To help meet the demand for medical artists and clinical photographers both at home and abroad, The Adjutant General of the Army, in a telegram of 2 August 1943, directed the commanding general of the Medical Replacement Center at Camp Grant, 111., to submit to the Curator of the Museum the name, serial number, and experience record of clinical photographers reporting to the Center, and not to transfer such personnel elsewhere except upon instructions from The Adjutant General's Office.
As part of the education of Medical Department personnel, the Director of Training, Army Service Forces, Maj. Gen. Clarence R. Huebner, asked the Training Division of the Surgeon General's Office to prepare a graphic portfolio illustrative of first aid in battle. The project was turned over to the Museum in February 1943, and Captain Netter was assigned the job of producing 50,000 portfolios of 50 posters each. Sketches and a preliminary draft of the text were approved by The Surgeon General and the Training Division, Army Service Forces, by the end of March. Final photographs and paintings were completed in July. After a period of study and review by various officers of the Surgeon General's Office, the Training Division of the Army Service Forces, and the Publications Division of The Adjutant General's Office, the material was finally approved and turned over to the U.S. Government Printing Office for publication. In October, the Government Printing Office, for more rapid production, let the job on contract to five lithographic companies in New York. To save time, Captain Netter was ordered to New York to supervise the lithographing. On 6 November, the plant having the largest portion of the production ran out of paper — six carloads were required to do the whole job — and it was not until 9 December, more than 9 months after the project was started, that the lithographs were completed and ready for distribution. Such were the problems of production in wartime. 28[1]
As an aid to more realistic teaching of emergency medical care and battlefield first aid. the Museum and the Medical Arts Section were called upon to produce sets of war-wound moulages, or models in synthetic rubber, of the types of wounds which might be expected. Each set consisted of eight pieces — two masks showing shell-fragment wounds of the forehead and gunshot wounds in the jaw, to be worn by the men representing the "wounded," and six plaques to be attached to the "wounded" men, showing wounds in the chest, the abdomen, the arm and hand, and the leg. The purpose was to "impart greater realism to casualties" in practice maneuvers, and to give better opportunity to demonstrate correct methods of wound treatment, as set forth in War Department Technical
- ↑ 28 (1) Report of Army Medical Museum Activities to 31 December 1943. (2) Letters, Captain Netter to Colonel Ash, 12 November and 9 December 1943. Photostats on file in historical records of AFIP
