The psychological impact of facial injury in the First World War: outcomes from the Queen’s Hospital, Sidcup
Andrew Bamji Rye, East Sussex, UK Figure 1. Aerial view of the Queen’s Hospital, c.1920. The operating theatres are in the horseshoe to the left centre of the photograph. Figure 2. The Plastic Theatre. Modern warfare, and in particular the use of artillery employed against entrenched troops in the First World War, resulted […]
Medical innovations made by doctors during the Napoleonic Wars
Craig Stout Aberdeen, Scotland The Battle of Waterloo (1815), oil painting by William Sadler. Pyms Gallery, London. The Napoleonic Wars (1799 to 1815) brought great upheaval and turmoil to Europe, with as many as 2.5 million soldiers and 1 million civilians losing their lives. French military physicians, principally Dominique Jean-Larrey, made significant contributions to […]
The Korean soldier
Charles Halsted Davis, California, United States Korean War, train attack. 1950. US Army Military History Institute. Public Domain. A fifty-five-year-old Korean man arrived at the emergency room of our teaching hospital after suddenly vomiting blood during the night. Called next morning to consult in our intensive care unit, I reviewed his chart and pulled […]
Resolution
Gaetan Sgro Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States Looking Back: Vietnam War Memorial by Ann Stuurman. 2002. Windfield Photographic Collection, Ontario Canada. noun 1. an expression of will or intent; a commitment In June 1965, Edward White, one of two astronauts aboard the Gemini IV mission, becomes the first American to walk in space. He floats […]
Psychological preparation for war: early life experiences
Jack Riggs Morgantown, West Virginia, United States A casualty from an outside location carried to a helicopter for transport to US Military Hospital Kuwait in 2005 I suspect that few early life experiences fully prepare one psychologically for the realities of war. Mine certainly did not. However, my introduction to post-traumatic stress and moral […]
Combat hospital chaplain
Jack Riggs Morgantown, West Virginia, United States Top photo – Several members of NMCB23 visit their former “Chaps” (in blue sweatshirt) and “Doc” (author standing next to chaplain) on their way home from Iraq. Bottom photo – Chaplain (left) and author at St. Patrick’s Day “party” on grounds of US Military Hospital Kuwait in […]
He is not coming back
Jack Riggs Morgantown, West Virginia, United States US Military Hospital Kuwait (2005) surrounded by large concrete barriers with “seating” at base. These relatively private seats were the frequent site for all sorts of meetings; counseling sessions, grief reactions, friendly meetings, unfriendly meetings, gripe sessions, etc. (Author is middle individual in photo). “Good evening, […]
Negotiation
Jack Riggs Morgantown, West Virginia, USA Kuwaiti – U.S. military medical cooperation. Author is fourth individual from left in back row. “We appreciate what you Americans have done for us in the past. But we will not allow you to come into our hospital uniformed and armed.” It was their country, their hospital, and […]
“Mental Cases” by Wilfred Owen: The suffering of soldiers in World War I
Alice MacNeill Oxford, United Kingdom Wilfred Owen plate from Poems (1920). Internet Archive via Wikimedia. Public domain. Who are these? Why sit they here in twilight? Wherefore rock they, purgatorial shadows, Drooping tongues from jaws that slob their relish, Baring teeth that leer like skulls’ tongues wicked? Stroke on stroke of pain, — but […]
Thank you for your service
Jack Riggs Morgantown, West Virginia, USA US Military Hospital Kuwait at Camp Arifjan in the summer of 2005. As a reservist, I had heard those words on numerous occasions. I appreciated and understood that those words were not directed specifically towards me, but rather to the uniform that I was wearing. Although I had […]