This was put in a cast and I appeared before the second disposition board and my first Army retirement board. The Army retirement board found that I should not be retired and that I should be returned to general duty and that maximum hospitalization had been received. I appeared before both the disposition board and the ARB with a plaster cast on my right arm but was still sent back to general duty. I was discharged on July 1, 1947, with the plaster cast still on my right arm. In August 1947, the cast was removed and X-rays taken at the Letterman General Hospital and these X-rays were read by Colonel Bolibaugh at which time these X-rays disclosed that the bones still remained ununited. This condition was again determined after I had been discharged from the hospital. This was done at my own expense and on my own time.

I carried on a lengthy correspondence with the Surgeon General's Office asking them to recall me for further treatment and hospitalization for my injuries received in combat. It is understood that in all previous cases I had been told I had the maximum hospitalization. Since my recall to Walter Reed Hospital on January 7, 1948, I have received one operation and am scheduled for another.

While discharged from the service, I filed for compensation with the Veterans' Administration and was found to have five injuries rated at 10 percent each. My present condition is as follows:

1. Severe tinnitus. I can hear ordinary conversation but I am subject to a constant ringing in my ears. Am unable to hear high or lower pitch than normal conversation. Also change in weather causes earaches.

2. Ankylosis of left little finger. (Veterans' Administration rated it as same rating as amputation)-shortening of tendons causing small painful nodule in left hand.

3. Ununited bone right wrist, causing a limited movement.

4. Grating of bone in socket in left side of face with hypothesis of left cheek. Pain in region of socket.

5. Arthritis has developed in the right wrist and elbow and has been diagnosed by X-ray.

6. Left knee swelling and soreness. Unable to walk any great distance.

7. Shell fragment in right cheek.

8. Occasional return of numbness to left arm. Last occurred September 19, 1947.

That completes my statement.

Mr. ELSTON. Captain, can you show the committee the condition of your finger?

Captain OGDEN. Yes [indicating].

Mr. SMART. This is the case where you were shot through the hand by rifle fire?

Captain OGDEN. Yes, sir. This occurred on July 6.

Mr. SMART. And you have now an ankylosis of the little finger which the Veterans' Administration rates the same as an amputation? Captain OGDEN. Yes, sir.

Mr. JOHNSON of California. When you protested being discharged in a cast what did they say?

Captain OGDEN. I asked Captain Morrison at that time if I could not stay in the hospital for further treatment until I was sure my right wrist had received the maximum hospitalization. He said that

Colonel Ritchie, who was an orthopedic, had said I had received maximum hospitalization. So I went to Colonel Ritchie. He said he did not say that-it was Captain Morrison. I said, "Well, if that is the way we are going to play ball, let me out."

Mr. JOHNSON of California. At that time was Letterman overcrowded, so far as you know?

Captain OGDEN. I hesitate to say on that; I do not know.

Mr. JOHNSON of California. They did not make any statement to you there was no room for you, did they?

Captain OGDEN. No such statement was made to me.

Mr. JOHNSON of California. Where is your home, in San Jose?
Captain OGDEN. Yes, sir.

Mr. JOHNSON of California. How much have you spent of your own money to get in shape to work?

Captain OGDEN. Approximately $300 or over in the time I have been out.

Mr. JOHNSON of California. What have you lost in time, either in months or weeks?

Captain OGDEN. That is very difficult to say. I cannot estimate that.

Mr. JOHNSON of California. How old are you?

Captain OGDEN. I will be 31 in May.

Mr. JOHNSON of California. What was your education?
Captain OGDEN. Two years of college. Physical education.

Mr. JOHNSON of California. In San Luis Obispo what were you doing?

Captain OGDEN. I went to work for the Veterans' Administration. Mr. JOHNSON of California. Were you able to handle the job?

Captain OGDEN. I missed work a great deal because of these things. My ears bother me a great deal they bothered me a great deal in that work as I am counsel for the veterans on their different problemsinsurance, hospitalization, and so forth.

Mr. JOHNSON of California. Does the condition of your ears make it very hard for you to interview people?

