Posted on 04/19/2005 12:55:27 PM PDT by SmithL
NEW BERN, N.C. - Wheeler Lipes, a World War II pharmacist's mate who performed an emergency appendectomy aboard a submarine with makeshift instruments such as bent spoons, has died at 84, two months after receiving belated honors for his feat.
Lipes died Sunday after a battle with pancreatic cancer, said his brother-in-law, Chris Doney.
Lipes used bent spoons for retractors and alcohol from torpedoes for sterilization in 1942 when he removed the appendix of sailor Darrel Dean Rector aboard the USS Seadragon, 120 feet below the surface of the South China Sea.
Lipes, then 22, and an assistant wore sterilized pajamas in place of operating room gowns. Rector was too tall for the makeshift operating table, so Lipes put the patient's feet in the drawer of a cabinet. Lipes stood with his knees bent throughout the two-hour operation because the table was bolted to the floor.
Lipes had witnessed several appendectomies before deciding Rector needed surgery.
"I always thought he was the guy who had the courage," Lipes said. "I've asked myself, `Would I have gotten up on that table and let someone do the same thing to me?' He was one of the most courageous people I've ever met."
Rector, whose swollen appendix had several inches of blackened tissue, was back on duty in 13 days.
The emergency procedure was recounted in reporter George Weller's Pulitzer Prize-winning article in the now-defunct Chicago Daily News, and inspired a movie starring Cary Grant and a Navy-produced film titled "The Pharmacist's Mate."
But there was also anger over Lipes' actions among physicians from the Navy Medical Corps and talk of a court-martial by the U.S. surgeon general, who was forced to set protocols for appendectomies on submarines.
Lipes went without honors until Jan Herman, historian of the Navy Medical Department, began looking into his case. He received the Navy Commendation Medal in February.
Lipes retired to North Carolina in 2002 after a long career as a hospital administrator. He will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
One active Ping
Bravo Zulu
What did they use for anesthesia????
Excuse me? What was he supposed to do? Let the appendix burst and allow the sailor to die a miserable, painful death from infection?
I have a feeling this lowly Pharmacists Mate made a lot of Navy Docs look bad.
RIP and Good Bless, Seaman Lipes.
History Ping.
Wasn't this dramatized in Destination Tokyo?
NC ping?
ping
It also happened aboard the U.S.S. Silversides that is permanently docked in Muskegon, Michigan, and which I've slept aboard on three occasions with my son's Cub Scout Troop.
The OperationThe war's most publicized operation was performed on board SILVERSIDES. Pharmacist Mate Thomas Moore successfully removed a gangrenous appendix from crew member George Platter. Moore had never performed an operation before, but armed with makeshift instruments and a volunteer surgical team, he performed the operation successfully. The patient recovered admirably and was standing regular watch duties just six days later. The operation was reenacted in the movie Destination Tokyo.
Thanks ... good story about one of the good guys!
The most dramatic accomplishments of submarine hospital corpsmen were three who had to do surgery while submerged. Pharmacist’s Mate First Class Wheeler "Johnny" Lipes performed a successful appendectomy aboard the USS Seadragon on 11 September 1942. Lipes, who had been a surgical technician, used improvised instruments made from mess deck utensils and instructed assistants as the procedure went on in the officers’ wardroom. PhM1c Harry Roby performed the same act on the USS Grayback as did PhM1c Thomas Moore aboard USS Silversides, both in December 1942.
...Rector was back on duty in 13 days. He died two years later aboard a different submarine, the USS Tang, when the Tang fired a torpedo that circled back and struck the vessel.
From Deseretnews.com
Apparently the right movie; possibly the wrong sub. See Posts 11 and 15.
If we're gonna ping, let's ping the whole dang family! 'STeely-eyed Killers of the Deep' (((PING!)))
BTTT
That's a REALLY bad case of friendly fire.
Both men had plenty of courage! God rest their souls.
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