Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-01-17
Believe 1t or Not

II anyone doubts that truth Is
stranger than fiction he should look
into the amazing case of John J. Egan--
man who lived for years under false
stigma Of insanity.
In his salad days Egan was a stu
dent at the University Of Maryland-a
pretty good college boxer and ballplayer.
He also had a reserve commission in the
Army, and In January, l94l, he was
called to active duty. After the war
started, he gave up his Army captaincy
and transferred to the Marines as lieu
tenant. That's when his troubles began.
On February IL, ls43. Egan was
taken to a field hospital In Samoa with
case Of bronchitis violent patient at
tackled a doctor in the ward and Egan
diSarmed the patient. An investigation
was started and other patients in the
ward (it is not clear what happened to
the doctor) denied that any such Incl
dent had occurred. The Court Of Claims
says 1t was later fully established that
these witnesses lied"
The doctors on the scene, presum-
ably not including the one who was at
tackled. thought that Egan had imagined
the whole thing and decided that he
must be crazy. He was put in locked
ward, denied a promotion to captain
which had just come through, and
shipped back to the States ALI this
time Egan was frantically insisting that
there was nothing wrong with him and
was demanding that he be sent back 70
his OUTFIT, which had been ordered into
combat. Apparently this served to fur
ther convince the doctors that he was
mentally unbalanced.
When the hospital ship locked IN
California. Egan was ordered to proceed.
trtthout escort, to the. Naval Medical
Center in Bethesda. After day there
he was transferred to St. Elizabeths.
This was on June II, l943, and the
Court Of Claims says: During the I'VE
months of plaintiffs confinement in
locked wards as an insane person, he
attempted In every conceivable way to
persuade the medical officers that he
was pot insane. His growing sense Of
Illustration and his occasional vehement
protests only served to confirm the med
ical authorities in their opinion that
plaintiff was insane"
Deciding to take matters into his
own hands, Egan escaped from st. Eliz-
abeths. He returned later, armed with
reports of several presumably privately
medical examinations declaring that he
was not insane.
These didn't help him. On July
80. 1943, Board Of Medical Survey
was convened at st. Elizabeths. Let's
read the mumbo jumbo in that boards
report:
On admission to this hospital the pa
tent was obviously making an effort to
be as pleasant as possible but failed to
conceal very definite tension. speaking
very rapidly and lighting one cigarette
from the other He was intent upon es-
tablishing that he had no mental dis
order and that he had been mistreated
He presented his case with considerable
circumstantiality and detail. and made
an especial effort to smooth over his past
behavior difficulties. giving explanatory
and personal versions Of paranoid ma
ture. Ut was later proved that these
personal versions Of paranoid nature"
were true.). Since then he has shown
improvement He Is still. however. pre-
occupied with explaining his psychiatric
dinculties on the basis Of errors on the
part Of physicians who have handled his
case. He needs further hospital care.
The board went on to compound
the error of this faulty diagnosis. 1t said
that verified history" reveals that this
patient was discharged from the Army
because Of mental illness diagnosed as
"psychoneurosis, anxiety neurosis, with
schizoid features" This verified his
tory" was subsequently shown to be the
history of another man, with different
serial number, who had been discharged
from the Army on different date.
On October 80, 1913, Egan, after
threatening to appeal TO the courts,
was permitted to leave st. Elizabeths.
But Marine discharge proceedings we're
started on the basis Of what the Court
Of Claims called these remarkable and
untrue findings of fact" OF course,
Egan protested all over again. But he
might as well have saved his breath.
He was solemnly informed that the
findings (of insanity had been reviewed
and approved by the Bureau of Medicine
and Surgery. by the once of the Com
Inandant OF the Marine Corps, by the
Judge Advocate General of the Navy,
and, finally, by the President. In short,
Egan was out-with a tainted dis,
charge. OF all this, the court said: I'm
view OF the true facts which could and
should have been easily ascertained by
the medical and administrative officials
OF the service, we conclude that q more
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