About her new book the great secret the classified world war ii disaster that launched the war on cancer. Thank you for joining us. Thank you. I also want to thank the museum for inviting me to be with you tonight, alas its virtually but i will do my best. It is my first soon presentation so bear with me everyone. Ive had a lot of coffee and im thinking about now i shouldve had a lot of wind, but anyway here we go. Im going to start us off with a quote from winston churchill. He had a way with words. He once observed, may occasionally stumble across the truth, but most of them picked themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened. Lieutenant colonel stuart alexander, the remarkable hero of my book, did not hurry off. In fact, he refuse to leave the scene of the military disaster even when churchill himself warned him to. He stayed, he paid attention, he investigated, and as a result he recognized the never before seen symptoms in a group of dying sailors that might have lifesaving implications for others in the future. This is a story of one intrepid army doctors alert mind and how it turned i chemical weapons report into a stepping stone and a horrific world war ii tragedy into a medical triumph. I am going to take you back to the night of december 2, 1943, the old port town on italys adriatic coast was bustling. The british had taken the capital in september and the front light on 150 miles to the north, the Medieval City with its massive cliffs cradling the sea had escaped the fighting almost unscathed. Only a few miles outside of town lines of women and children were begging for black market food. But in the city the shops were full of cake and bread and rolls again couple strolled arm in arm like in the old days and ice cream vendors are doing brisk business. It was a critical medic Training Service have and alan forces had made sure it stayed protected pick it was supplying both the americans fifth and british eighth armies which comprise the better part of the 500,000 allied troops engaged in driving the germans out of italy. We can show that first flight of the waterfront here. The liberating british tommy sabri chased the nazis from the skies over italy and the british who control the port were so confident they had won the air war that marshall announced that it was all but immune from attack. I would regard it as a personal affront, and insult if the transfer should get any significant action in this area, he announced earlier that day. If the luftwaffe should get any significant action. The american liberty ship john harvey pulling with the third a la chipped cramming the harbor, packed against the seawall nose to nose along the pier. Their holes were laden with everything from food and medical care the engines, corrugated steel for landing strips and tons of fuel oil for the planes. You could see on the upper decks were tanks, armored personnel carriers, jeeps, ambulances, everything. Bright lights, huge cranes, the doctor to working around the clock to unload the supplies for the next big push, the advance on rome. Allied to strategy hinged on making steady progress up the rugged mountainous peninsula of italy and culminating a proposed Amphibious Attack about 32 miles south of rome. The success of the advance depended on the long supply lines sustaining the mince marched northward. Because of the urgency to keep the incoming stream of warm material moving to where it was needed most, the usual blackout orders were suspended. The lights blaze in the harbor all night long. At 7 35 p. M. A blinding flash was followed by an terrific bang. The ancient port single antiaircraft battery open fire, then came an earsplitting explosion and then another and another as a german plane flew info over dropping bombs or smoke and flames rose from the winding streets. The lead pathfinders have dropped a window a new kind of jamming technique using foil strips designed to confuse allied radar, and as as a resut they achieved almost complete surprise. As the incendiaries rained down on the harbor it turned night into day. Gunners aboard to be a good ships scramble to shoot down the enemy but it was too late. There was virtually no opposition to the attacking german planes holdout unchallenged by allied fighters. Although the rate lacks a less than 20 minutes, results were devastating. A tremendous roar came from the harbor and exploding ammunition takers said huge rolling mass of flames 1000 feet high. A reporter from Time Magazine described a fiery panorama. Eight ships were 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 where it ignited into a gigantic sheet of flames engulfing the entire north side of the port. Like a prairie fire the flames spread across the surface of the water leaping from ship to ship. The crews worked frantically to save their vessels before the raging fires force them to jump, swim for safety. The distant cries of men yelling for help echoed in the ruined harbor. News of the night raid on bari, one of the worst naval catastrophes of the work, was heavily censored. General Dwight D Eisenhower is First Community care from air force headquarters in algiers on december 4 stated only that damage was done. Adding insult to injury, the first real account of the air raid came from the germans, a berlin propaganda broadcast on december 5 gloating over the missions spectacular success, stating that the crowded harbor was so poorly protected that german bombers have been able to pick off the outlet ships like sitting ducks. The sneak attack on bari which the