Heritage Snapshot: Part 135

Soon after the close of World War I, some of the younger physicians at the College of Medical Evangelists in Loma Linda proposed that they organize a Seventh-day Adventist-staffed, stand-by military hospital as a gesture of cooperation with United States government. Percy T. Magan, MD, dean of the School of Medicine, so liked the idea that he negotiated with officers of the Ninth Corps Area of the United States Army in San Francisco to establish the 47th General Hospital of the United States Army Medical Corps. CME officially organized the hospital in 1926 when President Newton G. Evans, MD, became its commanding officer and assumed the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Reserves. Shortly thereafter, Cyril B. Courville, MD (CME class of 1925) became the head of the 47th General Hospital. Dr. Courville's consistent devotion to the hospital built it into a highly efficient unit. Its staff included physicians, nurses, administrative officers, and physical therapists. The hospital included all of the medical and surgical services required by Army regulations. In order to make more Seventh-day Adventist youth valuable as "medics" instead of combat soldiers, officers of the 47th General Hospital helped to train young men, who were not otherwise medically oriented, in the denominationally popular Medical Cadet Corps. Participants then offered needed services to their country without violating the denomination’s position on noncombatancy. The Medical Cadet Corps attracted favorable attention both from church members and the Surgeon General's Office. It rapidly spread nationwide. By the spring of 1943 some 5,000 cadets had been graduated. Major General George E. Armstrong, MD, retired Surgeon General of the United States Army, reported his experience with these medical personnel around the world. “It was my opportunity and privilege to personally observe literally hundreds of Seventh-day Adventists who served in the Army Medical Service between 1941 and 1955. I observed them in hospitals and other medical units in this country and abroad during World War II, and in this country and Korea…. Their devotion to duty, their willingness to perform any and every assigned duty, has established a record which is unequalled in our Medical Military Annals. “While Surgeon General of the U.S. Army, it was my good fortune to visit [the Medical Cadet Corps training program at] Camp Desmond Doss [Doss was winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor] at Grand Ledge, Michigan, and personally observe the training given there by Colonel [Everett N.] Dick and his associates. Never, in my observations of training activities, have I seen so much accomplished with trainees in such a short period of time. I attribute this accomplishment to the motivation of teachers and trainees. Secondarily, I am convinced that the training received at Grand Ledge, and that in turn passed on to others in the various satellite camps [including at Loma Linda Academy in the 1950s], has been an important factor in the success attained by the Seventh-day Adventist personnel after entry into the active military service.” The College of Medical Evangelists named a temporary committee to study and recommend assignment of personnel so that in case of mobilization the calling of medical officers would not seriously impact the operations of the School of Medicine. The Board also expressed appreciation to Dr. Courville for his untiring efforts in keeping alive the 47th General Hospital, and recognized the advantages it would present in denominational relationships with the United States military. In 1943 the United States activated the 47th General Hospital and Colonel Ben E. Grant, MD (CME Class of 1920), became commandant. Unfortunately, Dr. Courville became disqualified for health reasons. The S. S. West Point transported the 47th General Hospital to the South Pacific where CME officers helped construct the facility in Milne Bay, at the southern tip of Papua, New Guinea. Cyril B. Courville, MD, also was known as a gifted and skilled teacher. He taught neuroanatomy during the summer between the second and third years of the medical school curriculum. Every Thursday afternoon at the Los Angeles County General Hospital he conducted his “Neuropathological Conference,” during which he and his students displayed and examined brain specimens from recent autopsies. He was nationally recognized for his research on concussions and head injuries; still cited today. Dr. Courville, in addition to being an honored physician and alumnus, was a distinguished textbook author, editor, professor, researcher, and collector. He spent more than 40 years collecting artifacts relating not only to the repair and healing of brain injuries, but also to what inflicted those injuries. “If you want to learn about the effects of injuries on the brain,” he once stated, “you must do more than study the medical aspects of it. To get the total picture you must study the skulls of antiquity and the weapons that cracked those skulls.” His collection of weapons associated with head injuries is now housed at Loma Linda University. Courville’s magnificent collection ranges from a Stone Age fist ax to Civil War guns and a spiked mace used by Austrian troops during World War I. His collection also includes a cranium collection, including the skull of a Peruvian Indian. Traces of healing on the skull indicate that the Indian survived not only the original injury, but also the operation performed on him by native doctors. Bludgeons, including a large assemblage of elaborately carved weapons from the South Seas. They include Maori whalebone sword clubs described by Captain Cook, a New Guinea battle ax, and a throwing club. Dr. Courville’s collection also includes one of the most complete sets of Indian tomahawks in America. The Loma Linda University School of Medicine Class of 1961 furnished The Courville Collection Room in the Alumni Hall for Basic Sciences. Although the display contains about a third of the Dr. Courville’s artifacts, the entire collection is available for study. The 40-foot long exhibit is changed periodically to rotate the relics.