SCIENCE IN WAR

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 287, 2 September 1942, Page 5

SCIENCE IN WAR

Keeping Men Fit To Man Guns AN UNENDING FIGHT (By Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright.) NEW YORK, August 31. Speaking at the dedication of a naval medical centre at Bethesda, Maryland, in observance of the centenary of the Naval Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, President Roosevelt said: "In this hospital our navy battles against disease, disability, and death. Those who fight this vital battle are anonymous heroes of this war. Surgeons; nurses, scientists, and technicians are part of a service throughout the world, carrying on an unending fight to keep as many men at as many guns on as many days as possible.” After referring to the infamous attack ou Pearl Harbour on December 7, as the darkest hour in the navy’s history, Mr. Roosevelt went on to say: “In the months that followed—months without victories—our enemies taunted us with the question, ‘Where is the United States Navy?’ Today our enemies know the beginning of the answer to that question. They have learned in the Atlantic, in the Coral Sea, and at Midway Island. They are learning now in their attempts to recapture the lost territory in the Solomons. Where is the United States Navy? It is where it has always been —carrying out the command to hit the enemy and hit him again wherever’ and whenever we find him.” Co-ordinated Warfare. .

Stating that battles cannot befought and won without cost both in ships and men, the President said: “Today in distant places, we are fighting battles the like of which we have never before known. In the south-west Pacific ships and planes of the fleet and long-range bombers of the army are striking at- the enemy from widely separated bases, and striking together. Such co-ordinated warfare requires men of extraordinary physical alertness and exceptional bearing. A split second error in timing by one individual may cost innumerable lives.

“In addition to working out new methods of healing and cure, doctors must discover new methods of preparing men for unprecedented combat conditions in submarines, planes, and tanks.

“Men must be perfectly attuned in their bodies as they are perfectly prepared in their minds aud hearts for the tierce test of battle. The extent of the remarkable progress achieved in this science can be attested by our enemies, who have faced our men iu battle." Prevention and Cure. Progress for prevention and cure must not be limited to the armed forces, because the whole population was Involved in the winning of this total war. There were 40,000 fatalities in automobile accidents last year, and almost 1,500,000 were injured. There were 19,200 fatal accidents in industry, in addition to 2,000,000 injured, including 100,000 permanent disabilities resulting in the loss of the almost incredible total of 42,000,000 man days. “Thus,” he added, “it isn’t only our enemies who kill valuable Americans. “It is not going too far to say that any civilians who, through reckless driving or failure to take proper safety measures in industrial plants, kill or maim fellow-citizens are doing injury to our sons and brothers who are lighting this war’in uniform. Similar injury to the firmed forces is done by pedestrians or workers who, through thoughtlessness and carelessness, put themselves in harm’s way. “Not all can participate in direct action against our enemies, but all can participate in .saving our manpower. The President concluded with a reference to the third anniversary of Hitler’s blitzkrieg against Poland. “Men have died and nations have been tortured and enslaved to satisfy the brutal lust for power of a few inhuman tyrants—Germans, Italians and Japanese,” he said. “To the defeat of such tyrants, io the removal from this earth of injustices and inequalities which create such tyrants and breed new wars, this nation is wholly dedicated.