present of the little pearl harbor shook the complacency of the allied forces who had been convinced of their air superiority in the area. All told, the nazis sunk 17 allied ships and destroyed more than 31,000 tons of vital cargo. More than 1000 american and british servicemen were killed outright, and almost as many wounded and an untold number of civilians. Rumors abounded that officials were coming up an embarrassing incident. There was talk of a new german secret weapon, a rocket driven glide bomb. Congressional concern over the debacle was underscored by eisenhowers announcement that he asked a special Senate Subcommittee to investigate. Where admiral emery scotland responsible for u. S. Merchant marine fleet across seven seas angrily told Time Magazine, youre going to more about that raid before you hear less. But that was the last official word on the matter and the bari incident remained shrouded in misty. In the crucial days that followed, the task of treating the gravely injured sailors would be made even more difficult by wartime secrecy. And a determined effort to the american and British Government to cover up the incident so as to not endanger preparations for the most important operation of the war, overlord, the allied invasion of germany occupied france planned for the spring. 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. There appeared to be a developing medical crisis, too many people men dying. The symptoms were unlike anything the local military physicians and seem before and began to suspect an unknown weapon, poison gas. With a number of mysterious death increasing rapidly with each day, the british placed a lightbulb alerting air force headquarters in algiers. There was an urgent request for assistance. Alexander was dispatched immediately to the scene of the disaster. He looked young for a combat physician. He was 5 foot 8 and skinny, 29, his hair was thinning at the templeton that lent him the only air of authority he could find. He was popular with the troops. His gentle bedside manner was best suited to a pediatrician and was tougher than he looked, through north africa under Major General george s patton. He proved himself to be competent, determined and resourceful. His superiors knew he had a good head on his shoulders. He could have sat out the war at a statewide hospital and the desire to serve deep in his family. He was defended from selfmade immigrants who had fled famine and persecution in europe in the United States in the 1880s and were forever grateful. Alexanders doctor was a partner with doctor in new jersey and it was his ambition to follow in his fathers footsteps. He excelled at the Stanton Military Academy and entered dartmouth at 15, a standout, he was allowed to advance direct me to medical school and graduated at the top of his class in 1935, earned his md in columbia. After completing his residency he went back home and his shingle next to his fathers full of pride. In spring of 1940 as he began his march across Europe Alexander volunteered for duty. He felt strongly this was a war in which he had to participate, notified the draft board he would be available at any time. He was called up in november and spent time with the sixteenth infantry regiment stationed at Gunpowder Creek in maryland, which happen to be home, and before long he decided to contact Chemical WarfareService Within inundated new design he had come up with for spectacles that could fit in the face piece of a gas mask. It happened that alexander suffered extreme myopia. And flunked his first physical. When the army doctor went back, memorized the first few lines of the eyechart, and he was pretty fearful that if there was a gas attack during the war he would have to choose between wearing his glasses and a gas mask because the gas masks left over from the previous war came up with a new design. So impressed his superiors of the Chemical Warfare service that he offered him a job. Transferred to Edgewood Arsenal he underwent crash course in poison gas in every case of the war, he became a newly minted expert in the field. And to evaluate toxic agents and develop forms of treatment and protective gear. After pearl harbor he started traveling around the country to different training camps, to teach Army Medical Personnel how to treat chemical casualties. He was promoted, at the medical research territory, when general eisenhower concerned about the threat hitler might want to get attack in europe, and the Chemical Warfare background, Young Alexander was sent to allied force headquarters in algiers. At 5 00 pm, after the attack, alexanders plane touched down, waiting for him were a group of senior british doctors. They were immediately agitated and he was taken to the hospital at once, he wrote in his diary. The situation was grim. Five plan american Field Hospital sunk in the air raid. All the doctors were safe and scrambled to open the 20 sixth American General hospital the morning after the raid following advantages to help care for the scores of bombing victims. We have a picture of the hospital. The lack of medical supplies was going to compound the tragedy. By some miracle, the 90 eighth General Hospital has been spared but they had taken a beating, and the brecht up wall scattered their bricks like hail. A concussion blast knocked out the power, they were working by lamplight. The first of the wounded began to arrive, hundreds and hundreds of bloodied and battered sailors suffering shock and exposure. The litter bearers, carrying the most seriously injured. Or slung