Transcripts For CSPAN2 Jennet Conant The Great Secret 20240712

Im delighted to welcome jennett conat who is an played author and the doctor of ryan con nat the director of the Manhattan Project, one of the best sellers. And the shell be speaking tonight about her new book the great secret the classified world war 2 that launched the war on cancer. I want to thank the museum for inviting me to be we youve. Alas its virtually. My first zoom presentation so bear with me. Ive had a lot of coffee and im thinking i should have had a lot of wine but here we go ill start off with a quote from winston churchill. He had way with words. He once observed men occasionally stomach pel across the truth stumble across the truth but most of them. Pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened. Lieutenant colonel Stewart Francis alexander, the remarkable hero of my become did not hurry off. In fact he refused to leave the scene of a military disaster even when churchill himself warned him to he stayed, he paid attention, he investigated, and as a result, he recognized the neverbefore seen symptoms in a group of dying sailors thats might have lifesaving implications for others in the future. This is a story of one intrepid army doctors alert mind and how it turned the chemical weapons report into a stepping stone and a horrific world war ii tragedy into a medical triumph. Im going to take you back to the night of december 2, 1943. The old port town of barry on the italy coast was bustling. The british had taken the capital in september and throe the front lay only 150miles to the north, the Medieval City withed the cliffs hat scened the fighting almost unscathed. Only a few miles outside of town lines of women and children were begging for black market food but in barry, the shops were full of cakes and bread and rolls, young couples involved arm in arm like in the old days and ice cream vendors were doing a brisk business. Its would critical met tier rayan met terrainan hub it and was supplying both the american fifth and british eighth armies which was the better part of the 500,000 allied troupes engaged in driving the germans out of italy. We can show the first slide of the waterfront. The rib brateing british tommies already chased the nazis from the sky owed italy and at the british who controlled the port were so confident they had won the air war that Marshall Cunningham announced it was all but immune from attack. I was rather as a personal affront, an insult if the luftwaffe could attempt any significant action in the area. The busy wartime port was teaming with activity. Four tase earlier the american liberty Shawn John Harvey pulled in with a convoy of nine merchantmen, 30 allied ships were cramming the harbor, packed against the sea wall on the peer. Hulls laiden with a from food to medical gear, and tons of fuel oil for planes. You can see on the upper decks were tanks, armored personnel carriers, jeeps, ambulances, everything. Bright lights, winked atop huge cranes hosting equipment out. The dark areases were longing to unload the supply for the next big push, the advance on rome. Allied strategy hinged on making steady progress up the rugged mountainous peninsula of itty. The excels of thes a the excels of the advance depend on the line supply lines sustaining the mens match march north. The usual blackout order were suspended. The lights blazed in the harbor, all night long. At 7 35 p. M. A blinding flash was followed by a terrific bang. The ancient port single antiaircraft patry opened fire, then came an earsplitting explosion and then another and another as a german ju88 flew in low o. The town dropping bombs. Smoke and flames rows from the streets. The lead path finders dropped a knew kind of jamming technique using foil strips designed to confuse allied radar, and as a result they achieved almost complete surprise. As the incendiaries rained down on the harbor it turned night into day. Gunners scramble to shoot down the enemy but it was too late. Virtually no opposition. The attacking german planes pulled out, unchallenge by allied he fighters. The results were devastating. A tremendous roar came from the harbor and exploding aming this tankers send a huge rolling mass of flames a thousand feet high. A reporter for Time Magazine described a firey panorama, eight ships burning fiercely. The entire center of the harbor was covered with burning oil, he reported. A ruptured fuel line sent thousands of gallons gushing into the harbor and ignited into a gigantic sheet of flames engulfing the entire north side of the port, the flames spread across the surface of the water, leaping from ship to ship. The cries worked frantically to save the vessel before they were forced to jump and swim for safety. He the distant cries of men yelling for help echoed in ruins harbor. News of the night raid was one of the worst naval catastrophes of the war was heavily censored. Dwight eisenhowers first communication stated only the damage was done, add ensuggest to injury the first account of the air raid came from german, berlin propaganda broadcast floated over the missions spectacular success, stating the harbor was so for lie protected the german bombers were picking off the allied i ships like sitting ducks. The press ducked it the little pearl harbor shook the come complacency of the allies forces who were convinced of their air superiority in the area. The nazid sunk 17 allied ships and destroyed more than 31,000 tons of vital cargo. More than 1,000 american and british servicemen were killed and almost as many wounded in an untold number of civilians. Rumors abound that officials were covering up the indemnities talk of a new german weapon. Congressional concern of the debacle was underscored by eisenhowers announcement he asked a special Senate Subcommittee to investigate. Where admiral land responsible for u. S. Merchant marine fleet angrily told Time