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Posted Friday, March 7, 2008, at 9:10 PM
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Dr. William Beaumont

The Army took me to El Paso, Texas twice; first, as a young Second Lieutenant in 1975, and then again, in the spring of 1979. It was during this second trip, on the last day of June in 1979 that I went to William Beaumont Army Hospital to welcome my first daughter, Megan Leigh. That's a good deal of excitement for any Dad and it is a day I shall never forget. But who was this William Beaumont anyway? What did he do to warrant a hospital being named for him? Old Dad was too busy back then to pay any attention to this kind of nonsense, I just had a daughter.

Many years later, as a twice divorced father of four (really wonderful children), I drove to Michigan to visit a friend for a long weekend. The trip took me to Mackinac Island, which is located in Lake Huron between the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan. The ferry ride out to the island is enjoyable, but fairly short. It is a fascinating place to visit, if you can imagine spending a long weekend without any automobiles. Except for emergency vehicles and snowmobiles in the winter, there are no motorized vehicles on this island. It is a beautiful place with some charming shops and somewhat expensive hotels. The Grand Hotel is a huge Victorian structure and you may have seen it in the movie "Somewhere in Time" with the late Christopher Reeve (Superman). There is a nice well maintained road that winds around the island, so I took the trip on bicycle one day. An extremely pleasant ride that I look forward to doing again some day.

You can also visit Fort Mackinac, which is a pleasurable tour for folks of all ages. The Fort is well cared for and has some outstanding people providing historical information at all stops throughout the circuit. I was especially interested in the Fort Hospital when I found out that the Post Surgeon was a fellow named William Beaumont. Was this the same Doc who has an Army Hospital named for him in West Texas? You bet, same cat. William Beaumont, the Father of Gastric Physiology.

After serving in the Army as a Surgeon's mate in the war of 1812, William had a private practice for a short time and then returned to the Army as the Post Surgeon at Fort Mackinac. There is an exceptional presentation on the care given by Dr. Beaumont to an 18 year old fur trader by the name of Alexis St. Martin. It seems that the unfortunate Mr. St. Martin had been shot in the abdomen and the wound was described as being particularly nasty, with a portion of his lung and stomach protruding from his side. Unfortunately for young Alexis, Dr. Beaumont was ineffectual in closing the wound and yet he continued to live with a gaping hole in his stomach. That a man could live through this at all, during that time in the course of medical history, was a miracle in itself. But the miracle continued because Dr. Beaumont, as he continued to treat Alexis, used poor Alexis as a laboratory. Dr. Beaumont would tie pieces of meat to a string and place the meat into Alexis' stomach. Periodically, he would remove the meat and observe the digestion rate for that period of time. He ran several comparative studies with different foods inside of Alexis' stomach and also, by placing the same food stuff in gastric juices removed from Alexis' stomach. Dr. Beaumont learned and documented a considerable amount of knowledge from these studies and he also saved Alexis' life. Alexis later returned to Canada and raised a family, although he continued to visit with Dr. Beaumont through the years, allowing the good doctor to resume testing on his stomach. Alexis lived to be 83 years old. I hope you weren't eating dinner while reading this, if so, sorry.

William Beaumont continued his Army service at a couple of more Midwest Army posts and wound up at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis. He ended his Army service there and died in 1853, as the result of a head injury suffered during a fall. He was leaving the home of a patient when he slipped on an icy step and fell.

In honor of his efforts, the Army began construction of William Beaumont General Hospital at Ft. Bliss, Texas in 1920. This little history lesson took me some 20+ years to complete and you get it all here for free in a matter of minutes.

By the way, Megan Leigh is a nurse, so I'm sure Dr. Beaumont would be proud of her. Her old Dad is very proud of her.

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isnt it strange how things come together like that.

I loved that old fort and island myself. We were on the island just a few weeks after the filming of the movie, but we were not allowed to see it until it came out on TV LOL (money was tight lol)

-- Posted by silerCityDude on Fri, Mar 7, 2008, at 9:26 PM

Yes Keith, I was eating a homemade cheeseburger while reading this blog. It bothered me so much that I followed it up with some tater tots. It is a shame Dr. Beaumont isn't around to explore my gut.

