PART IN WAR

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 1 September 1942, Page 2

PART IN WAR

MEDICINE AND SURGERY DEDICATION OF NEW CENTRE SPEECH BY MR ROOSEVELT (Rec. 12.10 p.m.) New York, Aug. 31. Speaking at the dedication of a naval medical centre on the observance of the centenary of the Naval Bureau of Medical and Surgery at Bethesda, Maryland, President Roosevelt said : “In this hospital our navy battles against disease, disability and death. Those who light in this vital battle are anonymous heroes. In this war surgeons, nurses, scientists and technicians are part of a world-wide service carrying on an unending light to keep as many men at as many guns for as many days as possible. After reference to the infamous attack on Pearl Harbour, the darkest hour in the Navy’s history, when ships were put out of commission and 3000 men killed and wounded, he went on to say that 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 learned in the Atlantic ,the Coral Sea, and Midway, and they are learning now in their attempts to recapture the Solomons. Where is the United States' Navy? It is where it always has been —carrying out the command to hit the enemy and hit him again wherever and whenever we find him.” Pointing out that battles cannot be fought and won without cost both in ships and men, President Roosevelt said: “To-day in distant places we are fighting battles the like of which have never before been known. In the South-West Pacific ships and planes of the fleet and long-range bembers 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 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 as perfectly attuned in their bodies as they are perfectly prepared in their minds and hearts for the fierce test of battle. The extent of the remarkable progress achieved in this science can be attested by our enemies who have faced our men in battle.

Pointing out that progress in prevention and cure must not be limited to the armed forces because the whole population was involved in winning this total war President Roosevrfit said that there were 40.000 fatalities from automobile accidents last year and almost 1,500.000 were injured. There were 19,200 fatal accident in industry. In addition 2,000.000 were injured, including 100,000 permanent disabilities, resulting in a loss of the almost incredible total of 42,000,000 man-days. Thus it was not only our enemies who killed 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 au injury to our sons and brothers who are fighting this war in uniform. A similar injury to the armed 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.”

President Roosevelt concluded with a reference to the 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 lew inhuman tyrants —Germans, Italians and Japanese. To defeat such tyrants, to the removal from this earth of the injustices and inequalities which create such tyrants and breed new wars this nation is wholly dedicated.” —P.A.