Captain OGDEN. Yes, sir.

Mr. JOHNSON of California. As far as you can tell, is it getting better?

Captain OGDEN. No, sir. It is the same. It has continued since June 24, 1944.

Mr. JOHNSON of California. I certainly want to commend you for the way in which you went back to battle after you had been hit several times.

I was over there and looked at those hedge rows. I do not know how they got away with it.

Mr. ELSTON. I think the captain is very modest. Naturally, his record is much finer than he indicates in his own statement. I think every one of your superior officers was killed in combat and you carried on from there?

Captain OGDEN. They were wounded. They were not killed.
Mr. ELSTON. They were at least disabled?

Captain OGDEN. We have one member of the Seventy-ninth Division in the room with us, Colonel Olin Teake, of Texas, who was battalion commander, of the first battalion of my regiment.

STATEMENT OF CHARLES S. MUGGET, MEDICAL CORPS

Mr. ELSTON. Colonel Mugget, have you any records from the Surgeon General's Office on Captain Ogden's case?

Colonel MUGGET. Yes, sir.

What Captain Ogden says is essentially true, so far as I know. We were not aware, as I recall, in the Surgeon General's office, that when he met the board his arm was still in a cast.

We did not learn it until several months later when he wrote the Office and told us of it.

Mr. JOHNSON of California. That certainly was obvious to the people looking at him, was it not?

Colonel MUGGET. Yes, but not everyone who wears a cast needs to be a patient in a hospital.

They can be treated as out-patients.

That may have been the reason for their allowing him to go. I do not know the full reason.

Mr. SMART. Captain, what was the date of your discharge with the cast on your arm?

Captain OGDEN. That was when I appeared before the retirement board of April 29.

Mr. SMART. Of what year?

Captain OGDEN. Of 1947.

Mr. SMART. Now, of course, at that time the policy, which has been previously stated by General Dahlquist, was that if an officer wanted to stay on extended active duty pending final determination of his case, he had that option.

Captain OGDEN. That is right.

Mr. SMART. Were you discharged with the cast on your arm? Colonel MUGGET. I think he wore it about 6 weeks after he was separated.

Captain OGDEN. Yes.

Colonel MUGGET. The 12th of August, I think it was, that it was removed.

Mr. SMART. Were you in a patient status?

Captain OGDEN. No, I was completely separated from the service at that time.

Mr. SMART. That is the point I wanted to make.

Captain OGDEN. I was taking time off from my work to go into the hospital and return.

Colonel MUGGET. They did arrange for continued treatment with you at the hospital?

Captain OGDEN. I asked the captain and he said since I was separated from the service, he could not forward the final readings of those X-rays from the Surgeon General's Office.

Colonel MUGGET. We have a report as a result of that letter. Mr. SMART. Let me get this point clear. General Dahlquist has previously told this committee that effective on August 22, 1946, that an outgoing officer who had a physical disability had the option of staying on extended active duty in a patient status or otherwise until

his case was finally determined. Now, here is an officer who was discharged, completely separated from service, with his arm in a cast. That appears to me to be a direct contradiction of the announced policy of the War Department. Can you enlighten us on that, Colonel? Colonel MUGGET. It is a definition of what is a final determination of one's ability to remain on duty or not. Administratively, the action of the retiring board, presumably, is a final determination, and that was approved in the War Department-I believe it was early in June.

I have the date here. Normally the hospital is notified by The Adjutant General to separate the individual if he is eligible for separation. If not to send him-to ask for an assignment for him.

Presumably, not knowing the circumstances at the time that he was still undergoing treatment they abided by the order of The Adjutant General. However, I see no reason why, if a man is sick, and the order comes, they cannot ask to have the order changed. Mr. SMART. Yes. Now, let me ask you this: Do your records indicate that there is a nonunion in one of the bones of his wrist? Colonel MUGGET. They do. Mr. SMART. Was that determined or not determined by X-ray at the time he was separated from service, with the cast on his arm? Do you mean to say they would have separated him regardless of having found a nonunion in the wrist?

