it is likely
that the roads are limited in num-
Der and capacity, and that rail
lines are either nonresident Or
consist of one-track lines. By NOV
ing patients out over these surface
lines, sometimes it is impossible to
move supplies in. Air evacuation
relieves the reads so that there is
no interruption in the flow of need
ed supplies.
Air evacuation has also been en-
dorsed because Of its strategic
value to the military commander
in battle. 1t is reported to have
contributed to the success of every
major land offensive involving
American forces in this war. The
success Of campaign, it is said,
sometimes may hinge on an Army's
ability to evacuate its non-effec-
/ tives. In Tarawa, for instance, the
retention of the wounded on the
island would have hampered mill
tary operations. In New Guinea,
where the only other form of eva
cuation was by foot or on pack
animals over the Owen Stanley
Mountains, all casualties were
moved by air.
The Army, Navy and Marines
all use air evacuation today. The
Troop Carrier Commands of the
Army Air Forces transport wound
ed from battle zones to rear areas
of safety, and the Air Transport
Command flies those who are re-
turned to this country. The Naval
Air Transport Service carries out
a similar program for the Navy.
Both the Army and Navy main
tain schools where the medical
flight personnel is trained, and re-
Gently a group of "a Navy nurses
was selected for the first class Of
of the newly-established Navy
School for Air Evacuation, Alan
eda, Calf. The AAF School of
Aviation Medicine is located at
Randolph Field, Texas, where n
new class OF 10 nurses starts every
three weeks. Each group is given
an intensive nine weeks course.
Today more than 800 Army
flight nurses are engaged in air
evacuation duty--more than 100 in
this country and the remainder
overseas. A nurse is aboard every
Army plane bearing wounded or
sick personnel. 0ftentimes she is
the only American woman the
wounded soldier sees until his re-
turn to America. Her presence in
the plane and her mlnistrations
with medicine and food are recog-
nized by military authorities as
being important factors in the first
steps toward his recovery or re-
Mobilization.
"