AUSTRALIA IN THE WAR OF 1939-194 5

SERIES FIV E MEDICA L

VOLUME IV MEDICAL SERVICES OF THE R .A .N. AND R .A .A .F. AUSTRALIA IN THE WAR OF 1939-194 5

SERIES I (ARMY ) I. To Benghazi. By .* II. Greece, Crete and Syria . By Gavin Long. * III. Tobruk and El Alamein. By Barton Maughan. IV. The Japanese Thrust . By .* V. South-West Pacific Area—First Year . By Dudley McCarthy .* VI. The New Guinea Offensives . By David Dexter.* VII. The Final Campaigns. By Gavin Long .

SERIES 2 (NAVY) I. , 1939-42. By G . Hermon Gill.* II. Royal Australian Navy, 1942-45 . By G . Hermon Gill.

SERIES 3 (AIR ) I. Royal Australian Air Force, 1939-42 . By Douglas Gillison . II . Air War Against Japan, 1943-45 . By .* III. Air War Against Germany and Italy, 1939-43 . By John Herington .* IV. Air Power Over Europe, 1944-45 . By John Herington .

SERIES 4 (CIVIL ) I. The Government and the People, 1939-41 . By Paul Hasluck.* II. The Government and the People, 1942-45 . By Paul Hasluck . M. War Economy, 1939-42. By S. J. Butlin .* IV. War Economy, 1942-45 . By S. J. Butlin. V . The Role of Science and Industry . By D . P. Mellor .*

SERIES 5 (MEDICAL ) I. Clinical Problems of War . By Allan S. Walker * II. Middle East and Far East . By Allan S . Walker.* III. The Island Campaigns . By Allan S . Walker.* IV. Medical Services of the R .A.N. and R.A.A.F. By Allan S. Walker and others. *

* Published .

The writers of these volumes have been given full access to official documents , but they and the general editor are alone responsible for the statements and opinion s which the volumes contain. MEDICAL SERVICE S OF TH E R.A.N. AND R.A.A.F.

WITH A SECTION ON WOMEN I N THE ARMY MEDICAL SERVICES

by ALLAN S. WALKE R M.D., Ch .M ., F.R.A.C .P.

AND OTHER S

CANBERRA First published in 196 1

WHOLLY SET UP, PRINTED AND BOUND IN AUSTRALIA A T THE GRIFFIN PRESS, ADELAIDE . REGISTERED AT THE G .P .O. ADELAIDE FOR TRANSMISSION THROUGH THE POST AS A BOOK .

CONTENT S Page Preface . . xiii

PART I—MEDICAL SERVICES OF THE R .A .N. Chapter 1 BUILDING THE NAVAL MEDICAL SERVICE 1 2 EXAMINATION OF RECRUITS . 1 4 3 MEDICAL STORES AND EQUIPMENT 1 9 4 LIVING CONDITIONS IN SHIPS . 2 8 5 ACCOMMODATION OF SICK AND WOUNDED 3 8 6 THE R.A .N. IN ACTION 4 9 • 7 PRISONERS OF WAR 7 9 8 SHIPWRECK 9 2 • 9 SALT DEFICIENCY AND HEAT EXHAUSTION STATES 10 0 10 BURNS . 11 9 11 BLAST INJURIES AND POISONING BY FUMES 12 8 12 INFECTIOUS DISEASES 13 3 ▪ 13 DISEASES OF THE SKIN 14 5 • 14 AFFECTIONS OF THE EAR, NOSE AND THROAT . 15 1 15 DISORDERS OF THE EYE . 15 4 • 16 PSYCHIATRY IN THE R.A .N. . 159 17 THE DENTAL BRANCH 16 3 • 18 THE NAVAL NURSING SERVICE 16 8

PART II—MEDICAL SERVICES OF THE R .A .A .F.

