Hi mdefillipo,
What a great question! A few years ago, I saw an Army WWII medical
display at Ft. Bragg, NC. What intrigued me the most was the hand held
centrifuge! Knowing that a tube of blood spins at thousands of RPMs
for about 10 minutes in today?s modern centrifuges, I do not believe I
would have had the endurance to hand spin a tube of blood!
Part 1: Equipment of a medic
Field Equipment of a WWII Corpman (Corpman is the Navy?s term for medic)
This site describes the items in a corpman?s pouch, depending on the
situation in which he was in. The site also has helmet marking and
pictures of the uniform.
http://home.att.net/~corpsman/field_equipment_of_a_wwii_corpsm.htm
This page, from the same site, has links to dental kits, veterinary
kits, parachutist kits and more.
http://home.att.net/~combatmedic/
History of WWII Medicine
http://home.att.net/~steinert/wwii.htm
More medic supplies
http://home.att.net/~combatmedic/miscellaneous_wwii_medical_kits.htm
Field Hospital Setup, WWII
http://www.ww2medicine.org/field.html
WWII Naval Corpsman
http://home.att.net/~corpsman/
part 2: Medical Lab
WWII Field Laboratory
?Equipment:
Due to the lack of funding and lack of staff, there was little
development of equipment needed for a field lab between WWI and WWII.
Improved methods and equipment were used by the Army's clinical and
research labs. However, this equipment was largely too cumbersome to
transport. Two field portable options developed in WWI that became
even more useful late in WWII. The lab truck and lab chest proved of
enormous value to personnel close to the front lines. Field hospital
lab staff often found it necessary to procure equipment from the
surrounding locality in order to better complete their work.?
http://www.ww2medicine.org/lab.html
The Field Laboratory
?On the latter were carried adequate glassware to take care of one
day's run of samples, a size No. 1 International Centrifuge, two
Coleman Junior Spectrophotometers, complete, a Klett colorimeter, a
hot plate, a prescription balance with weights, a drying oven, and
alcohol burners. A 2½-kilowatt generator, five carboys of distilled
water, a typewriter, and nine pyramidal tents for the laboratory and
the personnel completed the equipment?
?Furthermore many types of analyses, such as the van den Bergh diazo
test, and determination of blood pH, phosphorus, chlorides, and sugar,
must be performed very soon after the specimen is collected?
?For the collection and submission of specimens, boxes were prepared
in triplicate to contain approximately:
15 screw-cap, 22-ml. flat-bottom vials containing lithium oxalate to
be used for collection of blood specimens.
10 screw-cap, 8-ml. flat-bottom vials containing ammonium and
potassium oxalate for holding blood specimens on which determinations
of hematocrit value and plasma protein concentration would be made.
5 corked test tubes for submission of clotted blood.
4 screw-cap, 250-ml. urine bottles.
12 sterile 10-ml. syringes.
3 sterile 30-ml. syringes.
2 sterile 2-ml. syringes.
10 dry 10-ml. syringes.
30 sterile 19-gage needles.
Absorbent cotton, alcohol, and rubber tubing for tourniquets.
Ampules of bromsulfalein, phenolsulfonphthalein, and a sterile
solution containing 100 mg. per 100 cc. of the dye T-1824 for
determination of blood volume.
The specimens were required to be labelled with the patient's name and
the date and hour the sample was taken.?
These tests were performed on blood:
Volume, hemoglobin, hematocrit value, hydrogen ion, sugar,
sulfonamides, methemoglobin, the bromsulfalein liver function test;
plasma urea nitrogen, creatinine, lactic acid, bilirubin (van den
Bergh reaction), uric acid, protein, free hemoglobin, carbon-dioxide
combining power, magnesium, chlorides, phosphorus, and nonprotein
nitrogen; serum sodium, calcium, and potassium.
This page also has a complete list of available tests.
http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwii/PhysiologicEffetsofWounds/AppendixB.html
From the above site, pictures of the lab tent:
http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwii/PhysiologicEffetsofWounds/appndbpic1.gif
Medical Chest Contents
http://www.ww2medicine.org/chests.html
Field X-ray tent, 1942
http://nmhm.washingtondc.museum/news/bs101/cd206SC139639.jpg
Medical Tentage
http://home.att.net/~steinert/wwii_medical_tentage_and_related.htm
Additional Info:
Duties of a WWII Combat Medic
http://home.att.net/~steinert/duties_of_a_wwii_combat_medic.htm
WWII Medic Drug Box
http://www.rubylane.com/ni/shops/topshelftreasures/iteml/LL-0191
WWII Medic Id cards
http://home.att.net/~steinert/newpage2.htm
WWII Medic items for sale
http://home.att.net/~steinert/newpage11.htm
Function of a WWII Field Hospital
http://home.att.net/~steinert/beachhead_hospital.htm
Concept of Field Hospitals
http://www.ww2medicine.org/concept.html
WWII Field hospital
http://www.celebratefreedomfoundation.org/wwIIhos.htm
WWII Army ambulances and Medical Corps trucks
http://home.att.net/~dodgewc54/
Blood, plasma and transfusions, WWII
http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwii/blood/chapter7.htm
WWII Blood Group & Typing
http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwii/blood/chapter10.htm
Field whole blood containers, WWII
http://nmhm.washingtondc.museum/news/bs101/cd217SC190395.jpg
Blood refrigerator, photo taken 1951
http://nmhm.washingtondc.museum/news/bs101/SC376747.jpg
More photos from Civil War to Vietnam, from the National Museum of
Health and Medicine
http://nmhm.washingtondc.museum/news/bs_photo1.html
?In June 1943, the military personnel of the Medical Department
comprised about 620,000 men and women, distributed roughly as follows:
Medical Corps, 37,000; Dental Corps, 12,000; Veterinary Corps, 1,800;
Sanitary Corps, 1,750; Medical Administrative Corps, 11,500; Army
Nurse Corps, 28,000; Medical Department Dietitians, 700; Physical
Therapists, 400; enlisted men, 525,000; and about 50,000 civilian
employees in the United States. Full wartime strength, however, was
yet to be reached in all categories. Moreover, one wholly new corps,
the Pharmacy Corps, was subsequently established, while the three
women?s components- Army Nurse Corps, Medical Department Dietitians,
and Physical Therapists- which had been granted only relative rank,
were given full commissioned status by act of Congress, 22 June 1944.?
http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwii/DvlpmntsinMilMed.htm
Books on WWII Field Medicine
http://www.jodavidsmeyer.com/combat/bookstore/wwii-medicine-books.html
I hope this answer provides you with what you were seeking. Please
keep in mind, researchers are not aware of any information you already
have-if any part of this answer is unclear, of if I have duplicated
information you already had, please request an Answer Clarification,
before rating.
Sincerely,
crabcakes
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