Magazine, youre going to hear more about that raid before you hear less. But that was the last official word on the matter and that the incident remained show rounded in mystery. A determine effort of the government to cover up the incident so as not to endanger preparations for the most important operation of the war, overlord think allied invasion of german occupied france planned for the spring. It would be almost 30 years before the world would learn the truth what really took place and even today, few are aware of the surprising consequences of the disaster and its impact on the lives millions of americans. Lieutenant colonel alexander was asleep in his headquarters. He was awake at the first jangle of the telephone. The summons came in the middle of the night, appeared to be a developing medical crisis, too many men were dying, too quickly of unexplained causes. The symptoms were unlike anything the local military physicians had seen before, and they had begun to suspect the germans used an unknown weapon, perhaps poisoned gas. With the number of mysterious deaths increasing rapidly with each die they british placed a call alerting allied headquarter in algiers. An urgent request for assistance. Alexander was dispatched immediately to the scene of the disaster. He looked young for a combat physician. He was 58 and skinny, only 29, his hair was thinning at the temples and that leapt him the only air of authority he could claim. He was popular with the troops, though some patients kidded him is gentle bedside mapper was best sueded to a pediatrician but he had been through the brutal invasion of north africa under George Patton and despite this quiet mod city and dimples he had proven this. Be confident, determined, and resourceful. His superiors knew the had a good head on his shoulders help could have sat out the war in a stateside hospital but the desire to serve ran deep in his family. He was defended from selfmade immigrants who fled famine and persecution in europe nor United States in the 1880s and were forever grateful for the turns aford emthem in under knew home. Alexanders father was a popular Family Doctor in surge in it was his one ambition to follow his fathers photostatted. He entered dartmouth at 15, allowed to advance directly to medical school and graduated at the top of his class in 1935. He earned his mt at columbia. After completing his residency he went back home and hung out his shingle next to his father. But in the spring of 1940, at hitler ban his march across you were. Ale los angeles volunteered for duty and. The that it was a war in which he had to par tis it. Notified his draft board he would be available at any time. He was called up in november and spent time with a 16th 16th infantry regiment stationed at Gun Powder Creek in maryland which happened to be home to the Chemical Warfare service. Before long he decided to contact the Chemical Warfare service with an Innovative New design he had couple if with for spectacles that could fit inside the facepiece of gas mask. A gas mask because the gas mask those left from previous wars fit over his glasses. He came up with a different kin kind. He wanted to impress his superiors at the war service that want to offer him a dodge freight transferred to the arsenal yet underwent a crash course in poison gases. He became a newly minted expert in the field. He conducted experiments on animals for toxic agents to new forms of treatment and protective your for soldiers for after pearl harbor start traveling around the world to different Training Camps to teach Army Medical Personnel how to treat chemical casualties. He was promoted to director of the Chemical Warfare Services Medical research laboratory. And so when general eisenhower, concerned about the heightened threat that hitler might launch a gas attack in europe, he requested a doctor with the Chemical Warfare background, and Young Alexander was sent to allied force headquarters in algiers. So now at 5 00 p. M. On december 7, 1943, 5 days after the attack, alexanders plane touched down at the airfield waiting for him are group of senior british doctors. I could say they were immediately agitated and was taken to the hospital at once he wrote in his diary. The situation was grim. All the equipment for five planned american field hospitals had been sunk in the air raid. Fortunately all the doctors were safe and they scrambled to open the 26 American General hospital the morning after the raid, to help care for the score is of bombing victims pretty think we have a picture of the hospital. Alexander the lack of medical supplies was going to compound the tragedy predicts this in hospitals were run by the british, by some miracle the largest, the 90th general hospital, had been spared. But the place a taken a beating. Windows were shattered on the wall scattered there bricks like hail part in concussion blasted knocked out the powers there working by lamplight. There is no sweeping up the class when the first the wounded began to arrive. Hundreds and hundreds of bodied served from shock and exposed almost all were covered in thick black crude oil. Had the most seriously injured. These were the sailors entered sailors had jumped through ships were horribly burned. A death warrant was set up in the empty back room for those beyond help. In the basement, a makeshift mortuary, a local carpenter was knocking together rough pine conferences bestie could. The town run out of caskets and only the first few hours. With so many patients needing urgent attention, there is no time to get most of the wounded sailors out of the dirty right the nurses did what they could. The immersion cases, the boys had been taken from the water had standard emergency treatment for the time, a shot of morphine, blankets to keep them warm, on strong hot sweetie. Then they were left to rest. A few complained of smarting eyes and stinging burns, but that was attributed to