19 BETWEEN THE WARS 17 3 20 WARTIME ORGANISATION 18 0 21 MEDICAL SUPPLIES . 19 3 22 MEDICAL UNITS IN BASE AREAS AND IN THE FIELD 19 7 23 MEDICAL ASPECTS OF RECRUITING AND TRAINING 21 1 24 R.A .A .F. SQUADRONS ABROAD . 223 25 IN THE SOUTH-WEST PACIFIC—FIRST PHASE 262 26 MILNE BAY TO NOEMFOOR 28 3 27 MOROTAI, THE PHILIPPINES AND BORNEO 304 V

Chapter Pa$e 28 AVIATION MEDICINE 324 29 EVACUATION OF CASUALTIES BY AIR 35 8 30 MEDICAL ASPECTS OF SURVIVAL 375 31 THE R.A .A .F. DENTAL SERVICE 394 32 THE R.A .A .F . NURSING SERVICE 408

PART III—WOMEN IN THE ARMY MEDICAL SERVICES

33 WOMEN OFFICERS IN THE A .A .M .C. 41 9 34 PHYSIOTHERAPISTS 42 1 • 35 OCCUPATIONAL THERAPISTS 42 5 • 36 THE NURSING SERVICE 42 8 ▪ 37 THE AUSTRALIAN ARMY MEDICAL WOMEN 'S SERVICE 47 7

PART IV—OTHER SUBJECTS

38 HOSPITAL SHIPS 49 1 39 THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS 51 0 40 REHABILITATION 52 4

Vi

ILLUSTRATION S

Page Surgeon Captain W . J. Carr, Director of Naval Medical Services 1 4 Flinders naval hospital . 1 4 Surgeon Commander L . Lockwood and Surgeon Lieutenant T . A . McLean 1 5 Surgeon Lieutenant G. L . Grove vaccinating a crew member of H .M .A.S. Vendetta . . . . 1 5 R .A.N. Scales "C" and "E" sets of panniers . 46 R .A.N . Scale "F' first-aid chest 46 R .A.N . Scale "H" set of tins . 46 The Neil Robertson stretcher . 47 The Neil Robertson stretcher, loaded at the carry . 47 The Stokes litter . 47 "Hedley" modification of the Neil Robertson stretcher . 47 A British destroyer removes troops from the Costa Rica 62 H.M .A.S. Australia, damaged by kamikaze attacks . 62 Transferring casualties at sea . 62 Surgeon Commander L . Lockwood and S.B.A. B . Phillips attending wounde d from Norah Moller . 63 Wounded from Norah Moller at Batavia 63 The X-ray department of the naval base hospital at Milne Bay 63 The rest hut of the naval base hospital at Milne Bay . 6 3 The American submarine Sealion picking up R.A.N. survivors of the torpedoe d Japanese transport Rakuyo Maru 7 8 H.M .A.S. Junee disembarking a critically ill prisoner of war from Ambon at Morotai 7 8 Dental inspection by Surgeon Lieutenant R . G. Willoughby on board H .M .A.S. Vendetta . 7 9 Naval physiotherapist, Miss Nancy Towse, at work 7 9 Miss Annie I. Laidlaw, Matron of the Royal Australian Naval Nursing Service 17 4 Superintending Sister Mabel L . Rae in outdoor uniform . . 17 4 Air Vice-Marshal T . E. V. Hurley, Director-General of Medical Services , R.A.A.F . . 175 Air Commodore E . A . Daley . . 17 5 Flight Lieutenant V . E. Knight medically examining a recruit at No . 2 Recruiting Centre . . . 206 A display of medical equipment at the Medical Training Unit, "Larundel" 206 Medical section of No . 17 Stores Unit R.A.A.F . at Milne Bay . 206 No . 3 Medical Receiving Station, Port Moresby . . 207 No . 1 R.A.A.F. Hospital at Wagga Wagga, New South Wales . 207 P.M .O's Conference at Overseas Headquarters, London . 23 8 Station sick-quarters at Mount Batten . . 23 8 No. 464 Squadron under canvas at Swanton Morley . 23 8 No. 23 Medical Clearing Station at Noemfoor . 239 VI'

