Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: War and Veterans

  • Blame

    Jack RiggsMorgantown, West Virginia, United States With so much intentional killing and death in war, one might think that an occasional accidental or natural death would go unnoticed and uninvestigated. This was not my experience. In war, killing and death are often viewed through a blameless lens. However, accidental death may receive greater scrutiny and…

  • The wartime chemist

    William TierneyCleveland, Ohio, United States My great-grandfather was a four-star general. During the First World War, he was a commander in the trenches near Flanders when the first chlorine-gas impregnated shells fell from German skies, giving birth to a new era of wartime trauma. He was a chemist, trained at West Point in the arts…

  • Baron Dominique-Jean Larrey: Founder of military surgery and trauma care

    Stavros GourgiotisAthens, Greece Hippocrates stated that “war is the only proper school for surgeons.” War inevitably gives an impetus to surgical innovations and many advances in surgery have been made in the historic training ground for surgeons: the armed conflict. During past centuries the management of the numerous and serious battlefield wounds was not effective…

  • One by one

    Sonia SethiPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States My mother was only five years old when my grandmother went off to war. She remembers waving goodbye, not comprehending the gravity of the situation until her mother embraced her and a teardrop fell silently on her forehead. My grandmother kissed her children, one by one, before leaving and tried…

  • Dr. Norman Bethune: A tale of military heroism

    Satish SarosheIndore, India A frontline surgeon, noted medical innovator, and early proponent of universal health care, Henry Norman Bethune was best known for his services in World War I, the Spanish Civil War, and above all for selfless work in war-torn China, treating sick Chinese villagers and wounded soldiers. He was one of the key…

  • Union or Confederate, American women played crucial roles in the Civil War effort

    Sarah BahrIndianapolis, Indiana, United States “I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them,” Clara Barton, a Civil War nurse and later founder of the American Red Cross organization, once said.1 Though they were prohibited from serving…

  • “Dust Off” and the power of perseverance

    Robert RobesonLincoln, Nebraska, United States “…I think I should say one word, too, a special word, about the ‘Dust Offs’–the Medevacs. This was a great group of men. All those who flew them, all those who did it. Courage above and beyond the call of duty was sort of routine to them. It was a…

  • A message

    Mira Talaja Split, Croatia Standing in a clearing on Lake Peruca, I awaited the completion of the negotiations and approval to pass through occupied territory. It was late autumn 1993, and I accompanied the Red Cross medical corps and served as a translator. International forces came to the area to reach a ceasefire agreement, facilitate entry,…

  • Mentally ill and Jewish in World War II

    Mary SeemanToronto, Canada Introduction In 1928, my grandfather was admitted to the Clinic for Psychiatry and Nervous Diseases in Vienna for a recurrence of the manic-depressive illness he had suffered from since youth. The clinic director was Julius Wagner-Jauregg who one year earlier had been awarded the Nobel Prize for fever treatment of third stage…

  • Requiem for the Beast: A memoir

    Mara BuckWindsor, Maine, United States His world was tough and he the toughest in it, exploiting smarts and size. As he matured, he learned intimidation on an intellectual level so he seldom had to resort to the earlier violence. They called him The Beast of One-Hundred-Twenty-Fifth Street—soon friends and enemies alike called him simply B.…