Transcripts For CSPAN2 Jennet Conant The Great Secret 20240711

Changed the course of world war ii. She will bespeaking tonight about her new book , the great secret, the classified world war ii that launched the war on cancer. Thank you for joining us. Thank you and i want to thank the museum for inviting me to be with you tonight. Alas, its virtually but im here at my desk. Myfirst zoom presentation so bear with me everyone. Im thinking right now i should have a little bit of wine but anyway here we go. Lets start us off with a quote from winston churchill. He had a way with words. Men occasionally stumble across it to most of them themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened. Lieutenant colonel Stuart Francis alexander, our hero is not long off. In fact, you refused to leave the scene of a military disaster even though churchill warned him to. He stayed and investigated and as a result he recognized a never before seen symptoms of dying sailors that might have lifesaving implications for others inthe future. This is the story of one intrepid army doctor and how turned a chemical weapons report into a steppingstone 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 bari of bari was bustling. The british had taken the capital in september and though the front lay hundred 50 miles to the north the medial city with its massive clips cradling the sea had escaped the fighting almost unscathed. Only a few miles outside of town women and children were begging for blackmarket food but in bari the shops were full of case and bread and rolls , young couples strolled on and off like in the old days and vendors were doing abrisk business. Bari was a critical Mediterranean Service town at the allied forces make your stay protected. It was applying both the american and british armies which comprise a better part of 500,000 allied troops in case and drive driving the germansout of italy. You can see that first slide of the bari water plant. The liberating british commies had already shake the nazis from the skies and the british were so confident they had one air war that marshalls announced that it was almost immune fromattack. I was regarded as a personal affront, insult a walk should attackany significant action in this area. The busy wartime work was teeming with activity. Four days earlier the american liberty ship john hardy pulled in with a convoy of nine merchants men, three allied ships were cramming the harbor act against the sewall noseto nose along here. The holes were leading with everything from food, medical gear engines, fields for landing strips and tons of oil for the planes really busy on the upper deck where tanks armored personnel carriers , ambulances, everything. Lights went atop huge cranes wasted, the dockyard for working around the clock to unload the supplies of the next big push to advance on rome. Allied strategy hinged on making steady progress of the rugged mountain and peninsula culminating in Amphibious Attack at anzio about 32 miles south of rome. The success depended on the long supply lines sustaining the mens march northwards. Because of the absolute certainty incoming stream of war material moving where it was needed most, the usual blackout wars were suspended. The lights of bari armor all night long. At 7 30 5 pm, a blinding flash was followed by a. The ancient port single antiaircraft battery opened fire, then came an error splitting explosion and another and another and the german junkers flew in low over the town dropping bombs red smoke and flames rose on the city blinding streets. The lead pathfinders had dropped a window, a new kind of jamming technique using oil strips designed to confuse allied radar and as a result they keep almost complete surprise. As the incendiaries rained down on the harbor it turns night in today. Got her subordinate handkerchiefs scrambled to shoot down enemy but it was too late. There was virtually no opposition. The attacking german planes pulled out unchallenged by allied fighters. Although the range lasted less than 20 minutes results were devastating. A tremendous roar came from the harbor and exploding ammunition tankers had a huge massive rolling claims 32 feet high. Time magazine described the panorama. Patients were burning fiercely. The entire center of the harbor was covered with burning oil. A ruptured fuel line sent thousands of gallons crashing into the harbor where the ignited into a gigantic sheet of claims involving the entire north side of the port with a prairie fire, the flames read across the surface of the water from ship to ship. The crews worked frantically to save their vessels for the raging fire force them to jump, swim for safety. The distant cries of men yelling for help echoed in the ruin harbor. News of the night raid on bari was one of the worst naval catastrophes of the war was heavily center. Dwight d eisenhowers first communicate from air force Head Quarters in algiers on december 4 and only damage was done. Adding insult to injury, the first real count of the air raid came from the germans, a german propaganda broadcast gloated over the missions spectacular success eating that the harbor was so poorly protected german bombers and been able to pay off the allied ships sitting ducks. The sneak attack on bari with the press dubbed a little pearl harbor chips the complacency of the allied forces who had been convinced oftheir air superiority in the area. All told the nazis some 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. An untold number of civilians. Rumors abounded official for covering up an embarrassing incident. There was talk of a new german secret weapon, our