Pag e No . 2 Medical Clearing Station, Milne Bay . . 239 Convalescent patients at No. 24 M.C.S., Nadzab . 239 A DH-86 of No. 1 Air Ambulance Unit , 270 Aircraft of No. 1 Air Ambulance Unit on a desert landing ground . 270 Loading a patient into an aircraft of No . 1 Air Ambulance Unit in Sicily . 27 1 Interior of an air ambulance aircraft . , 27 1 Flight Lieutenant F. W. Kiel and Sergeant M . D . Hayes attending a patient 302 Natives receiving medical treatment at a medical receiving station in Ne w Guinea 302 Mosquito breeding ground . 303 Experimental D.D.T. spraying from an Australian-built Beaufort . . 30 3 Air-sea rescue of the crew of a crashed Mitchell bomber . . 33 4 A spotting plane directs a rescue boat to the scene of an aircraft crash o n the Laloki River . . 33 4 Operator's station of decompression chamber . 33 5 Portable oxygen sets carried in Mitchell aircraft 35 0 Standard lightweight oronasal continuous-flow oxygen mask . 35 0 Airmen under instruction in a decompression chamber . . 350 Flight Lieutenant K. V. Robertson wearing the Cotton gradient-pressur e pneumodynamic anti-G suit . 350 Testing the Cotton anti-G suit in a centrifuge . 35 0 A motion-sickness swing . . 35 1 Experimental subject seated in car of vertical acceleration machine . 35 1 Headbands used in conjunction with earpads . 35 1 The Murray Speaking Tube System . 35 1 Earplugs for protection against noise and blast . 35 1 Earpad and doughnut of an R .A.A.F. helmet . . 35 1 Loading a stretcher case into a Dakota at Nadzab . . 36 6 A wounded soldier from Kokoda arrives at Port Moresby by Stinson ambu- lance aircraft . . 366 Attending patients on board a medical air evacuation aircraft . 36 7 Mobile dental surgery in England 39 8 Flight Lieutenant R . F. Deacon treating a dental patient at Torokina . . 39 8 Outdoor uniforms worn by Australian Army nurses in 1914-18 and 1939-45 39 9 Indoor uniforms of Australian Army nurses in the two world wars . . 44 6 King George VI with Brigadier L. J. Morshead during an inspection of Aus- tralian nurses in England 44 6 Inspection of a hospital ward of the 2/1st A .G.H. at Gaza Ridge during Mr Menzies' visit to the Middle East . . 44 6 A ward of the 2/10th A .G.H. in Malaya . 447 A tented ward of the 2/9th A .G.H. at Port Moresby . . 447 Colonel A . M. Sage, Matron-in-Chief of the Australian Army Nursing Service 447 Reorganising the operating theatre of the 2/5th A .G.H . at Morotai . 447 A group of Australian nurses returning to camp after a bicycle ride in England 462

Pag e Australian Army nurses on a picnic in the Northern Territory . 462 A march past of members of the A .A.M .W.S. at Victoria Barracks, Paddington, with Lady Cowrie taking the salute . . 46 3 A conference of the Controller and Assistant and Deputy Assistant Controller s of the A .A.M .W.S. . 494 Members of the A .A.N.S. and A.A.M .W.S. leaving a hospital ship in a lifeboat for Tarakan 494 The hospital ship Wanganella 494 The hospital ship Oranje, outward bound from Fremantle 494 Cot lift in the hospital ship Manunda . 495 Taking wounded aboard the hospital ship Wanganella at Balikpapan 495 The deck of Manunda showing decontamination unit and disinfector an d electrically lit red cross 49 5 A ward of Manunda 49 5 Manunda, showing damage inflicted during the Japanese air attack on Darwin , 19th February 1942 . 52 6 The hospital ship Centaur . 52 6 The engine fitting shop at the R .A.F . medical rehabilitation centre, Lough- borough, England 527 R .A.A.F. medical rehabilitation at Jervis Bay . 527

