On 14 February 1944 fighters saw enemy action over Japanese territory for the first time. Lt. C. Hartzer, Jr., was lost when his P-51 exploded and Capt. D. V. Miller was reported missing in action. Fast upon the heels of this action there occurred the next day the first deaths near the bases when seven people were killed in a glider crash at Lalaghat: 4 British and 3 "Flying Sergeants." On the 26th, 3 patients were evacuated to the 20th General Hospital, the first to be evacuated from the base. Thus, the month of February marked the beginning of action to retake Burma-it marked also the beginning of crashes, injuries, and air evacuation, all of which were to be matters of continuing concern during the next long months. 18 Beginning on 28 February 1944, six gliders were held in readiness to serve as ambulance ships in forthcoming operations, two of which would support the two landings scheduled for the first night in enemy territory. In each ambulance ship three cases weighing approximately 200 pounds were placed with emergency drugs, dressings and instruments in such a position that, when opened, necessary equipment would be available without unpacking. These cases were mounted in the glider in such fashion that a maximum amount of efficiency was obtained. On one wall a litter of such a height was mounted that it served admirably as an operating table. The mountings for cases and litters were such that in the event of an accident to the glider, or in the event that the glider should have to be abandoned as the direct result of enemy action, all equipment could be quickly moved to the ground station or mounted in a more suitable glider. By practice it was determined that this could be done with the assistance of two men in 10 minutes' time. The four additional gliders were constructed with six mountings of litters so that each glider could evacuate a minimum of six litter patients and an equal number of ambulatory patients. At this time a 20-bed evacuation station was set up at Lalaghat on a 24-hour schedule. A supplemental feeding program consisting of bitter chocolate prepared with "D" rations and powdered milk was available to all personnel before and after completion of a mission. On 5 March 1944 began a month of sustained missions which were to extend through the 31st. Because the enemy had anticipated this action, one target (PICCADILLI) had been rendered useless by placing large teakwood logs over the field, and all planes and gliders were hurriedly directed to BROADWAY, the second field. Sixty-four gliders finally made their way to the sky of which 38 reached BROADWAY, and of that number 3 were intact. While no one was hurt several gliders, including the one in which flight surgeon Captain Murphy was flying, were forced down in enemy ter ritory. During the period, 8 glider pilots, co-pilots and other members were killed, and 19 injured and evacuated.19 Flight surgeon Capt. D. Tulloch was more successful than Captain Murphy, his glider arriving "in a bumpy but uneventful fashion." His description of subsequent events was graphic.20 The original plan had been for each glider to land, come to a stop, and the occupants then to get out and push it to the edge of the field. But because of the rough terrain many gliders had lost their gear and could not be pushed out of the way, the result of which was that several crashed into each other, resulting in death and injury." As gliders began to land more frequently at the rate of two every 21⁄2 minutes, it became increasingly hazardous to move about the field; and when two British officers arrived it was agreed that they would set up on the east side of the area, with Captain Tulloch's group on the west. When one glider, attempting a 360° turn to lose altitude crashed, Captain Tulloch, along with British soldiers, carried the flight-service chest and plasma to the scene. There they found that the glider had come in on its nose, with only 9 of the 20 occupants alive. The dead were jammed in the wreckage. A second glider, meanwhile, had also tried to make the 360° turn but had crashed out in the jungle. Captain Tulloch's party tried unsuccessfully that night and the next morning to find the wrecked glider, but were unable to do so until after light planes had spotted it. There were 3 men alive and 15 dead. The wounded were treated on the spot and carried to camp on litters. In neither of the gliders, incidentally, had safety belts been used. On the first day of operations, it was nearly dark before the last of the wounded were evacuated, some by L-r's and others by C-47's, for by this time the engineers had prepared a strip for C-47's to land, and as the planes brought troops to the front, they could carry the wounded to the rear. Included were about 20 litter cases together with 15 wounded who were able to sit. Flight surgeon Tulloch summed it up in this fashion: "All arrived back in Allied hands safely-a good record inasmuch as the scene of the activity was more than a hundred miles behind enemy lines." 22 Out in enemy territory, meanwhile, flight surgeon Murphy and his party were heading by foot toward BROADWAY, arriving there the 13th. In 8 days they had covered 80 miles-"never talking above a whisper, never stopping for more than four hours, eating a third of a day's rations per day, avoiding all people and all trails." The health of the group had been "remarkably good.” On the day of Murphy's arrival a dispensary had opened at BROADWAY, under the direction of Enloe, who had been sent to the front. On that day occurred the only air-raid casualty although the invasion base was to be repeatedly bombed during the next few days. Lt. Hubert L. Krug, the casualty, was administered morphine and blood plasma in a foxhole and evacuated that night to Hailakandi under the care of Captain Murphy. As he sureyed the problems at the front, meanwhile, Captain Enloe concluded that the most pressing problem was sanitation.23 The lack of housekeeping personnel made construction of adequate sanitary facilities almost impossible. The digging of slit trenches, latrines, procurement of water and the policing of the bivouac areas and mess had to be done by