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Show Today's Battlefield Victims " C Get Speedy, Effective Care -o Blood Plasma, Sulfonamides and Organiza-tion Organiza-tion of Medical Services Insure Prompt i x4l. Treatment of Wounded Men. ' .J I By BAUKIIAGE News Analyst and Commentator. WNU Service, Union Trust Building Washington, D. C. A young reserve officer friend of mine came up to say goodby to me a year and a half ago. He flattered me by asking for my advice before he went into active service. I knew he wanted to see action. He had refused a desk job in Washington. Wash-ington. I knew he wanted to do the job and get home to his wife and babies. So I said: "Hope for a light wound and you'll hope for the best." Of course, nobody would try to fol-. fol-. low such advice but my friend got the wound (and a medal for bravery too) and now he's back in civvies again. . He doesn't like what the Jap bullet did to his leg for he'll play no more tennis or handball but his wife has a live, if lame, husband and his children chil-dren have something beside a picture pic-ture and a piece of ribbon to call "daddy." When I gave that sage advice, I didn't know how smart I was. "The wounded soldier in this global war, though he is exposed to almost every health hazard known to man, still has a better chance of surviving and returning safely home than ever before," says Maj. Gen. Norman Kirk, surgeon-general of the army. The general gave three reasons: first, the use of blood plasma to avoid shock and hemorrhage; second, sec-ond, the use of sulfonamides to combat com-bat infection; and third, the mobility and organization of the medical services which insure prompt and efficient medical and surgical treatment. treat-ment. The Reasons I heard of widespread use of blood plasma first in the Spanish Civil war and Imagine much valuable experience experi-ence was gained from that conflict. We know it was a proving ground for Nazi and Fascist killing and undoubtedly un-doubtedly the Allies profited by the efforts in life-saving as well. . " The use of sulfa drugs is one of the great blessings which modern chemistry has given us. Recently I stood in one of the plants of the Monsanto Chemical company in St. Louis, Mo., letting the soft, healing powder drip through my fingers. Before Be-fore me, in a space hardly 25 feet square, was a collection of small kegs containing this wonderful antiseptic. anti-septic. There was enough within my easy reach to serve the whole Sicilian campaign, they told me. Each soldier has his packet and fills his wound with it. It stymies the germs until natural processes annihilate anni-hilate them. . The mobility of the medical unit.3 has been described in many dispatches dis-patches and you have all seen photographs photo-graphs of the flying hospitals, the great air transports with their equipment equip-ment and nurses. The wounded are rapidly returned to bases where they get the best of care. Treatment on naval vessels is equally effective. It must be understood that the drugs and the plasma in themselves are not cure-alls. They are not In mcrw eaCPH ThfV ' near as effective as modern treatment. treat-ment. The army estimates that 80 to 90 per cent of the wounded get first-aid treatment within an hour of being wounded. Ships are well equipped, the larger ones as well as a hospital. The man with a not too serious wound, and that is by far the majority ma-jority of cases (amputations are included), in-cluded), has a splendid chance for recovery and a resumption of his natural existence in civil life when he is discharged. In two categories this war has been harsher than any preceding. There is a greater proportion of killed in action to wounded. Also the mental casualties are higher in the present war. Careful efforts have been made to screen out those showing characteristics character-istics indicating they are unable to stand up under the mental strain of modern warfare. More might have been held out of service if the psychiatrists had been able to carry out their plans. They would have been able to do so if there had been as thorough an understanding of that branch of medical science as there will be after the war. And because of that fact, more of the mental cases will be restored to normal. The reason for the increased number num-ber of mental cases is variously explained: ex-plained: our troops have endured longer periods of offensive action than in the last war; the increased fury of modern warfare; the domination domi-nation of the machine, and also, to some degree, the complications of civilian life which encourage neurotic neu-rotic conditions. The science of warfare has moved forward with seven-league boots. Killing has become a mass production produc-tion affair. But along with the chariot char-iot of Mars, Mercury has advanced on winged feet and the healing arts have progressed to the point where fcr those who escape the scythe of the grim reaper there is a strong, helping hand along the road back. Crowned Heads Prove Headaches After the last war, some poetically minded writer penned an editorial which had wide circulation entitled: "The Twilight of the Kings." Many a throne had tumbled as a result of that last conflict, names that were written large in history, faded until they were less than memories Ho-henzollern, Ho-henzollern, Hapsburg, Romanoff, not to mention a host of lesser majesties. But some who survived are today to-day problems of the United Nations, like plebiscites, famine, frontiers, lend-lease, airways and a thousand other annoying questions that must be settled when peace comes. Of course, kings are not to be shrugged away lightly. Some of America's best friends are kings. But there are crowned heads who are bound to be headaches for the uncrowned brows of the statesmen who have to put the world together ' again. There is the House of Savoy, for instance. The king of Italy has been a problem. So are Balkan potentates poten-tates in exile or in cahoots with Hit- Iat. even hi . - are preventatives. They are wat you "do with" until the doctor comes more accurately, until you come to the doctor. Surgery is necessary in the cases of most wounds. Capt. W. M. Craig, chief of surgery sur-gery at the Naval Medical center, Bethesda, Md., just outside of Washington, Wash-ington, puts it succinctly: "In the last war, when a man's head was cut open by a shell fragment," frag-ment," says Captain Craig, "the sur-geon sur-geon had to operate at once, even though the patient was in such a weakened condition that he hadn't one chance in a hundred to survive the operation. The surgeon had no other choice; he knew if he waited, Infection would set In and that vould be the end. In this war it Is different; differ-ent; the patient is given blood plasma plas-ma treatment to build him up, sulfa to check Infection, and If his condition condi-tion permits, he Is flown to a hospital hos-pital in the rear where the operation Is performed under Ideal conditions." condi-tions." Short Time Lag In the last war, all wounded had to have a powerful Injection, a most painful thing to endure, and nowhere About King Carol One most romantic monarch who is likewise exceedingly dynamic is ex-King Carol of Rumania. Recently, Recent-ly, I received a communication from him. It looked like a telegram but it was not that intimate it was mimeographed. It contained a statement state-ment of some kind, I have forgotten the exact nature of it. But the other day, Its source was revealed when a certain publicity organization or-ganization registered with the department de-partment of justice as all organizations organiza-tions representing foreign elements must. It developed that Carol had arranged to try to encourage the good will of Americans by hiring this agent for $35,000 (ten grand down, the rest in easy payments) to express Carol's views, all to be democratic and pro-Ally. But the interesting Implication Is that one of tho jobs of the press agent is to remove the "ex" from the title "ex-king" which seems to have attached itself to Madame Lu-pescu's Lu-pescu's husband. And there Is a roll-back which only the temerity of nn American press agent would grapple withl |