rocket driven glide,. Conventional concern over the debacle was underscored by eisenhowers announcement that he had asked a special senate subcommitteeto investigate. Rear admiral emery scott will responsible for us merchant marine fleas across 70s angrily fulltime magazine were going to hear more about that raid before you hear less. But that was the last official word on the matter and the bari incident made shrouded in mystery. In the days that followed the task of treating the injured sailors remained difficult by wartime secrecy and a determined effort to cover the incident so as not to endangerpreparation for the most important operation of the war. Overlord, the allied invasion of germany occupied france for the spring. It would be almost 30 years before the world would learn the truth about what took place on the fatal and even today, few are aware of the surprising consequences of the disaster and impacts on the lives ofmillions of americans. Lieutenant colonel alexander was asleep at his headquarters. He was awake at the first jangle of thetelephone. The summons came in the middle of the night. There was a developing medical crisis in bari. Too many men were dying too quickly unexplained causes. The symptoms were unlike anything the military physicians had seen before they had begun to suspect the germans had built an unknown weapon, perhaps gas. With a number of mysterious, the bitter british placed a red alert in algiers. Has it. He had to good head on his shoulders. The desire to serve ran deep in his family. He was a selfmade immigrant who fled famine and persecution in europe from the United States in the 1880s and were forever grateful for the opportunities afforded them in their new home. Alexanders father was a popular Family Doctor in parkridge new jersey and it was his one ambition to follow in his fathers footsteps. He excelled in the military academy and entered dartmouth at 15 a standout was allowed to a dam advanced directly to medical school and graduated at the top of his class in 1935. He earned his m. D. At columbia. I completing his residency he went back home and hung out next to his father full of pride. In the spring of 1940 as hitler began his march across Europe Alexander volunteered for duty felt strongly that this was a war in which she had to participate. He notified the draft board that he would be available at any time. He was called up in november and time with the 16th regiment stationed that Gunpowder Creek in maryland not far from the Edgewood Arsenal which happened to be home to the Chemical Warfare service. Before long he decided to contact the Chemical Warfare service for the Innovative New design heat come up with perspective goes that could fit inside the peace of the gas mask. It just happens that alexander suffered from extreme myopia. He was very nearsighted and flunked his first physical. When the army doctor went back and shuffled some papers he quickly memorize the first few lines of the eye chart talk him into giving him the test again and pass. But he was fearful because there was a gas attack or in the war hed have to choose between wearing his glasses and a gas mask because the gas mask was left over from the previous war and didnt fit over his glasses so he came up with a new design. They offered him a job. Hed transferred to the arsenal underwent a crash course in poison gases. In a hurry case of the war he became a newly minted expert in this field. He conducted all kinds of experiments on animals to evaluating toxic agents and develop new forms of treatment and protective gear for soldiers. 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 to director of the Chemical Warfare Services Medical Research Laboratory and so when general eisenhower concerned about the threat that hitler might launch a gas attack in europe he requested a doctor with the Chemical Warfare background and Young Alexander was set at allied force headquarters in new shares. In december 1940. Five days after the attack alexanders plane touched down. Waiting for him were group of senior british doctors but he could see they were agitated and he was taken to the hospital at once he wrote in his diary. The situation was grim. Old equipment for five field hospitals have been struck in the air. Fortunately all the doctors were safe and they scramble to open an American General hospital the morning after the raid following advances from the battalions to help care for the scores of owning victims. I think we have a picture of the hospital. Alexander navy lack of medical supplies held the tragedy to the existing hospitals were run by the british and by some miracle the largest 98 General Hospital had been spared but the place had taken a beating. The windows were shattered in and the walls scattered their brookside hail. A concussion blast knocked out out the power so they were working by lamplight. They were fixing the class when the wounded began to arrive. Hundreds and hundreds of bloodied and battered sailor suffering from shock burns and exposure almost all of them are covered in thick black crude oil. They brought up the rear tearing the most seriously injured. These were the sailors who jump from planes or ships or were thrown through pools of flaming oil and were horribly burned. In the basement a makeshift mortuary a local carpenter was knocking together rough pine as fast as he could. The town ran out of caskets in the first few hours. The summary patients needing urgent attention there was no time to get most of the wounded sailors out of their clothes so the nurses did what they could. The emerging cases and the shivering boys who are fetched from