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451

452

See n. 259.

Memo for CG, XIII AF, from Surg., Hq. XIII AF, sub: Field Cooking and Baking School Similar to That of the V AF, 6 Oct 44.

453 XIII AF Reg. 133-6, sub: Food Service Program, 27 Apr 45.

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457 Check Sheet, C/S, Hq., FEAF, to A-1, FEAF, 7 Dec 44.

458 Lt. Col. R. R. Grinker and Capt. J. P. Spiegel, War Neuroses in North Africa: The Tunisian Campaign (Sep 43) pp. 140-144.

459

460

Rpt., Lt. Col. G. F. Baier, III, to TAS, sub: Med. Rpt. V AF, 27 Nov 43.

Rpt., Maj. M. N. Walsh XIII AF, Neuropsychiatrist, to Surg., XIII AF, sub: Neuropsychiatric Problems in the XIII AF, 20 Dec 43.

461

Ltr., Capt. H. F. Ford, Hq. FEAF, to Surg., FEAF, sub: Rpt. of Survey of Psychiatric Problems in

FEAF, 27 Jul 45.

462 Grinker and Spiegel, op. cit., pp. 136-137; 138.

463

Rpt., Analysis Sect., XIII AF, sub: An Analysis of Fatigue in the Ground Echelons of the XIII AF,

6 Jan 44.

464

405

466

Rpt., Lt. Col. G. F. Baier III, to TAS, sub: Med. Rpt. XIII AF, 13

See n. 409.

Dec 43.

Maj. D. H. K. Lee (Australian Army M. C.), "Tropic Climates and the Soldier," Air Surgeon's Bulletin, II (Jul 45), pp. 210-213.

467

Lt. Col. J. B. Hall, V AF Fighter Comd., sub: Fighter Pilot Survey in SWPA, Oct 44.

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Ltr., CG, Hq., FEAF, to TAG, sub: Essential Tech. Med. Data from Overseas Air Forces, 1 Mar 45. 471 See n. 463.

472 See n. 409.

473

'Ltr., Lt. Col. J. H. Murray, Hq. FEAF, to TAS, sub: Rpt., of Survey of the FEAF, 23 Aug 44; Rpt., Surg., Hq. XIII AF, to TAS, sub: Med. Rpt., XIII AF, 28 Oct 43; Rpt., Surg., V AF, to TAS, sub: Med Hist., V AF, 1943.

474 Monthly Progress Rpt., Sec. 7, ASF, 28 Feb 45.

475 Bulletin of the U. S. Army Medical Department, No. 82, Nov 44, p. 12.

476 Rpt., Maj. B. A. Donnley, Hq., V AF, sub: Rpt., of Med. Activities in the SWPA, 15 Feb 43.

478

Ibid.

Rpt., Capt. J. E. Dougherty, 41st Fighter Sq., V AF, sub: The Effects of Four Months Combat Flying in a Tropical Combat Zone; Rpt., Maj. J. E. Gilman, Surg., 3d Bomb. Gp., sub: Survey of Combat Pilots and Crews, 11 May 43; Rpt., Maj. J. T. King, Surg., 90th Bomb. Gp., V AF, Some Firsthand Observations on Combat Flying Stress in a Heavy Bomardment Group, 18 May 43; Rpt., Maj. G. E Murphy, Surg, 317th TC Gp., V AF, Flying Fatigue in Troop Carrier Crews, 1943; Rpt., Maj. J. E. Dougherty, Stat. Officer, Off of Surg., FEAF, sub: Operational Fatigue. June 44; Rpt., Maj. J. E. Crane, Rest Leave Surg., XIII AF, sub: Time Out for Rest, 1944; Rpt., Maj. J. E. Crane, Rest Leave Surg., XIII AF, sub: Psychiatric Experiences With Flying Personnel in the South Pacific, 1944; Rpt., Lt. Col. M. N. Walsh, Neuropsychiatrist, 2d CME, sub: The Flight Surgeon Role in the Management of Psychogenic Difficulties in Combat Airmen, 2 Apr 45; Rpt., Lt. Col. M. N. Walsh, Neuropsychiatrist, 2d CME, sub: Rehabilitation of the Exhausted Flier, Oct 44.

479 See n. 415.

180 Undtd. Rpt. on the Mental, Physical and Morale Health of XIII AF Personnel by Maj. J. E. Crane (MC). 481 See n. 476.

482

Opns. Analysis Sect., Rpt., sub: Losses, Accidents, and Injuries of Fighter Planes and Pilots in Relation to Flying Time, 15 Apr 44; Rpt., Opns Analysis Sect., XIII AF, sub: Addendum to Rpt., No.

