Old Blood and Guts and the Damned Doctors

You have probably heard the story. On the afternoon of 3 August 1943, while his 7th US Army battled the Germans across northern Sicily, Lieutenant General George S. Patton Jr. stopped outside Nicosia to visit the 15th Evacuation Hospital. The hard-pressed 1st Infantry Division's commander, Brigadier General Clarence R. Huebner had only recently warned him that "the front lines were getting thinner" because numerous soldiers malingered in the field hospitals to avoid combat.