[Clipping: Bug Blitz] Part: 4 of 4
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eye in an explosion of acids some years ago,
realized that every day saved would mean lives
saved at the fronts. He and his chemists, with
help from the government and from the Geigy
people, worked with fierce energy.
War needs had produced shortages of
chloral hydrate. Frey devised a process that
didn't require chloral hydrate. Another change
had to be made to eliminate corrosive by-
products. All sorts of equipment and produc-
tion materials were short-the WPB helped
out on this.
By mid-1943 Frey and his men were begin-
ning to deliver DDT to the armed forces in an
ever-increasing stream. It was being flown to
North Africa and across the Pacific. It was
ready for our campaigns in Sicily and Italy.
While Cincinnati Chemical produced prac-
tically all the DDT up to the beginning of
1944, other companies are now beginning to
produce it, including Merck and Co., Hercu-
les Powder, and Du Pont, which has a huge.
plant nearly completed in. New Jersey.
AS THE DDT powder reached the in-
fested areas of the world, strange
stories began to come back: A couple of our
army medical officers were traveling through a
remote section of Arabia, taking some DDT
to one of our isolated detachments. Suddenly
they found themselves surrounded by wild na-
tive tribesmen, with guns and nervous trigger
fingers. Taken before the Bedouin chief, the
Americans explained that they were doctors,
carrying a magic powder to their comrades.
The chief wanted proof. The Americans
expertly dusted his flowing robes. In a short
time the sheik's stern features relaxed, then
broke into a wondering, ecstatic smile. He was,
for the first time in his life, free of lice.
His followers clamored for the same treat-
ment, and soon word of the new magic spread
to the chief's harem. These ladies, for perhaps
the first time, asserted their rights, and de-
manded DDT. But the chief insisted that the
priorities be observed. The No. 1 Wife got the
first dusting; then came the chief's favorite
horse; then came the Grade B wives.
The Americans were feted, applauded, and
sent on their way with presents and guides.
Although the powder had been thoroughly
tested in America, it was necessary to make
further tests in North Africa, where specialLife Line for
the Wounded
(Continuedfr om page 46)
dropped anchor in the sheltered British har-
bor, an LCT came up and was "married" to
our bow ramp. Aboard her was Army Medical
Capt. Anthony Marsala, from Monroe, La.
Like all others I saw in the evacuation chain,
he, too, was haggard with sleeplessness.
"We've had thousands of casualties through
here," he told me, and explained the method
of unloading. As we talked, stretchers were
already being carried across the LST ramp
82local conditions, or a different type of insect,
might change the results. One of the first tests
made was in an Algerian prison, where every
convict was painfully infested.
After the American dusters had done their
work, the convicts were offered a package of
American cigarettes for every living louse they
could find. Even with this magnificent bribe,
no convict was able to deliver.
In one Algerian village the chief, hearing of
the new marvel, offered to turn out the whole
population for dusting. But when the Ameri-
cans arrived, only a handful of inhabitants
remained ; the others had fled to the hills,
fearing witchcraft. The Americans dusted
these few, and said they would return on
Tuesday.
Coming across the hill, on Tuesday, the
Americans saw what they said "looked like
State Fair Day." The good word had spread.
Not only were the inhabitants all there, but
their friends and relatives from many miles
around.
In dusting the Arabs, the Americans ran
into a queer problem in psychiatry. Some of
the sufferers, freed of their lice, were upset and
despondent. Accustomed since infancy to
scratching, they (like some smokers deprived
of cigarettes) did not know what to do with
their hands. They had a no-louse neurosis.
Happily, most of them soon felt so much bet-
ter, with their systems relieved of the strain of
swarms of bloodsuckers, that they forgot their
scratching complex.
Arabs were found harboring literally thou-
sands of lice. This produces anemia, low vi-
tality, skin infections, and constant threat
from plagues. Is it not possible, thle that
DDT ma roffice st in o. eVoTution
Arab world? Centuries ago the Arabs
had a high, proud, vigorous civilization, in
many ways superior to that of Europe. Per-
haps the lowly louse has contributed to their
decline. If so, DDT may be a prime factor in
reviving the glories of the Arab world.
