CASE NO. 2.:
A medical officer of the U.S. Army while traveling in Northern Africa stopped over night at a hotel in Algiers and there learned of the presence and illness of a U.S. Ex-service man. This young officer was out of funds and in need of hospitalization. The attention of the Surgeon General of the Army was called to the case, who in turn advised the Veterans’ Bureau of the man’s distress. The State Department was called by telephone and requested to cable the U.S. Consul at Algiers, directing him to give immediate service to this American boy and report action taken, with the result that the boy was promptly cared for and sent by first available transportation to Marseilles, France, where he was hospitalized.
CASE NO. 3.:
This case is that of a navy man whose disappearance was a mystery to his family. The first information as to his location was obtained through the U.S. Veterans’ Bureau, Medical Division, as the result of a telegram received from the Director Medical Services, Department of Soldiers’ Civil Re-Establishment, Ottawa, Canada, which stated that a man had been arrested there as a vagrant; that he was apparently a mental case, and had been in the U.S. Navy. His name was furnished and his identity established through the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery of the Navy. He was promptly hospitalized by the Bureau through the co-operation of the Canadian officials and returned to this country with an attendant, where he is under treatment at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital.
PURPOSE OF THE BUREAU’S ENDEAVORS:
I might go on to cite many such cases, but my time allotted is insufficient. My purpose is simply to inform you that it is the wish of the Director and his associates in the Veterans’ Bureau that it and its co-operating agencies may give to each case a human touch, reflecting personal interest and I can think of no better maxim for our guidance than the title of Charles Reade’s book, “Put Yourself In His Place,”—and give service as you would have it given unto you.”
MR. BURKE: stated that in the absence of Major Fraser his subject would be taken up by Mr. Milliken.
MR. J. B. MILLIKEN, of the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau, discussed the subject “Relation of U. S. Veterans’ Bureau to other existing bureaus in caring for its beneficiaries”, as follows:
“Ladies, Mr. Chairman, and Gentlemen: The subject of my twenty minutes talk to you might more appropriately be termed the relation of the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau to all the Executive Departments of the Government, for indeed, there is not a Department of this government with which the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau does not have a vital and immediate contact.
Probably there are three Executive Departments of the Government with which the Bureau has more contact than with the other Executive Departments—that of the Treasury Department, the War Department, and the Navy Department. Inasmuch as the U. S. Public Health Service is a part of the Treasury Department our contact with this Department of the government is immediate and vital, and is of more immediate importance than our contact with the other Executive Departments.