Rogers’ aunt invites the soldier over for a meal. He likes her and decides to get off the train when she does. On the train, she meets Joseph Cotton, a war veteran suffering from shell shock (what we call PTSD today). She’s allowed to come home for Christmas. ![]() In another unusual story set during WWII, Ginger Rogers plays a young woman who is serving a prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter. Click this link to read more about this story. George Lott Casualty includes incredible photographs. Life Magazine published a story in 1945 that followed a soldier from the time he was wounded until he reached a hospital in the United States. When I look down at the scar on my knee, I can’t help but wonder how much I am benefiting from the medical lessons learned during WWII. Surgical techniques, skin graphs, plastic surgery, improved artificial limbs, air transport and much more improved the lives of the surviving wounded. They developed a technique to extract the plasma from the whole blood and preserve it so that it could be transported overseas and given to the wounded in place of whole blood. Back in the states the Red Cross collected blood to be used in hospitals and overseas, but transporting it over long distances proved difficult. In my research I have read about some of the innovative medical techniques developed during WWII. This resulted in fewer deaths and better outcomes. These methods of moving the wounded from combat to medical facilities with increasing capabilities insured that the more severely wounded got the treatment they needed in a timely manner. Marines fighting in the Pacific Theatre followed a similar path as the soldiers wounded on land and then were evacuated onto a ship. In the Atlantic, the more severely wounded went to a hospital on the U.S. The hospital ships would take the badly wounded back to Hawaii where the Navy had a large hospital complex. In the Pacific, a hospital ships waited nearby during major battles or invasions such as Iwo Jima. Sometimes, he would be transferred to a hospital ship, if one was nearby. If the sailor needed to be transported to a hospital, he had to wait until his ship made port. The doctors in sick bay would perform surgery or provide whatever treatment was needed. Then the sailor went to sick bay which is the hospital aboard ship. If wounded aboard ship, a corpsman (similar to a medic) would initially treat the wounds. Wounded Sailors followed a different path. Depending on the time and place, the wounded soldier might be transported by airplane or by ship. Very few wounds required that the soldier be sent back to the states. If the patient could recover and return to the fight, he was kept in the Theatre of War. Although the TV show was set in Korea, the concept of a mobile field hospital originated during WWII.įrom the field hospital the wounded soldier was transported by ambulance to an evacuation hospital or a general hospital even further back where he would recover or be sent home. If called for, they performed amputations. They splinted broken bones, treated burns, open wounds, etc. ![]() Minor wounds were treated at the aid station.Īt the field hospital a team of doctors and nurses performed any necessary surgery. Seriously wounded were treated and prepared for evacuation to a field hospital. ![]() At the aid station patients were examined and separated by severity and type of injury. Stretcher bearers or fellow soldiers took the wounded man to the nearest aid station just behind the lines. That might include bandages, a tourniquet, sulfa powder and morphine for the pain. Immediately after being wounded, a medic performed first aid. Let’s walk through what happened to a soldier after being wounded. Also the survivors enjoyed an improved quality of life. Thanks to the medical innovations, both in the organization of how the wounded were handled and the medical techniques utilized, survival rates during WWII were much better than in previous wars. The same was true of the wounded in WWII. The latest technology and medical knowledge insured that my surgery was successful. Having recently undergone knee replacement surgery, I got to thinking about what the soldiers, sailors and marines who were wounded during WWII went through.
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