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Show Only 7 in 4,000 Die " Of Battle Injuries Sulfa Drugs Credited With Main Role in Recovery. WASHINGTON. Of 4,000 land, sea and air casualties treated in the south Pacific and Australia by the navy, only seven died, establishing a record-low mortality of 0.18 per cent, the navy's bureau of medicine and survey revealed. Lieutenant Charles Crile Jr., who ' is the son of the famed Cleveland surgeon who died early this year, and who is attached to the mobile hospital at Auckland, New Zealand, submitted the report to the navy in conjunction with a group of medical medi-cal officers aboard a hospital ship in the Solomon Islands war zone. , Speedy removal of the wounded from battle areas and excellent medical med-ical care, including the use of the sulfa drugs, were credited by these authorities with assuring the recovery recov-ery of the men, many of whom were badly wounded. The casualties represented almost every type of injury, including those resulting from machine-gun and rifle bullets, shell fragments, severe burns, skull fractures, penetrations of the chest and abdomen and a great variety of infections. In most cases the danger of the 1 injuries was minimized speedily by almost immediate transfer from the battle line to the hospital ship. About two-thirds of the wounded received initial treatment at base and field hospitals ashore before reaching the ship. Of the first 366 cases received on shipboard, only one died. He had suffered severe burns over most of jhis body. "Bullets often caused no more trauma (injury) than might be expected ex-pected if an icepick were suddenly thrust through a part and pulled .out," the report stated. |