The Medical Department

Few Army activities are subject to closer scrutiny than those of protecting the health of the troops and binding up the wounds of those who have borne the battle. As in the matter of feeding and clothing, the general public has well established civilian standards against which it can measure the efficiency of those responsible for the Army's medical service. When conducted with speed and professional competence this service is a source of comfort to both the man in uniform and his family and friends; when it fails to equal or excel the system of medical care to which American society is accustomed it is subject to immediate and strong protest from a people able and willing to criticize. The successful conduct of a military medical service therefore requires not only a knowledge of contemporary civilian medical practice but also administrative talent capable of adjusting the demands of the public and the medical profession to the Army's needs in time of war with the minimum of friction. This is the first volume of a series which relates the hospitalization and evacuation experience of the Army in World War II. It should prove enlightening both to military men directly or indirectly concerned with the Army's medical service and to that large group of doctors and hospital administrators who daily face policy and management problems similar to those recounted here.