Desperate Surgery in the Pacific War: American Doctors and Damage Control at the Front, 1942-1945

Caring for the wounded in the World War II Pacific Theater posed serious challenges to doctors and surgeons. The thick jungles, remote atolls and heavily defended Japanese islands of the Pacific presented dangers to medical personnel never before encountered in modern warfare. Sophisticated treatments, including major surgery, were by necessity far removed from the fighting, requiring front line medics to do the minimum-often under fire-to stabilize patients until they could be evacuated. Navy doctors responsible for thousands of sailors aboard fleets in battle found caring for the wounded daunting or nearly impossible. Yet to save lives, medical resources had to be kept as close as possible to the action. This book details the efforts and innovations of the doctors, surgeons, corpsmen and medics who worked to preserve life under extreme and dangerous conditions.