title: The 56th Evac. Hospital: Letters of a WWII Army Doctor (War and the Southwest)
author:  Lawrence D. Collins 
description: Collins's letters to his wife, mother and sister record his experiences with the Army's "Baylor unit," a medical team mobilized out of Baylor Medical School in Dallas during WWII that cared for GIs in the North African and Italian theaters from 1942 to '45. His somewhat bland letters hide from his family the fact that he was in a hot combat zone; for several weeks, his tent hospital was stationed on the Anzio beachhead, from which Collins wrote: "Be reassured that the jerries respect our red crosses and that their marksmanship is good, so we're always safe." The most harrowing passages in the letters have to do with details of surgery performed on wounded men, especially an account of a quadruple amputation. A highlight of Collins's final months of overseas service was an audience with Pope Pius: "He had the personality of a most excellent politician." Photos. <br />Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by
  
  
  
  
  
  J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.
  
  
  
  
  
  in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
  Eastern District cf Pennsylvania.
  
  
  
  
  
  TO
  
  
  
  
  
  SURGEON C. S. TRIPLER, U. S. A.,
  
  
  
  
  
  THIS LITTLE WORK IS INSCRIBED, AS A TOKEN OF RESPECT AND ESTEEM, BY HIS
  FRIEND,
  
  
  
  
  
  THE COMPILER.
  
  
  
  
  
  I*
  
  
  
  
  
  («)
  
  
  
  
  
  PREFACE.
  
  
  
  
  
  The Medical Officer is "brought more closely in contact with the various
  Departments of the Army, than perhaps any other officer in service. In a
  General Hospital, he is not only Physician and Surgeon, but Military
  Commander, Adjutant-General, Quartermaster, and Commissary for the sick and
  wounded under his care.
  
  
  
  
  
  To comply with the requirements of these widely different branches of the
  service, necessitates an intimate acquaintance with the routine work of the
  Departments and a constant reference to the Kegula-tions of the Army, and
  order