Bradford Cannon ( December 2 , 1907 &ndash; December 20 , 2005 ) , the son of Dr. Walter Bradford Cannon , was a pioneer in the field of reconstructive surgery , specialising in burn victims . He was the first chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and is credited with saving the lives of thousands of soldiers maimed during World War II . As a young doctor , he used a new method he developed with Oliver Cope to treat survivors of the Cocoanut Grove fire in November , 1942
Cocoanut Grove fire
Cocoanut Grove fire
Bradford Cannon