through pools and flaming oil. A death warrant was set up in the back room for those beyond help. A makeshift mortuary, local carpenter was knocking together rough pine coffins as fast as he could. The town ran out of caskets in only the first few hours. There was no time to get most of the wounded sailors out of their duty dirty clothes but the nurses did but they could. Immersion cases, shivering boys fetched from the freezing water received the standard emergency treatment, a shot of morphine, blankets to keep them warm and strong, hot, sweet tea. That was attributed to the large fires, they were discounted at the time. Most were aware the surgical cases would be given priority. The first unusual indication the doctors told alexander, they do not present typical symptoms are in the typical manner. Men complained of being thirsty. Suddenly they started ripping off their clothes and bandages in a frenzy, complaining their skin was on fire. Overnight the majority of the immersion cases developed red, inflamed skin and blisters as big as balloons. This had widespread nausea and vomiting, leading doctors to think the cars might be form poisonous fumes from fuel oil perhaps explosives. 6 hours after the attack patients began complaining of severe eye pain and by the end of the day, with their eyes swollen shut. Has the staffs and use deepens, there was a possibility of a blister exposure. The hundreds of burn patients, would be classified dermatitis, nyd. Pending further instructions, and the nonurgent cases to appear in Good Condition were sent away, most still in their wet uniforms. The next morning they return clearly needing treatment. They were in a horrible state. So many of the boys were conscious throughout their ordeal. Warren brandonsteiner for the American Leadership that is liberty ship could not understand why his vision was becoming blurrier with each passing hour. That is when rumors about poison gas started to spread. When an official looking group came to the hospital ward and confiscated all the clothes, shoes, belts, uniforms, everything. There was no explanation given. That created a panic, they feared their fates resealed. The first unexplained death occurred 18 hours after the attack. Within two days there were 14. Alexander noted the startling downward spiral of the patients, they appeared in Good Condition in a matter of minutes would become more of that. The british doctors were mystified. Any of those in their case history, poison gas with one. They could find no similarities with medical textbooks or the manual issued by the Chemical Warfare. If the toxic agents with mustard gas, because of the unpleasant garlicy order, respiratory complications were more prominent but they worked. He gently lifted blankets to study their burns, extraordinary delicacy he probed the thick and red skin, spoke to each man in turn asking how he had come by his injuries. How did he come to be rescued. Did he receive any firstaid, when he got to the hospital, one sailor after another, caught in a firestorm of pandemonium that followed, somehow making it to the hospital. There they waited to swell and 24 hours in their wet uniforms before receiving treatment. Alexander studied the burns on the otherwise healthy muscle body. The sailor said he had been aboard a pt boat when the german bombers flew over. A loud boom, a spray of oily liquid land on his neck. Shown in alexanders report, he observed the outline of red, gray skin shine with ointment, anywhere he had been sprayed as if imprinted on his flesh. The Burns Alexander had seen on other patients were varied but already distinguished between chemical burns and thermal burns by fire and heat. Certain patterns were impressive depending on when the individual had been exposed. It appeared to alexander sailors had been thrown and burned extensively over 90 , there were superficial burns whenever the toxic soup had hit them. Some men, in lifeboats, had only burns of the buttocks. They will wipe off the oil the next are the first nice, had only minor injuries. As he made his rounds, increasingly clear, most patients had been exposed to chemical agents. He noticed after he meant the hospital, he had an odor that kept banging away at him and he could pick it up in various places and stood out from the usual smells of burnt flesh. The owner planted himself, was mustard gas. It had been 5 days since the initial exposure and any chance of saving the lives of the hundreds of sailors lying in bed plus the italian civilians. He knew he had to act that is needed to act swiftly. He questioned the hospital director, put the question to him. He had his own suspicions, i feel these men may have been exposed to mustard in some manner. Any idea how this might have happened . None, came the hospital directors reply. As the Chemical Warfare consultant alexander was clear to the highest degree he knew the allies had become secretly stockpiling poison gas in the mediterranean in case germany had its back to the wall to Chemical Warfare but even skeptical the allies would have shipped mustard shells into a busy port so close to the local population and allowed the toxic cargo to sit there as a prime target for enemy strike but he couldnt afford to rule it out. Have you checked the shipping masks, and carrying mustard. And it is possible. Alexander had his doubts. It sounded to him like the british are trying to manage his investigation. He did not believe he is getting a full story or their full cooperation. The burden of proof rested on him, a series of tests for