The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1951-07-28
In The
Background
tBy The Associated PreSsI
Army Medical Department
Anniversary

Amy NAGAANoA 0S EoA AAA~Hs
Anniversary
July 9th is Just another day in
the hundreds of hospitals in the
United States Army.
And yet, in a way it might be
a party occasion--a little digni-
fled, rubber-sole dancing in the
corridors, maybe.
This is the 10th birthday of
the Medical departmental was
July 9th, ITS, when a group of
doctors first went to work on
regular basis with Continental
troops in Boston.
Those doctors were civilians,
and it was a considerable time be-
fore the Army reached the point
of operating the medical service
as a part of the military estab-
lishment
But the medics date their birth
day from that first courageous
day of cooperation in the war of
independence.
Either way, civilian or uni
formed, the Army medics have
played a heroic part in our his
tory. And they have, incidentally,
done much to advance the cause
Of medicine quite apart from mill
tary duty.
Long-Suffering humanity owes
a large debt to men like Walter
Reed and Benjamin Waterhouse
and George Sternberg. All army
doctors Walter Reed, Major Reed
directed the experiment that led
to the conquest Of yellow fever
Warehouse was the man who in
troduced smallpox vaccination to
this country General Sternberg
| is regarded as the father of bac-
teriology in America.
In all these projects the Army
has been especially suited to the
Job. 1t had the financial resources
to carry on the experiments. And
| it had the motive to do the job
| In the case of the conquest Of
| yellow fever, most famous Army
medical triumph. the objective wa!
completion of the Panama Canal
and the rehabilitation of Cuba
Walter Reed and his heroic vol
unteer guinea pigs proved tina
yellow fever was carried by ;
mosquito Then, the Army pro
ceeded to eliminate. the, rnesqai
toes from the areas where s'thehs
WAS AYorR ~ do: Today yeilov
fever is confined to remote jungle
regions of South America-wher'
science does not reach
Army medicine has provided
science with some crucial data il
a wide variety of fields-particu
larly in public health. A centur,
ago, vital statistics were not KEEP
by governments the way they ar
now II was only in the militar,
and in prisons that it was poss
ible TO assemble any conclusiv
information on large scale healtl
problems
The records Of army medic
have thus filled an important gal
in medical history And of courS
more recently, Army application
of drugs and toxins has add
ed much TO the general medica
knowledge.
Because the Army gets arount
q great deal. its medical officer
have become leading authorize
on tropical diseases like malafis
And all this time. of course
the medics have really been in
tereSted only in keeping the Arm,
on its feet. That is the funda
mental purpose of the medica
department-and On this scor
the medics have done a fabulou
Job. especially in recent years
The medics can't keep the enem,
from killing American soldiers
but they can do everything els
but
In the Korea war, Of all tn
battle casualties reaching medi
cal attention. only two and on
half per cent have been lost. i
other words, if a soldier is woun
ded, and the needles get to hin
he has a better than 81 per cen
chance of recovery.
Even in World War II, the
weren't that good - the recon
was 90 per cent survival of III
wounded But the circumstance
were different The enemy wa