Spurgeon Neel

Major General Spurgeon Neel, MD, (September 24, 1919 – June 6, 2003) was a United States Army physician who pioneered the development of aeromedical evacuation of battlefield casualties.

Biography

Early life Spurgeon Hart Neel Jr, was born on September 24, 1919, in Memphis, Tennessee. He earned his Doctorate of Medicine in 1942 from the University of Tennessee.

However, helicopters were still a novelty in 1949 when Neel began examining the idea of flying wounded soldiers out of war zones. Neel's widow, Alice Neel, told the San Antonio Express-News that Neel had said, "My job is to take care of those boys. And I'm going to do it, and I want to be able to get them to the hospital as quickly as possible, and I want the helicopter to be dedicated for that purpose and to be available for that mission.'"

Helicopter evacuation in Korea was not the result of any preconceived plan; it was the result of expediency. In the early days of the war, a U.S. Air Force helicopter detachment of the Third Air Rescue Squadron began to receive requests from ground elements for the evacuation of casualties from difficult terrain. Since this detachment was not fully occupied with its primary mission of rescuing downed pilots, it responded to these calls. By August 1950, this Air Force unit was answering so many calls that it found itself in the medical evacuation business.

Post war From 1954-1957, Neel served at the U.S. Army Office of the Surgeon General in Washington, D.C.

Based on experience during the Korean War, Neel developed medical evacuation policies, procedures, and organizations which are the foundation of current aeromedical operations.

In 1954, Neel became the Army's first Aviation Medical Officer. In 1955 he served on the Department of the Army board which conducted a design competition to select the new standard Army utility helicopter, which ultimately became the UH-1. The same year he established flying status for Aviation Medical Officers and was the first Aviation Medical Officer to receive flying status.

Neal coordinated introduction of medical air ambulance units during the build-up. He also established the Saigon office of the Far East Joint Medical Regulating Office to manage patient movements within and from the Republic of Vietnam during the war. He coordinated U.S. Army aeromedical evacuation in support of U.S. and South Vietnam forces and Vietnamese civilians.

Neels innovations in battlefield medicine greatly improved the survival rates for wounded soldiers. In World War I, 8 percent of all injured men died of their injuries; in World War II, 4.5 percent; in Korea, 2.5 percent; and in Vietnam, 1.5 percent. Neel attributed the lowering mortality rate to (1) the helicopter, (2) whole blood, (3) hospitals, and (4) highly trained personnel. As Neel pointed out, it was the medic under fire in whose hands rested the life-or-death decision for the wounded man.

The length of hospitalization for Vietnam victims was half of what it was for injured men in Korea-—48 days for Vietnam compared to 91 days for Korea. Neel attributed this improvement to the swiftness of helicopter evacuation and the advances in medical technology.

Neel moved to San Antonio in 1973 to become the first Commanding General of the U.S. Army Health Services Command. Health Services Command was activated on 1 April 1973 as part of reorganizing the Army Medical Department. It took control of almost all Army medical facilities in the continental US, including medical education. It answered directly to the Chief of Staff of the Army. This allowed the Office of the Surgeon General to focus more on staff and technical supervisory duties as the principal adviser to the Chief of Staff of the Army on health and medical matters. In 1994, the HSC and Office of the Surgeon General were merged again.

Neel advocated civilian air ambulance systems and oversaw formation of the 507th Medical Company, which provided military assistance to safety and traffic. By rescuing more than 5,000 civilians from car wrecks, floods and trauma cases in and around San Antonio, the Military Assistance to Safety and Traffic (MAST) program further promoted air ambulance service.

Retirement Neel retired from the U.S. Army in 1977 with the rank of Major General. The regiment was activated on 28 July 1986 as part of the creation of the Army Regimental System to foster and cohesion. All medical officers and enlisted personnel were formally affiliated with the regiment, to include wearing the departmental crest on their uniforms. Neel was the first honorary colonel. Primarily a ceremonial position, Neel's role was to enhance morale and esprit de corps through the perpetuation of the regiment's traditions and customs.

Legacy In 2006, the Spurgeon Neel Evacuation Pavilion was established at the Army Medical Department Museum at Fort Sam Houston as a memorial to Neel's work. The pavilion houses an H-13 helicopter from the Korean War and the UH-1 "Huey" helicopter that Neel helped develop. The Neel Aeromedical Science Center houses the U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory (USAARL) and was dedicated on April 2, 2004.