Battle Station Sick Bay
Charcoal drawing of a hospital corpsman is taking the temperature of a patient snug under his blanket in the sick bay on USS Yorktown during WWII. 88-159-GM as a Gift of Abbott Laboratories
“During that hurricane, one of the engineers came up from the engine room and put his hand over the knife-edge of the hatch just as a wave knocked the hatch down and smashed all his fingers. The only place a doctor had to do surgery on those old four-pipers was the wardroom mess table. I had two men holding him down to keep him from sliding off as the ship rolled and pitched. Other men held the instruments and trays. Two men had to hold me while I amputated two of his fingers and sewed them up.“
This quote is from one of many oral histories featured in the documentary Battle Station Sick Bay, produced by the US Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (Video link below.) Its author is Lt. Lewis Haynes, MC, USN, who served as a medical officer on a World War I-era destroyer during convoy duty in the North Atlantic before the US entrance into the war.
This 2006 documentary should interest anyone who had a relative serve in the US Navy fleet, especially if they were a doctor, nurse, hospital apprentice, or Pharmacist’s Mate. Furthermore, it will also be of interest to those who enjoy learning about the US Navy’s history in World War II.
This post is the fourth in a series about these documentaries. I have enjoyed watching every one of them. I encourage you to watch the documentary (30:27), as well as the others (links below). It is very well done, interspersing archival footage with the oral histories of medical personnel.
Battle Station Sick Bay Timeline
Here’s a timeline of various battles and ships mentioned in this documentary.
Pre-war Convoy Reuben James 3:09
Asiatic Fleet 5:04
Doolittle Raid 7:09
Battle of Midway 00:57, 8:55
Sinking of USS Yorktown 9:19
Naval Battles of Guadalcanal 12:47
Sinking of USS Hornet 13:17
USS Montpelier 15:28 (Discussion of effects of heat on crew)
Battle of Empress Augusta Bay 19:53
USS Seadragon Pharmacist’s Mate removes appendix 22:23 (A transcript of Pharmacist’s Mate Wheeler Lipes’ oral history is here.)
Kamikazes 26:44
Click on this image. It will take you to the website where you can view the video.
Here are the other blog posts in the series.
Navy Medicine At Normandy D-Day
Pearl Harbor Oral Histories of Medical Personnel,
Bataan Death March and POW Oral Histories.
Did you arrive here via a search engine? I am the author of the forthcoming book Heroes By The Hundreds: The Story of the USS Franklin (CV-13). In addition to writing about the bravery of the crews that saved her, I will discuss the lessons we can learn in leadership and decision-making, and the changes the US Navy made because of those lessons.
Feel free to follow me on Facebook. There, I am M. Glenn Ross, Author. Additionally, I write a monthly newsletter, Glenn’s Action Report, about subjects I find interesting in my research. You can sign up for it below. Feel free to leave a comment or ask a question. Thanks for reading.
-Glenn
