Navy Medicine November-December 1942
Jennifer Mitchum
By the time the Allied Expeditionary Force, under the command of LTG Dwight D. Eisenhower,
landed in French North Africa at Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers, on 8 Nov, the U.S. had been at war for almost a year. It had been 11 months and a day since Pearl Harbor.
Until now, U.S. forces had mostly been deployed in the Pacific, with minimal activity occurring in the other theaters. Now, the U.S. would fight on two fronts simultaneously, and the war would literally become global.
Viewed by one observer at BUMED "as the greatest single [landing] accomplishment of the war," Operation Torch represented the largest assembly of Allied ships and aircraft so far.(1) It was the first time the Allies used joint planning to forge a major operation, establishing a pattern for future invasions.
Hitting the beach at dawn, Allied troops met little French opposition for the most part. However, resistance increased in the Casablanca area once the U.S. Army leading the Western Task Force landed. By the evening of 8 Nov, a ceasefire had been arranged and most fighting stopped. On 11 Nov, the Allies reached an armistice with Vichy French authorities and complete occupation of French North Africa had been
accomplished.
The Plan
A carefully drafted medical plan called for collaboration on the part of U.S. Armed Forces and other Allied medical personnel. Under the plan, medical responsibilities were delegated. For example, Navy
medical personnel would treat all service personnel between the port of embarkation and the high water mark on the beaches in the Safi area of Morocco. This included evacuating and treating the wounded afloat.
Transports (APs) were to provide seaward evacuation; cargo ships (AKs) would receive less seriously
wounded; combat ships would care for their own. Transport "beachmasters" attached to shore parties would be responsible for removing wounded from beach evacuation stations and placing them in boats with the
assistance of medical personnel. Wounded were to be returned to their designated vessels. Incidentally, if Army personnel could return to duty within 30 days, they were not to be evacuated to transports.
Every 2 hours, regimental and battalion beachmasters were to inform transport commanders of the number of casualties requiring evacuation. In turn, transport personnel were to count wounded aboard and report how much space remained on each vessel. In addition, Navy medical personnel were not to evacuate wounded until assault troops had landed. There was an exception. Men wounded enroute to the beach were to be returned to transports.
Army collecting and clearing stations as well as Army evacuation hospitals would be accessible to Navy medical personnel. Navy personnel were to care for the sick at naval dispensaries and use Army
hospital facilities for patients requiring hospitalization.
The Assault
Navy medical and other Navy personnel landed shortly after the Army assault troops. Medical officers and corpsmen accompanying convoys carried field medical kits and administered first aid on location. They then sent the wounded through the evacuation chain.
Transports could carry several stretcher and ambulatory cases as well as several medical personnel units. For example, the USS Harris (AP-8), one of the first transports to complete disembarkation, had space for about 200 bed and 1,000 ambulatory casualties.(2) Assigned to the USS Harris was a beach party of 1 medical officer and 11 enlisted men; a main battle dressing station of 2 medical officers, a dental officer, and 15 hospital corpsmen; a forward battle station manned by 2 medical officers and 8 corpsmen, and an after
battle station consisting of 1 medical officer and 6 corpsmen.(3)
According to a USS Harris report, general care of casualties began about one-half hour after landing at Safi. Corpsmen treated and evacuated about "five casualties from Blue Beach as soon as the assault waves were in" and before medical officers joined them.(4) On 9 Nov, a communication system between medical personnel and ship and regimental beachmasters had been established. Then medical personnel set up a
battalion aid station and moved casualties there and from that station to medical beach parties for
transportation to ship.(5)
First day treatment aboard USS Harris consisted of applying powdered sulfonamides to wounds, of splints to fractures, and administering morphine via syrette. Medical officers and corpsmen treated and
evacuated 26 casualties aboard USS Harris.