I am amazed that beautiful Megan Leigh has done so well with an under achieving Chemical Engineer for a father and being born in a hospital named after a quack.

-- Posted by Wiglund on Fri, Mar 7, 2008, at 10:39 PM

The desert was pretty hard on the recruits; back in the day (1970's)there was one station training, and they shipped you to El Paso, Ft. Bliss for Basic Training and the Air Defense A.I.T. That was where I learned to love the desert. I put that knowledge to use later in the Tri-Territory area of Wyoming. Beaumont was a large medical center. One evening, towards Thanksgiving or Christmas of 1976, I was in the airport when General of The Army Omar Bradley was wheeled in, from Beaumont, destination unknown. I didn't have the courage to walk over to him. I'm not sure to this day why I couldn't bring myself to at least go over towards where his aides had wheeled him. General Bradley was much loved, and I guess that's my Beaumont story. Oh Simmons, your golf game for tomorrow morning has been cancelled.

-- Posted by M Boyd on Fri, Mar 7, 2008, at 11:16 PM

Wigs, I don't think even Dr. Beaumont would attempt to tackle a chore of that immensity.

Mike, I almost wrote about General Bradley yesterday. He lived at Ft. Bliss during those years and he spoke to one of our classes. I'll save this story for another time.

-- Posted by simmons on Sat, Mar 8, 2008, at 7:07 AM

GOA Bradley also spoke to my class. He was wheeled in, someone asked him a question about WWII and after what seemed like a long time but was probably only several seconds he started speaking. His body was broken but his mind was still razor sharp. He talked about battles, naming places like Hill 803 as if he was still there with a situation map in front of him. He also came to my motor pool one day and visited with the men in my battery. Not often you get to meet a truly historic figure and especially one so down to earth. But the rumor was his wife was a terror with the Dr's and nurses at William Beaumont while he lived there. WBAMC holds a special place in my heart, also, as both C&J were born there. Unfortunately, neither of them went into the medical profession. :-)

-- Posted by Chris&Jeremy'sDad on Sat, Mar 8, 2008, at 7:29 AM

General Bradley was also wheeled into our class, which was a small auditorium, and spoke to questions for nearly an hour. I was also amazed at the sharpness of his memory concerning the smallest of details. We had a handfull of Jordanian Officers in the class and I'm not sure that he was aware of this fact, but when asked a question concerning fighting in North Africa, he stated that the Arabs were a "naturally lazy sort". I was in awe of his presence, a gentleman in his late 80's at the time, who had achieved the highest rank in the Army as one of only five 5-Star rank. He graduated from West Point in 1915, "The Class the Stars Fell On". A class of 164 grads and 59 achieved the rank of General, including Bradley and Eisenhower. He became our first Chairman Of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

A professional warfighter for the majority of his life, I think it is worth noting his position on war. "Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than about peace, more about killing than we know about living."

Gen. Bradley's second wife, who you spoke of, was Kitty Buhler, a former screenwriter who wrote for "Dragnet" and "My Three Sons".

-- Posted by simmons on Sat, Mar 8, 2008, at 8:31 AM

Mackinac Island was a fond summer vacation destination for our family in the 60's and 70's. I remember going up through Wisconsin, spending the week at a cabin in the U.P. near Marquette, then heading to Mackinac to spend a day. Sometimes, as we drove towards Mackinac, the jets from Sawyer A.F.B would fly overhead and treat us to a sonic boom. Once we arrived at the island, we usually rented a bicycle and rode around the beautiful island.We bought fudge (which I am paying for now), then went on a carriage ride. We always tried to reserve the same driver every year, his name was "Handsome Harry". He always told us the story of how he was so ugly when he was born that the doctor slapped his mother istead of him. What a great destination in July when we are sweltering.