the large filers and fuel oil. Their discounted at the time. Most just lay there quietly, aware surgical case of the given priority. The first unusual indications the doctors told alexander, was that the casualties did not present typical symptoms or respond in a typical manner. They said the men complained being thirsty, suddenly they started ripping off their clothes and bandages in a frenz frenzy. Complaining that their skin was on fire. Overnight, the majority of the immersion cases developed red and inflamed skin and blisters as big as balloons. This with widespread nausea and vomiting what the doctors think the cause might be the poisonous fumes or the field oil, perhaps the explosives. But six hours after the attack, patients began complaining of severe eye pain and by the end of the day, the wards were full of hundreds of mens with her eyes swollen shut. As it deepened, headquarters sent notification there is a possibility of a blister gas explosion. The information was vague and unconfirmed. They were to be classified dermatitis and why d, not yet diagnosed. Pending further instructions. Given the crush of casualties that first night, they not urgent cases appeared in Good Condition were sent away. Most of them were still in their wet uniforms. The next morning they return, clearly needing treatment. They were in a horrible state. But what made it worse is so many of the boys were conscious throughout the ordeal. Could not understand why his vision was becoming blurrier with each passing hour. Thats what and confiscated all of the close, shoes, belts, uniforms, everything. There is no explanation given. That create a panic among the patients, he said. They feared their fates were sealed. The first unexplained death occurred at 18 hours after the attack. Within two days, there were 14. Alexander noted the downward spiral of the patients. Boys appeared in Good Condition and a matter of minutes would be morbid and die. The british doctors were mystified. The symptoms did not fit any of those in their case history of poison gas in world war i. They could find no similarities in the medical textbooks or the manuals issued by the Chemical Warfare services. If the toxic agent was mustard gas, so named because it is unpleasant garlicky odor, and respiratory complications should have been more prominent, but they werent. As alexander walks toward e. G. Examine the patient to gently lifted blankets and studied their burns bread with delicacy he probed the thickened redskin prespoke to each man in turn, asking how he had come by his injuries, which ship was young . How did he come to be rescued . Did he receive any firstaid on the dock . What about when he got to the hospital . One sailor after another told the been caught in a firestorm the pandemonium that followed of some help making it to the hospital. There they had waited for as long as 12 and even 24 hours in their wet uniforms before receiving treatment. Drawing back the covers on one patient, alexander studied the burns on the otherwise healthy muscled body. The sailor said he had been aboard a pt vote in the harbor when the german bombers flew over. He heard a loud boom and felt a spray of oily liquid land on his neck. A picture of the injuries is shown in alexanders report. He observed the outline of red raised skin, shiny with ointment, eliminating where hed been sprayed as if it had been imprinted on his flesh. The burns already could distinguish between chemical burns and thermal burns. Certain patterns were present. It appeared to alexander the sailors have been thrown overboard and completely immersed in the harbor were burned extensively over 90 of their body were those in votes had superficial burns wherever the toxic suit had hit them. Some men who sat in the solution possibly in lifeboats had only local burns on the buttocks and groin. And a few lucky souls are taken upon themselves to wipe off the oily mixture that first night had only minor injuries. As he made his rounds, it was increasingly clear to alexander that most of the patients have been exposed to a chemical agen agent. He had noticed something from the first moment he entered the hospital. It was sub odor that just kept nagging away at him. He could pick it up at various places in various rooms. And it stood out from the usual smells of urine and disinfected and burned flesh. The odor implanted itself in his mind, he wrote in his diary, was mustard gas. It had been five days since the initial exposure and there is any chance of same the lives of hundreds of sailors lying in bed with the countless italian civilians, who knew he needed to act very swiftly. He decided to question the hospital director and put the question to him. He had his own suspicions. So we asked, feel this man may have been exposed and mustard in some manner, colonel, jiminy idea how this mightve happened . None in the hospital directors reply. As a Chemical Warfare consultant, alexander was clear to the highest degree. Into the alley had secretly stockpiled poison gas in the mediterranean case germany with its back to the wall, resorted to Chemical Warfare. But he was skeptical that the allies wouldve shipped mustard shells into a port so close to the local population. And then allow the toxic cargo to sit there as a prime target for enemy strike. Still, he could not afford to rule it out. He tried again. I did check with the port authorities . Have you checked the shipping mast . Could the ships in the harbor be caring mustard . He was told again and again, that they did not have the information, that it was not possible. But alexander had his doubts. I sent him like the british were trying to manage his investigation. He did not believe he was nearly full story or their full cooperation. The burden he proofed, he realized, rested on him. He ordered a series of test for the patients were still live and insisted on a series of carefully complete autopsies