The science of medical entomology was born in 1878; when it was shown
that insects (mosquitoes) played a role in the transmission of disease
(filariasis). Military entomology originated in 1900 from Major Walter
Reed's work on the transmission of Yellow Fever by the mosquito Aedes aegypti. In WWI, malaria was not considered a serious threat in
Europe. However, during the war, Army training camps located in the southern
states were mosquito ridden, and produced 9,617 cases of malaria. Still
there was little interest, on the part of the military, in commissioning
entomologists to combat this vector-borne disease. This is indicated by
the fact that only 14 Army entomologists were commissioned in the reserves
in that period between WWI and WWII. By 1940, much of Europe was at war.
The Japanese had built a formidable war machine and were in a position
to challenge the United States' influence in the Pacific. The United States
was faced with the possibility of war in the Pacific. A war which would
mean committing men and machines to combat in locations rife with malaria
and other vector-borne diseases. By 1941, steps were initiated to deal
with such an eventuality. The Navy Medical Department established the Hospital
Volunteer Specialist Group, H-V(S), to fill the need for specialists in
the fields allied to medicine. The need for entomology assistance was expressed
at this time. The first Navy entomologists were commissioned in May of
1941. They were LT(jg) William K. Lawlor and LT Paul Woke. By the end of
the war, the H-V(S) group would swell to 900 personnel, over 200 of which
were entomologists, and be represented by 31 different professional specialties.
The United States declared war on Japan following the December 1941 bombing
of Pearl Harbor.
The story of entomology in the South Pacific campaigns began when a
battalion of Marines occupied the island of Efate in the New Hebrides in
April of 1942. The occupation of Efate was for the purpose of building
an airfield to forestall the southward advance of the Japanese. Malaria
was rampant on the island with a case rate of 2600/1000/year. A team of
medical specialists were dispatched to combat this devastating loss of
manpower. Arriving in August of 1942, this team included the first navy
entomologist to work in a combat zone, Ensign Kenneth L. Knight. Within
a year the malaria case rate on Efate had dropped to essentially nothing.
Malaria caused five times a many casualties in the South Pacific as did
combat. Field laboratory teams were developed to fight this devastating
disease. These teams were designated Navy Epidemiology Units. By 1944,
the Division of Preventive Medicine was responsible for the guidance of
122 of these units.
Entomologists in WWII served not only in the South Pacific but in China,
North Africa, the Caribbean and Central America. Two entomologists lost
their lives in that war. LT William M. Gordon was killed by mortar fire
on Los Negros (Admiralties) on 5 March 1944 and LT John D. Maple died in
an airplane crash while directing aerial spray operation on Okinawa in
April of 1945. Six entomologists were decorated during WWII. Those awards
included the Soldiers Medal for Heroism (1), Legion of Merit (1), Bronze
Star (3), and the Purple Heart (1).
Following WWI, only a handful of entomologists remained on active duty
with most officers reverting to an inactive status. The H-V(S) section
disappeared at this time, and the Medical Service Corps came into being.
Most of the Navy Epidemiology Units were disestablished after the war.
One that remained was the Malariology and Pest Control Unit at Naval Air
Station, Banana River, Florida. The Unit was moved to NAS Jacksonville,
Florida in 1947. In 1949, it was commissioned Malaria and Mosquito Control
Unit No. 1, with an entomologist as the Officer in Charge. LCDR John M.
Hirst was this Unit's first OIC. In 1952, the Unit was renamed Preventive
Medicine Unit No. 1. In 1957, PMU-1 became the Disease Vector Control Center
(DVCC) with an expanded mission and area of operation which included approximately
one-half of the world. Also in 1957, a sister unit, DVCC Alameda, California,
was established. The last name change occurred in 1971, when the Centers
were redesignated Disease Vector Ecology and Control Centers (DVECC). In
1981, both DVECCs (as well as all Navy Environmental and Preventive Medicine
Units) became 4th echelon commands responsible to the Commanding
Officer, Navy Environmental Health Center, Norfolk, VA. These Centers continue
to be the hub of the Navy entomology program, and are the only two Navy
commands where the Officer in Charge is an entomologist.