-- Posted by Greene County Patriot on Sat, Mar 8, 2008, at 9:55 AM

Handsome Harry, that's a good one. It's a wonder they didn't slap my Mom silly.

Made some manicotti today, sorry Mark, got kids coming in from college and we're getting together this evening at home. Mine isn't near as good as yours, but we decided not to go out tonight. I think I first made this recipe out in El Paso (a hot bed of Italian culinary establishments), back in the dark ages.

One of the great things about El Paso, it hardly ever snows out there. I think I'll put a little Marty Robbins music on.

-- Posted by simmons on Sat, Mar 8, 2008, at 11:08 AM

Never been to Mackinac or El Paso, but I might add them to my list. My eldest daughter's middle name is also Leigh and so is mine! I knew we had a lot in comon Keith, but that's really a hoot! That spelling is a little rare.

-- Posted by HillTopRanch on Sat, Mar 8, 2008, at 3:35 PM

I've been to EL-Paso too, El Paso de norte---something something else If I remember right... all I know is it was HOT, It was Dusty, they had a shopping mall, and a mcDonalds near the interstate --- we ate, and drove on to San Antone.

I am listening to the GRANDE ole' OPRY as I am typing... I miss Marty!

-- Posted by silerCityDude on Sat, Mar 8, 2008, at 9:02 PM

sCD, you make El Paso sound like Spencer in August (if it was closer to an interstate). It actually is the 21st largest city in the nation (2006) and the 7th fastest growing from 2000-2006 and is roughly half the size of Greene County.

Taking a chance here that some golfers might read Ol' Simmons' blog, I'm headed to Denver, CO this summer for a few days, anyone know of any good courses I should try while I'm there?

-- Posted by Chris&Jeremy'sDad on Sun, Mar 9, 2008, at 4:15 PM

I think I've only played one course in the state of Colorado. I played a Green Valley course 5 or 6 years ago and it was pretty new at the time, but looked like it had some potential.

-- Posted by simmons on Sun, Mar 9, 2008, at 4:41 PM

El Paso wasn't that big in 78 LOL but I know it was not as small-- I just was not able to get a good look at the place as our camper rolled past.

:) my cousin lived in EstesPark for 3 or 4 years and talked about 1 good course there--- and I think he said the Denver Municipal course was really nice for a Municipal--- but dont quote me cause I dont golf and dont pay much attention to course quality :)

-- Posted by silerCityDude on Sun, Mar 9, 2008, at 10:05 PM

The surgeon that I worked with right out of nursing school did his residency/fellowship at William Beaumont Hospital. wierd.

-- Posted by virginia is for lovers on Mon, Mar 10, 2008, at 11:08 AM

One of the Dr.'s that did my military physical for ROTC summer camp at Ft. Riley was the son of the Dr. Bailey that delivered me. Also kind of weird.

One of the attending physicians for Chris's birth was the sister of Lynn Shackleford, star forward for the 1968 UCLA team considered to be one of, if not the best, college basketball teams of all time. Not weird, but kind of interesting.

-- Posted by Chris&Jeremy'sDad on Mon, Mar 10, 2008, at 3:44 PM

That's really weird because recently I've been eating an apple a day.

-- Posted by simmons on Mon, Mar 10, 2008, at 8:44 PM

Hard to believe your AMA Journal article referenced in another post hasn't been published yet with all of your obvious connections to the medical profession. Maybe you should try 2 apples a day.

-- Posted by Chris&Jeremy'sDad on Mon, Mar 10, 2008, at 10:43 PM

I'm thinking now...yes, this blog needs a Dr.

Code Blue.

Sounds like a Code Blue at Centcom too. I think someone disagreed with the President.

-- Posted by simmons on Wed, Mar 12, 2008, at 4:28 AM

Whew! For a minute there, I thought my watch had stopped.

DID YOU ORDER THE CODE BLUE?!

Sorry, wrong color.

-- Posted by Chris&Jeremy'sDad on Wed, Mar 12, 2008, at 5:02 AM