NOTABLE ARKANSANS

Notable Arkansans

He was born on the Fourth of July 1884, in Little Rock. His story, although heavily fictionalized, would be made into a movie in 1944, directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Gary Cooper.

He received his medical degree from the University of Arkansas medical college in 1909 and opened a practice in Tiller (Desha County), where he met and married Mary Yarnell, with whom he had four children.

They attended a lecture series at a local Episcopal church, where they heard about the need for medical personnel in China: in 1914, they volunteered to become medical missionaries in Wuchang, China, on the Yangtze River. Mary died in 1926, the same year the city merged with two neighboring cities to become Wuhan. The following year, he married Madeline Edith Day, a fellow missionary in Wuchang, and they returned to Arkansas.

He applied for a commission in the U.S. Navy and was made provisional lieutenant in the reserve, and worked with the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) treating malaria among the workers. In 1936, he was called to active duty and stationed in Key West, Fla. On Dec. 7, 1941, he was to ship out for a new assignment in the Philippines, but, because of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, his ship was rerouted to Java.

In February 1942, two heavily damaged U.S. ships docked in Java for repairs and medical treatment. Working with Dutch medical personnel, he took charge of the American patients. Within the month, the Japanese invaded Sumatra, and all Americans were ordered to evacuate Java. Transport vessels were overcrowded and had to limit access only to those who could walk. Aware of the personal risk, he refused to abandon 12 non-ambulatory patients. As the enemy approached, he was able to persuade a British army convoy to secure their evacuation. After a vote, the severely wounded patients all agreed to make the arduous, 150-mile journey to the coast. Because of his medical care en route, all but one of the men made it alive. After a hazardous 10-day voyage on a commandeered Dutch ship, of which he took personal command while escaping Japanese attacks, they made it to Australia.

For his courage and leadership, he received the Navy Cross.

Who was this hero whom President Roosevelt, in one of his Fireside Chats, spoke of as "almost like a Christ-like shepherd devoted to his flock?"

See Notable Arkansans — Answer

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