Hedley-Whyte, John

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 Epidemic Jaundice: Harvard's 5th General Hospital at MusgravePark in World War II.  (Article begins on next page)The Harvard community has made this article openly available.Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters.Citation Hedley-Whyte, John. 2005. Epidemic jaundice: Harvard's 5thGeneral Hospital at Musgrave Park in World War II. UlsterMedical Journal 74(2): 122-125.Published Version http://www.ums.ac.uk/journal.htmlAccessed February 19, 2015 7:39:17 AM ESTCitable Link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:4768784Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University's DASHrepository, and is made available under the terms and conditionsapplicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth athttp://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of-use#LAAUlsterMedJ2005; 74 (2) 122-125Medical HistoryEpidemic Jaundice:Harvard's 5th General Hospital at Musgrave Park in World War IIJohn Hedley-Whyte, MD, FACP, FRCAAccepted 14 July 2005U.S. DEPLOYMENT TO ULSTERAND EIREOn September 2, 1939, Winston Churchill joinedChamberlain's cabinet. Nine days later Franklin DRoosevelt wrote as follows:"My dear Churchill:ItisbecauseyouandIoccupiedsimilarpositionsin the World War that I want you to know howgladIamthatyouarebackagainintheAdmiralty.Yourproblemsare,Irealize,complicatedbynewfactors but the essential is not very different.WhatIwantyouandthePrimeMinistertoknowisthatIshallatalltimeswelcomeitifyouwillkeepme in touchpersonallywith anything you wantme to know about. You can always send sealedletters through yourpouch or my pouch.I am glad you did the Marlboro [sic] volumesbefore this thing started - and I much enjoyedreading them."With my sincere regards, Faithfully yours,[Franklin D Roosevelt]" IOn November 16, 1939, the US Surgeon Generalwrote to Dean C Sidney Burwell (MD, 1919) ofthe Harvard Medical School about responsibilityfor reactivating Harvard's Hospital No. 5, "Thusperpetuating the fine traditions ofWorld War I of(Harvard's) United States Base Hospital No. 5."2OnJune 13,1940,Churchillhadsuggestedinaletterto RooseveltthatUS forces be movedtoUlsterandEire. OnFebruary20, 1941,the5thGeneralHospitalmetattheHarvardClub,320CommonwealthAvenue,Boston, with Elliott Cutler, Moseley Professor ofSurgery and Chief at the Peter Bent Brigham, asActing Director. Cutler had served in the samedesignated HarvardHospital No. 5 inWorldWarI,which had been under the directorship of HarveyCushing, his predecessor as Moseley Professor.3) The Ulster Medical Society, 2005.Plans werebeingmade inthe United States andtheUnited Kingdom for the still neutral US forces tobe stationed in Ulster. In April 1941, the US WarDepartmentissuedRAINBOW-5 whichdetailedthedeploymentofthirtythousandUStroops inUlster.3On June 12, 1941, the British Government signeda contract with GA Fuller-RR Merritt ChapmanCorporation to begin constructing US bases inUlster. My father, now commanding officer ofthe31stBritishMilitaryGeneral Hospital atMusgraveParkoutsideBelfast,wastoldthatthe31stwastobetakenoverbytheHarvard-affiliated 5thUSGeneralHospital, the first unit of its kind scheduled fordeploymentunderOperationMAGNETplannedbyRAINBOW. TheactivationofOperationMAGNETwas agreed by President Roosevelt and Churchilland the Joint Chiefs at the Arcadia Conferenceheld in late December 1941 through early JanuaryinWashington, DC, shortly after the US entry intoWorld War II in early December 1941.4CUNARD LINER SUNKMy father was commander ofthe British Hospital,becausealthoughaTerritorial, hehaddistinguishedhimself in France. A senior surgeon at the RoyalVictoria Infirmary at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, fromJune3 throughJune 17, 1940,whileincommandoftherearguardofthe 8thBritishGeneralHospital atRennes, he didmuchwarsurgery. Whenthe enemyattacked with high explosive bombs and machinegunsonJune 15th,heobtainedtrucksandambulancesDavid S Sheridan Professor ofAnaesthesia and RespiratoryTherapy,HarvardUniversity, 1400VEWParkway,Boston,MA 02132-4927 USA.Tel./Fax 617-327-5563E-mail:john_hedley-whyte@hms.harvard.eduAddress correspondence as shown above.www.ums.ac.uk"EpidemicJaundice WWII"andthepatientsandstaffheadedsouth. OnMonday,June 17,1940,theCunardLiner,theLancastria,wasat anchor a fewmiles offSt. Nazaire. According toThe New York Times ofJuly 26, 1940, one officerdeclared "We were so tightly packed on board thatwecouldnotmovewhentheplanescameover,sothemenjustjeered." Then