the shivering water received emergency treatment a shot of morphine blankets to keep the mormon and strong hot sweet tea. Then they were left to rest. It a few complained of smarting eyes and stinging burns but that was attributed to the large fire and they were discounted at the time. Most just lay there quietly aware that surgical cases would be given priority. The first unusual indication that doctors told alexander was the casualties did not seem to present typical symptoms or respond in a typical manner. At dawn the nurses said the men complained of being thirsty. Suddenly they started ripping off their clothes in bandages in a frenzy complaining that their skin was on fire. Overnight the majority of the emergency cases have developed red inflamed skin and blisters as big as balloons. This was causing widespread not involving and led doctors to think the cause might be poisonous fumes perhaps explosives but six hours after the attack patients began complaining of severe eye pain. By the end of the day the awards were full of hundreds of men with her eyes swollen shut. As the Staff Headquarters and notifications there was a possibility of a blister gas exposure but the information was vague and unconfirmed. The hundreds of burn patients with unusual symptoms were to be classified with dermatitis nyd not yet diagnosed pending further instructions. Given the crush of cattle to set first by the nonurgent cases who appeared in good conditions were sent away. Most of them were still in their white uniforms for the next morning they returned clearly needing treatment. They were in a horrible state but making it worse with so many the boys were conscious throughout their ordeal. A young gunner aboard the american liberty ship could not understand why his vision was becoming blurrier with each passing hour. Thats when the rumors about the gas started to spread he recalled. He remembered feeling uneasy when an official looking group came to the hospital ward and confiscated all the clothing shoes, belts, uniforms everything. There was no explanation given. That created a panic among the patients he said. They knew their fates were sealed. The first unexplained death occurred 18 hours after the attack. Within two days there were 14. Alexander noticed the starlings by role downward spiral of the patients. More of them would die. The british doctors were mystified or the symptoms did not fit any of those in their case histories of poison gas from world war i. They could find no similarities are medical textbooks or manuals issued by the Chemical Warfare service. If the a toxic agent was mustard gas so named because of its unpleasant garlic odor respiratory complications should have been more prominent but they werent. As alexander walked the crowded wards he examined the patients gently lifted blankets to study their burns and with extraordinary delicacy he raised that they can and spoke with each man intern asking him how he had come by his injuries. How did he come to be rescued . Do you received any first aid on the dot . What about when he got to the hospital . One sailor after another told of being caught in a firestorm in the pandemonium that followed and somehow making it to the hospital. There they had waited for as long as 12 and even 24 hours in a red uniforms before receiving treatment. Drawing back the covers on one patient alexander studied the burns on the otherwise healthy muscle bodies. He had been a porter pt vote when the german bombers flew over. He heard aloud blumenthal to spray oil and grit land on his neck. A picture of his injuries is shown in alexanders report. He had the red raise skin shiny red ointment from where hed been sprayed as if it was imprinted on his flesh. The Burns Alexander some of the patients were. But already he could distinguish between chemical burns and those burns caused by fire. Certain patterns were present depending on how the individual had been exposed he wrote. He appeared to alexander sailors were thrown over board and burned over 90 of their bodies while those in boats with superficial burns wherever the toxic soup had hit them. Some men who were in the solution perhaps in lifeboats had only local burns and a few lucky souls would take it upon themselves to wipe off the oily mixture that first night and had only minor injuries. As he made his rounds it was increasingly clear to alexander that most of the patients that have been exposed to chemical agents. He noticed something from the first moment he entered the hospital. It was some order that just kept banging away at him and he could pick it up at various places in various rooms and it stood out in the usual smells of and disinfectant and burned flesh. The odor that planted itself in his mind he wrote in his very was mustard gas. It had been five days since the initial exposure and if there was any chance of saving the lives of hundreds of sailors lying in beds plus the countless italian civilians he knew he needed to act swiftly. He decided to question the hospital director and put the question to him. He had his own suspicions. I feel these men may have been exposed to mustard in some manner colonel. Do you have any idea how it might have happened . None came the hospital directors are bipartisan Chemical Warfare consultant alexander was clear to the highest degree nude the allies have begun secretly stuck having poison gas in the mediterranean in case germany resorted to Chemical Warfare. But he was skeptical that the allies would have shipped mustard shells into a busy port so close to the local population and then allow the toxic cargo to sit there as a prime target for enemy