of those who died under mysterious circumstances. He ordered samples of the harbor water collected and analyzed. He borrowed personnel from displaced American Hospital units and put them to work gathering data, performing lab tests on tissue samples, and compiling pathology reports. Suspecting the british officials were dodging the question, alexander visited the navy house, the british admiral of the local headquarters, again come he demanded to be told that there was mustard gas in the harbor. Again he was absolutely denied. He was not convinced but what he needed was proof. He also knew something else. This was mustard gas poisoning that he recognized in world war i. The first and next morning, the person you wanted to do his own investigation without official interference. He picked his wife the mounds of rubble and surveyed the twisted metal pretty looked at the burnt out vessels. Some had been towed out to sea, come mention some could still be seen. Their masts are good and pokey above the water. Theyre smoldering in the fly ash stung his nostrils. The dark water in the harbor looks sinister. One sailor had recalled the floating oil had been a foot thick on the surface of the water after the raid. It was a mixture of high octane gasoline and fuel from two dozen allied ships prudent alexander suspected mustard gas. But he did not know what else might be in there. He needed to do more tests. He knew the allied cargo ships had been caring White Phosphorous shells but he knew they had been carrying a new secret weapon called napalm. He could not be sure what was in the chemical stew. He also could not be sure if it was not a german aerial gas attack. In the spring attack he reason that liquored mustard in most cases be transformed into tiny droplets resembling a vapor. It wouldve contaminate all the ships in the inner harbor including the crippled vessels that still remained afloat. They inhale significant doses across the harbor some sinking, some burning, some mixing with tons of oil floating on the surface. In some evaporate in the clouds of smoke and flame. Theres no evidence of mustard contamination brittany question the royal personnel, they seem surprised they shook their heads, no mustard had been released in the aerate she told him, that is impossible theres no mustard here. When she spoke to the british port authorities they said there was no mustard in the area. But undeterred, alexander described in detail the ghastly birds he had seen. He insisted there is no way those injuries could have been sustained by anything except Chemical Exposure. Of the 534 men admitted to the allied hospitals just in the first nights, 281 were suffering from severe symptoms consistent with mustard. And one day 45 had died. He told the british they could expect far more fatalities. The vast majority were their own countrymen. Were they happy about that . At that point, the port authorities began to waver and change their story. They began to say that perhaps there was mustard gas in the harbor, but it could only have come from the germans. Shocked by the sudden aboutface, alexander reconsidered come he did some more studying of the papers and the ramifications of the charge with hitler when a desperate gamble. But in the end after reviewing all the evidence, he discounted it as unlikely. Come after the authority strong denial he thought it was too weak of explanation of what had happened. She expected something much more complicated. Over the next two days he poured over the clinical records and autopsy reports. Leading the reports he wrote they should take a journey into the nightmare of the effects of chemical contamination. He came to an overwhelming conclusion the serious consequences of mustard gas could be seen on most of the victim. Even though their bird by blass and explosions, the Chemical Exposure was apparent. Alexander was not sure how to proceed when he receives stunning news, a diver he had ordered to search the harbor floor had found fractured gas shells. Tests were mutely performed on site and revealed trayce of mustard. The ordinance officers of the u. S. Air force identified the casings as belonging to a100 pound mustard gas bomb. German mustard gas bombs were always marked with a distinctive yellow cross. The bombs were definitely american. His instinct had been right all along, one of the ships in the harbor had been carrying mustard gas. The secret shipment has most likely been destine for a chemical stockpile, 75 miles away in order to improve the u. S. Capability to retaliate in the event of an german gas attack. Alexander knew that the bombs were fragile and would have been fractured by the explosions in the bombing raid. Using a sketch of the harbor that he had prepared as part of his investigation, he plotted the positions of the sunken ship and by correlating them with a number of mustard gas victims for each ship, he was able to pinpoint the john harvey in american liberty ship at the epicenter of the explosion. Alexander found hard to believe that the british officials did not know of the john harvey secret cargo. The circumstances of the accident now demanded further investigation. And he would have to explore the stent of which they military authorities had covered up the escaped gas by failing to alert the hospital staff to the risk of contamination they greatly added to the number of fatalities. But in the immediate moment, the first concern was the patients. Now that he actually knew his suspicions were confirmed and it was mustard gas, he advised the hospital staff how to treat the patients for mustard exposure and try to reduce the number of deaths of the next couple of days. Instead of bringing matters to a close, alexander discovered the mustard gas income from the allied own supply made a difficult job that much more complicated officials rankle but that pales in comparison to shift responsibility to the luftwaffe, it was not a