WWII Vet (93) Recalls Boyhood Meeting with Union Civil War Uncle, Survived Gettysburg, PA

[appalachiablue]

Last edited Tue Jan 25, 2022, 07:19 PM - Edit history (1)

- Through Their Eyes, Our Veterans Stories. World War II Veteran Frank Ruth (aged 93) on the time he met a Civil War Veteran who survived the battle at Gettysburg. Frank served as a combat medic with the 85th division, 339th infantry regiment in Italy. (2018). Mr. Ruth was b. 1925, met CW Vet 'Uncle Richard' in Lancaster, PA, c. 1931-32.

~ My mother who was the same generation told us she saw Civil War Veterans as a girl in Phila. & Richmond.

[hlthe2b]

1. As a combat medic himself in WWII, I'd bet he thanked his lucky stars he wasn't one during

the civil war (or WWI for that matter). Grisly is grisly, I guess, but damn at least effective analgesia, anesthesia and antibiotics were available to him.

[appalachiablue]

2. All of it was horrible, CW esp. w rampant camp diseases,

pointed rifle bullets, the Minie ball that shattered flesh and bone, no antibiotics, etc., until later. Many young, healthy farm boys from Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and other places died in crowded training camps, without ever seeing combat duty, from measles, mumps, and other diseases that they had never been exposed to. While working at a CW Museum I learned much and helped set up an exhibit on Medical Care during the Civil War.



- Early Federal Ambulance Corps drill, post- Battle of Antietam, Md. March, 1864.



- Period painting of a US Civil War soldier, wounded by a Minié ball, lies in bed with a gangrenous amputated arm.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine_in_the_American_Civil_War

> The top source for US military medicine is the *National Museum of Health and Medicine* in Silver Spring, Md. They have material and artifacts from every era, a huge collection.

- National Museum of Health and Medicine, Silver Spring, Md. Historical Collections:
Historical Collections division includes artifacts documenting the material culture of medicine, with an emphasis on military medicine and federal government medicine. The collection contains approximately 15,000 objects ranging in size from a suture needle to a two-ton Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) magnet.
The earliest objects date from circa 1660 (Robert Hooke Microscope) to medical instruments and equipment presently in use. The collection continues to serve as a Department of Defense resource for the study of how technology influences the practice of medicine...https://www.medicalmuseum.mil/index.cfm

[Docreed2003]

7. While certainly horrific

And surgery had certainly advanced light years between the Civil War and WWII, it's a common misconception that anesthesia wasn't used during the war. Chloroform was a widely used anesthetic and it's estimated 95% of battlefield surgery took place under anesthesia.
https://www.civilwarmed.org/anesthesia/

[hlthe2b]

8. Yes. I am aware that chloroform (and ether) was used during civil war-- albeit often not

available. Laudanum and other opioids became analgesics of choice but were not widely available to all who needed them. A LOT of surgery in the field was brutally completed sans anything except brute force. Thus my comment about the grotesque differences between civil war, WWI, and WWII, especially given the first two were the last of the big trench hand-to-hand combat wars.

[appalachiablue]

10. That's correct, I meant antibiotics, am typing and

working with one eye today b/c irritation. Drag.

[Docreed2003]

11. Just saw your post above

The Civil War Medicine museum is incredible...must have been great fun working at your museum

[wryter2000]

3. Wow

A DUer once posted here a picture of his grandfather, and behind his grandfather there was a picture of his grandfather's either father or grandfather on the wall. The older man had been enslaved as a child. The civil war isn't as far behind us as we think.

[appalachiablue]

5. That's awesome, & the CW wasn't really that long ago..

[Kaleva]

9. Going back 3 times my current age takes me to 1833

[Tree-Hugger]

4. This is amazing!

And just think....this uncle was born around the 1840's. He likely met people who were alive during the Revolution.

[appalachiablue]

6. Yep, he likely met Rev. War Vets. Early Brady PHOTOS:

- Daguerreotype Portraits of Early American Generals by Mathew Brady (1840's/1850's). A collection of daguerreotype portraits of generals and brevetted generals who fought in early American wars in the late 1700's and early to mid 1800's. Most were taken by Mathew Brady, one was taken by James Maguire, and two were taken by unidentified photographers in the 1840's and 1850's. - Source: Library of Congress, Getty.

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