On 9 Nov, medical personnel evacuated the remainder of casualties on USS Harris to USS Lyon
(AP-71) and USS Calvert (AP-65). To reduce delay, they placed some wounded in returning boats and used a double litter lift raised by a single whip boom, to transfer the casualties from the boats to the ships. Casualties were placed on the port or starboard quarterdeck and were later moved to the main battle station. All
evacuations aboard USS Harris were reportedly accomplished without incident.(6)
Once ashore, medical personnel established facilities quickly. They set up a first-aid station in the port area of Safi on 9 Nov and a sick bay at Casablanca on 12 Nov. Subsequently, a group of medical and dental officers arrived in Casablanca on 18 Nov to establish a dispensary. They set up the dispensary in a clinic
formerly operated by French physicians and surgeons on 7 Dec. The 54-bed facility, equipped with surgery and X-ray equipment, permitted medical and surgical teams to go to work almost immediately. Medical
personnel used neighboring villas for additional hospital beds. At Fedala, three medical officers and eight corpsmen assembled a sick bay in a camel barn on the dock. Subsequently, the Navy established a dispensary at Fedala.
Several afloat units provided facilities and reinforcement for shore activities. For example, USS Thomas Stone (AP-59), damaged troop transport grounded about 150 yards away from the beach at Algiers, served as a accommodating and receiving ship as well as a floating fortress, shooting down two planes. Its sickbay proved an invaluable addition to the U.S. Naval Dispensary established at Algiers; especially in the areas of surgery, dentistry, laboratory work, and radiology.
In the Oran area, sick bays had been set up for the Navy at Mers-el-Kebir and Arzeu and a dispensary at Oran, by 28 Nov. In a 28 Nov memorandum, CAPT J.W. Vann, MC, "indicated that the medical plan had been carried out in most of its details."(7) However, the medical care of the Royal Navy and Merchant Marine
personnel during their stay in port had not been included in the plan. CAPT Vann made recommendations on how to handle them. By 21 Nov, several Army installations had also been established. These facilities were available for Navy medical use.
As a result of skillful planning which called for coordination of ship and shore activities and emphasized use of land-based medical facilities, little immediate seaward evacuation was necessary. The operation, however, was not without cost with an estimated total of about 1,000 wounded and 1,000 KIA or MIA.
Guadalcanal
Although the U.S. Navy had been successful in holding the Solomon Islands, the Japanese intensified their efforts to cut American supply lines and reinforce their troops. They successfully achieved the former but not the latter. Their only means of reinforcement was the so-called "Tokyo Express," and U.S. submarines had been successful in sinking and damaging several resupply vessels. In addition, the Navy and Marine Corps were pushing the Japanese back and U.S. air defenses on the island had greatly improved as more airfields sprang up around Lunga.
In turn, the Japanese regrouped and put together a mega force of approximately 60 ships and began an amphibious offensive by the afternoon of 9 Nov. On 12 Nov, a new phase in the Battle of Guadalcanal opened as the Japanese launched an aerial attack on American transports which were unloading troops in Lunga
Roads. The battle ended on 15 Nov. Although the U.S. suffered great losses in warships, the Japanese
withdrew. Subsequently, the Battle of Tassafaronga commenced at night on 30 Nov off Tassafaronga Point, with enemy torpedoes heavily damaging U.S. vessels. Nevertheless, on 31 Dec, after a 5-month blood bath,
Emperor Hirohito gave Japanese commanders permission to evacuate Guadalcanal and accept American
victory.
Air Evacuation
By 1 December, more casualties had been evacuated from Guadalcanal by air (2,879) than by sea (1,040).(8) Sea evacuation proved less efficient because of the several stages involved. Casualties first had to be transferred via some form of shore-to-ship transportation (usually ramp or Higgins boat), and then aboard the ship by hoist.
In December, the 1st Marine Division evacuated, and U.S. Army troops took over the area. Thus, evacuation of 1st Marine Division patients was set in motion. The ambulatory were discharged to their
organizations. The remainder were grouped according to their organizations and placed aboard the ship that would carry that group.
