The injury soldiers are most appalled by is severance of the spinal cord. In World War I it meant almost certain death; the few who lived were hopelessly paralyzed. Since D-day in Normandy, more than 1,000 U.S. soldiers have suffered this injury. But most of them are still alive, and some are walking.
Army surgeons quietly announced this major triumph of World War II medicine last week. The chief credit for saving the lives of spinal cord casualties goes to penicillin and the sulfa drugs, which helped remove the greatest single danger—infection of the bladder and kidneys. But more remarkable than life-saving...