eMonitor Issue No. 58 | Summer 2020

Inside This Issue

A Message from the Chairman of the Board Museum Insider Gilda Kling  AMEDD Historical Notables - Sometimes Armed with Microscopes Help your Friends Receive the eNews and eMonitor!

A Message from the Chairman of the Board

Dear Members and Friends of the AMEDD Museum,

Welcome to the Summer 2020 edition of your Monitor - a wee bit abridged - understandably. Here we are, celebrating the 245th Anniversary of the US Army and the Medical Corps in a year of pandemic, protest, and riot. Lots of sadness and change thrust upon us this year. Although essential services have been maintained, many DoD employees at Fort Sam are teleworking. For the time being, Museum visitors are prohibited, and the building is staffed solely by our Director, George Wunderlich. The word “virtual” is now solidly embedded in the current popular vernacular. Zoom no longer refers to speed but to virtual meetings. Meanwhile, the EXCOM is keeping the business of the Foundation on track. Since most of us are socially isolating, perhaps you may find a few minutes to visit the Foundation webpage - ameddmuseumfoundation.org; or the gift shop online at ameddgiftshop.org. Speaking of connecting in the era of social isolation, please forward the digital Monitor and the e-News to your friends and ask them to opt-in. You know how much fun comes from sharing AMEDD stories. In the eNews, you can read about the work of the AMEDD Soldiers who recently volunteered to help clean and disinfect the Museum. They have earned an “atta boy.” The Foundation office will continue to mail the paper version of the Monitor to all who prefer print.   The Public Portal to the Museum remains the Foundation’s highest priority. Telling the AMEDD story to the people of San Antonio remains an essential step to make our plan a reality, and to share the excitement of the AMEDD beyond our own family. Please continue to support the AMEDD legacy and please continue to tell the AMEDD story at every opportunity, wherever you find yourself. You are the spirit of the Army Medical Department! Thank you for being a part of our AMEDD family. Your continued loyal support and encouragement are deeply appreciated. Happy 4th of July!    ~ BG (Ret) Daniel F. Perugini

Foundation President's Update

The last few months have been some of the most tumultuous and uncertain in our Nation’s history. Novel virus, pandemic, and COVID-19 are now common terms in our vocabulary. We have added a new location to our knowledge of world geography— Wuhan. Despite the challenges, the EXCOM has tried to keep the everyday business of the Foundation going; however, there hasn’t been a lot of everyday business. Thanks to Bob Leeds and his wife’s Zoom account, the EXCOM has met virtually on an as-needed basis. Barbara Becerra has paid our bills, Sue McMasters has managed the administrative affairs... continue reading below

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Museum Insider

This month, we feature Gilda Kling, the AMEDD Museum Foundation's Gift Shop Manager. She is introduced by COL (Ret) Dr. Howard "Butch" Johnson, retired veterinary officer and Executive Committee member.

Butch: Gilda hired-on way before I started, but I could tell from the get-go that she was the key mover in the Foundation's Gift Shop. Never a person to accept failure, she sets and achieves high goals. For example, even during the COVID pandemic, she has routinely fulfilled numerous on-line purchases and has ensured that the purchaser received their item(s) in a timely manner. I am very proud to call her a Friend; she is a tremendously helpful mentor for me just as she is for others. Were I to be a betting person, I would feel safe in saying that >98% of your readers have interacted with her one way or another and would agree with me when I say, in my vernacular, she definitely is a “Keeper.” Monitor: Tell us a little about yourself - where were you raised, and how did you come to participate with the AMEDD Museum? GK: I came to the AMEDD Museum on a visit with my husband in 2015 when he was an AIT instructor with Echo Company 232nd Medical Battalion and had an instant connection. I was then introduced to COL (Ret) Herb Coley who gave me this wonderful opportunity to become the AMEDD Gift Shop Manager. I was born in Paris, France, and raised in El Paso (Fort Bliss), Texas. My father was a Combat Medic who worked at the Old BAMC. I married a Combat Medic and was a military spouse for 27 years. My husband accepted a job working for MEDCOM/OTSG as a DA Civilian here on Fort Sam Houston, where we decided to call home. Monitor: What surprised you about the museum? GK: The history behind the Combat Medic. For years I have seen the front line work done by our medics through deployments and various duty stations. Working for the Museum has educated me on the history. Monitor: Which is your favorite exhibit? GK: The Ambulance Corps Era. It amazes me to see how much they’ve changed throughout the years. My husband drove the M997 Humvee Ambulance which came with heat and air conditioning! Monitor: What have you/ do you plan to contribute to the museum? GK: I played a primary role in the implementation of the new Point of Sale system for the AMEDD Gift Shop. I have been able to share my knowledge and experiences with my customers as well as with the new AIT service members and their families. Being a Combat Medic spouse has given me the necessary experience to communicate with my clientele while selling products appropriate to their needs. My goal is to continue to see sales increase and to provide excellent customer service to our military community.

