Evening Star Newspaper, February 28, 1932, Page 78

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, Hazardous Job Proves Feasibility of Net $722,000,000 In- teroceanic Link Planned to Carry Vessels 1,125 Feet Long With 120- Foot Beam. ; BY HARRY L. ROGERS. WAR without bullets!” ll This is the phrase used by officers of the Army Engineers and allied units to summarize the hardships of the jungles of Nicaragua during the recently completed survey of the proposed interoceanic canal route. That a thoughtful Government anticipated the possibility of fatalities in the ranks of the American group in its struggle against fever, poisonous Jeptiles, untoward climatic conditions and physical hardship is evidenced by the fact that a consignment of coffins formed part of the tons of supplies and equipment shipped to the survey unit in the Central American re- public. Fortunately the efficiency of Army organiza- tion and American medical, sanitary and hygienic methods proved more than a match for the situation. The coffins were not needed. Eventually they were used for storing onions, potatoes and other groceries as a protection rgainst equatorial dampness. A prime consideration at all times with mili- tary forces in the fields, and especially in the tropics, is the health of the men. Malaria and dysentery must be guarded against; provision ‘must be made to handle any kind of acute ailment. Treatment must be accorded at once in cases of snake bite or the sting of poisonous “insects. And where the work is of an ex- tremely hazardous nature, such as that of the Nicarauga Canal Survey, a large portion of the admissions to base hospitals come as the result of injuries. «The majority of injuries consisted of wounds from machetes, the huge knives used in chop- ping a way through the dense jungle. It was not uncommon for a man walking along a trail, machete In hand, to trip over a root or vine and in falling gash himself. When he fell in this manner, the point of the machete would “stick in the ground, and the individual's hand ‘slip downward from the unguarded hilt along the blade. * Other causes of admission were acute infec- “ticns, such as abscesses, a disease of the feet ‘and groins, caused by a fungus and a parasitic “Inflammation of the middle ear. The men were _very fortunate in regard to intestinal diseases. Only two cases of bacillary dysentery were reported, and these were due to drinking un- boiled water, since to boil water was not al- ways possible. Both cases responded like magic, however, to administration of anti-dysenteric serum. When the troops first arrived, quinine prophylaxis, the treatment for malarial pre- vention, was administered by roster. Contrary to expectations, the malarial fever incidence was exceedingly low. 1f a man were taken ill in an outlying camp “or injured on the trail, the route for evacuation was the same as that for supplies. He would be taken on a litter to one of the streams navigable for a cayuca or canoe and in this manner transported to the nearest camp of im- portance, from which point transportation was by means of motor launch or outboard motor to the nearest permanent hospital. When the case was of an emergency nature, or if a serious type of pathology should de- velop, the chief surgeon would be notified by radio and the patient started up the river to San Carlos. If the condition of the patient were critical, an amphibian plane from the Marine Corps aviation field at Managua would trans- port him from San Carlos directly to the field hospital of the 2d Brigade, United States Ma- rine Corps, in Managua. In several cases evacuation by air meant the saving of a life. For example, there was the case of a corporal who developed acute abdomi- ‘nal symptoms while being treated for malaria at one of the base hospitals. A white blood count of 14,000 indicated the need for an im- mediate operation. He was taken at once to San Carlos. The plane was awaiting his ar- rival and two hours later he was on the operat- ing table in Managua. Again, a Marine Corps plane was used in the case of a private who developed symptoms of acute appendicitis. At daylight the following morning, he was placed in a cayuca, or native boat, fitted with a small outboard motor—the only means of transportation over the route in _question. He was critically ill upon his arrival at one of the base hospitals, and it was doubtful if he would survive the long trip by water to £an Carlos. Stamina won out, however, and thanks to a Signal Corps radio operator who remained at his key all night, the request for a plane got through. The patient was then speedily transported to Managua. Due to the unavoidable delay—radio com- munication in- those latitudes often was extremely difficult—gengrul peritonitis had developed, but after a stormy convalescence the patient recovered. In a similar manner, two other cases were evacuated. One was that of a sergeant who had received a penetrating wound of the eyeball; the other a private with inflammation of the middle ear and mastoid- itis. EA“.LY in 1929 Congress passed a joint reso- lution autherizing an investigation to ascertain the practicability and probable cost of constructing and maintaining an inter- oceanic ship canal across the Republic of Nicaragua. Statesmen, shipping men and military strate- gists alike immediately were interested in the revival of an old subject, for the United States first took notice of the Nicaragua project in 1826, and continued its interest