strikes. Still they couldnt afford to rule it out. He tried again and it did you check with the port authorities did you check the shipping mask . Should could the ships no longer been carrying mustard . The was told again and again they didnt have the information and that it was not possible but alexander had his doubts. It sounded to him like the british were trying to damage the investigation. He didnt believe he is getting the full story or their full cooperation. The burden of proof he realized rested on him. He he wanted the series of test for the patients were still alive and careful and complete autopsies of those whod died under mysterious circumstances be regarded samples and collected and analyzed a pretty bar personnel from displaced American Hospital units and put them to work gathering data performing lab tests on tissue samples and compiling pathology reports. Suspecting that british officials acting with discretion and alexander visited the navy house the local headquarters. Again he demanded that it was mustard mustard gas and barria harbor. He left unconvinced. What he needed was proof but he also knew something else. This was not the familiar men that he studied at Edgewood Arsenal. This was mustard gas poisoning through different guys do not recognize from world war i. The first thing the next morning alexander scattered the harbor wanted to do his own investigation with as little official interference as possible. He looked at the burnedout vessels that some have been towed out to sea and some of them could still be seen their mass broken poking above the water. The fly at stud in his nostrils. The dark oil water in the harbor looks sinister. Once they have recalled that 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 two dozen allied ships and alexander suspected mustard gas. But he did not know what else might be in there. He had to do more tests. He knew the allied cargo ships had been caring light shells and 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 read sure was a german aerial gas attack rate in the spray attack he reasoned that liquid mustard was in most cases transformed by the swift stream in the tiny droplets assembling a vapor. It would have contaminated all the ships in the harbor including crippled vessels that still remained afloat and drenched all the men on the docks below. Even then not on the water would he inhale significant doses of the vapor is a spread across the harbor. Some of them burning some mixing with oil floating on the surface and some of the operating in the clouds and smoke and flames alexander could find no evidence of mustard contamination but when he questioned the royal personnel the realm Navy Personnel on the dock they seem surprised. They shook their heads. No mustard had been released in the air. They told him. Thats impossible, theres no mustard here but he spoke to the Port Authority and they continued to state categorically that there was no mustard in the area. Undeterred 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. Of the 534 men had allied hospitals just in the first night he heard 80 men were suffering from injuries consistent with mustard told the british bacon is that far more fatalities the vast majority by their own countrymen. Were they happy about that . At that point the Port Authority began to waiver and change their story. They began to say perhaps it was mustard gas in the harbor but it could only have come from the germans. Shot by the sudden aboutface alexander reconsidered could you did some more spreading of the papers and the ramifications in a desperate gamble but in the end after reviewing all the evidence he discounted it as unlikely be coming after the authority strong denials of so much as a whiff of gas he thought it was tuned need an explanation of what had happened. Which he now suspect it was something much more complicated. Over the next two days he pored over the chemical records and autopsy reports. Leading the reports is to take a journey into a 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 victims. And though there were gas and explosions the Chemical Exposure was apparent. Alexander was not sure how to proceed when he received stunning news. He had ordered to search the harbor floor and found fractured gas shells. Tests were medially performed onsite and revealed traces of mustard. The ordinance officers of the u. S. Air force identified the case as belonging to a 100pound 7a to mustard gas bomb, german mustard gas bombs were marked with a yellow cross. The bombs were definitely american. His instincts had been right all along that the ships in the harbor had been carrying mustard gas. Secret shipment destined for chemical stockpile miles away in order to improve the u. S. Capability to reach kelly eight in the event of a german gas attack. Alexander knew that the bombs were fragile and would have been fractured by the explosion in a bombing. Using the sketch of the harbor that he had prepared as part of his investigation he plotted the position of the sunken ship by correlating them with the number of mustard gas victims for each ship he was able to pinpoint the john harvey and american liberty ship at the epicenter of the explosion. Alexander found it hard to believe that the british officials did not know of the john harvey secret cargo to the circumstances of the accident now demanded further investigation and he would have to explore the extent to which the military authorities covered up the escaped 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 patience now that he knew that his suspicions were confirmed and it was mustard gas. He advised the