Commentary: Desperate days for a country doctor

Following the attack at Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the Japanese mounted assaults on Hong Kong, Malaysia and the Philippine Islands. On Feb. 4, allied naval units, including the cruiser Marblehead, operating north of Java sustained heavy bombing attacks by Japanese aircraft. When the squadron scattered, Houston and Marblehead sailed south through the Bali Strait and west to the port of Tjilatjap on the coast of Java.

Wounded, burned and suffering, men from Marblehead were transported to an inland hospital, where they received skillful attention from Dutch surgeons and Javanese nurses. Though in a strange country and far from home, the sailors were pleased that an American navy doctor was coming to care for them.

Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1884, Corydon Wassell became a physician in 1909, and following medical service in China, he resumed practice in Little Rock. When in 1936, at age 57, he joined the U.S. Naval Reserve, he thought he might be considered too old to serve. However, he was ordered to Cavite in the Philippine Islands. Fortunately, his departure on Dec. 7, 1941, was delayed and it was not until late January he arrived at Surabaya in the Dutch East Indies.

By that time, the war in the far Pacific was proving a disaster for the Americans and its allies. Facing little opposition, powerful Japanese forces began invading Borneo, Sumatra and the Celebes.

Reporting at the hospital, Commander Wassell told his charges that while the Dutch doctors were in charge, he’d come to lend a hand, and he soon became acquainted with these injured sailors who were now in his care. Having lived in China many years, Wassell gave special attention to a Chinese mess attendant suffering from burns suffered on the Marblehead.

Then he carefully recorded the names of his 42 patients along with the condition of their injuries. Aware his patients might not enjoy the food at the hospital, Wassell scrounged the town for oranges, canned goods the men would like and very welcome ice cream. He wondered what the Navy would make of his expenditures.

When Wassell conducted his charges to Tjilatjap for evacuation, his non-ambulatory patients were denied passage. Having no alternative, he was forced to return them to the inland hospital, where they were made welcome a second time.

In mid-February, word was received that Singapore had fallen, along with rumors of patients being slaughtered in the hospitals. When the doctor telephoned Surabaya, he was ordered to get his men out of Java any way he could.

Receiving word the Japanese had landed on the north coast, Wassell shuddered to think what would happen to them when the Japanese arrived and he became determined to make yet another try at Tjilatjap.

Fortunately, the officer in charge of a British truck convoy en route to the seaport agreed to transport the Americans. Commandeering a truck and a Ford automobile, Wassell loaded his patients into the truck, placing his two more seriously injured in his car before joining the convoy.

It had been a long time since the doctor had operated an automobile and he kept reminding himself to drive on the left side. With more than 200 vehicles in train, the Americans at the tail end, through the heat of the day the convoy moved slowly toward the vital seaport.

It was after dark when they arrived in chaotic Tjilatjap, crowded with military and civilians attempting to flee. After depositing his charges in a small hotel, the doctor queried a Dutch official about passage for his nine sailors. Indicating it was nearly impossible, the man reported there were too many refugees and too few ships.

Though his first request for assistance had been denied, Captain Gerrit Prass, skipper of the coastal steamer Janssens, reluctantly agreed to take his contingent. He warned, however, there was no sick bay and he had nothing more than a first-aid kit; the Americans would have to take care of themselves.

When Wassell brought his men to the ship in the late evening, he discovered Prass had located mattresses for the Americans. Though the Janssens normally sailed between the islands seldom out of sight of land, this trip would be for Australia. Packed like a ferryboat during holiday, it was after dark and raining when Prass guided his ship through the minefield.

It was during the following morning three Japanese zeros attacked the crowded ship. Everyone tried to take cover when, in a matter of seconds, the fighter planes raked the vessel from stem to stem before rejoining their squadron high overhead.

While several members of the gun crew were hit, a single passenger suffered mortal wounds while seven others suffered minor injuries. Under the circumstances and with limited facilities, Wassell provided all possible care, hoping there would be no further attacks.

To avoid enemy ships the following day, the Janssens trended eastward along the coast. After experiencing the enemy attack, many passengers opted to take their chances ashore and when the ship stopped at a small port, nearly half the passengers departed.

Luckily, the little inter-islander continued south without further delay, arriving at Fremantle 10 days later, where Wassell placed his men in the local hospital.

Under exceedingly difficult circumstance the country doctor from Arkansas had rescued American sailors from certain imprisonment.

Robert Underbrink is a Jacksonville writer.