spasmodically until 1903, when the French company, fearing it might be deft with a white elephant on its hands, reduced the selling price of its con- cession in Panama to a figure which forced this country, for reasons of economy, to decide upon the latter route. Surveying under difficulties. United States FEBRUARY 28 1932 There can be no doubt that the action of Congress stirred some of the old enthusiasm for a project which has intrigued the imagina- tion of Americans for more than a hundred years. No blame attaches if here and there a citizen failed to become excited over the an- nouncement that a survey would be directed by the Secretary of War under the supervision of the chief of Engineers of the Army. But in Army circles it had a significant meaning. It meant that a group of specially qualified officers and men would be sent forth to fight their way through a dense tropical jungle, a task calling for as much fortitude as that of the Marines who answered Sandino’s challenge. A provisional battalion, designated as the United States Army Engineer Battalion in Nicaragua, was organised for this purpose. It was composed of three survey companies and a headquarters and eervice pilatoon, drawn from the 29th Engineers (topographic bat- talion) and the 11th and 1st Engineers, the latter unit being taken from the 1st Division. To these Engineer troops were added the neces- Army engineers engaged in the recent survey of the proposed Nicaragua Canal route had to hack their way through dense jungles. sary detachments of Medical Corps, Quarter= master Corps, Signal Corps and Finance De- partment troops, which brought the total strength to 320 men, of whom 25 were come missioned officers. On August 29 the first detachment, numbet'= ing 118 men and 6 officers, under Lieut. Ool Dan 1. Sultan, officer in charge of the survey, arrived in Nicaragua on the transport U. 8. Grant and anchored in the roadway of Corinto Harbor. They were lightered ashore, and om the following day troops and supplies left by special train for Granada, where headqcarters were established in an old monastery, placed at their disposal by the Nicaraguan governe ment. This detachment was the first in the field and had established two camps on the San Juan River when the remainder of the battalion arrived in late October. ' The early eflforts of all field companies wers devoted to topographic work. Company C, the first out, which had more than the combined strength of the other two companies, had hy far the widest area to cover. But under the command of Lieut. Thomas H. Stanley, they, hacked their way with machetes through seeme= ingly impenetrable jungles and swamps to con= vert the black spaces on the maps into contour lines. As quickly as transportation facilities would permit, all men were sent into the field and camps were established along the proposed route of the canal. Company A, under First Lieut. Leslie R. Groves, jr., was assigned to the western division. When Company B, com- manded by Pirst Lieut. Keryn Ap Rice, had completed its movement to Greytown, a camp was established in the old buildings of the Maritime Canal Co. While the early efforts of all field companies were primarily devoted to checking, correcting and extending the existing topographic and hydrographic data, the immediate problem was that of transportation. Starting from Brito, on the Pacific side, the proposed canal route follows the Rio Grande to a low, the west divide, and continues down the Lajas to its mouth, on Lake Nicarauga, a few miles South of San Jorge. From this point the canal would cross the lake to the small town of San Carlos. Below the town, the route follows the San Juan River, which flows gener ally southeast, then east in a winding course to the Caribbean at Greytown. In its course to the sea, the San Juan penes trates some of the densest jungle in Central America. And at Greytown, the wettest place in the Americas, the rainfall amounts to nearly 300 inches a year. In such a country thatched native shacks must be used, for tents are out of the question. So thick is the foliage overhead that the light of day can scarcely penetrate. In this perennial gloom one cannot see 10 yards in any direction. Even in the so-called dry season, trails are ankle deep in mud. Literally every step taken must be slashed through the underbrush with a machete. In this jungle men worked for weeks at a time, drenched from the frequent rains, menaced by mosquitoes, snakes, flies, ticks and poisonous reptiles. Here, as one of the men aptly put it, “everything that don't sting has thorns on it.” To serve the units in the San Juan Valley, & detachment of one officer and about 10 men was maintained at San Carlos, where it une loaded the 47-year-old lake steamer Victoria, and with the aid of three river launches and a fleet of engineer pontoon boats, made weekly trips with supplies to base camps. But this means of transportation lent itself only to that area. In the western division the 1st Engineers, under Iieut. Col. Groves, made use of bull carts. During the dry season along certain portions of the trail supplies had to be packed in from the base camps by native porters and the men themselves. During the rainy months the small streams were navigable if canoes or cayu- cas were used, but fallen logs across their course made progress difficult. While this service of supply was being estabe lished wireless communication was being in- stalled.’ Radio stations were soon in operation