The Journal of the Arkansas Medical Society Medical Journal November 2019 Vol. 116 No. 5 | Page 6

Robert A. Zimmerman, MD, PhD
COMMENTARY
A Veterans Day Salute
O
n June 28, 1914, Archduke
Franz Ferdinand of Austria was
assassinated, igniting World
War I. The U.S. formally entered the global conflict
in April of 1917. As American troops were dispatched
to the front lines in the global theatre, obvious harm
confronted them. The U.S. Army Medical Corps
responded to and deployed to meet this need.
Originally established by the Continental Congress
in July 1775, it was called the Medical Department.
The need for trained medical personnel within the
military expanded to the point after the War of 1812
that the first Army “medical school” was proposed
and eventually founded in 1893. This program would
go on to serve as the origin for today’s Walter Reed
Army Institute of Research. In 1814, surgeons (the
term historically used for all military doctors) in
the Medical Department were the first to track and
report meteorological conditions, and this systematic
reporting of weather data would be the eventual
birth of the U.S. Meteorological Service. The Army
Medical Corps was officially designated by Congress
in 1908 and became formally born out of this patriotic
necessity to support America’s fighting youth.
Many of our esteemed forefathers of medicine
swelled with national pride and rose to support the
troops and their country’s war efforts by providing
medical assistance through the Army Medical Corp
stateside, in various base hospitals along the front
lines, and in casualty clearing stations. Many of their
names are synonymous with the American history of
our field, though little is known to us of their service
during World War I. The following are a couple of
perfect examples.
William Osler, MD, (then enjoying retirement in
Oxford, England), is often referred to as the “the fa-
ther of American medicine,” and his wife, Lady Osler,
assisted in organizing military hospitals, patient care,
and assistance with the Red Cross. Their son, Edward
Revere, joined the British Royal Field Artillery’s 59th
Brigade. Revere was gravely wounded when a Ger-
man shell impacted close to him, impaling his chest
and abdomen with shrapnel and leaving severe
wounds. The staff at many of the base hospitals were
physicians from top stateside medical schools who
were serving their country abroad, “trying to do their
bit.’’ The staff at the hospital where Revere was tak-
en summoned Drs. Harvey Cushing and George Crile
to operate on Revere. Despite their best efforts, Dr.
William and Lady Osler paid the undoubted ultimate
price of war when their only child died several days
later.
Bacteria was perhaps the biggest foe that any
army of this period had to confront, as civilization
would not see the utilization of penicillin until 1942
during the era of World War II. London-born physician
Henry Dakin rose to the challenge and collaborated
with a French-born physician living in the U.S. by
the name of Alexis Carrel. Dr. Dakin had developed
a hypochlorite solution; he found it to be minimally
irritating and retaining antiseptic properties but with
a short period of activity requiring instillation therapy.
The two physicians met while in New York and later
travelled together to the war-zone to a Rockefeller
Foundation-supported hospital and research cen-
ter. Combining with Dr. Carrel’s knowledge of early
wound debridement and surgical techniques and
wound irrigation application, the two are credited
with techniques that cleansed and healed many
wounds with the then-called Carrel-Dakin wound
cleansing irrigation system. Dr. Carrel went on to
become active in transplant and culture techniques,
and he had a growing interest in human eugenics.
Sadly, when World War II broke out, he returned to
France only to die in custody as a German sympa-
thizer when the Allies liberated France. Thereafter,
Carrel’s name was dropped from the lifesaving
wound cleansing solution that served as a mainstay
for wound care for over 100 years and is still used
today, commonly referred to as Dakin’s solution.
Dakin’s solution and wound irrigation was used
heavily, especially during the last several months
of the First World War as the Allied forces moved to
negate all of Germany’s advances. The theory was
to pummel the Germans and then let the diplomats
talk out a peace agreement. Representatives from
Germany met with the Allies from Nov. 8 to Nov. 11
to discuss an armistice; however, continued fighting
right up until the last minute of a cease fire resulted in
close to 7,000 more deaths and nearly 15,000 more
wounded on both sides. This brought the total military
casualty count of human history’s bloodiest conflict to
nearly 8.5 million people.
The signing of the peace agreement with the
Treaty of Versailles marked 11 a.m. of the 11th day
of the 11th month of 1918 as the official end of the
102 • THE JOURNAL OF THE ARKANSAS MEDICAL SOCIETY
First World War (eerily, the license plate of the car
that Archduke Ferdinand was riding in when he was
assassinated starting the war was A111118). An
American medical officer, Stanhope Bayne-Jones,
noted in a letter to his sister the surreal moment
when the fighting had ceased:
“Our guns had stopped and
no shells were coming on us.
It seemed mysterious, queer,
unbelievable. All the men knew
what the silence meant but nobody
shouted or threw his hat in the air.”
In 1919, President Wilson proclaimed the first
Armistice Day, honoring all those who served in
World War I. It became a permanent federal holiday
in 1926. In 1954, the 83rd U.S. Congress officially
changed the name of Armistice Day to Veterans Day
to recognize and honor American veterans of all
wars. For a brief number of years starting in 1971,
Veterans Day was moved to the fourth Monday in
October. It later returned to its original date by Presi-
dent Gerald Ford beginning in 1978.
Veterans Day is set aside to honor and thank
living and deceased veterans who have served
honorably in the military – during wartime and
peacetime. Veterans Day should not be confused
with Memorial Day, through which we honor those
that have paid the greatest sacrifice for our country
– that is, dying in service to their country.
We will again annually recognize all those who
have served our country on November 11, 2019, the
101 st anniversary of the end of World War I. Pause
for a moment to reflect on the role of those who
came before us and the great sacrifices they made
to provide us with the freedoms we cherish within
our democracy. Take time to thank colleagues, family
members, neighbors, patients, staff and administra-
tors, and anyone else you may encounter this month
who served on behalf of our great United States of
America. Your service is greatly appreciated, and we
salute you!
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