RADM Richard Shaffer, DC, USN death notice

A death notice for RADM Richard Shaffer, DC, USN appeared in today's
Washington Post and is online at
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/washingtonpost/obituary.aspx?n=richard-
g-shaffer&pid=158736065

A couple of photos from our collection

Iron lung patient, Robert Vande Zande, AK3, formerly stationed with Fasron 117 at Barbers Point is being briefed by Doctor Isham (Captain, Medical Corps) U.S. Army of Tripler Army Hospital and Ensign Virginia Pluke (Nurse Corps) U.S. Navy of the 1453 Medical Air Evacuation Squadron prior to take off for the Great Lakes Naval Hospital. Standing by in the background are other flight crewmembers and technicians. Left to right: Lieutenant Gartley Grant, Dr. Isham, Captain Fox, 1st pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Aaron, Plane Commander and Commanding Officer of the 47th ATS [Air Transport Service?], Mr. Edward N. Hanson, Electrical Technician, S/Sgt [Staff Sergeant?] Eugene Sazama, Flight Engineer, S/Sgts Allen Wonderly and Charles Boyette, Medical Technicians, Major Ferguson, Commanding Officer, 1453 MAES and Ensign Pluke, Flight Nurse. [Portraits.] [Transport of sick and wounded.] [Women.] [Nurses. Nursing.] [Scene.] Flight Nurses Post WWII [World War 2] Activities and Operations. 1952; 09-8164-47 Navy Tissue Bank, U.S. Naval Medical School, National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, MD. March 1958. Tissue excision under sterile conditions as conducted at the U.S. Navy's Tissue Bank. 12-0088-001

2 Navy Medicine-related publications are 'notable'

The Government Printing Office has put up a blog post at
http://govbooktalk.gpo.gov/2012/07/03/notable-federal-books-2012/ noting that the Library Journal has listed its 2011-2012 Notable Government Documents at
http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2012/05/publishing/past-as-prologue-we-didn
t-have-a-deck-last-year/

Included is the History Office's 6-film set Navy Medicine at War, written and produced by now-retired historian Jan Herman. You can see the last in the series - Final Victory - here.

Another book on the list is Legacy of Excellent: The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology 1862-2011. It which was a tri-service agency from 1949-2011, and thus run by the Navy at times. CAPTs Robert Karnei and Glenn Wagner ran it when I worked there, and it had also been commanded by World War Two POW CAPT William Silliphant in the 1950s and CAPT Bruce Smith during the Vietnam War. You can read the book here.

A Hilltop in Foggy Bottom film on YouTube

Jan Herman's last official movie, A Hilltop in Foggy Bottom, covers the
history of the BUMED campus on 23rd street, with topics ranging over
oceanography, the discovery of the moons of Mars, Abraham Lincoln and
the Civil War and astronomy.

See it at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0v7i_9od4I&list=UU_qVcWp8T_J3GU0pyK67bU
w&index=2&feature=plcp

Senior Navy Medical Historian Retires

After 42 years of federal service, and 33 years as Historian for the Navy Medical Department, Jan K. Herman has retired.

Since coming to BUMED in 1979, Mr. Herman has worked as Historian of the Navy Medical Department, curator of the old U.S. Naval Observatory, and, until 2009, Editor-in-Chief of Navy Medicine, the bimonthly journal of the Navy Medical Department.  In 2009, he became Special Assistant to the Navy Surgeon General.  In 2010, he was appointed Director of the Benjamin Rush Education and Conference Center of the Navy Medicine Institute.

In 2002, he was appointed to the adjunct faculty of the International Lincoln Center for American Studies of Louisiana State University, Shreveport.  In 2008, he was a consultant for the Lincoln Center Rodgers and Hammerstein revival of “South Pacific.” With the Navy Medical Support Command, Bethesda, MD, Mr. Herman produced a six-part video series, “Navy Medicine at War,” and has produced a documentary and is writing a companion volume about the rescue of the South Vietnamese navy during the closing days of the Vietnam War.  The film is entitled “The Lucky Few: The Story of USS Kirk.”  In August-September 2010, National Public Radio aired a three-part series about USS Kirk and her crew.

He has authored over 50 articles and several books, including A Hilltop in Foggy Bottom (1996), Battle Station Sick Bay: Navy Medicine in World War II (1997), Frozen in Memory: U.S. Navy Medicine in the Korean War (2006), Navy Medicine in Vietnam: From Dien Bien Phu to the Fall of Saigon (2009), and Murray’s Ark and Other Stories (2010). His new book, The Lucky Few: Vietnam’s Tragedy Turned Triumph on USS Kirk, will be published in 2012.

In his retirement, Mr. Herman plans to continue to study history and make documentary films.

NNMC speech pathologist's obituary

"Rex V. Naylor, speech pathologist,"
Adam Bernstein
Washington Post May 17 2012
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/2012/05/16/gIQAMoqVUU_story.html

If anyone finds other death notices, please keep us informed.

The Spring 2012 Edition of THE GROG Has Been Released

Dear Colleagues,

It is with great pleasure that we present to you the latest edition of THE GROG, A Journal of Navy Medical Culture and Heritage. In this issue, we offer you an exciting blend of original articles ranging in topic from the history of Navy dentistry, the Hospital Corps and military psychiatry to tales of forgotten naval hospitals and medical memorials. As always, we hope you enjoy this humble tour of Navy medicine's past.
THE GROG is accessible through the link below.  PDF versions are available upon request.

http://issuu.com/thegrogration/docs/the_grog_spring_2012