Bradley Downing letter to Father - March 10, 1918
Transcript
March 10, 1918. Dear Dad: I just want to tell you what happened the other day. I have been thinking for some time that I would ask for the chance, but it suddenly chrystalized in my mind a week ago today, when I heard that one of the men has been put to the job of massaging. He massages the legs of patients who have had amputations, and so on, and that is all he does. So I thought “this is my chance”, and I resolved to see the detachment officer the first opportunity. I thought it all out, and then went up to him, saluted, and asked for a half hour of his time. We went up to his room, and I asked him to let me have twenty minutes to talk without interruption. He gave it to me, and I will tell you the gist of my conversation: “Captain, I can do something which nobody else on this post can do, and it is something which I have proved is necessary. I have waited to speak until I had proved it, and now I want a chance to continue it in larger lines. When I have finished my academic work I expect to make the best use of the next four years by going to a school of Osteopathy, I don’t know what you know or think of Osteopathy, and I don’t particularly care, but I want a fair chance to show what I can do.” Then I enumerated ten different cases which I had taken care of in an especially marked way, as well as several others which were not especially marked. I told him that I had been brought up “Osteosympathetically,” and that, while I hade very little real knowledge on the subject, I came honestly by it, and had a sort of a knack for it, and could work the A.B.C.’s of it so that even that little would work real benefit to “suffering humanity”, which was why I had signed up in a hospital unit. I wasn’t looking for a stripe on my arm, or anything like that, all I wanted was a chance, say, a month, to do that kind of stuff altogether, and prove that I could do something worth while. If I lost, then I was only fit for the kitchen, and other jobs that had to be done, which were necessary, but could be filled by anyone at all. I WANTED A CHANCE. Well, I filled my twenty minutes, and pulled both oars and a paddle besides. He puffed on his cigar for a minute, and then opened up rather oddly: “Downing, I think I’m a pretty good operator. It was my profession before I joined, and it will be my profession after I get out of the army. And yet, although I am considered a good surgeon (he is, too, one of the best) I haven’t performed a single operation in the last seven months. The C.O. has put me in charge of the detachment, and I have nothing to say. I don’t like it, you don’t like it, but we have our orders. The army is a machine, and individuals are lost. The trouble with the American army is that there is too much individuality. Every man thinks that he can do something else than what he is doing at the present time. It is not a question of what you can do, but of what you are ordered to do. The quicker a man forgets himself and works in the particular niche which he has been ordered to fill, the sooner and better we will beat the boche. Germany has a wonderful machine. That is the reason she is defying the world. Individual life is nothing. If you or I should die tomorrow there wouldn’t be a ripple to show where we had gone down, and the wheels of war would not retard a particle.” Some more in that line, - of course, I can’t give it as he said it, but tried to give the spirit of it, - and then: “As to what you are talking about, I can’t give you any permission to do what you want to do. I would like to be able to, and would do it if the power lay in me. The C.O. is the only one who could do it, and it is my opinion that he
Transcript
[page 2] would not let you do it. Our C.O. - (then follows something about the C.O., which, for censored reasons, I dare not write.) At any rate, the Captain told me that he had a friend who was a prof at Kirksville, and that he would speak to the Commanding Officer for me when the C.O. was in a good humor - over a game of bridge, or something like that. He said, however, that he had little hopes of obtaining the C.O.’s sanction. He said that more than likely he would reprimand me for doing what I had done without orders. I had it off my chest, anyhow, and I hadn’t been able to sleep for two nights, thinking about it. Well, it’s gone and done, and I don’t think I’ll have anything to lose. They can’t stop me doing what I can, - and I have really done a lot. I haven’t begun to tell you the way I have run across fellows who needed something which only Os can give, and each time I added another “convert” to the list. If the war lasts long enough I’ll have the whole American army asking for Osteopaths. Mother asked me some time ago if association with the Medical profession had turned me away from Os, and this is my answer. The more I am shown what medicine and medical doctors can do (this entirely apart from surgery), the more I am shown what they can’t do, and the more I am convinced that Os CAN do it! How do you like them apples? You had no idea that there was anyone in France who was doing so much for the cause, did you. I haven’t begun to tell you what has been going on. My chief object of interest just now is a man in the T.B. tents,. A 100 Lb sack of flour fell on him last November, from a height of about ten feet, and he has a ridge in the middle of his back about six inches high. That sack just about ruined him, and he has partial paralysis in his right arm and leg. I have been working on him every day for four days, and expect to do it until he leaves. Already there is a slight improvement, and most of the paralysis is gone. He feels much better generally, too. He is also (with MY ORDERS) doing exercises every day, trying to breath deep and throw back his shoulders, etc. Gotta beat it now. Lots of love. This is pussonal. Pvt Bradley C Downing Yours Brad [sketch of injured man] How it looks to me (the back
Details
| Title | Bradley Downing letter to Father - March 10, 1918 |
| Creator | Downing, Bradley |
| Source | Downing, Bradley. Bradley Downing letter to Father. 10 March 1918. Pvt. Bradley C. Downing letters. 2012.51.01. Museum of Osteopathic Medicine, Kirksville, Missouri. |
| Description | Private Bradley C. Downing wrote to his father on March 10, 1918 from an unknown location. Downing described his desire to practice osteopathy on injured soldiers. Downing also detailed an instance in which he used osteopathy on a soldier who had suffered a back injury. |
| Subject LCSH | Osteopathic medicine; World War, 1914-1918--Medical care--United States |
| Subject Local | WWI; World War I |
| Site Accession Number | 2012.51.01 |
| Contributing Institution | Museum of Osteopathic Medicine |
| Copy Request | Requests for permission to publish or reproduce material should be directed to the Curator, Museum of Osteopathic Medicine, 800 West Jefferson Street, Kirksville, MO 63501; telephone 660-626-2359. |
| Rights | The text and images contained in this collection are intended for research and educational use only. The Museum of Osteopathic Medicine does not claim to hold the copyright for all material; it is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of other copyrights. |
| Date Original | March 10, 1918 |
| Language | English |