patients were still alive and insist on a series of careful and complete autopsies of those who died under mysterious circumstances. He had the water collected and analyzed, borrowed personnel from displaced American Hospital unit and put them to work gathering data, forming lab tests on tissue samples and compiling pathology reports, suspecting the british officials were dodging questions alexander visited the navy house, the admiraltys local headquarters. Again he demanded to be told there was mustard gas, it was absolutely denied. He left them convinced. What he needed was proof but also he knew something else, this was a new horror, he wrote, not the familiar menace he had studied at Edgewood Arsenal. This was mustard gas poisoning through different guys than that recognized from world war i. The first thing the next morning alexander scouted the harbor. He wanted to do his own investigation with as little official interference as possible. He picked his way through the mounds of rubble and surveyed the twisted metal, he looked at the burnedout some of them had been towed out to sea. Some could still be seen, their masks poking above the water. A cold barge still smoldered, the fly ash stung his nostrils. The dark water in the harbor looked sinister. One sailor recalled floating oil had been a foot thick on the surface of the water after the raid. It was the next are of high octane gasoline and fuel from 2 dozen allied ships and alexander suspected mustard gas but he did not know what else might be in there. He knew the allied cargo ships had been carrying shells, 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 cannot be sure it was not a german aerial gas attack. In a spray attack he reasons mustard in most cases would be transformed by the slip stream into tiny droplets resuming weber. It would have contaminated all the ships in the inner harbor including crippled vessels that still remain afloat, and all the men on the docks below. Even men not on the water would have inhaled significant doses of the noxious favor as it spread across the harbor, some sinking, some burning, some mixing with tons of oil floating on the surface and some of that in clouds of smoke and flame. Alexander could find no evidence of mustard contamination. When he questioned the personnel, Royal Navy Personnel on the docks, they seemed surprised, shook their heads, no mustard had been released in the air raid. That is impossible, no mustard here. When he spoke to the British Port Authority they continue to state categorically there is no mustard in the area but indeed heard alexander described in detail the ghastly burns he had seen. He insisted there was no way those injuries could have been sustained by anything but Chemical Exposure. 534 men admitted to allied hospitals in the first night, 280 were suffering severe symptoms consistent with mustard and in one day, 45 had died. He told the british they could expect far more fatalities, the vast majority were their own country men. Were they happy about that . At that point the port authorities began to waver and change their story. They began to say perhaps there was mustard gas in the harbor but could only have come from the germans. Shocked by the sudden aboutface alexander reconsidered, did some more studying of the papers and the ramifications of the charge that hitler in a desperate gamble had risked a gas offensive but after reviewing all the evidence he discounted it as unlikely, coming after the authority strong denial, he thought it was too neat and explanation what had happened which he now suspected was more complicated. Over the next two days he poured over clinical records and autopsy reports. Leading the reports, he wrote, is to take a journey into the nightmare of chemical contamination. He came to an overwhelming conclusion. The serious consequences of mustard gas could be seen on most of the victims. Even though the blast and the explosions, the Chemical Exposure was apparent. Alexander was not sure how to proceed when he received stunning news. A diver he had ordered to search the harbor floor and found fractured gas shells. Tests were immediately performed on site and revealed traces of mustard. The ordinance officer from the u. S. Air force identified the casing. As belonging to an m 472 mustard gas bombs. German mustard gas bonds are always marked with a distinguished yellow cross. The bombs were definitely american, his instinct had been right all along. Of the ships in the carver had been mustard gas. The secret shipment destined for a chemical stockpile, 75 miles away to improve the us capability to retaliate in the event of a german gas attack. Alexander new the bombs were fragile and would have been fractured by the explosions in the bombing raid was using a sketch of the harbor that he had prepared as part of his investigation he plotted the positions of the sunken ship sent by correlating them with the mustard gas victims he was able to pinpoint john harvey, and american liberty ship, as the epicenter of the explosion. Alexander found it hard to believe the british officials did not know of the john harveys secret cargo. The circumstances of the accident demanded further investigation and would have to explore the extent to which military authorities covered up the gas. By failing to alert the hospital staff to the risk of contamination they had greatly added to the number of fatalities but in the immediate moment his first concern was the patient, now that he knew his suspicions were confirmed and it was mustard gas he advised