Graves registration in the 4th Armored Division
In this article we take a look at graves registration within the 4th Armored Division
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Casualties
First Convoy to Bastogne.
The first convoy to Bastogne helped to evacuate many of the 1150 wounded soldiers in the city. This is its story.
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A street in Coutances, France
These famous photos show medics of the 4th Armored Division treating a wounded man on a sidewalk. They were taken on July 30th, 1944 in a street in the city of Coutances, France. After doing some more research, I found that an incredible amount of photos (as well as color film) were taken in the
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Trench foot and Frostbite epidemic in the ETO
The US Army in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) faced a tragic epidemic in the fall and winter of 1944/1945. Casualty numbers in this epidemic range from 46,000 – 71,000 soldiers (depending on whether only “pure” cold injury casualties are counted or casualties with other medical problems AND cold injury are counted). If we
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Shock treatment in the US Army during WW2. Part 1: Shock and plasma.
Shock is a life-threatening condition caused by failure of blood circulation, causing inadequate oxygen delivery to the tissues and cells of the body. The effects of shock are initially reversible, but can rapidly become irreversible, resulting in multiorgan failure and death. There are several possible causes and we now recognize different types of shock: septic
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Recollections of a Liberator, part 3: Prisoner 21082, Paul Sand
In 1992, Frederick B. Lea recorded his experiences of April 1945, when he witnessed the horrors of the Holocaust firsthand during the liberation of two concentration camps: Ohrdruf and Buchenwald. Lea was a Captain during the War. He served as company commander of the Headquarters Company, 46th AMB; as Battalion Supply Officer (S-4), and as
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Combat exhaustion
This Morning Report describes one soldier suffering from “battle fatigue” and the efforts of the aid men to help him. But what is “battle fatigue” exactly? What were the symptoms and signs? And how was it treated? In this article, I will explore these questions and answer them first for the US Army in general
Medical Evacuation and Treatment Series. Part 5: Medical Battalion.
When a casualty’s injury warranted evacuation from the battalion aid station/casualty collecting point, and the treatment he had received had stabilized his situation enough for him to be transportable, he would enter the second echelon of the Chain of Evacuation. The second echelon was the responsibility of the medical battalion. Just as all the medical
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Silence
This July I visited the Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial at St. Avold, France. I drove there, from my family’s vacation house in the Belgian Ardennes, to visit the graves of the 17 members of the 4th Armored Division’s medical units buried there. I had planned to write about my visit to the cemetery soon