Colonel MUGGET. This particular bone in the wrist, in a large majority of cases, heals, not by bony tissue, but by fibrous tissue, which you cannot see by X-ray.

If it healed by bony tissue you could see it by X-ray and you could swear that it was healed. Now, it depends upon whether you want to say it was bony healing or fibrous healing.

Presumably he has fibrous healing in his wrist, which makes it potentially a weak wrist. It is not united by bone.

Mr. SMART. Would that particular nonunion be likely to result in arthritis?

Colonel MUGGET. It may or may not.

Frequently people have no further trouble with it. Quite frequently you have to remove the segment that did not unite.

Mr. SMART. Have you been able to determine whether he does have arthritis in that arm?

Colonel MUGGET. The X-ray report shows, I think, a minor arthritic condition. There is a little separation-two millimeters of one segment. I think from Colonel Spittler's words about his present condition, that the wrist is the most serious thing he has at present, outside of the ringing in his ears.

I might clarify that and read what Colonel Spittler does say. He is the chief of the orthopedic service at Walter Reed Hospital.

He states he has the following things wrong at present:

The ununited fracture of the right naviculare bone in the wrist. He has a poor union of the fracture of the left little finger-the terminal phalanx;

He has some malunion of the left jaw, where it was fractured-with a little trouble in this joint up here [indicating].

He has a little arthritis in his right elbow, between this bone [indicating] and the elbow joint.

Colonel Spittler thinks he has a moderate arthritis of his wrist joint secondary to his fracture. He has a chronic recurrent swelling

of the knee-we call it synovitis-which was secondary to the wound he received in his knee.

Colonel Spittler was of the opinion that the ununited fracture of the right wrist bone constitutes a disability which prevents him from returning to full military duty or general duty as a company grade officer of the infantry.

The other conditions he does not consider as disqualifying him from duty.

They do constitute a painful condition-painful conditions-which are not permanent and are not correctible by surgery.

At that date-that was February 11-he was contemplating some surgical procedure on the right wrist. I do not know whether he still does or not.

Captain OGDEN. No.

Colonel MUGGET. The operation that Captain Ogden had in the hospital recently was a minor operation, recurrence of a minor condition.

The first operation was at Letterman General Hospital. It was a little fissure. It is not serious. It is painful, however.

Mr. ELSTON. All right, Colonel, that is all.

The next witness will be Captain Moore.
Captain, will you come forward, please.

STATEMENT OF CAPT. THADDEUS S. MOORE, ALLEN PARK, MICH.

Mr. ELSTON. Captain, your full name is Thaddeus S. Moore?
Captain MOORE. Yes, sir.

Mr. ELSTON. What is your home address?

Captain MOORE. Allen Park, Mich.; 14599 Russell Avenue.

Mr. ELSTON. Be seated, Captain. Do you have a statement concerning your military service, and your present disability? Captain MOORE. Yes, sir; I do.

Mr. ELSTON. You may proceed.

Captain MOORE. Prior to my entrance into the service I was graduated from the citizens' military infantry training camp at Camp Custer, Mich., in 1935. On June 23, 1941, I entered the service as a private in the Coast Artillery, Camp Callan, Calif., from Detroit, Mich. After completion of basic training on 155 mm. guns I was retained as an instructor until July 1942.

During this time I was recommended and accepted for infantry officers' candidate school at Fort Benning, Ga. Upon completion of the course at Fort Benning, I was commissioned a second lieutenant, Infantry, on October 20, 1942.

I was ordered to join the Twenty-eighth Infantry Regiment, Eighth Division in November 1942. On December 5, 1943, I went overseas as first lieutenant with the Twenty-eighth Infantry Regiment, which participated in the Normandy landing as support troops. On the 19th of July 1944, during an enemy artillery barrage, in the vicinity of La Haye de Puits, I was struck in the right forearm, receiving a lacerated wound. I was evacuated immediately to the One Hundred and Fourth Evacuation Hospital, where a primary debridgement was done.

On or about July 22, 1944 I was evacuated to the Thirtieth General Hospital and from there to the Ninety-seventh General Hospital