the hospital staff how to treat the patients for mustard exposure and tried to boost the number of deaths over the next couple days. Instead of bringing matters to a close alexanders discovery that the mustard gas had come from the allies own supply made a difficult job that much more complicated. The british port officials attempt to a few skate wrinkled but that paled in comparison to shifting responsibility, it is not a harmless fabrication. Alexander worried that if they were going to accuse the germans of dropping mustard when the germans had not done so it could have grave political implications. Any german use of chemical weapons would be followed by the, quote, fullest possible retaliation. Churchill had echoed his remarks. The significance of any error in interpreting the source of mustard gas could be horrendous. If the allied leaders through the faulty conclusion the germans had deployed chemical weapons it could provoke hitler into launching a gas attack and they would have an allout chemical war. Adding to his anxiety the daily death toll was rising rapidly, he decided he had to notify officials what his findings were and he cabled allied force headquarters in algiers. The brandon the hospitals in this area labeled dermatitis are due to mustard gas, he rose. They are unusual and their varieties due to mustard which has been mixed in with surface oil and therefore went undiagnosed. He was feeling a growing sense of urgency and made a reply. He sent highpriority cables to the american president of the british Prime Minister informing them of the nature of the casualties and the almost certain origin of the gas on an american ship. Roosevelt excepted his findings and responded please keep me fully informed. Churchill, however the city turns reply, he did not believe there was mustard gas. Alexander was speechless. He admired churchill but realized that he had to question the leaders command decision. He realized churchill was mostly concerned that if he acknowledged there was poison gas in the area and the germans retaliated, the first place they would be dropping gas would be on england. So alexander sent a second telegram, cited findings at much greater length stating beyond any doubt these casualties were do to mustard but he was informed churchill maintain the, quote, symptoms do not sound like mustard gas. s instructions were the same to the doctor. Reexamine the patient. Flummoxed and unsure how lonely medical american medical officer was to respond alexander appeared, the british officer advised him, one did not argue with the Prime Minister. After a sleepless night alexander returns to the hospital determined to prove his diagnosis was correct. Churchill was undoubtedly brilliant, uncanny instinct for the salient fact. He put his finger on the most of question about the victims. Why would a toxic effect, and far more patients dying of mustard than on the battlefield of world war i where the fatality rate has been around 2 . It was 6 times higher, and climbing. And intimate and lengthy context, and left to sit in soaked uniforms. The individuals for all intents and purposes dip into a solution of mustard and oil wrapped in blankets, a way to prolong period for absorption. If the survivors had been hosed down, given fresh clothes they would have had a chance of survival, men had been allowed to marinate, it was tantamount to a death sentence . Military secrecy took precedence. The british and american shipment on the john harvey had been classified information. There was plenty of blame to go around but the bottom line was no official gas warning was given to the hospitals. The cover up and stonewalling, came from not wanting to admit errors in judgment had been made. He made himself a nuisance and officials wanted him gone. He was warned he did not insist on his diagnosis of mustard gas, he was courtmartialed. For those investigations into the disaster was over, his medical inquiry had begun. As he said reviewing the case, one accusation left at him. The devastating effect of mustard, as he fled through the record, he sought again and again the white blood cell count fell sharply off. He noticed the lymphocytes, the white blood cells found in lymph organs and of importance to the immune system was first to disappear, on the back of his neck, stand on end. He saw these results before but never in humans. When he was training in edgewood, and german, nitrogen mustard gas had begun experimenting it. The study recorded bizarre affects and to their astonishment the white blood cell count on the rabbits they were expanding on dropped to 0, very close to 0. Or accompanying deterioration of lymph nodes. They research the literature but could found no reports. It is a shocking kind of reduction of white blood cells, they had never seen the same affect. A bad batch of rabbits repeated the experience time and again. They achieved the same dramatic effects. Lymph node depletion and marrow depression. After exposure the white blood cell counts rapidly disappeared and limp nodes will be left as shrunken cells. Alexander was fascinated by the impact of mustard on the body. He cannot help but wonder, using the compounds directly on human beings with diseases of the blood. Of nitrogen mustard, could be used to control leukemia, the most common cancer in children. The most unrestrained white blood cell growth and by using different dosages of mustard, declared some but not all of the cancer cells. When alexander proposed an ambitious set of experience, he was told by his chief by the Natural