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U t A nn, ALL COMMUNICATIONS SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO "THE SURGEON GENERAL, U. S. ARMY, WASHINGTON Z5, D. C."
'   ICTORY
E, AVE  T . a v R    
”‘ ‘*"·T   ’° ARMY SERVICE FORCES    
EN REPLY REFERTO SPMCR OFFICE os THE SURGEON GENERAL r  
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. ll October IQM5. I
Brigadier General Fred W. Rankin, M.C.,
Cave Hill Farm,
Harrodsburg Pike, ` e
Lexington, Ky.
Dear General Rankin: —
I have intended writing you for several days but an acute coryza ‘
forced me to postpone it. I —
Before giving you some report of the office activities I would like
to tell you briefly of the profound emotional effect your departure_had
upon all of us here in your office. I don't want to seem maudlin and
yet in trying to express both my personal feelings and those of the others
who were so closely associated with you I find that I begin to border on
that state. As you know, I am not usually atea loss to express my thoughts
r (at least in writing) but I find that on this occasion I am encountering y
great difficulty. Your departure left in its wake the emotional turmoil
which would inevitably result from the great loyalty, sincere devotion
and deep love that you inspired in all of us here (and which I would like
tn add personally was increased with time) during the period we were
privileged to work with you. I would like for you to accept as a tribute n
to what we consider your greatness of character and intellectual capacity ·
the lasting impression you have made both in our minds and in our hearts.
In our minds, the firm knowledge of the magnitude of your contributions
to this war and their far—reach1ng significance in American surgery. In
our hearts, the undying love and loyal devotion of a magnificent character.
And now to give you as concisely as I can some of the major activities
that have taken place since you left the office. Glen and Barnes are
V devoting more and more of their time to the history and are apparently mak-
ing real progress. Glen has proposed a new idea concerned with the manage-
, ment of pos —traumat1c epileptics and the plan, which Eli is going to im-
t ~ plement, is that all these cases will be sent to Cushing where Earl Walker
and his co—workers will treat them. `
, Lloyd Mousel is now in the office and has started working on his part
of the history. Ralph Tovell has completed about all of his work that he
can do here and will be separated on the 15th. Harry Beecher has already
gone home. Incidentally, Lloyd has asked me about what can be done on his·
promotion and, frankly, the prospects do not seem too good. It seems a
pity, particularly since other anesthetists like Bishop who have not con-
tributed as much have received their Lieutenant Golonelcy, This is just
_ another example of typical Army practice, the most humiliating feature of · .
which is that it cannot be explained to one's civilian colleagues and friends.