USS Solace received its first patients at 8:25 a.m. Dec. 7, 1941. More than 130 patients were admitted that day. (below) Nurses at Naval Hospital Pearl Har- bor enjoy a carefree meal earlier that year.
USS Arizona (BB-39). The battleship was fully submerged in nine minutes, killing 1,177 sailors and Marines. Emergency care commenced immediately on board the Solace, which was equipped with operat- ing rooms, labs, diagnostics, and 432 beds. Navy Lt. Agnes Shurr later recalled how Solace’s sailors, who were “in their dress whites waiting to go ashore on liberty,” shifted gears to board launches and rescue men in the water amid boiling fuel. Solace “received casualties almost immedi- ately,” and nurses “worked through the day without stopping.” When Navy Lt. Teresa Dug-
gan saw ships in fl ames, she was grateful the entire fl eet was not in
PHOTOS: BUREAU OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY
port. Hundreds of young men sus- tained burns as they were blown or jumped from burning ships into boiling water or fl aming oil, so the hospital ship “soon had a full pa- tient load.” This was the fi rst time she had administered morphine without an order.
Spirit of cooperation When Navy Lt. Ruth Erickson — who later in her career would become the 10th director of the Navy Nurse Corps — heard planes roaring too close overhead, she instantly deter- mined the aircraft were foreign. She dashed through a shrapnel shower in the smoky haze from her quarters to Naval Hospital Pearl Harbor. By 8:25
a.m., all battle stations, wards, and op- erating rooms were fully functioning. Some injured sailors were transported by launches; others swam and crawled in. “How they ever managed, I’ll never know,” said Erickson. Clinicians used fl it guns, origi-
nally developed to spread insecti- cide, to spray tannic acid powder directly onto burns, which covered any exposed body part. The nurses administered sedatives to these gravely injured patients. Navy Lt. j.g. Helen Entrikin, Sara’s
twin sister, realized “the regular op- erating rooms were ... backlogged,” so she ran through the hospital col- lecting narcotics and supplies, and [CONTINUES ON PAGE 78]
DECEMBER 2016 MILITARY OFFICER 59
Without electricity, nurses felt their way around in the dark. ... With bare hands, they cared for hundreds ...
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