The Second Marines along with the Eighth, who came over from Samoa in November, remained on the island. The Second Marines had been in constant action for a period of 4 months, and the men were badly shaken by disease, fatigue, and casualties. Similarly, the Eighth Marines suffered from malaria and other
ailments including filariasis, an ailment acquired in Polynesia.
Malaria
Malaria proved to be a major problem throughout the Pacific. On Guadalcanal, the number of First Marine Division patients hospitalized for malaria had nearly doubled the total number of malaria cases
admitted in October, increasing to 3,212 from 1,941. In addition, malaria cases surpassed the total number (2,413) of those admitted for other diseases in November. From the start of the campaign in August to the end
of November, 5,414 had been hospitalized for malaria and 7,667 for other diseases.(9) Similarly, USN Base Hospital No. 2, Efate Island, New Hebrides, reported that 2,949 patients were admitted with malaria during the period of 4 May-31 Dec 1942.(10)
Malaria was also evident in the Bilibid prisoner of war camp in Manila, where U.S. military personnel had been interned since December 1941. To assess the situation at the camp, the Japanese captors assembled a "Malaria Commission." This body, composed of four Army medical officers, from the Cabanatuan POW
camp, arrived at Bilibid in November and met with CAPT L.B. Sartin, MC, commanding officer of the Bilibid Prison Naval Hospital. As the so-called "malaria conference" convened, a Japanese professor was there to
lecture on the malaria situation and possible treatments. But instead of being informative, he only displayed
his own ignorance. "Their [Japanese] medical knowledge and attitude is about that of our third year medical student," said CDR Thomas Hayes, MC, one of the doctors at the prison.(11) Therefore, only the rudimentary and commonly known facts about malaria were mentioned at the sham conference.
At some point, the Japanese took 20 malaria cases from Bilibid to their hospital to study and treat them. At the Japanese hospital, one of the patients died due to a diarrhea he had had prior to leaving Bilibid. The other 19 returned to the prison camp on 16 Nov looking splendid and fattened. They reported that in addition to their medicine, they were fed meat, good soup and vegetables, orange juice, and fruits. Moreover,
they were taken for walks in the park each afternoon. Dr. Hayes noted that such treatment and change of diet made their improvement inevitable. Dr. Sartin prepared a menu for the Japanese for the prison and suggested that the Japanese permit enough food so that other cases at Bilibid could likewise improve.(12)
Mobile Hospitals Kept Busy
As the war in the Pacific heightened, casualties streamed into U.S. Navy medical facilities. CUB One in Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides admitted 4,175 patients, which included Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard personnel, during the period of 15 Aug and 31 Dec.(13)
To meet the needs of the rising number of casualties being evacuated from other hospitals in the South Pacific to Mobile Hospital 4 (MOB-4) in Auckland, expansion was underway at the 1,000-bed hospital. The original hospital had 41 pre-fabricated steel buildings, expansion began on 16 new wards, additional barracks, a brig, storerooms, larger mess halls, administrative buildings as well as a neuro-psychiatric ward. By December, the structures had been completed. Mob-4 took over the receiving barracks at the south end of what was called the Auckland Domain and converted them into a 1,000-bed convalescent hospital also in December.(14) The convalescent hospital absorbed overflow patients from the main hospital, freeing hospital beds for critical cases. In addition, a civilian hospital nearby provided treatment and quarantine for the isolation of contagious diseases. Later, some additional buildings at a racecourse were used as isolation wards and some stables for a motor pool.
The types of injuries varied considerably with each incoming group of casualties. Initially, wounds and burns characteristic of sea battles and landing operations were encountered. Later, there were more compound
fractures and land-mine injuries as land fighting on the islands increased.
On the other hand, at Mobile Hospital No. 6 in Wellington, the majority of the patients suffered from
compound fractures caused by gunshot or bomb fragments. There were many chest injuries and multiple soft tissue wounds but relatively few abdominal and head wounds.
