Posts from — September 2011

In 1947, two years after the end of World War II, the United States Armed Forces created a new branch of the military, the United States Air Force (USAF).

The brave men and women who served in the USAF were not new to service, of course: many of them were veterans of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), whose 2.4 million members helped the Allies win World War II, at considerable sacrifice to themselves. For these soldiers serving in all parts of the world were exposed not only to bullets and bombs, but also to a host of infectious diseases that threatened to end their lives. Among these diseases, according to the U.S. Army Medical Department’s annals, were deadly acute respiratory infections like influenza, typhoid, tropical diseases like malaria and dengue fever, and neurotropic viruses like poliomyelitis and insect-borne encephalopathies.

Dengue (Breakbone fever) occurs in tropical regions, chiefly at the end of the rainy season. Symptoms consist of muscle and joint pains, backache, fever and rash. the mosquito which transmits it bites mostly during the daytime. (Bombardiers Information File, USAAF)

Within weeks of discharge, many USAAF veterans began showing up at Veterans Hospitals with debilitating psychological symptoms that included insomnia, uncontrolled bursts of rage, difficulty concentrating and even flashbacks and hallucinations. It wasn’t until 1978 that this set of symptoms had a name: Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.

Perhaps the greatest risk these soldiers were exposed to, however, was one that would not reveal itself for many decades. Asbestos was a commonly used material in aircraft, as well as USAAF installations, base housing and other administrative buildings.

For thousands of years the fibrous mineral asbestos has been used in a wide variety of industrial applications. Its unique properties which include resistance to flame, heat, sound, electrical impulses and most forms of chemical corrosion, combined with its light weight and tensile strength, made it seem like an ideal insulating and construction material. However, scientists have conclusively linked asbestos exposure to the development of a host of asbestos-related diseases, among them an asbestos cancer called malignant mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma targets the protective membranes lining the thoracic cavity, the peritoneum, the pericardium and the internal reproductive tracts of both women and men. Mesothelioma is characterized by a prolonged latency interval of anywhere between 20 and 50 years: Many mesothelioma veterans are being diagnosed with the disease for the first time right now.

It’s not known for sure how many WWII air force veterans, exposed to asbestos, have subsequently been diagnosed with mesothelioma. But since the 1980s, the USAF has been proactive in asbestos abatement and the Department of Veterans Affairs will provide benefits to asbestos-exposed veterans when asbestos exposure can be clearly documented.

Doug Karr is a Navy veteran of Operation Desert Storm and Desert Shield. He now collaborates with the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance as the Veteran Health Advocate and writer for their Veterans Blog.

Douglas’s Bio: http://www.mesothelioma.com/blog/authors/doug/bio.htm

——————————————————————————————————————-

Thanks Doug! This links nicely to a fascinating document called the Bombardiers Information File which I found thanks to the armyairforces. com forum. It’s a manual that was provided to USAAF crew members and includes lots of advice, instructions and some great illustrations. I’ve added a couple of pages from the document to my Flickr http://bit.ly/nArwG9