Operation Saving Lives

In the Operating Room

Though the doctors and nurses of the 12th General Hospital were highly skilled, battle injuries and related problems, such as cleaning maggot-infested wounds or completing an operation entirely by portable battery lamps, pushed them beyond anything they had experienced as civilians.  

Over the course of three years, Northwestern specialists learned from each other and their contemporaries in other units. They adopted newly developed operations, such as secondary closures, and began to combine whole blood transfusions with medications, such as sulfa drugs and penicillin, to improve surgical outcomes. The surgeons discovered that using large incisions to expose each layer of the skin would successfully debride wounds and that tracheotomies could save lives and ease the burden placed on nurses during a patient’s convalescence.

Surgeons spent less than two hours per operation in order to treat more patients. Easier cases were often treated first because those patients could potentially return to the front lines. In Rome and Leghorn, 12th General Hospital personnel often performed more than 100 operations a day—attending to both injuries inflicted by war and routine conditions like hemorrhoids and hernias.

On the Wards

Nurses played an important role at the hospital, in both official and unofficial roles. Officially, they were responsible for the bulk of caregiving activities, including bathing patients, administering medication, changing dressings, taking vitals and keeping notes on cases. Ambulatory patients and enlisted men assisted nurses with feeding their bedridden colleagues, turning them, making beds, cleaning the wards and running errands. Nurses also juggled administrative demands: filling out reports, ensuring that patients had the right clothing upon discharge and outfitting their wards with equipment.

Unofficially, nurses were expected to serve as moral support for the sick and injured. They would donate their own rations of cigarettes, candy, and gum to those recovering and frequently helped to procure partial pay for the invalids.

During World War II, there was a concerted effort to treat those with sexually transmitted diseases in order to return men to the front lines. At Fort Benjamin Harrison, the 12th General Hospital cared for over 900 patients, many of whom suffered from gonorrhea. The Unit helped establish a tent facility in St. Barb, Algeria and managed the venereal disease center that was attached to the 180th Station Hospital in Naples. Later, the unit assisted in running a 2,400-cot clinic that housed and administered preliminary treatment to patients before they were sent to the 182nd Station Hospital to receive penicillin.

Off Duty

Medical personnel engaged in a variety of leisurely pursuits while off-duty. They went to the movies, attended dances organized by the American Red Cross, congregated with their colleagues in the Officers’ and Enlisted Men’s clubs, and watched USO entertainers, including Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, perform. Athletic activities remained popular diversions from military and hospital responsibilities. The staff organized a basketball and baseball team called the “Redbirds” that played in highly-publicized tournaments.

Many individuals in the 12th General Hospital Unit had never before traveled abroad. They took advantage of exploring historic sites on Army-sponsored excursions as well as on their own. In particular, when stationed on the outskirts of Rome, they experienced Italian culture through plays, operas and museums.