Sometimes Armed With Microscopes

The theme for this installment of Notable Historic Leaders focuses on AMEDD pioneers at the forefront of solving infectious diseases or working on preventive medicine issues. I believe it is timely and appropriate. Their efforts saved lives and improved health on and off the battlefield. The Army Medical Department has a rich history of research and determined personnel trying to cure diseases, and I could not focus on just one individual. Here are three brief examples of AMEDD heroes that were both researchers and leaders. They were sometimes armed with microscopes, and their influence was of crucial importance. George M. Sternberg (1838-1915) served as an early American bacteriologist, and also as an influential Surgeon General (1893–1902). A veteran of the Civil War, Sternberg served in the AMEDD for 41 years.

His work eliminated bacteria as the cause of malaria, demonstrating that it was caused by the plasmodium parasite. He also made discoveries on pneumonia bacteria. His book A Manual of Bacteriology was one of the first on the subject. During his tenure as Surgeon General, Sternberg expanded education and laboratory facilities for the AMEDD. He created the Typhoid Fever Board (1898), consisting of Majors Walter Reed, Victor C. Vaughan, and Edward O. Shakespeare, the Yellow Fever Commission (1900) headed by Major Walter Reed, and the first tropical disease board (1900). William C. Gorgas (1854-1920) served as the Surgeon General (1914-1918) for the majority of World War I, and saved countless lives through his sanitation efforts. Prior to becoming The Surgeon General his system of mosquito habitat removal, based on... continue reading below

Foundation President's Update Continued

...mostly remotely. Gilda Kling has tended to the gift shop, filling and shipping as many on-line orders as possible. Rachel O’Hern has continued to cultivate potential contributors and prepare and submit grant applications in support of our capital campaign. As for the capital campaign, COL (Ret) CEM Maxwell reports that it is now three years and four months since the Foundation requested Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA) assistance to develop an addition/renovation project for the Museum. It has been fourteen months since the Foundation submitted our Proffer (formal offer to transfer ownership of the renovation to JBSA). The Foundation has continued to engage the Joint Base and has responded to every question and taken every action requested. The most recent information from the Joint Base was dated May 27, 2020. The message stated, “Our Real Property Office informs that your gift proffer is in fact being worked to assemble a final submittal package - admittedly in the midst of a lot of other pressing issues. Will keep you informed as to possible time line as that information becomes better defined.” The “Proffer” that is being discussed would give JBSA a new public portal for the Museum, which would provide a direct access to the public and alleviate passage through the gate (Access Control Point). The project would ‘flip’ the entrance to the Museum building to the Eastside. Additionally, it would upgrade the fencing around the Museum to ensure Fort Sam Houston’s continued security from visitors without security gate access. The Foundation submitted a cost estimate at the time of our submission of the Proffer. That estimate is now more than a year old and will need to be updated. The public portal is the essential first step in providing access to a much wider group of potential visitors to the Museum. Increasing community access is often a stipulation to securing significant grants and contributions from civilian donors. When things return to normal, whatever and whenever that is going to be, we hope to re-energize the capital campaign and move out to make our Museum more modern and relevant. The EXCOM appreciates your continued support of the Foundation and the AMEDD Museum. Please take care of each other and stay healthy. ~ COL (Ret) Herb Coley - Board President

Sometimes Armed With Microscopes  Continued

...recommendations from the Yellow Fever Commission cleared the disease from portions of Cuba. He would then oversee a larger program of sanitation and disease control, making the building of the Panama Canal possible. Stanhope Bayne-Jones (1888-1970) began his career first working for his cousin William C. Gorgas in between medical school terms. His work in Panama of identifying parasites and similar research led to his future in preventative medicine. Advancing in academia he would later become Director of Bacteriology and Immunology at Johns Hopkins Medical School, but would leave his position to join the Army in World War I. Providing frontline care for first British then American forces, Bayne-Jones would earn three Silver Stars during the war. Providing service during World War II, he led the Typhus Commission and expanded its activities across the world. One of his most influential actions occurred after his military career, when he served as a representative on the Surgeon General of the United States’ Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health in the early 1960s. The committee produced findings that noted the dangers of smoking. (Sources: The Evolution of Preventive Medicine in the United States Army, 1607-1939; and Builders of Trust, Biographical Profiles from the Medical Corps Coin.

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