"The Medical Department: Medical Service in the War Against Japan is a comprehensive organizational and operational history of medical support in the Asian-Pacific theaters in World War II. The narrative begins with medical prewar planning and ends with the establishment of public health and welfare in occupied Japan. In the context of fierce combat operations waged in the geographical area extending from Australia to Alaska and from the Gilbert Islands to Burma, we focused on how the Army Medical Department coped with the great distances, diverse climates, disease epidemics, grave logistical problems, and rapidly changing circumstances to maintain the fighting strength of American troops. Flexible organization, ingenuity, and the latest scientific advances helped medical personnel to support infantry combat teams on isolated islands or in dense jungles, to evacuate casualties over difficult terrain and then by sea or air, to adapt medical support to amphibious operations, and to prevent and control disease. Cooperation with the U.S. Navy and with the Allied medical services, especially in the Southwest Pacific, also is covered."--Preface.