ix

MAP S Page Australia 4 The Middle East . 3 0 Far Eastern Theatre 3 5 Indian Ocean area . 5 3 Southern Sumatra and Java 6 1 Solomon Islands 66 Japan, Korea and Manchuria 8 2 Burma-Thailand Railway 8 8 Australia 17 5 United Kingdom . 226 Malaya 237 Suez Canal-Alexandria area . 245 Egypt-Cyrenaica 247 Libya-Tunisia . 254 Northern Australia and the Timor, Arafura and Banda Seas . 265 The Territories of Papua and New Guinea 28 6 Huon Gulf-Hansa Bay area . 295 Philippine Islands . 30 6 Dutch New Guinea, Borneo and the Philippines 318

x ABBREVIATIONS USED IN REFERENCE S

A.A.M .C.—Australian Army Medical . A .A.M.W .S.—Australian Army Medical Women's Service . A.A .N.S.—Australian Army Nursing Service . A.A .S.C.—Australian Army Service Corps . A.B.D .A .—American, British, Dutch, Australian . A.C.S.—Airfield Construction Squadron. A.D .M.S.—Assistant Director Medical Services . A.F .C.—Australian Flying Corps. A.G.H.—Australian General Hospital. A.O.B.—Advanced Operational Base . A.R .P.—Air Raid Precautions . B.A.G .S.—Bombing and Gunnery School .

C.A .F .—Citizen Air Force. C.C.S.—Casualty Clearing Station . C.M .B.—Central Medical Board . C.P.O.—Chief Petty Officer . D.—Deputy, Dental . D.A .D .M.S.—Deputy Assistant Director Medical Services . D .D .M.S .—Deputy Director Medical Services. D.D.S.—Director Dental Services . D.D .T.—Dichloro-diphenyl-trichlorethane . D.E.M .S.—Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships. D.G.M .S.—Director-General Medical Services . D.M .S.—Director Medical Services. D.N.M.O.—Depot Naval Medical Officer . D.N.M.S.—Director Naval Medical Services . D.O.A .P.—Developmental Over-all Plan. E.A.T.S.—Empire Air Training Scheme . E.F.T.J.—Elementary Flying Training School. E.P .I.P. tent—European Privates Indian Pattern tent . F.P.R .C.—Flying Personnel Research Centre. F.P.R.U .—Flying Personnel Research Unit . 1.C.R.C .—International Committee of the Red Cross . 1.T.S.—Initial Training School. L.A.S.U.—Local Air Supply Unit . L.C .P.—Landing Craft Personnel. L.C .V.P.—Landing Craft Vehicle—Personnel . L .H.Q.—Allied Land Forces Headquarters . L .S.B.A.—Leading Sick Berth Attendant. L.S.I.—Landing Ship, Infantry . L.S.T.—Landing Ship, Tank .

