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Medical Department And The Attack On Pearl Harbor

Decent Essays

Logan Braun
Hist 111-Sec C — Modern World Civilization (Nienkamp)
15 April 2016
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Condon-Rall, Mary Ellen. “The U. S. Army Medical Department and the Attack on Pearl Harbor”. The Journal of Military History 53.1 (1989): 65–78. Summary This article’s main objective is to describe to the reader what it was like to be a part of the Medical Department in Hawaii during the Pearl Harbor attacks in 1941. I feel that the authors thesis is that even thought the attacks of Pearl Harbor were disastrous, the Medical Department of the United States Army was able to manage the hundreds of injuries and deaths that it brought. They were able to cope because of their extensive prewar emergency planning. The United States prepared for war by mobilizing military and industrial strength partially. This planning took place between the outbreak of wars in Europe in September 1939 and before the Americans entered the war. Soldiers increased from 291,000 to 1,655,000 between July 1940 and December 1941. Medical staffs increased from 18,088 to 131,000 during this same period. This increase of the workforce was accompanied by contracts, advertising, and supplies purchased for the U.S. army. Even with all of this going on, the Medical Department and the United States Army were short-staffed and were lacking equipment in December 1941. Around this time, mobilization was slowing down. Equipment, supplies, and troops were flown into Oahu after May 1940 when the island became the main base

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