hospital staff how to treat the patience for mustard exposure and tried to reduce the number of deaths over the next couple of days. Instead of ringing management closed alexanders discovery that the mustard gas came from the allies own supplies made the job that much more complicated. The british port of officials obfuscate wrinkled but that paled when compared comparison to their bid to shift responsible shift responsibility for it was not a harmless fabrication. Alexander worried if they were going to accuse the germans of dropping mustard when the germans had not done so would have grave political and implications implications. They fear president roosevelt issued a warning to any german use of chemical weapons would be followed by that quote worst pop possible retaliation for churchill echoed his remarks the significance of any error and interpreting the factor of the mustard gas and Cory Alexander that could be horrendous. Nature the faulty conclusion that the germans had and then they would have it all out chemical war. The daily death toll was raised in rising rapidly produce idea to notify officials of what his findings were in the cable the allied force headquarters in algiers. The burns in the hospitals in the area related to dermatitis are due to mustard gas erupted there unusual in a variety of mustard has been mixed in with the surface soil and therefore went undiagnosed. He was feeling a growing sense of urgency and he awaited the replies. He said high priority cables to the american presence in the british Prime Minister informing them of the nature of the casualties and the almost certain origin of gas on american ships. Roosevelt accepted his findings and responded please keep me fully informed for churchill however sent a terse reply. He did not believe there was mustard gas at bari. Alexander was speechless. He admired churchill but he realized that he had to question the leaders commands decision. He realized churchill was mostly concerned he acknowledged there was gas in the air in the germans retaliated the first place they would be dropping gas would be on england. Alexander sent his second telegram and cited the findings that much later linked beyond any doubt the casualties were due to mustard was informed churchill maintained that the quote symptoms do not sound like mustard gas. His instructions were sustained to the doctor. Flummoxed and unsure how a im only american medical officer were supposed to respond alexander appealed to an officer for advised for the british officer advised him one did not argue with the Prime Minister. After a sleepless night alexander returned to the hospital and was determined to prove his diagnosis was correct. Churchill was undoubtedly brilliant and had an uncanny instinct for the salient at that. He put his finger the most in question of the bari victims why were the toxicants more serious than ever in recorded history . Farmer patients were dying of mustard than on the battlefields of world war i were or the fertility rate had been around 2 for the death rate in bari was six times higher and climbing. The difference he believed was from the unprecedented intimate and link the contact as a result of being immersed in the oil and left to sit in soaked uniforms. The individuals to all intents and purposes were dipped into a solution of mustard and oil wrapped in blankets given warrantee and allow the prolonged period for her he wrote. These survivors have been host down given fresh clothing they would have had a fair chance of survival. Instead the men had been allowed to marinate in their mustard soaked uniforms for hours. Itd been tantamount to a death sentence. Military secrecy had taken precedent. The british and american officials have been reluctant to release highly classified information. The bottom line was no warning was given to the hospital to the coverup came from not wanting to admit that an error in judgment had been made. By then hed made himself a nuisance and officials wanted him gone. He swore if he did not he risked courtmartial. Although his investigation into the disaster was over his and cory had only just begun. As he reviewed the case one observation left out of hand the devastating effects of mustard on the patients white led cells but is he looked to the records he sighed again and again the white load cell count fell sharply off. He noted a white led cells found in the lymph organs were the first to disappear. What he saw made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He had seen these exact results before but never in humans. In march of 1942 when he was training at edgewood they had received samples, smuggled samples of german nitrogen mustard gas and begun experimenting with it. The studies reported the effects and the white blood cell count of the rabbits they work spearmen ting on dropped to a point very close to zero. No one had ever seen such rap the destruction of white blood cells on test animals or the deterioration of lymph nodes and bone marrow. The Research Literature but could find no report. It was a shocking kind of reduction of white bud cells known as leukopenia and i have never seen anything that had the same effect. Alexanders first impulse was they had a bad batch of rabbits but when they repeated experiments time and again the results were the same. Each time they achieve the same dramatic effect sudden severe leukopenia severe lempl pina lymph node division in mero depression could after exposure to white led cell counts rapidly disappeared in the lymph nodes were left does strunk and cells. Alexander was fascinated by the impact of mustard on the body. Because of the dramatic