And how about the insect-plagued and -rid-
den civilizations of China and India? The
malaria-carrying mosquito debilitates India
with 100,000,000 illnesses and 1,000,000
deaths a year. Suppose, after the war, military
planes equipped with DDT-spraying appara-
tus were turned loose to eliminate mosquitoes
from India?
into the LCT-a 100-foot craft which easily
held them. The worst cases were taken aboard
last so they could be the first ashore. On the
way in, Captain Marsala was already busy
sorting our casualties according to the grav-
ity of their injuries.
For those who couldn't stand even a short
ambulance ride, one third of an American
field hospital had been established right on the
English beach only a few steps from where
the LCT landed. This had comfortable beds
and complete equipment.
Those who could stand a short ride were
loaded into long, waiting lines of ambulances
and taken about 5 miles to where the remain-
ing two thirds of the same field hospital was
set up. The rest were taken about 30 miles to a
transit hospital, where they were again sorted
out, some being kept there, some put on a
hospital train and moved to a general hospital
farther inland.
Ordinarily, with my minor injuries, I would
have accompanied this last group, but Cap-
tain Marsala suggested that, as a reporter, IIt is such questions which make this new
DDT so exciting, and which keep scientists
and philosophers and military men up all
night arguing its possibilities.
One thing we know: DDT is saving the
lives and health of American"boys, now.
General MacArthur reported in June that
malaria had been cut 95 per cent in the last
year. DDT has done its part there, though all-
round good medical and sanitation work has
also contributed largely.
In the Pacific and the Orient there are
malaria far more dangerous than the type
usually found in the United States. There is
also the mosquito-borne dengue fever, and the
dread filariasis, which causes parts of the
human body to swell to many times normal
size. As our men fight through the islands,
Burma, the Philippines, and China, they will
have plenty of DDT along to protect them.
Tests indicate that DDT will have a host of
peacetime uses when it becomes available for
civilian use. In the home it is effective against
moths, roaches, bedbugs, and silverfish. A
well-sprayed surface remains deadly to flies
for months. It protects dogs, cats, and other
pets against fleas.
F OR its use on farms, as I have said, a
great deal more research will be neces-
sary. Apparently, however, DDT is effective
against the Japanese beetle, thrips, tomato
fruit worm, plant lice, and the three chief cab-
bage worms. Also against the Oriental fruit
moth that damages peaches, and against such
apple enemies as the white leafhopper, the ap-
ple maggot, and the codling moth. Also
against the potato beetle and leafhopper, the
corn earworm and European corn borer, and
against various insects attacking peas, celery,
and a number of other crops.
It is not a cure-all. It has little effect against
the Mexican bean beetle, the red spider, the
cotton boll weevil, and some others. And if it
is used carelessly it may kill such useful and
friendly insects as the bee. These are problems
which experiment and careful use will solve.
War between humans is periodic; war be-
tween humans and insects is perpetual. In this
latter war, DDT seems to be the most effective
weapon yet discovered by man.
THE END**
might be interested in spending the night in a
field hospital, which is a vital link in the
evacuation chain. This one had pitched tents
on the beautiful flower-filled lawns of what
was once a fashionable preparatory school.
The commanding officer, Lieut. Col. Leon
Blumberg, 31, of Pittsburgh, Pa., showed me
around.
A field hospital is a unit relatively little
known to the American public. It is divided
into three units, each of which can function
completely independent of the others. Highly
mobile, the units were designed for use in the
Pacific, where they could leapfrog the units
from island to island. Each unit has an average
of 100 beds and can be moved within a few
hours, loaded onto 10 large trucks or 15
standard transport planes.
More and more field hospitals are being
moved to France on the heels of our advancing
armies to care for the most serious cases and
save them the tiring trip back to Britain.
Next morning I went on back through the
normal evacuation chain. An ambulance took
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Smith, Beverly. [Clipping: Bug Blitz], clipping, Date Unknown; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1479749/m1/4/: accessed June 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Private Collection of Mike Cochran.