The year 1950 brought the advent of the Korean conflict. Once again,
vector-borne diseases were responsible for many casualties. Malaria was
present but louse-born typhus and relapsing fever were prevalent also.
Five entomologists saw duty in Korea from 1950-1955, and a sixth was there
for a short time on temporary duty. LT William B. Hull was the first entomologist
to see duty in Korea serving with Epidemic Disease control Unit, 1st
Marine Division. LCDR H. S. Hurlbut was the first entomologist assigned
to sea duty serving aboard the LSIL-1091 (Laboratory Ship) with the Fleet
Epidemic Disease Control Unit #1. The ship supported combat operations
in Korea.
There was a ten year gap (1955-1965) before Navy entomologists were
once more called upon to help reduce the casualty rates in a combat zone.
The war was the most unpopular one this country has ever fought and was
waged in a country, Vietnam, which had no shortage of vector-borne diseases.
Once again malaria led the hit parade along with plague, encephalitis and
hemorrhagic fever. The first entomologist to serve in Vietnam was LT Frederick
J. Santana, who was assigned to Preventive Medicine Unit, Danang in 1965.
From 1965 to 1970, a total of 14 entomologists served tours of duty in
Vietnam. Eight were stationed at PMU Danang, two served with the Preventive
Medicine Section of the 3rd Marine Division, three served with the Preventive
Medicine Section of the 1st Marine Division, and one served
with Preventive Medicine Section. Naval Forces Vietnam (Saigon). Three
other entomologists were in Vietnam for short periods of time on temporary
duty. Entomologists were decorated during the Vietnam conflict. Those awards
included the Bronze Star (3), Navy Commendation Medal (8), Air Medal (1),
and Combat Action Ribbon (4).
Entomologists were called to support combat action once again in 1982-84,
as members of Mobile Medical Augmentation Readiness Teams (MMART) supporting
U.S. "peacekeeping forces" in Beirut, Lebanon. LCDR Herbert Bolton
was the first entomologist, followed by 3 others, each serving 90-180 day
tours in support of the Marine Corps amphibious units ashore. On the morning
of 23 October 1983, immediately following the terrorist bombing of the
Marine barracks that resulted in 243 Marine and Navy deaths, a Navy entomologist,
LCDR Gary Breeden, was the senior surviving medical department officer at
the scene. His actions in particular and Navy entomology's reactions to
the Beirut mission in general, marked a most profound change in the approach
to combat support readiness. A direct spin-off from that experience was
the development of readily deployable Mobile Medical Augmentation Readiness
Team (MMART) blocks of equipment and supplies that could be task-organized,
loaded and shipped anywhere in the world at a moment's notice.
In August 1991, Navy entomology's operational readiness was put to the
test as the small kingdom of Kuwait was overrun by Iraq. Within days, CDR(s)
Wayne Gale and LT David Claborn were in Saudi Arabia conducting
surveys and making preventive medicine recommendations to deploying U.S.
Army, Navy and Marine Corps commands and numerous allied forces. Within
weeks, as Operation Desert Shield grew to a force of one-half million troops
of United Nations Forces, three additional Navy entomologists deployed.
By the end of Operation Desert shield/Storm, seven entomologists had served
and provided support directly to troops in the field and to Kurdish relief
efforts and Iraqi prisoner of war care. As a direct result of the efforts,
food, water, and vector-borne disease casualties were lower than in any
combat action in which American troops have fought.
There have been many operational firsts in Navy entomology. Several
Navy entomologists have played key roles in pioneering the development
of pesticide dispersal systems and in providing disaster relief assistance.
The following highlights do not do justice to the efforts of these scientists
and the significant accomplishments of others may have inadvertently been
omitted from this list.
Training in the principles of vector-borne disease control began at
the Naval Medical School in Bethesda, Maryland in 1942. This school trained
officers and enlisted personnel in the techniques of malaria control. The
school closed its doors in 1945 after having graduated 130 officers and
397 hospital corpsmen. The first contingency training program for reserve
personnel was established in 1950 at DVCC, Jacksonville, Florida. The purpose
of the course was to provide a cadre of trained professionals which could
be called upon to provide assistance in vector-borne disease control in
the event of war. The first military course for training civilian and military
pest control operators was presented at Jacksonville in 1951. From this
course has grown a one month training program which was judged by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1977 to satisfy the federal training
and certification requirement for pesticide applicators. The first shipboard
Pest Control training course was taught at DVCC, Jacksonville in 1957.