and reproducible effects he couldnt help but wonder about the possibility of using the compounds directly on human beings with diseases of the blood. If nitrogen mustard attacked white blood cells perhaps it could be used to control leukemia the most common type of cancer and children with unrestrained white led cell growth and although it destroyed some but not all of the cancer cells without hurting the patient. When the founder propose an ambitious set of experiments he was told by his chief and then by the National Research council that was 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 National Defense resorted to put the project beside him return to his work on muscle casualty management treatment and decontamination. Miracle cures would have to wait until after the war. Now sitting in a Military Hospital 6000 miles away not even two years later alexander held in his hand in convertible evidence mustard gas did selectively destroy blood cells and blood forming organs he wrote. It had taken a freak accident and the massive exposures of wartime the phenomenon demonstrated in laboratory rabbits. Added up to the same condition see my prewar work he wrote blood cells disappeared lymph nodes melted away today remembered thinking of mustard could do this what could it do for a person with leukemia sex alexander could not save the worst of mustard gas casualties. He knew perhaps he could make their death count for something was one in a million chance when a few doctors in the world secured his potential in the middle of a disaster with them case study prison on thinkable era chance or more for pioneering investigation into the toxins biological effects on the human body the kind that would be impossible for volunteers. He ran down the hall yelling for more blood tests. He made sure to take special care in preparing it and hoping they would make it across the long journey to america. He needed 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 stomach effects of mustard to be entered into the medical record with an eye toward seeing whether the harmful substance could be used not destroyed but to heal. On december 27, 1943 alexander submitted his preliminary were port honest and abe castigation of the bari harbor catastrophe. In the report there were victims who suffered from gas exposure. He documented 83 who clearly died at poison gas. There were many others whose record 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 it secret. There was 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. Theres a slide here of one of dozens and dozens of cables that went backandforth to the headquarters censoring any mention of mustard gas in the records. It was even stricken from patients medical chart to alexanders name was removed from the patients medical chart 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 in the threat of massive retaliatory gas strikes. Ironically however if the germans had known all along about the poison gas in the harbor. Spies had suspected the allies were shipping gas. After the airstrike they sent their own diver down in the bomb casings which confirmed the weapon was american. A popular berlin propaganda radio host had even taunted the allies a few days after the air. I see you boys are getting gassed by your own poison gas she concluded. Officials never acknowledged alexanders report the garnered high praise from eisenhower. They applauded his exceptional job alexander had done under challenging conditions but told him a commendation was withheld for fear of offending the Prime Minister. The officer most impressed with alexanders port was colonel cornelius rhoadss chief of the medical division of the Chemical Warfare service who hailed alexanders meticulous investigation is so complete and of such immense value to many that represented almost a land park in the history of mustard poisoning. Rhoades 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. Roads in his civilian life was head of new yorks Memorial Hospital. It was the biggest Cancer Hospital in the world at the time. He sees from a wealth of information provided by the croupiers ambitious plans for Memorial Hospital now converge with alexanders report and crystallized into a Single Mission to exploit the military research of the poison gas to design a chemical that could selectively kill cancer cells. Armed with the report and the results of a topsecret yale study which demonstrated for the first time an alleged and if nitrogen and carefully calibrated doses could result in human roads rhoads went in search of funding to develop treatment known today as chemotherapy. They endow the new institute that would bring together leading scientists in a concentrated attacks on cancer. On tuesday august 7, 1945 the day the world learned 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 has 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 Navy Personnel doctors and nurses resulting in years of suffering controversy and lawsuits for medical compensation in both the United States and in britain. In 1951 alexander volunteered to help the National Academy of sciences to study of the american survivors from the gas attack but the project stalled and identified victims of contamination proved too difficult. All their records just said burns to enemy action alexander recalled. They couldnt tell who had been poisoned and who had been blasted. In the epilogue i explain in detail how the truth about the incident finally emerged. It was no thanks to churchville who continued to deny the poison gas in his voluminous world war ii memoir closing the ranks. Eisenhower in his 1948 memoir stated