Research center, it is not the job of Edgewood Arsenal. There was not enough time or money to pursue medical lines of investigation. They were in the business of that, he was ordered to put the project aside and return to his work on mustard casualty management, treatment and decontamination, miracle cures would have to wait until after the war. And 6000 miles away, not even two years later alexander held in his hand incontrovertible evidence mustard gas didnt truth selectively destroy blood cells and blood forming organs. It had taken a freak accident and the massive exposure of wartime to verify in people the phenomena and demonstrated in laboratory rabbits. It added up to the same conditions i had seen in my work, blood cells disappeared, lymph nodes and all the way. I remembered thinking of mustard could do this what could it do to a person with leukemia . Alexander could not save the worst of the mustard gas casualties. He knew he could make their deaths count for something. He was a one in 1 million chance, landed him with a few doctors in the world who knew of mustards curative potential. In the middle of a disaster with a lot of case studies, it was an unthinkably rare chance to perform a pioneering investigation into the tocsins biological effect on the human body, the kind that would be impossible with living volunteers. He ran down the hall yelling for more blood tests. He made sure to take special care preparing these specimens hoping they could make it across the long journey to america. He needs to be scrupulous in gathering the evidence as much data as possible in the short time he had left. He wanted his insight into the systemic effects of mustard to be entered into the medical record seeing whether the harmful substance could be used not to destroy but to heal. On december 7th, 1943, alexander submitted preliminary report on his 10 day investigation of the catastrophe. In the report there were 617 victims who had suffered from gas exposure. Of those he documented 83 who died of poison gas. There were many others whose record was never to be found. And his report was an immediately classified. Eisenhower and churchill acted in concert to keep in secret. As an excuse to launch a gas offensive. Any mustard theres a slide of dozens, censoring any mention of mustard gas in the record. It was even stricken from the patients medical charts. Alexanders name was removed from the patients medical charts along with the diagnosis of toxic exposure. It was replaced with 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 massive retaliatory gas strikes. Ironically the germans have known all along about the sources of gas in the harbor. Not the spies suspected the allies worshiping gas. After the airstrike they sent their own divers down and found the bomb casings which confirmed the weapon was american. And they had taunted the allies a few days after the air raid. British officials never acknowledged alexanders report, garnered high praise from eisenhowers advisors. Under challenging conditions. The officer most impressed with alexanders report was his boss, cornel cornelius dusty rhodes, and the chemical where a service, was so complete of french immense value to medicine it represented almost a landmark in the history of mustard poisoning. Rhodes was eager to explore the toxic agents therapeutic potential. Like alexander he believed the data pointed its way toward a promising new chemical targeting white blood cells that could be used as a weapon in the fight against cancer. Rhodes in his civilian life was head of new yorks Memorial Hospital. It was the biggest Cancer Hospital in the world. He sees on the wealth new information as a breakthrough. Has ambitious plans for Memorial Hospital now converge with alexanders report and crystallized in a single mission. To exploit poison gas to appoint a chemical for cancer cells. Armed with the report and result of a topsecret yale study demonstrated for the first time that our regimen, in carefully in tumor regression. To develop the experiment will treatment known today as chemotherapy. He persuaded two men who made a fortune during the war, Albert P Sloan and charles fering would bring together leading scientists to make a concentrated attack on cancer. On tuesday august 7th, 1945, the day the world learned an atom bomb had been dropped on japan they announced their plans for the sloankettering institute for cancer research. World war ii was over but the war on cancer had just begun. The official secrecy surrounding the disaster continued for decades. The military refused to acknowledge the chronic effects of mustard exposure on hundreds of surviving sailors, naval personnel, doctors, nurses and the millions resulting in suffering, controversy and lawsuits for medical compensation. Alexander even 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 too difficult. It said burns to enemy action, alexander recalls. They couldnt tell who had been poisoned and who had been blasted. In the prologue i explain in detail, it was no thanks to churchill who continued to deny poison gas in his the luminous world war ii memoir, eisenhower was a little more forthcoming in his 1948 memoir, one of the ships was loaded with a small quantity of mustard gas, the wind was offshore today, with no casualties. And the classified documents. Many of those early accounts were deeply flawed. Even to this day the confusion persists, go online tonight and try to search for photos you will find many gruesome pictures. Most of them are mislabeled and not of the 1943 