harmless fabrication. Alexander worried that if theyre going to accuse the germans of dropping mustard when the germans had not done so, it could have grave political implications. The Previous Year that president roosevelt issued a warning that any use of chemical weapons the fullest possible retaliation for churchill it echoed his remarks, the significance of any error in interpreting the factor of source of mustard gas he knew, could be horrendous. The allied leaders through the faulty conclusion that germans deployed chemical weapons that could provoke hitler into launching a gas attack. And they would have an all out chemical war. Adding to its anxiety the daily death toll was rising rapidly. He decided he had to notify officials of what his findings were. He cabled allied forces in algiers. Due to mustard gas, he wrote. They are unusual on the variety is due to mustard which has been mixed in with the oils and therefore went undiagnosed. He was feeling a growing sense of urgency and he awaited the replies. He sent high priority cables to the american president and the british Prime Minister informing them of the nature of the casualties and almost certain origin of the gas on american ships. Roosevelt accepted his findings and responded, please keep me fully and formed. Churchill however set a terse reply, he did not believe theres mustard gas. Alexander was speechless he admired churchill but he realized that he had to question the leaders command decision. He realized that churchill was mostly concerned if he acknowledged theres poison gas in the area and the germans retaliated, the first place theyll be dropping gas would be on england. So alexander sent a second telegram side and findings at much greater length, beyond any doubt the casualty was due to mustard but he was informed churchill maintained the symptoms do not sound like mustard gas. His instructions were the same to the doctor, reexamine the patients. Flummoxed, unsure how an american medical officer supposed to respond, alexander appealed to the officer for advice. The british officer advised him, one did not argue with the Prime Minister. After a sleepless night, alexander turned to the hospital was determined to prove his diagnosis was correct. Churchill was undoubtedly brilliant and he had an uncanny instincts for the facts. He put his finger on the most important thing about the victims, why was toxic effects so much more serious than ever in recorded history . Former patients were dying of mustard than on the battlefields of world war i were the for tally rate had been around 2 for the death rate was six times higher and climbing. Difference he believes the unprecedented, lengthy contact as a result of being immersed in the oily harbor water and then left to sit and soaked uniform uniforms. All intense purses were dipped in a solution of mustard and oil, wrapped in blankets, given warm tea and allowed prolonged period for absorption, he wrote. The survivors had been hosed down, given fresh clothes they wouldve been given a fair chance of survival. Said the men were able to marinate in their mustard uniforms for hours. It meant tantamount to a death sentence. The various british and american officials had moved the gas shipment on john harvey route been reluctant to release the highly classified information for a theres of blame to go around, but no official gas warning was given to the hospital. They were stone warm morning, came not wanting to admit errors in judgment had been made. Byebye then he made himself a nuisance and officials wanted him god. He was warned that if he did not stop insisting on the diagnosis of mustard gas, heat risk courtmartial. Although the investigation into the disaster is overcome his inquiry had only just begun. As he sat reviewing the case and pathology reports, one recurring observation left out at him, the devastating effects of mustard on a patients white blood cells. As he slipped to the records he saw again and again, the white blood cell counts fell sharply off. He noted that white blood cells found in the limp organs, and the importance of the immune system were the first to disappear. What he saw, made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. See the results before but never in humans. In march 1942, he was training edgewood, they had received smuggled samples of german nitrogen mustard gas and had begun experimenting. The studies i recorded bizarre effects. Into their astonishment the white blood cell count dropped to zero or points for close to zero. No one had ever seen such rapid destruction of white blood cells in test animals or the company deterioration of lymph nodes and bone marrow. The research the but could find no reports. As a shocking kind of production of white blood cells, and they had never seen anything that it had the same effect alexanders first impulse was they had a bad batch and they repeated the experience time and again, the results were the same. Each time they achieve the same dramatic effects for its sudden severe, severe lymph node depletion and marrow depletion. After exposure the white blood cells rapidly disappeared in the lymph nodes for leftists shrunk a little shells. Alexander was fascinated by the impact of mustard on the body. Because of the dramatic and reproducible effects, he could not help but wonder about the possibility of using the compound directly to the disease of the blood. If nitrogen mustard attacked white blood cells, he reason, perhaps it could be used to control leukemia, the most common type of cancer in children with unrestrained white blood cell growth. By using different dosages of mustard destroyed some but not all of the cancer cells without hurting the patients. But when alexander proposing that vicious set of experiments, he was told by his chief and then by the National Research council, that this was not the job edgewood arsenal. There is not enough time or money to