only when the ships were loaded with the small quantity of mustard gas unfortunately the winds were off sure that they and escaping gas caused casualties. An early attempts to correct the record which were not altogether successful as they did not have access to classified documents. Many of those early counts were deeply flawed riddled with mistakes and lies. I found that even to this day the confusion persists. You go on line tonight for example and try to search for the bari disaster youll find many many gruesome pictures. Enforce when most of them are mislabeled and they are in fact not that the 1943 air. By the koran is accident that took place in bari in 1945 when another american liberty ship the ss Charles Henderson exploded. It goes to show the whole incident remains muddled by misinformation given todays digital universe. Alexander was discharged from the Chemical Warfare service in june of 1945 and returned home with a chest full of metal. He turned down rhoads offer to work at this cattering slowness of getting kept his promise to his father to continue the Family Practice in parkridge new jersey. He wanted to settle down and raise a familys hometown but he went on to become a much beloved physician and cardiologist in a highly respected director of of 18 years at bergen pines county hospital. He never spoke of his wartime exploits but he always took quiet pride in his unique contributions to medicine. He did not mind the details of this investigation remained enshrouded in secrecy. In a story full of tricks and turns i will not reveal the final twist in the unexpected events that led to alexander finally being honored by the army in 198845 years afterthefact which worked in saving lives in bari and have a were found impact in being a catalyst for the development of chemotherapy. Sadly alexander died on december 6, 1991 of malignant melanoma, skin cancer that he diagnosed himself. Over the years he watched with keen interest the many trials and should relations of rhoads in this cancer researchers many in the Chemical Warfare service as they struggled with the chemical potent weapon into an agent for treatment of cancer. Sloankettering had to mobilize an army of mice and men for the trial and error surged for the best derivative of nitrogen mustard the chemical has toxic effects could be harnessed to target abnormal or malignant cells without doing damage to the patient. The first nitrogen mustard extract for clinical use was called mustard gin and was quickly approved by the fda in 1949. Sloanketterings doctors launched their First Progress in treating adults with acute u. Lucky me a pair in the early years remissions were few and fleeting and the nausea and caused by the address of cream treatment were terrible. Progress was slow and painful and there were many setbacks but alexander lived to see his onetime research and of mustard gas reach reached the creation of a new class of chemotherapeutic drugs many of which seated him in pro bono patients and are still in wide use for the 1953 the new medicine six mp methotrexate bucshon to produce remissions and children with acute leukemia the most common childhood cancer. Today the use of combination chemotherapy more than 90 of those children can be cured of the once fatal disease. Nontoxic lymphoma also a fatal disease in adults also now has a more than 95 cure rate. These medical triumphs led 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 to care alexanders story is a reminder of how powerful the active single doctor with the keen eye can be. At the end of the book i write on the 60th anniversary of the first cancer chemotherapy trial dr. Jewels hirsch the former physician in chief of Rockefeller University hospital. Tribute to dr. Alexander in the journal of American Medical Association being reminded readers of the kari disaster and the inquisitive investigation was closed and extracted a gem something potentially useful for the debate and of human disease. Thank you. Thank you for fascinating interpretation that is so important. Ive a jamichael are working on First World War the most powerful and disturbing experiences ive had was walking on the western front in seeing these mustard gas canisters. They were still lying out there on the ground and they were still very dangerous. People would step on them and they get splashed. They still keep surfacing from the muck underneath barre harbor and dozens of fishermen have been sent to the emergency room with severe burns on their arms from bringing them up with the fish in their nets. They have got to be aware that danger i would think. They have several groups studying it to this day. One of the things thats interesting to me in this case the mustard gas came out in a different way than it would have been a deliberate attack on the western front and i was wondering as you were talking in accounts ive read that many thousands of soldiers who were exposed in the First World War when they would get earned by the mustard gas the effects were immediate. Maybe not instantaneous but they felt them within a short time of exposure whether burning within their uniforms are under their helmets and that doesnt seem to be been the case this time as many of them were sitting in their uniforms and not noticing its surface. Why was that . If its in the sensitive nasal and throat passages you immediately have the effects and most of the men that were close enough to have that probably died of their other wounds but the man who jumped ship and swim to safety were covered in this crude oil that had mustard oil leaked into it and that mixture in their uniforms when they were wrapped in blankets