air raid but a horrendous accident, in 1945 when another american liberty ship, the ss Charles Henderson exploded. It goes to show the whole incident remains muddled by misinformation even in todays digital universe. In june of 1945, returned home with a chest full of metals and a new bride. A work at the fledgling institutes, promised to honor to continue their Family Practice of park ridge, new jersey. He wanted to settle down and raise a family where he had deep roots, went on to become a much beloved physician and cardiologist, director of medicine for 18 years at bergen pines county hospital. He never spoke of his wartime exploits but always a quiet pride in his unique contribution to medicine. He did not mind the details of his investigation remain shrouded in secrecy, in a story full of twists and turns, i will not reveal the final twist, the unexpected series of eventss that led to alexander finally being honored by the army in 1988, 45 years, and having a profound impact well beyond and being a catalyst for development of chemotherapy. Sadly, alexander died december 6th, 1991, of a malignant melanoma, skin cancer that he diagnosed himself. Over the years he watched with keen interest many of the trials and tribulations of rhodes and his fellow cancer researchers, many in the ranks of the Chemical Warfare service as they struggle to turn a potent chemical weapon into a chemotherapeutic agent to the treatment of cancer. Sloankettering had to mobilize an army of mice and men for the trial and error search of the most beneficial derivatives of nitrogen mustard, a chemical whose toxic effects was harnessed, for malignant cells, for damage to the patients. The first nitrogen mustard extract safe enough for clinical use was called mustardjen and approved by the fda in 1949. Sloankettering doctors notched their First Progress in treating adults with acute leukemia. Nausea and vomiting caused by aggressive treatment were terrible. Progress was slow and painful and there were many setbacks. Wartime research into mustard gas, the creation of a new class of chemotherapeutic drugs many of which succeeded in prolonging the life of patients and are in wide use. By 1953, they were shown to produce remissions in children with acute leukemia, the most common childhood cancer. Today the use of chemotherapy, 90 of those children can be cured of the once fatal disease. Nonhodgkins lymphoma also a fatal disease in adults now has 95 cure rate. These medical triumphs led the American Cancer Society to credit the bari disaster with initiating the, quote, modern age of cancer chemotherapy. In the midst of this terrible pandemic in the race for a vaccine, alexanders story is a reminder of how powerful the act of a single doctor with a keen eye. At the end of the book, i write on the sixtieth anniversary of the first cancer chemotherapy trial, doctor hirsch, former physician in chief of Rockefeller University hospital, the journal of the american medical association, in the tradition investigator, who, quote, sifted through the horrors and extracted a gem and useful to the abatement of human disease. Thank you. Thank you for a fascinating presentation. I spent my career working on the first world war, one of the powerful and disturbing, walking on the western front and seeing mustard gas canisters lying out there on the ground, still very dangerous. Sometimes people step on them and get splashed by this stuff. They keep surfing surfacing under bari harbor, and the emergency room with weird burns on their arms from bringing them up. They have got to be aware of that danger too. They have whole groups studying it. One of the things that is interesting to me in this case the mustard gas came out in a different way than it would as a deliberate attack on the western front. I was wondering as you were talking in accounts that i read of many thousands of soldiers exposed to this in the first world war, when they would get burned by the mustard gas, pretty immediate, maybe not instantaneous, felt them within a short time of exposure, burning in their uniforms or under their helmet, that doesnt seem to have been a case, and not noticing it so quickly. You immediately have the effect. They probably died of their other wounds. The men who jumped ship and swam to safety were covered in this crude oil who had mustard oil leaked into it and that weird mixture in their uniforms when wrapped in blankets and kept warm, it was very slowly absorbed through their skin. It had to penetrate their skin and slowly penetrated their organs. It was a slow, lethal process and one of the tragedies, the proper steps been followed and gas alarm given which military protocol calls for in the chemical attack they all would have been opposed to down, almost all survived. Enormous secrecy and unprecedented nature of the attack, and in the chaos that ensued that gas alarm was never sounded and another voice probably died unnecessarily. Would it be safe to say if scientists looked back, medical professionals look back which i imagine they could have done in 194345, those exposed to gas during world war i, many dying over the longterm from the same effect. They started to do these studies. So despised after world war i. It became such a hated subject, most laboratories lost funding. Nobody wanted to look into poison gas let alone its medical effects. Nobody wanted to talk about it. It was something people turned away with with a vengeance after world war i. A were on the brink of discovering its effect on cancer, but there was no interest in that