pursue medical lines of investigation. They were in the business of national defense. He was ordered to put the project aside and returned to his work on mustard casualties management, treatment and decontamination. Miracle cures would have to wait until after the war. But now sitting in a military hospital, 6000 miles away, not even two years later alexander held in his hands and convertible evidence. Mustard gas did interest selectively distort red cells and blood forming organs, he wrote. Edit taken a freak accident and massive exposures of wartime to verify in people the phenomenon demonstrate and laboratory. It all added up to the same conditions ive seen in my free or work, he wrote. Blood cells disappeared, lymph nodes just melted away. I remember thinking if mustard could do this, what could it do for a person with leukemia . Alexander could not save the worst of the mustard gas casualties. Hey new book that perhaps he could make their death count for something for is a 1 million chance, or the few doctors in the world who had mustard potential in middle of a disaster full of case studies for it is an unthinkably chance to perform a pioneering investigation into the toxins biological effects of the human body. The kind that would be impossible in living volunteers. He read on the hall yelling for more blood tests. He made sure to take special care in preparing the specimens hoping they would make it across the long journey to america. Hated to be scrupulous in gathering the evidence, as much data as possible in the short time he left. He won his insight to be entered into the medical record with an eye toward seeing whether the harmful substance could be used not to destroy but to heal. On december 27, 1943, alexander submit his preliminary report on his tenday investigation of the harbor catastrophe. In the report, there were 617 victims who had suffered from gas exposure. Of those, he documented 83 who would clearly died of poison ga gas. There are many, many others whose records would never be found. These were the first and only poison gas casualties of world war ii. His report was immediately classified. Eisenhower and churchill acted in concert to keep the finding secret so there no chance hitler could use the incident as an excuse to launch a gas offensive. Any mention of mustard gas was stricken from the official record. There is a slight hear of one of dozens and dozens of cables that went backandforth between the headquarters censoring any mention of mustard gas in the record. It was even stricken from the patients and charts. Alexanders name was removed from the patients medical charts along with his diagnosis of toxic exposure. It was replaced with a generic terminology for combat casualties. Burns due to enemy action. The feared german chemical attack never came. It was deterred by logistical constraints, combined with allied air superiority. And the threat of massive retaliatory tory strikes. Ironically however, the germans had known all along about the source of the white gas in the harbor, nancy spies and the port had suspected that the allies were shipping gas. After the airstrike they sent their own diver down in family bomb casings, which confirmed the weapon was american. Berlin propaganda radio house post talked after the area picu boys are getting gassed by your own poison gas, she cooed. British officials never acknowledged alexanders report. Garnered high praise from eisenhowers advisors. They lauded the exceptional job alexander done under challenging conditions. But told him that accommodation was withheld for fear of offending the Prime Minister. The officer most impressed with alexanders report was his boss, kerner cornelius dusty rose, director of the Worker Service that hailed alexanders meticulous investigation is so complete and of sets of events value to medicine it represented almost a landmark in the history of mustard poisoning. Memorial Hospital. It was the biggest Cancer Hospital in the world at the time. The wealth of new information provided his am wishes plans for memorial ambitious plans for Memorial Hospital converged with the report and to find a chemical that could selectively kill cancer cells. Armed with the report and the results of to top secret yale study which dreaded a recommending meant of toy mewed too result in tumor regression. The treatment is known today at chemotherapy. Be persuaded two men who made a fortune during the what that would birching together leading scienceties to make an attack on kerr. On tuesday, august 7, 1945, the day the world learned an atom bomb had been dropped on japan they announced their plan for the sloankettering institute for a cancer research. World war ii was over but the war on cancer had just begin. The secrecy can i surrounding the disaster continued for decades. The military refused to acknowledge the chronic effects of mustard exposure of hundreds of surviving sailors, naval personnel, doctors, nurses, and civilians. Resulting in years of suffering, controversy and lawsuits for medical compensation in 1961 alexander volunteered to help the National Academy of sciences conduct a study of the american survivors of the gas attack, but the project stalled when identifying victims of contamination approved too difficult. All their records just said, burns to enemy action. Alexander recalled. They couldnt tell who had been poisoned and whod had been blasted. In the epilogue, i explain in detail how the truth put the incident finally emerged no thanks to churchill who continued to deny the preponderances of poison gas in his memoir, closing the ring. Eisenhower was a little more forthcoming in his 1948 memoir are but he stated only that one of the ships was loaded with a small quantity of mustard gas. Unfortunately the wind wasoff shore and the, quote, the escaping gas caused no casualties. The early attempts by writers to correct the record were not altogether