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The 56th Evac. Hospital: Letters of a WWII Army Doctor (War and the Southwest)

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The University of North Texas State Press has been publishing many interesting works in its War and the Southwest series. A personal connection with the SW and especially Texas is the thread ties these works together, otherwise, they are an eclectic choice.
Some consist of personal narratives based on wartime letters home. This sort of memoir, even though published many years later, still has the "real time" immediacy of officisl action reports, yet also includes personal details, commentaries, and personal attitudes not appropriate in official documents.
I hsve long had an interest in field medicine and care. My collection ranges from the Indian Wars to contemporary times.
There are beaucoup mwmoirs and personal narratives available written by infantrymen,fewer by gunners, medics, tankers. and other smaller unit members. And even less by those in such rare units as Engineer amphibious truck companies. This work fits well in this company of personal narratives. It covers service in the evacuation hospital unit sponsored and raised from the personnel of Baylor University and continually supported by the hospital, this unit was organized in similar fashion to other evacuation (or field) hospitals. Such units were not organic to divisions but were attached to them or to higher levels, the Corps and Armies.
The field and evacuation hospials (as titled) were very similar in their TO&Es and functions; both were located within the combat zone subject to enemy artillery fire. Contrasted with base hospitals sited in permanent structures requisitioned for their use, and which tended to stay put in Theatre once established, field and evacuation hospitals had at least enough organic transport to lift at least half of their personnel and equipment so they were able to move leapfrog fashion keeping up with the advancing armies. Thus they were housed in tentage and portable structures when available.
Field hospitals were the first step to recovery after a clearing station, located immediately behind the lines well within the zonw of enemy artillery, thus quick work was necessary; they performed triage, the process of sorting out the slightly wounded, those who could recover in a few days, weeks, or longer, and those who were mortally wounded. The lstter were given morphine and set aside to await their fate. If a casualty required months of care he was sent further back to a base hospital and if not expected to heal in a limited time or would be permanently crippled, he was sent home on a hospital ship or air evacuated to be cared for in a general or station hospital.
A field or evacuation hospital was equipped for major surgery in order to stablise the wounded; it was not intended for care any longer than necessary for stabilizing the wounded until they could be csrried to the rear for rehabilitation or could be returned to duty if able to heal in s few days.
The US Army in general, is organizwd into the Combat Zone, the Line of Communication, and the Zone of the Interior. The two latter are relatively safe and not subject to attack except by strategic weapons.
Medical personal narratives written by company aid men on up are always of interest. One of the best on service in France in WWI, is Pottle's "Stretchers."