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Submerge For AppendectomyThere will be hundreds of stories come out of the war but none with more drama in the telling than the appendectomy performed by Pharmacist s Mate Thomas A. Moore, of Chino Valley. Arizona, on Fireman Second Class George Platter of Buffalo, New York, aboard the submarine Silversides cruising in enemy waters.Early one morning Platter was taken with an acute appendix attack. An emergency operation was necessary. Submarines as you know carry no doctor. The only man aboard who might perform such an operation was Moore. It was a case of operate or death for Platter and at ten o'clock at night the order was given to submerge in order to avoid any crash dive if the submarine should have been detected by the enemy.The ward room became the surgery. The mess table in lieu of other operating facility was pressed into service. Platter was given a spinal anesthetic and a good Navy flash light was used for light for exploratory purposes. Retractors were devised out of bent tablespoons to hold back the muscles. Following the incision it took Moore an hour and twenty minutes to find the appendix. It had grown to the intestines and it took him another hour to cut it away.Men were standing around stripped to the waist all intently following the operation. Suddenly the spinal anesthetic wore off. According to the patient, Platter, he yelled out “to hit him over the head with something.” They gave him ether and he knew ijothing more until he wakened up in the wardroom.Of course the operation was a success and Platter recovered. But for sheer audacity and cold nerve on Moore's part and the courage of Platter a casualty aboard the Silversides could not have been averted.The story of “Submerge for Appendectomy ’ was first told over the Columbia Broadcasting System by Webley Edwards. But it bears repeating. Again and again it should be told and particularly in these closing days of the Victory War Loan Drive. It is for men of Moore's and Platter's courage that Americans even.*where are happy to kick in with their dollars that they may not be delayed in their prosecution of the war.It is never too la it to buy a bond.
Newspaper Details
Tucson Daily Citizen
Tucson, Arizona, US
Thu, Apr 29, 1943
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Greg C.
NV, USA 04 Sep 2016
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