IX, 4 Oct 44.

483 Ltr., Col. J. H. Murray, Hq. FEAF, to TAS, sub: Rpt. of Survey of the FEAF, 23 Aug 44.

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485 Ltr., Hq., V Bomber Comd., to CG, V AF, sub: Combat Crew Rotation, 20 Apr 45.

486

As cited in rpt., Maj. J. E. Gilman, Surg., 3d Bomb. Gp., V.AF, sub: Survey of Combat Pilots and Crews, 11 May 43.

487

Rpt., Hq. 72d Bomb. Gp. to V Bomb. Gp., sub: Weekly Status and Opns. Rpt., AAF Form 34. Revised, Table V, Remarks and Recommendations, Sec. 2b, personnel, 11-20 Jun 44. See also n. 459.

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402

See n. 402.

Rpt., Maj. J. E. Crane, Rest Leave Surg., XIII AF, sub: Psychiatric Experiences With Flying Personnel in the South Pacific, Sep 44.

493

494

'Ltr., CG, FEAF, to CG, AAF, sub: Replacement Combat Crews, 10 Jul 44.

495 See n. 476.

496

Ltr., Lt. Col. J. H. Murray to Surg., FEAF, sub: Confirmation of Rotation Policy, 2 Jul 44.

Rpt. Surg., V AF to TAS, sub: Med. Hist., V AF, 1943.

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See n. 486. See also nos. 461 and 490.

501 Rpt., Surg., V AF, to Surg., SOS, sub: Rpt. of Activities, ADVON, V AF, 31 Dec 42.

502 Check Sheet Hq., FEAF, Off., A-3, 23 Nov 44.

503 See n. 496.

504

Sub. Ltr., Hq. XIII AF, sub: Limit of Effort for AAF Personnel, 7 Apr 43; Memo No. 28, Hq. XIII AF, sub: Rest and Rehabilitation Policy for AAF Combat Crews, 27 Jul 43.

606 See n. 480.

506 Ibid.

507

508

Ltr., CG, XII AF to CO's all units, sub: Hospitalization While on Rest Leave, 27 Feb 44.

'Ltr., AF Psychiatrist, Hq., XIII AF, to the Surg., XIII AF, sub: Psychiatric Survey of Rest Leave Procedures and Medical Facilities' Available to XIII AF Personnel in Auckland, New Zealand, 16 Dec 43.

Chapter X

MEDICAL SUPPORT

OF AIR COMBAT IN
CHINA-BURMA-INDIA

Prior to World War II, China, Burma, and India were countries remote and shrouded in mystery in the mind of the average American. Yet out of this land, always a secondary theater of operations, were to come some of the richest chapters of human endeavor in the entire war. Although nature had isolated the countries one from the other by the "Hump," that long treacherous subsidiary range of the Himalayas extending into Burma, they were linked strategically by military planners to keep China in the war. When the Burma Road was closed after the fall of Rangoon in March 1942, the only connecting link between India and China was the aerial ferry route from the main terminus at Chabua in Assam, where northeast India faced Burma and Tibet, and across the Hump to Yunnan. This route extended across snowcapped mountains reaching 18,000 feet into clouds and mist, above lush jungle valleys where treacherous air currents could, in 60 seconds time, pull a plane downward for 2,000 feet. In winter the Assam lowlands were fog-covered. During the monsoon season from March to October the rains came at a steady downpour and the flying ceiling was some 3,000 feet or less. To avoid weather conditions, planes were often forced to fly at heights of 30,000 feet. Nor were these the only hazards. On a clear day the huge unarmed transports were easily spotted by the enemy, and at all times the pilots' problems were complicated because the mountains deflected radio beams for dozens of miles. Such was the nature of the only air route which linked the 12,000-mile ocean line of supply extending from the United States to India, and eastward to the back door of the Japanese mainland.

