Wheeler Lipes was a WWII 23 year-old
pharmacists' mate in the Pacific aboard the
USS Seadragon
when Darrel Dean Rector needed his appendix removed. Lipes
performed the emergency appendectomy and saved the sailor's life.
Today, Sunday, February 20, he will receive the Navy Commendation
Medal at Camp Lejeune Hospital.
Performing the operation in adverse conditions -- on a
dining table -- was remarkable. The patient was longer than the
table, so a nearby cabinet drawer was opened and Lipes put the
patient's feet in the drawer. Also, the table was bolted to the
floor, so Lipes had to stand with knees bent during the two-hour
operation.
He used makeshift instruments -- bent spoons for retractors,
alcohol from torpedoes for sterilization and hemostats for knife
handles to hold the operation blades. He and the assisting sailor
wore sterilized pajamas for operating room gowns.
After nearly two hours, the appendix was not in the accustomed
place. But, Lipes felt around and discovered the poisoned appendix
behind the caecum.
Lipes removed a massive, five-inch appendix which had several
inches of blackened tissue.
"I always thought he was the guy who had the courage," Lipes said
of the young sailor. "I've asked myself would I have gotten up on
that table and let someone do the same thing to me. He was one of
the most courageous people I've ever met."
More at
Former submariner will finally be recognized in the
Sun-Journal of New Bern, North
Carolina.