Doctors

In an enterprise founded on destruction and killing, military doctors have a uniquely constructive mission. They must mend their own comrades’ wounds and if possible, send them back to fight, even if it risks further injury. Doctors rarely carry a weapon and in most instances are exempt from being fired on. That doesn't always protect them from danger, and it surely does not exempt them from the stresses of war. A lucky soldier may never witness a casualty; casualties are what wartime military doctors deal with every day.

Featured Story: Glenn H. Wyler

"The patient didn't have the 'gas pains' which usually follow abdominal surgery. The rolling of the ship apparently took care of that."

Glenn H. Wyler was that rare soldier who served tours of duty in both major theaters of World War II, working as ship's physician on a troop transport vessel. His often colorful memoir, The Buzzard's Tale, changes only the names of the men and the ship. Raised in Utah, Wyler had no desire to go to sea, but the Army assigned him to the "Buzzard," which sailed the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Pacific. He writes of taking on 700 Moroccan, Algerian, and Senegalese fighters and their 85 female camp followers in Africa; a barroom brawl in Marseilles; preventing theft of valuable medical supplies headed for the black market; and transporting German nationals out of China after the war.

  •
    personal narrative
    Hubert Menno Amstutz Collection Lieutenant Colonel, Army, World War, 1939-1945.
    • Contributor: Va Medical Center, Chillicothe, Ohio - Ruby, Stacia - Amstutz, Hubert Menno
    • Date: 1942
  • personal narrative
    Eugene A. Curtin Collection Captain, Army, World War, 1914-1918 - France; Belgium; Germany.
    • Contributor: Curtin, Eugene A. - Curtin, Vincent C.
    • Date: 1917
  • personal narrative
    William J. Dolan Collection Lieutenant, Navy, World War, 1939-1945 - Saipan (Northern Mariana Islands); Iwo Jima; Japan; Pacific Theater.
  • personal narrative
    Herman Field Froeb, Sr. Collection Captain, Army, World War, 1939-1945 - Durham, North Carolina. Korean War, 1950-1953 - Chicago, Illinois; Korea.
    • Contributor: St. Helena Youth Leadership Group - Walter, Alexandra - Froeb, Aislinn Boyer - Froeb Sr., Herman Field
    • Date: 1942
  • personal narrative
    Richard Bliss Leith Collection Captain, Army, World War, 1914-1918 - Salisbury Plain, England; France.
    • Contributor: Leith, Richard Bliss - Cobb, Shirley L.
    • Date: 1917
  • personal narrative
    William M. McConahey, Jr. Collection Captain, Army, World War, 1939-1945 - France; Germany; Czechoslovakia; European Theater.
    • Contributor: McConahey Jr., William M. - Mayo Clinic - McConahey, William M.
    • Date: 1943
  • personal narrative
    George Illarion Mishtowt Collection Captain, Army, World War, 1939-1945 - European Theater.
  • personal narrative
    Jeffrey Scott Roos Collection Army, Iraq War, 2003-2011 - Iraq. Lieutenant Colonel, Army, Afghan War, 2001- - Karshi-Khanabad Air Base, Uzbekistan; Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan.
    • Contributor: Hatch, Samuel Warren - Roos, Jeffrey Scott - Smith, Daniel - Coastal Christian Hgh School
    • Date: 1987
  • personal narrative
    Charles Summers Stevenson Collection Lieutenant Commander, Navy, World War, 1939-1945 - Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; Boston, Massachusetts; New York; Tinian (Northern Mariana Islands); Saipan (Northern Mariana Islands); Japan.
    • Contributor: Stevenson, Frances K. - Stevenson, Charles Summers
    • Date: 1943
  • personal narrative
    Glenn H. Wyler Collection Major, Army, World War, 1939-1945 - Germany; France. Major, Army, Korean War, 1950-1953 - Augsberg, Germany; Fontainebleau, France.
    • Contributor: Wyler, Glenn H. - Wyler, Margaret C.
    • Date: 1944