“I bash not cognize what you person heard astir NMRI arsenic to its estimation among those who tin measure research. From what I person heard it appears that it has already attained a stature successful the technological satellite and has made contributions to probe successful its abbreviated beingness of which a overmuch older instauration mightiness beryllium justly proud.”
--Capt. E.G. Hakansson, Commanding Officer, Naval Medical Research Institute (NMRI), 1946
***
Before determination was the Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC) determination was the Naval Medical Research Institute (NMRI).
On October 27, 1942, NMRI was established astatine the National Naval Medical Center (NNMC) successful Bethesda, Md. Over the adjacent 3 years, its complement of subject and civilian scientists and researchers—some of the astir superb minds successful the country—embarked connected an ambitious ngo of “comprehensive research” relating to each aspects of subject “problems.” Many of these efforts had contiguous interaction connected the warfighters and accomplished what Navy Surgeon General Rear Admiral Ross McIntire summarized arsenic the: “prevention of disease, the alleviation of the suffering and the redeeming of lives.”
Behnke’s Vision:
By World War II, aesculapian probe successful the Navy was acold from unchartered territory. In the archetypal decades of the twentieth century, physician-scientist Rear Adm. Edward Stitt and others had turned the Naval Medical School into the nation’s premier tropical medicine and naval hygiene probe center. And the inter-wars years (1919-1941) saw a immense array of pioneering aesculapian probe conducted astatine the Naval Medical School successful Washington, D.C., the Submarine Base successful New London, Conn., the Experimental Diving Unit, Navy Yard, Washington, D.C., aviation bases successful Pensacola, Philadelphia, and San Diego and, of course, aboard ships astatine sea. During this play Navy aesculapian unit helped unlock mysteries similar decompression sickness, anti-G forces, oversaw the improvement of liquid plasma, spearheaded the improvement and investigating of tetanus toxoid, and a means for combating vigor accent aboard aboveground ships.
Capt. Albert Behnke, MC, USN, 1 of the Navy’s starring aesculapian researchers of the 1930s, is often credited arsenic 1 of the fathers of NMRI. Behnke is champion known contiguous for his pioneering enactment connected decompression sickness, quality assemblage creation and enactment the USS Squalus submarine rescue effort, but Behnke was besides a starring researcher connected vigor stress. While a subordinate of a committee to survey aerial conditioning successful narration to harm control, Behnke conducted a bid of studies aboard the ships Nevada, Tuscaloosa and New Orleans looking astatine the interaction of shipboard environments connected combat efficiency. The operational worth of this enactment gained the attraction of Rear Adm. Ross McIntire, who past served arsenic some Surgeon General and superior doc to the President Franklin Roosevelt. McIntire shared Behnke’s enactment with Roosevelt who took interest. Having the receptor of Roosevelt, Behnke began advocating for a laboratory dedicated to conducting aesculapian probe connected issues impacting the Navy and Marine Corps. Roosevelt supported the program and Behnke got his wish. On October 27, 1942, NMRI opened its doors from Building 17 connected the field of the National Naval Medical Center successful Bethesda.
NMRI primitively consisted of 13 officers, 50 enlisted men and 1 civilian. By war’s extremity the Institute’s unit expanded to immoderate 81 officers and 125 enlisted personnel.
Plankowners included Capt. (later Rear Adm.) William Mann, MC, USN and Cmdr. Robert H. Draeger who served arsenic NMRI’s archetypal CO and XO, respectively. At the time, Mann was champion known arsenic 1 of Navy Medicine’s starring strategical thinkers and decades earlier helped initiate the conception of “field aesculapian training” astatine Quantico. Prior to reporting to NMRI, Draeger had earned immoderate renown arsenic an inventor of a microfilm camera primitively designed to photograph publications astatine oversea and aboriginal utilized by libraries. In the inaugural twelvemonth of NMRI, Mann and Draeger were joined by Dr. Andrew C. Ivy, the institute’s archetypal technological manager (1942-1943). Ivy, a Northwestern University prof of physiology, aboriginal gain prominence arsenic 1 of the developers of the Nuremburg Medical Code, a acceptable of probe principles connected quality usage experimentation.
Organized nether 4 probe departments—naval biology medicine, naval preventive medicine, dental probe and instrumentality research—NMRI’s ngo became progressively specialized during the war.
In July 1943, the 4 probe departments were reorganized into “facilities” for: Animal Laboratories, Aviation, Bacteriology, Biochemistry, Biophysics, Chemistry and assay, Analysis, Experimental Dentistry, Diving and Underwater Physiology, Heating, Air conditioning and Ventilation, Industrial Hygiene, a Library, Nutrition, Pathology, Personal Equipment Design, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Physiology, Psychology and Statistics, Psychometric and Metabolism, Hematology, Technical Shops, Experimental Surgery, and Virology.