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The Early Period1

Since all supplies had to be airlifted from India to China, and since the tactical air forces had the primary mission of protecting the aerial ferry route that carried both troops and supplies, there was a preponderance of Air Force strength in the CBI Theater. Yet, in accordance with theater policy, the Medical Department, Services of Supply, and not the Air Forces, controlled station and general hospitals and therefore administratively controlled Air Force wounded and sick personnel admitted to their case. As previously stated, the fall of Burma in March 1942 was to provide the first occasion for mass air evacuations although it was not until the spring of 1944 that the medical potential of mass air transportation was fully exploited. Until that time the air movement of patients singly to the rear was to become part of the theater medical history symbolized hitherto by the saga of Dr. Gordon Seagrave and described in Burma Surgeon. The record of medical service in this early period was one of expediency and frustration in the face of indescribable filth, the unconquered specter of malaria, the dependence upon British colonial medical facilities, the lack of organization and housekeeping equipment and supplies, and a feeling of remoteness from the rest of the fighting world.

Medical requirements were to become more thoroughly crystallized in the period after the fall of Burma and as the Tenth Air Force in India together with the Fourteenth in China (built from the China Task Force) began to harass enemy-held Burma. Originally the Tenth had been scheduled to support the Chinese from its base in India, but with the fall of Burma this support could only be indirect. Under Maj. Gen. L. H. Brereton, Maj. Gen. C. L. Bissell, and Brig. Gen. H. C. Davidson, successively, the Tenth established and defended the aerial ferry over the Hump and mounted bombing and strafing missions against Rangoon and Myitkyina in Burma. Col. H. B. Porter (MC) was Tenth Air Force Surgeon with Col. John E. Roberts as deputy. In July Maj. Gen. G. E. Stratemeyer organized the AAF-CBI Command with Tenth Air Force as a subsidiary unit. In August 1943 Col. W. F. DeWitt (MC) relieved Colonel Porter who was AAF-CBI Command Surgeon. Colonel Roberts, meanwhile was Tenth Air Force Surgeon until he was relieved by Col. Clyde Brothers (MC) in October 1943. In May 1944 Colonel Brothers succeeded Colonel DeWitt as AAF-CBI surgeon. Lt. Col. James E. Kendrick (MC) was Acting Surgeon, Tenth Air Force, until June 1944 when Col. Jay F. Gamel (MC) arrived in the theater and was appointed Surgeon, Tenth Air Force. In July 1945 Colonel Gamel was succeeded by Col. Everett C. Freer (MC). In China, meanwhile, the Fourteenth Air Force under Brig. Gen. C. L. Chennault was

to strike hard at such bases as Hankow, Canton, and Hong Kong. Col. Thomas C. Gentry (MC) was to remain Fourteenth Air Force Surgeon throughout the period.3

By late 1943 there were in India 2 general hospitals and I station hospital in which AAF officers were treated. The 181st General Hospital in Karachi, until recently a station hospital, was the first American hospital established and, according to AAF reports, had grown without apparent thought being given to proper staffing. The same was true of the 112th Station Hospital at Calcutta, with the result that specialists were not always available when needed. For example, one report told of an AAF patient who was rushed in the night to this hospital with an acute appendix, but the doctor on duty, an eye and ear specialist, did not operate, waiting instead until the regular surgeon reported to duty the following day. At the 20th General Hospital in Ledo, on the other hand, the professional care rendered by the staff headed by Lt. Col. Isidor S. Ravdin (MC) of the University of Pennsylvania drew only praise from AAF officers. One medical officer, for example, wrote that this group of competent professional men "may be equalled but never surpassed" and that even in the United States better care could not have been provided.' The term "splendid cooperation" came to be used routinely in reference to professional care rendered there.

There was, however, the same complaint throughout India as was heard from other theaters in connection with the administrative procedures involved in caring for short-term cases. Once a patient was admitted to the hospital, the AAF lost all control over him. For example, in December 1943 it was reported that a flying officer suffering from gonorrhea upon his arrival in India had been hospitalized for 65 days and that it was still questionable when he would be discharged. In an air theater, a few such cases could cut deep into limited manpower resources, a compelling reason for the AAF to seek control of routine and short-term cases and thus retain administrative jurisdiction.

These were problems over which the AAF had no control at that time, however, and in terms of the immediate medical problems at forward bases they were of long-range rather than immediate concern. Conditions in the forward areas when air bases were being built were described in graphic terms by war correspondent Eric Sevareid, who visited the theater in late summer 1943. He reported that at Chabua, where air bases were in process of construction, American men, excepting the few officers who had tea-garden bungalows, "were living in shocking conditions"; that there were "absolutely no amenities of life." It was, he wrote: "

6

[A] dread and dismal place where dysentery was frequent and malaria certain, where haggard, sweating men dragged their feverish bodies through the day, ate execrable food,

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