%i M .A.E.T.U.—Medical Air Evacuation Transport Unit. M.C .S.—Medical Clearing Station . M.D.S.—Main Dressing Station. M.F.C.U.—Mobile Fighter Control Unit . M.L.O.—Medical Liaison Officer. M.R.S.—Medical Receiving Station . M .R.U .—Medical Rehabilitation Unit. N.H.—Naval Hospital. O.B.U.—Operational Base Unit . O.C.—Officer Commanding. O.T.U.—Operational Training Unit. P.D .O.—Principal Dental Officer. P.M.O.—Principal Medical Officer. Q .A .I.M .N .S.—Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service . R.A.A.F .—Royal Australian Air Force. R.A.F.—Royal Air Force. R.A.N.—Royal Australian Navy. R .A.N.N.S.—Royal Australian Naval Nursing Service . R.A.N. V.R.—Royal Australian Naval Volunteer Reserve . R .A.P.—Regimental Aid Post . R .A .P.W .I.—Repatriation of Allied Prisoners of War and Internees . R .C.A.F .—Royal Canadian Air Force . R .D .F .—Radar (or Radio) Detection Finding. R .M.O.—Regimental Medical Officer . R .N.—Royal Navy. R .N.N.—Royal Netherlands Navy . R .N.Z.A.F .—Royal New Zealand Air Force . S.B.A .—Sick Berth Attendant. S.D .O.—Senior Dental Officer. S.E.A .C.—South-East Asia Command. S.M.O .—Senior Medical Officer. S.T .T.—School of Technical Training . S.W.P.A .—South-West Pacific Area. T.A .F.—Tactical Air Force . U.R .T.I.—Upper Respiratory Tract Infection . U.S.N .—United States Navy. V.A.D .—Voluntary Aid Detachment.

W .A .A.A .F.—Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force. W.A .G.—Wireless Operator/Air Gunner . W.E.—War Establishment . W .R.A.N.S.—Women's Royal Australian Naval Service . W .T.—Wireless Telegraphy. Y.W .C.A .—Young Women's Christian Association . PREFACE