NMRI’s First Research Projects:
NMRI categorized its archetypal probe projects into 5 categories: wide (affecting the Navy arsenic a whole), maritime medicine aboard aboveground vessels, submarine and diving medicine, aviation medicine and tract medicine.
Throughout World War II, NMRI investigated practically each occupation relating to the wellness of Navy and Marine Corps; and determination is nary denying that the enactment had an aerial of a aesculapian mentation “Q Branch” from the 007 novels and films. NMRI scientists researched and developed archetypal assistance kits for aviators, protective creams for flashburns, insect repellents and fungistatic agents, tested caller uses for Penicillin, invented resuscitation devices, explored prevention of wide effects of acold h2o immersion, caller treatments for seasickness, proscription methods for full blood, stood up the Navy’s archetypal mobile nutrition units, and oversaw caller treatments for and prevention techniques to ward against tropical diseases (including attraction for malaria, scrub typhus and schistosomiasis).
But, each of these developments would travel successful the aftermath of its archetypal assigned project: devising a full-proof method for desalinating seawater and processing peculiar nutrient rations for the war’s unfortunate oversea castaways.
Although determination are nary authoritative statistic connected however galore World War II Sailors, Marines, merchant mariners, subject aviators, and others awaited rescue astatine oversea successful World War II, a blimpish estimation is tens of thousands. Following the nonaccomplishment of their ships oregon aircraft, these castaways would often look a gauntlet of inclement upwind conditions, the menace of secondary force attacks, and sharks. Even if they escaped these hazards, and adjacent if they did not endure immoderate injuries oregon wounds, they inactive needed sustenance until eventual rescue. Without food, the mean idiosyncratic tin past for astir 21 days; and without h2o for astir 3 days.
Early 1943, NMRI unit began experimenting with chemically processing seawater truthful that it could beryllium drunk by unit adrift connected beingness rafts. In February 1943, NMRI physiologist Lt. Cmdr. Clair Spealman, H (S), USNR developed a pioneering multi-process filtering strategy for desalinating seawater. A similar, but simpler method was soon aft developed by NMRI successful conjunction with by the Permutit Water Conditioning Company. The “Permutit-Navy Desalting Kit,” arsenic it was known, contained a integrative drinking container with a cloth filter astatine its basal and 5 charcoal briquettes of desalting chemical. The castaway would cod seawater successful the drinking bag, driblet successful a briquette, seal the container and shingle it. Within 20 minutes they would person entree to a pint of caller h2o that they could portion done a conduit beneath the filter. By war’s end, the kit was adopted by the Army, Navy arsenic good arsenic American Airlines.
Food was different interest for NMRI researchers who sought to make a acceptable proviso of exigency rations that could “lend itself to casual depletion and businesslike metabolism.” Known arsenic the “NMRI Emergency Ration,” these tiny cans consisted of precocious abdominous butterscotch tablets, hard candy effect drops (containing citric acerb to beforehand the travel of saliva), malted beverage tablets, chewing gum, multivitamin tablets and a waterproof pouch. By 1944, the U.S. Navy adopted these exigency rations arsenic portion of a endurance kit for aviators arsenic good arsenic to service arsenic the “U.S. Navy Emergency Ration for Life Rafts.”
A Legacy:
The Navy’s Surgeon General Ross McIntire erstwhile outlined the Medical Department World War II ngo arsenic “…to support naval contented by keeping arsenic galore men astatine arsenic galore guns arsenic galore days arsenic possible.” There is nary denying that done its immense output of basal and applied research, NMRI helped the Medical Department amended execute this mission.
Over the ensuing decades NMRI was joined by different aesculapian laboratories and probe detachments crossed the globe, each agreed to conscionable a cardinal ngo to heighten the wellness of the readiness and the show of Navy and Marine personnel. Through reorganizations and re-envisioning of the R&D Enterprise, NMRI changed from a hub for Navy Medicine’s probe activities to a subordinate laboratory of the Naval Medical Research and Development Command (1974-1998) to finally, successful 1998, an Echelon-4 office bid known arsenic the Naval Medical Research Center.
Today, NMRC’s ngo and its relation successful the U.S. Navy, remains arsenic captious arsenic ever and stands gangly arsenic Navy Medicine’s “premier probe enactment with the imaginativeness of world-class, operationally applicable wellness and aesculapian probe solutions.”
References:
About NMRC. Naval Medical Research Center, Retrieved from: https://www.med.navy.mil/Naval-Medical-Research-Center/
The History of the Medical Department successful World War II: A Narrative and Pictorial Volume (NAVMED P-5031), Volume 1. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1953.
Ullman, V. Research successful preventive medicine. The Hospital Corps Quarterly, April 1945.
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