came the bombing and thesinking and "At what seemed a prearranged signalthe bomber started releasing incendiaries whichset fireto the oil. Within a fewminutes some oftherescue craft were in flames." In St. Nazaire harboron June 17, 1940 my father evacuated the remainsofhis hospital and 52 survivors ofthe Lancastriasinking,onboardtheSSGlenaffric(launched 1920,4,900tons,maximumspeed 11 knots)andtheylatermadePlymouth.WhenheheardofthesinkingoftheLancastria, Churchillburstintotears andslappedaD (secrecy) order on the news. Nevertheless, TheNewYorkTimes learned ofthe disaster andthe lossoffive to nine thousand lives.My father would never speak ofthe voyage on theGlenaffric. On landing, he received an immediateaward ofthe Distinguished Service Order (DSO).The evidence for the Prime Minister's tears comesfromajuniorsecretaryofChurchill,whowasrecentlyinterviewedaboutherexperiencesonaUnitedStatesPublic Broadcasting Service program. She said itwas the only time she saw him cry.Churchill,duringtheyears 1940-1956,heldanannualdinnerpartylimitedtohimselfandthetwelveHarrowMonitors (School Prefects) in the headmaster'sdining room and library, after which he used toindulge inhours ofpost-prandial conversation. Hewould try out punch lines and anecdotes for hisfuture speeches and answer questions. On Friday,December 7, 1951, again Prime Minister, he wasasked ifhe had everthought theAllies would loseWorld War II. "No," he replied, "Because fromSeptember 1939 I trusted the American Presidentand people in seeing to victory." Then we heardofthe Jeromes' relationships to the Roosevelt kin.He saidithadimprovedwithhisbirthatBlenheim.The tears in his eyes after my question about theLancastria were when his brandy bottle was halffull-the cigarwasneversmoked, butgesturedlikea conductor's baton.5TH HARVARDAND 31ST BRITISHThe 5th Harvard US General Hospital arrived inunscheduledinstallments atMusgraveParkwithoutintended equipment. On January 26, 1942, about4,000 members of the US 34th Infantry DivisionC The Ulster Medical Society, 2005.landed in Northern Ireland. Seven physicians ofthe Harvard 5th General Hospital, 26 nurses and14 enlisted men, arrived at Musgrave Parkthe firstweek in March, but the rest of the 5th HarvardHospital having initially embarked fromNewYorkon February 19, 1942, didnot arrive. TheirUSAT,American Legion had to turn back to Halifax onFebruary 21, due to engine trouble.The March arrivals were put to work at the 31stGeneral Hospital and entertained by my parentsnearbyatourhouse, "Windyridge",whichtheyhadrented from the Toppings. The majority ofthe 5thGeneral Hospital reembarked on 30th April 1942and reached Belfast on the 12th of May. The 5thGeneralHospitalstartedoperationon21stofMayatMusgravePark. TomLanman,theChiefofSurgeryofthe 5th, arrived with the delayed main body andhis War Diary entry for May 12, 1942, describeshisfirstwalkthatdaydown"abeautiful Irishlane".HejoinedTed Badger, the ChiefofMedicine whohad arrived in March.Fig 1. ColonelThomasLanman,ChiefofSurgery,Harvard's5th General Hospital, with Colonel Angus Hedley-Whyte, commanding officer of the British 31stGeneral Hospital, walkingthegrounds ofMusgravePark, May 1942. Colonel Lanman was appointedClinical Professor of Surgery, Harvard MedicalSchool,in 1947andwasDirectorofHarvardMedicalSchool Alumni Relations from 1951 until his deathon March 25, 1961. Photo courtesyofColMagnusSmedal,HeadofRadiology, 5th GeneralHospital, gift to authorwww.ums.ac.uk1234The UlsterMedicalJournalThomas Hinckley Lanman (Figure 1) was the sonofCharles B Lanman, Wales Professor ofSanskritat Harvard, andMary Hinckley Lanman. Thomas'sniffling at least once upset Henry James.5During May 1942, a serum hepatitis outbreakwas traced to contaminated yellow fever vaccine.The British 31st General, with my father still ascommanding officer, worked together with the 5thHarvardHospital (Figure2). InlateMay, 1942,thehepatitis in US troops became epidemic. In June1942, the 5th General hospital opened a 900-bedannex in Waringfield and in August the combinedpatientoccupancyofMusgraveParkandWaringfieldexceeded 1,500. In late July, 1,950 soldiers werejaundiced but only two died, although about onehundred4 suffered permanent liver damage. Thisexcellentoverallresultwasachievedwithhelpfromthe US 2nd General Hospital staff expeditiouslytransferredfromOxford,andcontinuedcooperationfrom the 31st General Hospital's staff which hadbeen delayed in their move to Hatfield