USAREUR Units - USAH Munich

An Annex of the 98th General Hospital, Munich, the EUCOM Medical Reconditioning Center was activated recently at Garmisch, Germany, with Lt Col Cecil G. Stillinger, MC, in direct charge as Deputy to Col John F. Bohlender, MC, CO of the 98th. Officials at the center are imbued with only one aim -- to restore soldiers to full physical fitness for their duties.

To this end, a graduated reconditioning program is carried out under the immediate supervision of three reconditioning officers who have had extensive experience in this field -- 1st Lt Willard C. Friz, MSC, 1st Lt Melvin F. Deland, MSC, 1st Lt Eithel G. Smith, MSC -- and Charles Lynch, a Department of the Army civilian who is an expert on winter sports and mountain climbing.

Reconditioning exercises and games, from shuffleboard to the toughest of commando exercises, are fitted to the patient's individual needs. A soldier with a broken back, for example, is taught archery. The pull of the 45 pound bow along with other exercises tones up back muscles so that the soldier can resume his Army duties almost as soon as the cast is taken off. Soldiers with broken arms play tetherball, a game that allows the exercise of all but the broken limbs. There's a game even for patients with broken legs -- volleyball played from a sitting position. This again allows streneous exercise of all but the splitted parts.

After two or three weeks, the patient is returned to his home hospital where the splint is,removed. He is then sent back to the center where he takes a week or two of special corrective exercises for the injury.

Hiking, always an Army favorite in any reconditioning program, is not left out of the picture. But hiking at the center is not the disgrunted drill of dispirited troops so familiar in basic training. Instead of drill, as such, the soldier goes mountain climbing. Each day, as his strength returns, he gets further up the beautiful mountain side, which serves as a graphic portrayal of his physical gains. Probably the most gruelling exercise in the reconditioning program, the convalescent soldier is enthusiastic about this new form of hiking. He looks forward to the day he is allowed to conquer the mountain top.

As most of the staff at the center are graduates of the physical reconditioning program of the University of Washington and Lee, Lexington, Va., the center's program is based largely on Dr. A. Thorndike's reconditioning theories. The man who did so much during the war to lop off the Army's pot bellies with his classes at Washington and Lee, Dr. Thorndike, formerly Chief of Reconditioning of the US Army, is proof of his own theories, The doctor recently celebrated his seventieth birthday by doing seventy pushups.

As much thought is given at the center to the soldier's morale welfare as to his physical conditioning. Athletic activities are carefully planned so there will be no flagging in the soldier's interest. The recreational facilities of the Garmisch Post are made available to all patients. A bus runs into town every hour. Special tours to points of interest in the surrounding countryside, like Oberammergau, the beautiful Bavarian town famous for its passion play, are planned for the weekends. Services will be held soon every Sunday in the center's own little chapel. Only two to three soldiers are billeted to most rooms. And, above all, the food is excellent.

Officials feel that a great contribution to the excellent morale of the patients is the hospital and its location. Built in 1939 for Hitler's Army, the hospital has every modern convinience. It is light, airy, surrounded by beautiful grounds, with a mountain backdrop which is breathtaking in its rugged splendor. With some foresight, the Nazis painted murals throughout the hospital, depicting nude, young barbarians practicing their "strength-through-joy" lives. The murals are perfectly suitable for a recondition center, except one. This, a mural over the altar, portraits Christ as a blond Nazi superman. The Chaplain thought that this was going a bit too far, so the center is covering it up.

The center will soon recondition about 200 convalescent soldiers at a time. Any EC hospital other than the 98th wishing to send convalescent soldiers to the center must notify the Hospitalization and Evacuation Section, EUCOM Medical Division, so as to be assigned spaces. The convalescents will be evacuated first to the 98th and then to the Garmisch center. Capt David C. Guarnieri, administrative officer for the center, pointed out that Medical Corps officers should keep in mind that "the center is for reconditioning and not an old soldiers rest home."