N November 1956 ill-health compelled Dr Allan Seymour Walker t o I relinquish his work as author of the Australian Medical War History . After a long period in hospital, he died on 8th January 1958 . He left behind a monument to his skill, devotion and industry . After about five years of research and writing, carried on under considerable practica l difficulties, in 1950 he completed Clinical Problems of War, in its field perhaps a more comprehensive work than had ever been written by a single hand. In the next year Middle East and Far East was finished, and three years later The Island Campaigns . In the last few years of this heavy task his load was somewhat lightened by knowledge of the esteem an d gratitude with which his books were being received both in Australi a and overseas. When Allan Walker had to cease work The Island Campaigns was in proof, he had drafted a history of the medical service of the Roya l Australian Navy, and had completed a number of other papers, notabl y one on Hospital Ships which had been read to the Australasian Medica l Congress held in Melbourne in 1952 . The story of the women's service s in the Australian Army Medical Corps, however, was far from complete , and the editing of the history of the medical service of the Royal Aus- tralian Air Force not begun. Allan Walker's role in the production of the air force medical history would have been that of editor rather than author because, as a result of the foresight of Air Vice-Marshal Victo r Hurley, a group of air force medical officers, led by Wing Commander Grayton Brown, in 1945 and 1946 had written a series of thoroug h narratives concerning the experiences and problems of their servic e throughout the war . Hurley intended that these should form the basis of the air force section of the medical war history . These narratives were condensed and rearranged in a sequence simila r to the one that Allan Walker had employed in his chapters on the nava l medical service . The Director-General of the Air Force Medical Services, Air Vice-Marshal E . A. Daley, lent his enthusiastic support in matter s large and small, and he and members of his staff and a large number of past or present R.A.A.F. medical officers, including the late Sir Victo r Hurley and others mentioned below, read, corrected and amplified th e draft chapters. Part II of this volume is very much a cooperative effort , with the major professional contribution being made by Squadron Leade r Lloyd Buley, who re-edited the whole section and made many additions . The Medical Director-General of the Royal Australian Navy, Surgeon Rear-Admiral L. Lockwood, members of his staff, and a number of forme r naval medical officers gave similar help with the revision and expansio n of the naval chapters . In its present form Part III of this book is the work of Mrs Gwe n Jacobson, who is responsible also for the writing of much that is included in the other sections, for the organisation of the whole volume and its preparation for the printer, and finally for the compilation of the index . For a time she had the help of Miss Sylvia Mossom, particularly with the chapter on rehabilitation and with the expansion, using the reports of th e Flying Personnel Research Committee, of the chapter on aviation medi- cine. This chapter was later critically examined and further expanded by several authorities, notably Air Vice-Marshal Daley, Dr Hugh Ryan, an d Squadron Leader Buley. As Allan Walker explained in the preface to Clinical Problems of War, the medical services of the navy and air force as well as those of the arm y contributed to the information used in that volume, but "more detailed accounts of some subjects of special interest to medical officers of the navy and air force" would be given in the present volume. To this extent, therefore, the present volume is to be regarded as complementary to th e earlier one, in much the same way as the second and third volumes of this series are. And, in common with the other volume, this one "does not pretend", as Allan Walker wrote in an earlier preface, "to cover the whole of any subject, but it records Australian experience, the methods foun d valuable, the successes and the failures . It stops short at the end of 1945, and it touches only the barest fringe of post-war experience, for this is beyond its ambit." A United Kingdom medical historian ha s referred his readers to the Australian medical historian's account of th e experiences of the prisoners of the Japanese as being the main one, to which his was but complementary; in the same way many sections of thi s volume should be regarded as complementary to the corresponding part s of the volumes that relate the history of the medical services of the Roya l Navy and Royal Air Force . Each of the four parts that comprise this book are self-contained and consequently there is some repetition . Some important episodes ar e described in the naval section and then, from a different point of view , in the air force section, and perhaps again, from still another point o f view, in the chapter on the Army Nursing Service, and so on . Thanks are due to the following doctors in addition to those men- tioned above : E. H . Anderson, J. R. Anderson, M . Barry, B. J. Basil-Jones, N. E. H. Box, D. F. Buckle, G. G. Burniston, G . S . Colvin, J. H. Coto, W. D . Counsell, W . D. Cunningham, R . B . Davis, W. Deane-Butcher, S . W. Dobell-Brown, L. L. Edwards, W . D. L. Farrar, J . C . Fulton, H. Gamble, J . A . Game, R. C . Gill, J . Hall-Johnston, A. J. Harker, K. S. Harrison, J . A. Horan, V. S. Howarth, E . F. Langley, J . C. Laver, C. J. N . Leleu, S. W. Lush, R . D . Macbeth, A . G . McGlynn, R . G . McKay, I. G. McLean, A. G. McManis, C . M . Maxwell, F . V. Munro, N . L . Newman, V. J. Odium, F. S . Parle, B. C. Pirie, S. F. Reid, J . D . Russell, G . J. M. Saxby, W. A. Seidon, H . W . R . Sharp, J . G . Shelton, D . T. Shortridge, A. Stoller, J. F. Williams, Professor R . D . Wright . Members of the nursing and other women's services who helped include : Misses E . J. Bowe, V. Bullwinkel, A . T. Cleary, J . E. Cleary, Mrs M . O. Crawford, Misses J. Crouch, E. N. Doig, Mrs E. Eadie, Mrs C. Eckersley, Miss C. A. Fall, Mrs H. Farley-Davies, Mrs C. A. Greenwood, Misses B . W. Hanmer, M . J. Hanna, E. S. Himmelhoch, Mrs K . Horne, Mrs L. Jones, Miss M. I . Lang, xiv Mrs T. Lergessner, Misses C. J. McRae, A . M. L. Mills, M . M . Mullane, Mrs V . Parker, Misses M. Rae, A. M. Sage, E . Savage, Mrs K . Sly, Mrs J . M . Snelling , Misses M. L. E . Steen, D . V . Thompson, J . Veitch, E. Ward, Mrs M . Wark, Miss A. J. Wheatley, Mrs D. Wood, Mrs V . E. Young. Valuable help was also given by : Squadron Leaders D. A. S. Addison, C . E. M . Anderson, Wing Commander C. W. Fitton, Group Captain W. D. Mason, Squadron Leader A. S. Tredennick , Mr J . K. Ware, and Air Vice-Marshal H. N. Wrigley . GAVIN LONG. , 10th December 1959.

xv