House.AttheBritishtoU.S.,commandhandoverceremony,on May 20, 1942, my mother was amused when IsalutedtheraisingofOldGloryandnottheloweringoftheUnionJack. Mostofthe31stGeneralwasthenmoved from Musgrave Park to Hatfield House.The 800-bed 5th General (Harvard) hospital wasfourtimes extendedto afullyoccupied 1,500beds.First, in Ulster because ofthe epidemic, secondlyin Carentan, Normandy to treat battle casualtiesbefore and during the breakout. The hospital hadlandedoverOmahabeachonthe6thofJuly. Thirdly,after the Battle ofthe Bulge in Toul, in Meurthe-et-Moselle province, northeastern France, where itmoved on the 22nd of November 1944, and lastly,to treat civilianvictims ofthe concentration campsand Allied bombing. There it ended World War IIwithColRobertZollinger6ascommandingofficer,Col Zollinger having succeeded Colonel MaxwellG Keeler.4 The hospital treated 35,400 casualtiesand patients in the period May 20, 1942, until itsdisbandment onAugust 26, 1945.After World War lI the Harvard Medical Schoolfaculty who had been at Musgrave Park wouldfrequently ask when I was coming to Harvard. Soafter I qualified from the University ofCambridgeMedical School and was engaged to a Universityof Durham medical student the move seemedopportune. My fiancee was transferred to medicalschool at St. George's Hospital, London - theAssistantDean,DonaldTeare,hadbeenaguestatmyparents-in-law's wedding. CharlesPercyPinckney,Pediatrician-in-Chief of St. George's Hospital,Fig 2. The staffofthe combined Harvard 5th General Hospital and British 31st General hospital in front ofMusgrave Park,the formerboysreformatory outsideBelfast, May 1942. Note therelatively few British officer nurses andthe bereted US officernurses who fought the yellow fevervaccine-associated hepatitis epidemic which sickened 1,950 US soldiers, in Ulster.Photo courtesy ofCol Magnus Smedal, HeadofRadiology, 5th GeneralHospital, gift to author© The Ulster Medical Society, 2005. www.ums.ac.uk124"EpidemicJaundice WWII" 125arrangedforCharlesA.JanewaywhohadbeenHeadofLaboratoriesinthe5thHarvardGeneralHospitalandwasnowChiefofMedicineandThomasMRotchProfessor atBoston's Children's Hospital, togiveaHunterian Lecture. "No dinner after your lecture,"said Pinckney, unless you promise an internship."Tessa, now my medical student wife, was seatednext to Professor Janeway at the dinner and theyseemedtogetonwell. Subsequently,TessafailedtogettheBrackenburyPrizeasthetopmedicalstudentonly because ofher low marks in Pathology. Thisignorance is still being corrected in her positionas Head ofNeuropathology at the MassachusettsGeneral Hospital and Professor at Harvard wheresheisaclosecolleagueofUlstermanRobert(Robin)Young, DirectorofAnatomic Pathology.In 1971,myfather'sobituaryinTheLancet,writtenby SirIanFraser, DSO,7 stated"Outwardlyhe gavethe impression of being an easygoing countrygentleman. Veryfewsurgeonsover70yearsofageareoutonhorsebacktwoorthreetimesaweek,ashewas untilrecently." TheBritishJournalofSurgeryconcluded its In Memoriam, "Harvard gaveAngusan excuse to visitAmerica wheneverpossible."REFERENCES1. Churchill, WS. Churchill & Roosevelt: The CompleteCorrespondence. Volume 1 withcommentarybyWarrenF Kimball. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press;1988. p.24.2. Cutler EC. Fifth General Hospital (Harvard UniversityUnit), US Army. Harn Med Alumni Bull 1942; 16(2):27-9.3. United StatesArmy. CenterforMilitaryHistory. UnitedStatesArmyinWorldWarII: United StatesArmyForcesinNorthern Ireland. Chronology. 14 pp. Available from:http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/reference/ireland/irechr.htm4. Cosmas GA, Cowdrey AE. The Medical Department:Medical Service in the European Theater ofOperations(United States Army in World War II. The TechnicalServices). Center for Military History (CMH) Pub 10-23. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office,1992.5. Brooks JR. Thomas Hinckley Lanman 1891-1961. HarvMedAlumniBull 1961; 35(3): 4-5.6. ZollingerRMSr,EllisonEC.AHistoryoftheOhio StateUniversity Department of Surgery. Am J Surg 2003;186(3): 208-10.7. Clarke RSJ. A Surgeon's Century: the life of Sir IanFraser. Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2004.© The Ulster Medical Society, 2005. www.ums.ac.uk

Epidemic Jaundice: Harvard's 5th General Hospital at Musgrave Park in World War II.

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Epidemic Jaundice: Harvard's 5th General Hospital at Musgrave Park in World War II.

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