successful alves they did not have access to all of the classified documents. Many of those early accounts were deeply flawed, riddle witness mistakes and officiallies. I found that even to this tie day the confusion persists. If you go online tonight, for example, and try to search for photos of the disaster, you will fine many, many gruesome pictures. Unfortunately most of therm mislabeled and they are in fact not of the 1943 air raid but a horrendous accident that took place in the tone when he ss Charles Henderson explode. The whole incident remains mud eled by misinformation, even in todays digital universe. Alexander was discharged from the Chemical Warfare service in june of 1945 and returned home with a chestful of medals and a new bride. He turned town the offer to work at the sloankettering institute and instead kept his promise to his father to coin their Family Practice in new jersey. He wanted to settle down and races family in the home town where he had deep roots and became a much beloved physician and cardiologist and thely i direct or of medicine for 18 years at the county hospital. He never spoke of his wartime exploits put he always took quiet pride in his unique contribution to medicine. He did not mind that the details of his investigation remained enshrouded in secrecy. In a story full of twist friday turns will not reveal the final twist and the unexpected series of events that led to alexander finally being honored by the army in 1988. 45 years after the fact, for his work in saving lives and for having a profound impact well beyond his and being a catalyst for the development of chemotherapy. Sadly alexander diadems 6, 1991, of a malignant melanoma. Skin cancer he is toed himself. Over the years he watched with keen interest the many trials ts and tribulations. Those plucked from the chemical ware fair service, as type to turn the weapon interest a chemotherapy agent for the treatment of cancer, sloankettering mobilized an army of mice and ben for the trial and error search of the most beneficial derivatives. The facts could be harnessed to target abnormal or malignant cells without doing too much damage the patient. The first nitrogen mustard extract was called mustrogen and quickly approved by the fda in 1949. Sloankettering doctors notched their First Progress in treating adult with acued leukemia. Remissions were few and floating and the nausea calls by at the treatment was terrible. Progress was slow and painful and many setbacks but alexander lived to see his wartime Research Interest mustard gas lead to creation of a new class of chemotherapy drugs and are still in wide use. By 1953 the new medicine 6mp, was shown to produce remissions in children with acute leukemia, me most common childhood cancer. Today the ya of come bin combination of chemotherapy more than 90 of the children can be cured. Nonhodgkins lymphoma, a fatal teaches in adults now has a more than 95 cure rate. These medical triumphs let the American Cancer Society to credit the disaster with initiating, quote, the modern age of cancer chemotherapy. I believe in the midst of this terrible pandemic and the race for a vaccine, and a cure, alexanders story is a reminder of how powerful the act of a single doctor with a keen eye can be. At the end of the back i write, on the 60th anniversary of the first cancer chemotherapy trial, doctor jules harsh, the former physician in chief of Rockefeller University hospital paid tribute to dr. Al al al alex dehe reminds of the sifted through the horrors and extracted a gem, something potentially useful for the abatement of human disease. Thank you. Thank you for a fascinating preparation and so important, too. Ive spent much of my career working on the First World War and one of the most powerful and disturbing experiences ive had is walking on the western front and seeing these mustard gas canisters that are still lying out there on the ground in many places and still very dangerous. Sometimes people step on them and get splashed by this stuff. They still keep surfacing from the mock underneath the harbor, and dozens and dozens of italian fisherman have been sent to the emergency room with weird burns on their arms from bringing them up with the fish in their nets. How. They have to be aware of the danger. Yeah, they have whole groups studying it still to this day. One thing that is interesting to me obviously this in in this indication the mugs standard gas came out in a different way than it would have in a deliberate attack on the western front, and i was wondering as you were talking in accounts if a read of many thousands of soldiers who were exposed to this during the First World War, when they would bet gunned by the mustard gas the effects were pretty immediate. Maybe not instance stainous but felt them within a short time of the exposure whether burning within the uniform order burning under the helmet and that doesnt seem to have been the case this time if many of them were sitting the their uniforms and not noticing it. Because if you inhale it directly into the sensitive nasal and throat passages you immediately have the effects and most of the men that were close enough to do that probably tied of their other wounds. But the men who jumped ship and swam to safety were covered in this crude oil that had mustard oil leaked into it, and that weird mixture in their uniforms, when they were wrapped in blankets and kept warm, their skin was it was very slowly absorbed through their skin. So they had to penetrate their skin and then slowly penetrated their organs so it was slow lethal process, and one of the tragedies that alexander pointed out in this report was that had the proper steps been followed and a gas alarm given which is what military protocol calls for, in a chemical attack, they all would have been hosed down the minute that it good to show and probably would have almost all survived, but because of the enormous