line of reasoning. The bari report made people go back to those world war i things, we were seeing that it was effective and they looked at these new information with a new i. It would make me think as you have shown here that these casualties were covered up, their deaths were attributed to other causes, this is yes another area in which there were forgotten dead from the first world war, would have died within a few years after words from this attribute it causes. I go into it about the tragedy, there were hundreds and hundreds, 20, 21 years old, and spent lives suffering skin cancer, asthma, glaucoma, all kinds of terrible diseases. They dont only properly diagnosis but improper treatment. And in the lawsuit in late 80s, the in formation, confirmed by the governments, by then, most of the veterans were dead or very old. It was really criminal. What was done to those boys. They suffered twice. Your description of alexanders thought process after this disaster, beginning to suspect what had happened, identifying similarity with mustard. I was surprised he didnt immediately react to the assumption this mustve been enemy action which you would think under the tensions of the time, that your first thought would be the germans deployed poison gas and only later when you look at the evidence you see that couldnt have been true. In his case it seems to have been a while before he considered that possibility. Is that so . He knew he would have been told that right away. The fact he was told some weird set of casualties, we are not sure, look into it. A very murky situation. He knew something complicated was going on. It wasnt obvious. It was very clear to him almost immediately, 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 was bizarre that even though it was hundreds of cases, workers on the docks didnt seem to be affected. It was a puzzling and complicated situation but he was deeply shocked when the british suddenly blamed the germans. He had to go back and review the evidence a second time to make sure that he wasnt wrong. Thats one of the many great things about your book, the way you bring alexanders personality, i dont know if heroism is too strong a word and what a shame it was not only was it not commended but covered up. At the top of the hour, i will end with this question from Ken Silverstein who asks how did you come across the subject of the story, what was your initial interest in the shocking story . My grandfather was one of the directors of the Manhattan Project and his particular responsibility was for all chemical weapons. A large chemical weapon being the atom bomb but also responsible for all poison gas. When i was writing my last book, biography of my grandfather called the man of the hour, i found reference to poison gas casualties. I was not aware there were poison gas casualties in world war ii so i became intrigued. I was also intrigued at my grandfather, went on the board of sloankettering which was odd to me. I did my research and stumbled upon the bari disaster and became more intrigued so i notified doctor alexanders family of my interests and they said we have all the diaries and records and telegraphs. Therefore i was it was clear to me i had to write the book. That is clearly one of the reasons you are such a successful offer. You are to be commended for this one too. Thank you for your presentation. Author of the great secret the classified world war ii disaster that launched the war on cancer. Thank you. You are watching booktv on cspan2, every weekend with the latest nonfiction books and others, cspan2 created by americas Cable Television company is a Public Service and brought to you by your television provider. Weeknights this month we are featuring booktv programs as a preview of what is available on cspan2. Tonight we focus on history. Johns Hopkins University history professor martha jones explores efforts by black women to win the right to vote. And the history of the first Wheelchair Basketball Team comprised of world war ii veterans. With a book about the federal governments forced migration of native americans to territories west of the mississippi. Enjoy booktv this week and every weekend on cspan2. Booktv on cspan2 has top nonfiction books and authors. Saturday at 1 00 pm eastern, from the Literary Festival, tracy smith and mahogany brown on the life and work of the late activist audra boy. And begin again. At 11 00 pm eastern in the essential callier jeffrey sutton, us court of appeals judge for the sixth circuit and former law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia talk about the Late Supreme Court justices writings. On sunday at 1 00 pm eastern more from the Schomburg CenterLiterary Festival with rhonda lloyd and her book coming full circle from jim crow to journalism which recalls her journalism career and at 2 00 pm eastern black lives matter cofounder with her book when they call you a terrorist on her life, activism and beginnings of the black lives matter movement. At 9 00 pm eastern on after words the Washington PostPulitzer Prize winning book critic offers his thoughts on the volume of books written about donald trump and his presidency and what were we thinking, a brief intellectual history of the trump era. Hes interviewed by New York Times book review editor kamala hall. Watch booktv this weekend on cspan2. So delighted to be copresenting the evenings events with a retreat for artists located on a 400 acre estate, its mission is to nurture the Creative Process by providing an opportunity for artists to work on a