Medical Service in the War Against Japan is one of three volumes recounting the organizational and operational overseas activities of the U.S. Army Medical Department during World War II. In the context of fierce combat operations waged in the joint/combined command Asian-Pacific theaters extending from Australia to Alaska and from the Gilbert Islands to Burma, Mary Ellen Condon-Rall and Albert E. Cowdrey describe how the Army’s senior medical officers pooled their talents with the scientific knowledge of the day and overcame vast distances, diverse climates, logistical problems, and rapidly changing circumstances to support and maintain the strength of troops fighting in remote disease-ridden environments. In the course of the war against Japan, these dedicated professionals realized significant advances in military medicine, developing new drugs and techniques for preventing and controlling disease, fielding hospitals and units uniquely equipped to support jungle and island fighting, and perfecting amphibious medical support. Flexible organization, ingenuity, and the latest scientific advances helped medical personnel to support infantry combat teams on isolated islands or in dense jungles, to prevent and control disease, to adapt medical care for amphibious operations, and to treat and evacuate casualties over difficult terrain and then by sea or air.
506 pages