secrecy and the unpress depended nature of the attack, and in the chaos that ensued, that gas alarm was never sounded and another thousand boys probably died unnecessarily. Would it be safe to sea if scientist looked back or medical professionals looked back, which i mapping they could have done in 19431945, at those who had been exposed to gas during world war i, so many who has lived past the war they would have found many dying over the long term from the same effects. Right . After world war i its interesting, they started to do all these studies. Poison gas was so despised after world war i it became such a hated sum that most of the laboratories lost funding, nobody wants to look into poison gas, let alone the medical effects. It was something that people turn away from with a vengeance after world war 1. Almost on the brink of discovering some of its effects on cancer but there was no interest in that line of research in a way so all of a sudden the report combined with a yale study made people go back to world war i things and no, wait a minute, were seeing it was effective and they looked at these new looked at the world war i information with a new eye. Right. It would make me think just as you have shown here, that these casualties were covered up, that the men who tied were covered up, forgotten and deaths attributed to other causes, inaccurately, this is another area in which there were forgotten dead from the First World War, probably would have tied within a few years afterwards from misattribute caused. Guy into it at some length of the book the tragedy for the veterans. I mean, there were hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of boys theyre 2021 years old, that were supposed to mustard gas and lived, put their medical charts said burns due to enemy action. They would spend their lives suffering from skip can skin cancer, brink ailment. Asthma, good luck comb mark all kind terrible diseases and they could never receive proper treatment because there was no facial recognition it was a gas attack and took lawsuits in the late 80s in england and 1991 in america before the information was really confirm by the government and acknowledged that medical compensation was due. Now, by then, obviously, most of the veterans were dead or very old so it was really criminal what was done to those boys. They suffered twice. So interested in your description of alexanders thought process after the disaster and his beginning to suspect what had happened here, identifying the similarity with muss start. I was at mustard. Was a little surprised he didnt immediately react to the assumption that this must have been enemy action, which you would think under the tensions of the time that your first thought would be the germ yap deployed poison gas and then when you look at the evidence you see that cooperate have been true. In his case seems to have been a while before he considered that possibility. I think because he knew that had been a german gas attack and would have been told that right away. The fact he was told this is some kind of weird set of casualties, were not sure, look into it, wait as a very murky situation. He knew right away that something complicated was going on. It wasnt obvious. So, the other thing it is what very clear to him almost immediately that from his he had done a lot of studying of what a german aerial attack would look like and the damage from those bombers would have been much more extensive it and was bizarre that only even though it was hundreds of cases, that it was only these men that workers on the docks didnt seem to be affected, so it was very palestineing and complicated puzzling and click situation situation but he was shocked when the british suddenly blamed the germans and he had to review the evidence a second time mick sure that he wasnt wrong. Thats one of many great things but your book, how you bring alexanders personality and i dont know if heroism is too strong a word to the forfront good what a shame it was that was not only was it not commended bit that it was covered up. Id like to were at the top of the hour so ill end with this question. How did you come about the sum of this story . I came late to your presentation but what was your initial interest in this shocking story. My grandfather james conat was a director on the Manhattan Project and his particular responsibility was for all chemical weapons. The largest being the atom bomb but also responsible for all poise poison gas, and men if was writing my book, a biography of my grandfather i was lookings through hi papers and found reverence to this group of poison gas casualties and i was not aware there were any poison gas casualties in world war ii so i became intrigued. Also intrigued that my grandfather went on the board of sloan sloankettering which seal odd and i stomach of stumbled pop the disaster and i became more intrigued and anotified dr. Alexanders family of my interest and hi said we have his diaries and telegrams and therefore it was clear to me i had to wrote a the book. Clear we run of reps youre such a popular author. You choose great topics. And youre to be commended for this one, too. Jennet, thank you so much for your presentation. Author of the great secret, the classified disaster in world war ii that launched the war on cancer. Tonight, pj orourke in his book a cry from the far middle. On friday, twohour conversation with Harvard University professor jill la pore and then at 9 00 p. M. Eastern on after words, lou dons talks but this book, the trump century. Watch booktv this weekend on cspan2. Good evening. Welcome to our fifth season of talks. Im mayor the associate director of its my flour welcome you to this talk. Were excited to host a sizable audience for the presentation, which includes over 700 registrant of alumni, students, parents parents and friend friends from as far away as australia 9900 miles a. Writs