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This is the first of a series of reminiscences of December 7, 1941, collected by the War Recognition Committee of the Hawaii Territorial Medical Association, Dr. Steele Stewart, Chairman.
DR. ARTHUR GORDON HODGINS,1 was interviewed at his office, Miller and Hotel Streets, Honolulu, on Sunday, January 31, 1943.
Dr. Hodgins was born in 1876, graduated from the University of Toronto in 1896, was licensed in Hawaii in 1899, and has been in the practice of Obstetrics and Gynecology in this city since that time.
On the morning of December 7, 1941, he and his wife and his servants were at their place on "The Peninsula" located next to the Pan American Air Base on the middle loch of Pearl Harbor. They had finished breakfast and he was waiting to bring his servants into town for the week-end when he heard the first bomb drop on Pearl Harbor. He rushed out and saw the dropping of the bomb and the anti-aircraft fire and the smoke beginning to rise from the other side of Ford Island about one mile away. About 8:15 to 8:30 they were ordered to get out, and he left with his servants for Honolulu. Near Aiea he picked up a sailor who told him that the city was under attack and that three of our ships were down and burning. He came to his office and unsuccessfully tried to call his wife, and then proceeded to the Mabel Smyth Memorial Building for the lecture of Dr. Moorhead.2 He arrived there shortly before 9:00 o'clock, and found several others of the medical profession there, including two army medical officers from Schofield. (See the description by Sam Brown.) He described what he had heard and seen, and the army officers said they had just come by that way and there was nothing to it, and they went on into the meeting. Two other army officers from Schofield came in and were immediately contacted by telephone and ordered to return to their quarters. Dr. Hodgins went into the hall and informed the first two medical officers from Schofield of the orders, but they paid no attention to him and sat still.
About five minutes after Dr. Moorhead began his lecture, Dr. Jesse Smith came in and announced that twelve operating surgeons were wanted at once at Tripler General Hospital. Dr. Sam Brown of Hilo, having no transportation, asked Dr. Hodgins to take him to Tripler. They had considerable trouble getting through, because everyone was taking to the road to see what was going on at Pearl Harbor. The first five surgeons to arrive at Tripler were Drs. Strode, R. 0. Brown, Sam Brown, Moorhead and Hodgins. They reached Tripler about 9:30 and were met by Major Spitler, who said, "They caught us with our pants down." Subsequently Drs. Halford, Batten, Osorio, Black and others arrived. Dr. Hodgins and Dr. R. 0. Brown were directed to the Maternity floor by some Major. Dr. Halford and some of the others did most of the major surgery. When they went to get ready for surgery and had their clothes off, there were no operating suits, and he worked most of the day in his B.V.D.'s. Later in the day someone found some pajamas for them to wear. They wore the same gown nearly all day and simply washed off their gloves between cases except when they got an occasional change of gloves. There was very little equipment. They had about three sterile towels for each patient, and their instruments were extremely limited. They each had two or three hemostats, and there was perhaps one operating saw in the house. There was plenty of sulfa drugs on hand but they had a great deal of trouble getting anesthetists, there being only two or three at the hospital, and consequently they did most of their surgery under local anesthesia. They were short of suture material and dressings. The Maternity department was very ill equipped to do the major surgery, so that they did not handle anything except shrapnel wounds and amputations.
They did not see Col. King the entire day.
He stated that the Army medical officers were acting as traffic officers, directing the ambulance drivers where to take patients, but that they made no apparent attempt to act as a triage to separate the urgent surgery from that less urgent. He said that no army surgeon did any surgery the first day.
Their first case was an amputation of a leg and the repair of a urethra torn by shrapnel. Dr. Brown, a urologist, desired to use a sound to make this repair, but they were unable to find one. Dr. Halford finally found a silver catheter but they were unable to use it, and Dr. Brown decided to drain the bladder supra-pubically. The patient was a fat man and they had only a single retractor to hold the wound open, and Hodgins had to use his finger to supply the deficiency. A catheter was fastened in place and that night the patient was brought back to be catheterized, but Dr. Hodgins didn't know why.
On one occasion, apparently when the instruments had been reduced or changed, a man with a crushed arm was brought in which required amputation, and they had to refuse to do the amputation because of lack of instruments. "They were totally unprepared for any emergency such as that; Queen's would have been better prepared."
He stated that every operation was done by the civilian surgeons, and they cleared up most of the heavy work the first day, although there was some delay in getting to some of the patients of perhaps three to four hours. The blood and plasma was supplied by the local blood bank, and Dr. Fennel remained at the hospital giving the blood and plasma as rapidly as he could.
When Black got there he had to go back and get his own instruments.
The next day he returned to the hospital and offered his services and left his name and address for call, but was not called again.
They continued to work until about 4:00 p.m. He returned to the peninsula to find that his wife had packed up but the guard had refused her permission to leave. He talked the guard into letting them go to their sons in Dowsett Highlands, where they arrived at dark.
He advised that I see Mr. Al Castle, head of the Red Cross, about the work that they had done for about a year before the "blitz," and that Col. King had done everything he could to discourage their work as being entirely unnecessary. He stated further that he thought Col. King had done more against the civilian hospitals in the city than any other individual; e.g. Queen's Hospital was overcrowded and he would not allow them to put up a temporary structure to house about fifty patients because the hospital was in a danger zone. He demanded that "Queen's Hospital keep thirty beds vacant at all times for an emergency." Again Leahi Home for Tuberculosis was overcrowded and had a waiting list, but was well equipped and staffed, but Col. King insisted on building another hospital at Wahiawa and manned by men who had not taken care of tuberculosis, instead of adding to Leahi. Asked if he thought there had been an marked increase in tuberculosis, he said No. He felt that the chlorination of the water was entirely unnecessary, as the water supply came from artesian wells and had never given any trouble.
When asked who were the men who the credit for the medical civilian preparation, he said the Committee3 of Judd, Strode and others.
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"I have read the above report of my conversation, and it is true to the best of my knowledge and belief."
A. G. HODGINS, M.D.
1. Deceased.
2. Dr. John Moorhead of New York City had been invited to give a series of post-graduate lectures on traumatic surgery.
3. The Medical Preparedness Committee of the Honolulu County Medical Society.
Medicine in Hawaii: The World War II Experience
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