men for whom these jobs were secondary. For example, [he said] the number of latrines provided for the small American force of about seventy-five sufficed but was far below the number required by the field manuals for the understandable reason that when it came to digging, the pilots and mechanics were more interested in excavation of foxholes than latrines. To provide a central point for medical care, a small aid station was set up in the fuselage of one of the wrecked gliders. According to Captain Enloe, the equipment consisted of an improvised flight surgeon's chest, a cot, a blanket set, a splint set, and a large store of human dried blood. While the aid station "proved ideal for the occasion," it lasted only 2 days because it was destroyed by fire when the entire command post area was racked by bombs and strafed by the enemy. Prior to this time medical supplies had been split into two groups so that if one group were hit, the other half would be intact, but this measure proved of no value. All American medical supplies were destroyed, and dependence was placed upon the British who had camouflaged a field hospital. Ground action with the Japanese started 27 March and continued through 31 March. A Captain Reirson, who had replaced Enloe at the front, wrote: "Nights, during this time, were spent in foxholes-where mosquitoes were hungry." 24 As Colonel Cochran's "Flying Sergeants" in their L-1's and L-5's evacuated casualties from the face of the enemy during the next days they were to gain fame throughout the land for their exploits. Because they could jump from one jungle airstrip to another as the pattern of warfare with the Chindits behind the Japanese lines in Burma fluctuated, they were able to evacuate more than four hundred casualties from fluid Mayu Range front. One local newspaper described their activities in the following graphic terms: 25 In a jungle clearing in the Arakan, 40 wounded men lay waiting within sound of the Japs who surrounded the clearing on three sides. Over the ridge to the West came tree top hopping, the planes they were waiting for. Fox Moths of the British Service and L-r's and L-5's of the First Air Commando Force. Each turned, gliding swiftly into the clearing. Each loaded a stretcher case and two walking wounded and within a few minutes had taken the air again heading for a rearward strip. Ten minutes later two more planes appeared in the clearing. After same interval, another two. Never more than two aircraft on the little landing strip at one time. By 2 April 1944 all American troops had been evacuated. From February through April 1944 Sick-Inn functioned in its unique role as a cross between the traditional dispensary and station hospital. Isolation, necessity and sheer good fortune had fashioned an ideal type medical facility for small bases at which tactical air forces were stationed. Since the early days when small station hospitals were authorized at Zone of Interior bases to provide crash care, the need for such a facility had been recognized; but the requirement for a comparable facility in a theater of operations, while recognized by the Air Surgeon, was not tested until this time because of existing theater policy. One hundred and eighty-one or 69.4 percent of all patients admitted belonged to the 1st Air Commando Force; 34 or 13.2 percent belonged to the 900th Airborne Engineers and 46 or 17.8 percent belonged to various service organizations on detached service at the base. A total of 1,236 hospital days or 74.8 percent of the total were incurred by the personnel of the 1st Air Commando, 250 hospital days or 10 percent by the 900th Engineers and 299 or 15.2 percent by the various service groups. Medical problems outnumbered surgical necessities in a ratio of 6 to 1. Twenty-seven or 18.7 percent of all 1st Air Commando medical patients were air evacuated to the base for medical care. Of that number, 5 or 4.1 percent were air evacuated from the base. Two of the 5 returned to duty and 3 awaited final disposition at the 20th General Hospital. 26 It was estimated by Major Page that if every medical patient had been evacuated immediately following the onset of symptoms which necessitated hospitalization at least one C-47 would have been necessary for this purpose. If only one such patient required immediate evacuation, say for malaria, and if he were confined to his quarters awaiting other such illnesses to occur in order to make practical use of an evacuation plane, the critical period would already have subsided. He added further cogent reasons why patients should not be evacuated if they could be cared for in installations similar to Sick-Inn: 27 It is an acknowledged fact that continued contact with one's associates not only shortens the period of illness but facilitates a more rapid return to duty whether it be partial or full. The patient in a sick bay such as ours is continuously aware of what is going on within his own unit. His spirit and yen for participation is not allowed to falter. He will not lose face. 262297-55- 58 Sick-Inn was prepared to render only emergency surgical treatment and once the patient had recovered from the initial shock, it was contemplated that he would be air evacuated. With reference to evacuation of patients with injuries and wounds, 17 or 47.2 percent of all accidents incurred by personnel of the 1st Commando Force were air evacuated to the base for immediate care and 8 or 22.2 percent evacuated from the base.28 Because of the excellent cooperation of the 20th General Hospital, the Chief of the Surgical Service upon one occasion was brought to Hailakandi when it was realized that it would be fatal to move the patient; upon another occasion a patient with acute appendicitis was flown to the 20th General Hospital, operated upon within an hour and a half, and returned to the base after 10 days for continued convalescence. The following statistical data were prepared by Major Page and his staff. TABLE 88.-Morbidity Rate, First Air Commando Force, 1 February 1944 -- 30 April 1944 Note: 97.3% returned to duty following a normal period of convalescence. 2 awaiting final disposition at 20th General Hospital. |