and kept warm their skin very slowly absorb through their skin so it had to penetrate their skin and then slowly penetrate into their organs so was a slow lethal process and one of the tragedies that alexander pointed out in his report was had the proper steps then followed and the gas alarm given which is what military protocol calls for in a chemical attack they all would have been host down the minute they got to shore and they probably would have almost all survived but because of the enormous secrecy and the unprecedented nature of the attack and in the chaos that ensued that gas alarm was never sounded and another thousand boys probably died unnecessarily. Would be safe to say if scientists look back or medical professionals look back which i imagine they could have done in 1943 to 1945 and those whod been exposed to gas during world war i they would have found many dying over the long term from the same effect, right . After world war i they started to do all these studies could the poison gas was so defined after world war i it became such a hated subject that most of the laboratories lost funding. Nobody wanted to look into poison gas let alone its medical effects. No one wanted to talk about it. It was something that people turned away from with a vengeance after world war i. Therell most on the brink of discovering some of its effects on cancer but there was no it just an outline of research. All of a sudden the bari report combined with the yell study made them go back and say wait a minute we are seeing that it was effective and they looked at the world war i information with a new eye. It would make me think just as you have shown here that these casualties were covered up and the many who died were covered up in their deaths were attributed to other causes and accurately so that this is yet another area in which there were forgotten dead from the First World War and they probably wouldnt died a few years afterwards from these causes. I go in to links in the end of the book about the tragedy for the veterans. I mean there were hundreds and hundreds of ways. Remember they are 20 and 21 years old that were exposed to mustard gas and lived but their medical charts said verns from enemy action. They would suffer from skin cancer bronchial ailments asthma glaucoma you name it all kinds of terrible diseases and not only did they never properly diagnose that they could never receive treatment because there was no official recognition that there was a gas attack and it took these lawsuits in the late 80s in england in 1991 in america before the information was really confirmed by the government to acknowledge that medical compensation was due. Obviously most veterans were dead or very very old so it was really criminal what was done to those boys. They suffered twice. I was so interested in your description of alexanders life after the disaster and his beginning to suspect what it happened here identifying similarities of mustard that i was a little bit surprised that he didnt immediately react to the assumption that there must have been enemy action which you think under the tensions at the time that your first thought would be the germans have deployed poison gas and only later when you look at the evidence you see that could have been true. But it had been a while before you considered that possibility. I think he knew if it was a german gas attack he would been told that right away but the fact that he was told this is some kind of set of casualties, we are not sure and we will look into it was a murky situation. He knew right away that something complicated was going on. It wasnt the obvious. The other thing was it was clear to him almost immediately that 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 expensive. So it was bizarre that even though was hundreds of cases that it was only these men that workers on the docs didnt seem to be effect did. It was a very puzzling and confiscated situation but he was deeply shocked when the british blame the germans and he had to go back and review all the evidence a second time to make sure that he wasnt wrong. Thats one of the main things about your book you bring alexanders personality and i dont know if harris them is too strong of a word on the war front in what a shame it was that not only was it not commended but that was covered up. We are at the top of the hour so i went with this question from Sam Silverstein who asks how did you come about the subject of the story and what was your initial interest in the shocking story . My grandfather was one of the directors of the Manhattan Project and its particular responsibility was for all chemical weapons for the large chemical weapon been the atom bomb but he was also responsible for the poison gas. When i was writing my last book which was the current biker failed my grandfather called the man at the hour it looks to these papers and i found a reference to poison gas casualties. I was not aware that there were poison gas casualties in world war ii so i became intrigued. I was also intrigued that my father was on the board of sloankettering did more research and i stumbled upon the bari disaster and they became more and more intrigued so i notified. Your alexanders family of my interest and they said we have all the diaries and records in the telegraphs and therefore it occurred to me that i had to write the book. Its clearly one of the reasons you are such an opulent author. You are to be commended for this one too. Jaet conant thank you so much for your presentation author of the great secret the classified world war ii disaster that launched the war on cancer. Thank you