Museum Audio Tour 24: Modern Flight Gallery: Korean War Aeromedical Evacuation

DAYTON, OH, UNITED STATES

12.31.1969

Audio by NMUSAF PA 

National Museum of the U.S. Air Force

Medical evacuation at the beginning of the Korean War was based on ground and sea transport. Upon his arrival in August 1950, Brig. Gen. William H. Tunner directed his staff to study the possibility of air transport as a standard procedure for moving wounded and sick troops. The technique became known as aeromedical evacuation. By October 1950, Combat Cargo transports began returning injured personnel to Japan or airfields in South Korea according to a centralized control plan. The Air Force's Military Air Transport System assumed responsibility for airlifting patients from Japan back to the United States. In flight, Air Force nurses and medical specialists cared for the sick and wounded. By the end of 1950, air transport became the standard for casualty movement. The U.S. Air Force aeromedical evacuation system, along with the use of antibiotics, helicopter evacuation and new surgical techniques, cut the death rate from wounds to half the rate it was during WW II. These advances greatly improved the morale and eased the suffering of wounded and sick soldiers. By the end of the war, Combat Cargo moved 311,673 wounded and sick personnel. This count includes individuals moved more than once. In addition to Combat Cargo’s impressive evacuation record, the Military Air Transport Service moved 43,196 casualties home to the United States. The heart of the system set up during the Korean War still exists today, with the USAF fully responsible for all aspects of military aeromedical evacuation behind the front lines.

• Date Taken: 12.31.1969
• Date Posted: 09.02.2015 12:10
• Category: Newscasts
• Audio ID: 41928
• Filename: 1509/DOD_102704193.mp3
• Length: 00:01:53
• Album: Museum Audio Tour
• Track #: 24
• Location: DAYTON, OH, US