Mob-6 served an evacuation hospital in many ways and every effort was made to speed recovery. Recreational and amusement facilities were used to the maximum. For example, hospital personnel formed a small dance band which entertained patients and often played at functions in and around Wellington, providing
music for ships' dances and military camps. Amateur theatrical organizations also produced weekly concerts and vaudeville shows. In addition, New Zealanders contributed to patient comfort and entertainment. The Order of St. John and the New Zealand Red Cross Society supplied bathrobes, pajamas, slippers, and sweaters
to the patients.
Elsewhere
War had brought changes in every facet of American life on the homefront. November and December brought new additions to the ration list--sugar, coffee, gasoline, and fuel oil. On 2 Dec, scientists at the University of Chicago initiated the first self-sustaining nuclear reaction, carrying out a key step in the
development of the atomic bomb. As a harbinger of things to come, the Dravo Corporation of Pittsburgh, PA, completed thefirst American-built landing tanker on 14 Dec.
In Navy medicine, RADM Ross T. McIntire, Surgeon General and Chief of BUMED, was reappointed for an additional 4-year term on 1 Dec. Seventeen days later, President Roosevelt approved the rank of Rear Admiral for dental officers. In addition, nurses were granted temporary relative rank from ensign to captain, and increased pay for the war period plus 6 months. Sue S. Dauser, as Superintendent of the Nurse Corps, took the oath as the first captain in the Nurse Corps, becoming the first woman captain in the Navy. In the Marine Corps, the Commandant approved the establishment of the women's reserve on 7 Nov.
Hospital construction and commissioning continued at an accelerated rate as the average patient census continued to rise, reaching 13,274 for 1942.(15) This was almost double the June 1941 average of 7,723.(16) Hospitals were commissioned at Norfolk, VA, on 2 Nov; at Aiea Heights, T.H., on 1 Nov; at Norman, OK, on 15 Nov; at St. Albans, NY, on 24 Nov; and at Long Beach, CA, on 15 Dec. Mobile Hospital No. 5, a 1,000-bed hospital in Noumea, New Caledonia, officially opened on 23 Nov. Mob-5 had received small numbers of patients prior to its official opening. On 19 Nov, a large draft of patients arrived at Mob-5 from the Guadalcanal battle area.
The Navy also established the first official convalescent hospital, the purpose to care solely for patients who required no further "treatment other than a change in climate, rest, good diet, psychotherapy, or
physiotherapy."(17) In August 1942, W. Averell Harriman, then government official and ambassador to Russia from 1943 to 1946, had offered his estate to the Navy. The Navy commissioned the property as USNCH Harriman, NY, on 16 Nov.
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References
1. Journal of the Medical Department: Jan. 1939 - June 1944, p 152.
2. U.S. Navy Medical Department Administrative History, 1941-1945, Vol. I: Narrative History, chap. 14, p 4.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid., p 9.
5. Sometimes regimental officers forfeited the 30-day waiting period for evacuation and sent wounded to transports although their conditions did not warrant it.
6. Ibid., p 10.
7. Ibid., p 12.
8. U.S. Navy Medical Department Administrative History, 1941-1945, Vol. I: Narrative History, chap. 1, p 29.
9. The History of the Medical Department of the United States Navy in II, Vol. I: A Narrative and Pictorial Volume, p 73.
10. Ibid., p 21.
11. Hayes, TH. Journal, part II, p 106.
12. Ibid., p 1.
13. Patton, WK. "History of U.S. Naval Hospitals: Vol. II: All remaining hospitals including Special Augmented hospital No. 6 Okinawa," p 499.
14. Ibid.
15. The History of the Medical Department of the United States Navy in World War II, Vol. I: A Narrative and Pictorial Volume, p 1.
16. Ibid.
17. Mitchum, J. "BUMED's World War II `Resorts.'" Navy Medicine; 1991 82(6), p 22