Overview of the US Army Medical Department during World War II
Brigadier General William Archer Hagins served as the Chief Surgeon of the US Sixth Army during its combat chronicle in World War II from 1943 to 1945.
At the start of American involvement in World War II in early December 1941, the US Army Medical Corps had just 1,200 trained physicians in its ranks; this number quickly swelled to over 50,000 by the end of World War II in September 1945. Over the course of the war, these US Army physicians worked diligently to develop more effective treatments and solutions for a wide variety of battlefield casualties, such as the development of Portable Surgical Hospitals (the precursor to the M.A.S.H. surgical hospitals of the Korean War and to the Army Field Hospitals of the modern day) on New Guinea by units of the US Sixth Army.
Impact of the Medical Department on the US Military - World War II and Beyond
On the front lines throughout the world, field medics embedded in combat units alongside combat soldiers stabilized casualties where they fell, enabling their later treatment in field hospitals. World War II was also the first war to feature practical large-scale implementation of the penicillin vaccine, the world’s first mass-produced antibiotic. Penicillin and other “miracle drugs” invented during World War II saved millions of lives, and they also helped to sharply lower the rates of venereal disease contracted by soldiers compared with previous conflicts. When the effects of all medical advancements discovered worldwide before and during World War II are examined within the context of the US military, the effects are staggering: the total mortality rate of wounded American soldiers who survived long enough to be treated by Army medics at a frontline aid station dropped to only 3 percent, and only 585 American soldiers (out of 918,298 soldiers treated) died of disease during the entire war. Battlefield medicine had reached a new height, and soldiers wounded in battle could expect far more effective care than was possible at any other previous period.
After the advancements made during World War II, the US Army Medical Department continued working on new medical advancements to further reduce battlefield mortality among American soldiers. The US Army Medical Department continues to adapt to new battlefields and improving technology, and Army physicians continue to develop new and innovative strategies to treat and heal combat injuries incurred on battlefields worldwide.
Further Readings about the US Army Medical Department
Items in the Display
Medical equipment and supplies on loan from the Jarrett W. Palmer collection, available at Special Collections, Zach S. Henderson Library.
