RANDOM THOUGHTS: Remembering the Guiding Light

Opinion

September 23, 2009

By Dorothy Brush / dcb1@frontier.net The Crossville Chronicle Wed Sep 23, 2009, 09:34 AM CDT

There are still a few of us who remember that radio was the introduction to a new world. We learned to be good listeners. There were shows for kids as well as soap operas but they were both squeaky clean. There was Ma Perkins and then 72 years ago "Guiding Light" appeared. When television came along that show moved to the tube and became a daytime favorite. After all those years "Guiding Light" made its farewell appearance on September 18, 2009.

On that date I was researching another event that began on September 17, 1862, and found another flesh and blood person who was truly a "Guiding Light." A doctor, little known in the general population today but much admired in the medical world, Major Jonathan Letterman was the director of medicine for the Army of the Potomac and a Union surgeon.

Before that terrible Battle of Antietam, sometimes called the Battle of Sharpsburg, began Letterman had established field-dressing stations next to battlefields, field hospitals in barns and houses close to the action and even alerted larger hospitals in surrounding towns.

Letterman chose to conduct his work from the Pry House and barn. This handsome three-story brick home was built in 1844 for Phillip Pry. A wealthy man he owned 25 acres surrounding the home and barn. Because of its location Union General George B. McClellan also made his headquarters in the Pry House.

The first battle to take place on Northern soil began at 5:30 a.m., September 17, and continued until 5:30 p.m. In that short 12-hour period it became the bloodiest single day battle in American history. The wounded were carried in horse-drawn wagons to field-dressing stations where if their injuries were severe they were sent on to a field hospital. Today Letterman’s triage model is standard in emergency rooms.

On that September day there were nearly 23,000 casualties — 3,700 killed, 17,300 wounded and 1,800 captured or missing. Because of Dr. Letterman’s foresight the medical corp had found all the wounded by the evening of the next day. Later Letterman wrote that considering the magnitude of the battle, “It is a matter of congratulations to speak of the expeditious and careful manner in which the wounded were removed from the field.”

In October 1862, Dr. Letterman used his lessons from that day to develop a reorganization of the military medical system. In addition to triage he included the success of the supply chain he used to carry bandages and medicines which allowed the military to travel lighter and lessened the risk of losing or wasting medical supplies. Those ideas are now housed in the Pry House Field Hospital Museum which opened to the public in 2006. The house holds many exhibits of medical artifacts from the Civil War period. It is a second site run by the National Museum of Civil War Medicine located in Frederick, MD about 15 miles east. That facility opened there in 1996 because they were not able to find a location on the battlefield. With the addition of Pry House they feel their first dream is fulfilled.

Both museums are part of the National Park Service. The Pry House holds five-day symposiums three times a year for military medical commands and the U.S. Public Health Service. These training sessions include the many contributions Letterman made which are still standard practices.

One of the attendees wrote, “Your efforts have proven indispensable to those military officers in harms way and those leading federal treatment facilities in garrison who are fighting one common cause, the global war on terrorism. You are making better, stronger and more confident leaders of us all.”

Known as the father of modern battlefield medicine because of his reorganization of the military medical system Dr. Jonathan Letterman served as the "Guiding Light."

Text Only

Opinion

Gary's World: The magical Star Wars summer of '77
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

May 24, 2012
Lion and the Lamb: When politics and religion meet
Several wealthy contributors to the Republican presidential campaign are once again trying to figure out how they can use a video clip containing three words that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright used in a sermon on April 13, 2003. Wright, now retired, had been pastor of the 6,600-member Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago when Barack Obama was a member there.

May 22, 2012
Random Thoughts: Returning vets fight fire
Cemeteries are given special attention this week in preparation for Memorial Day next Monday. During the Civil War gracious ladies of the south laid flowers on the graves of fallen soldiers from both sides. The custom spread across the country and was called Decoration Day until the early 20th century.

May 22, 2012
Tidbits: Finding more time in your day
If we had another two hours in every day, we'd all probably still be begging for just a little bit more to get all our stuff done before that clock strikes midnight and it's game over.

May 21, 2012
Stumptalk: Hooray for the innovators
In his brilliant article in the Free Market, Daniel Sanchez says, “There will always be a one-percent. The well-being of the 99-percent depends on who makes up the 1-percent: innovative entrepreneurs or the state and its cronies. This in turn depends on the ideologies adopted by the 99-percent.” This is the way societies have always been organized and always will be.

May 21, 2012
GARY'S WORLD: Graduates, create your own opportunities
Time flies. One day you have a baby boy who is fascinated with stuffed Miss Piggy and Kermit rattles and the next day he wants to wear his cowboy boots and hat with every outfit no matter what the occasion. Before you know it, he's playing in the elementary school band, going into high school, learning how to drive, driving to school, going to prom and graduating.

May 17, 2012
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Truly a January in May
“It’s June in January” became a popular standard after Bing Crosby introduced the song in 1934. A strange thing happened last week. I call it a tale of ‘It’s January in May.’

May 15, 2012
LION AND THE LAMB: Our challenged nation
Three major social justice issues have been a source of contention in our nation over the years, and interestingly, each of them has involved the subject of equality.

May 15, 2012
WE THE PEOPLE: Repressing the ‘Grapes of Wrath’
Sometimes a hole appears, ever so briefly, in the curtain that hides the plans of those who control our government. One such opening occurred when Alan Greenspan testified to the Federal Reserve Board on Feb. 26, 1997. During that testimony, Greenspan revealed that “worker insecurity” was (in his view) a boon to the economy, allowing productivity to increase without causing workers to demand increased earnings.

May 15, 2012
TIDBITS: Never stop moving forward, grads
This week is a week of celebration. According to my files of graduating seniors, Cumberland County will see more than 550 students earning their high school diplomas this week. Now, those youngsters will venture out into the world, armed with the knowledge and character instilled in them by their parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, teachers, principals, classmates, coaches and others.

May 14, 2012
More Opinion Headlines

Opinion

Search Results

RANDOM THOUGHTS: Remembering the Guiding Light

Site Map

Contact Us