This course in now offered by all four Navy Environmental and Preventive
Medicine Units (NEPMUs) as well as both DVECCs. Attendance at this course
is required by BUMED instruction prior to conducting shipboard pest control
operations. In 1981, a two-week Operational Entomology Training (OET) course
was developed and first offered at DVECC JAX. The following year it was
given at DVECC Alameda. It was designed to provide advanced training for
active duty and reserve preventive medicine personnel in applied vector-borne
disease control in support of disaster relief, combat, and other contingency
operations. OET is now taught several times yearly at both Centers and
has reached hundreds of preventive medicine professionals.
The first use of an aerial dispersal system by Navy entomologists was
accomplished by LT(jg) Joseph S. Yuill and LT George S. Tullock in 1943
while working in North Africa near what is now Kenitra, Morocco. A specially
rigged French Amiot bomber was used to disperse paris green during malaria
control operations. In 1944 LT Yuill developed an aerial dispersal system
for rotary wing aircraft by adapting a system used for fixed wing planes.
Using a U.S. Coast Guard (HMS-4) aircraft, and LT Yuill's delivery system,
insecticides were dispersed by helicopter, for the first time anywhere,
in October of 1944 at Floyd Bennett Field, New York. The first aerial dispersal
of pesticides from carrier based aircraft was conducted in 1952. These
operations were directed by LCDR John M. Hirst utilizing fixed wing aircraft
from the carrier USS Leyte. The pioneering studies on dispersal of pesticides
by jet aircraft were initiated at DVCC, Jacksonville in 1956, under the
direction of LCDR Francis R. DuChanois. Aerial systems for dispersal of
liquids (including Ultra Low Volume, ULV), dusts, granules, and thermal
fogs by rotary wing aircraft were developed at DVCC, Jacksonville during
the period 1958-1965. The efforts of CAPT George S. Stains and Mr. David
L. Hayden resulted in the development of the Navy Pesticide Aerial Unit
(PAU-9) for use in H-1 and H-3 helicopters. During recent years, the PASU-9
has deployed on cooperative missions with the Centers for Disease Control,
San Juan, PR, the Pan-American Health Organization, to Subic Bay, Philippines,
Caracas, Venezuela and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Extensive aerial spray testing
has been accomplished in cooperation with the Florida Army National Guard
at Cecil Field NAS. Five new PAU-9s were built in 1992 and two units were
deployed to NEPMU-6 in Pearl Harbor and NEPMU-7 in Naples, Italy. A wind
tunnel was build in 1993 for testing the effects of airspeed and nozzle
angle on biological pesticide products.
The initial developmental work for thermal aerosol (fog) applicators
was done in 1949 at DVCC, Jacksonville under the direction of LCDR John
M. Hirst. Evaluation of the field model of a non-thermal aerosol generator
(cold fogger) was conducted in 1956 at DVCC, Jacksonville. The first ground
ULV dispersal apparatus was developed by CAPT George S. Stains at DVCC,
Alameda in 1965. Computer analysis of ULV droplets was initiated by David
L. Hayden in 1978. Navy entomologists played a major role in the evolutionary
development of both ground and aerial dispersal systems for adult mosquito
control. The current standard for control of adult mosquitoes employs the
concept of ULV application of pesticides, a technology whose developmental
history is studded with names of Navy entomologists. From 1988-1993, six
technical reports about ground aerosol generators were submitted to the
Armed Forces Pest Management Board. Manuscripts accepted by technical journals
consisted of degradation of malathion in thermally generated aerosols,
malathion aerosol cloud behavior, temperature and flow rate effects on
mass median diameters, and a comparison of the Army Insecticide Measuring
System and Teflon slides. A test of hand-held aerosol generators was conducted
in cooperation with the University of South Carolina International Center
for Public Health Research, McClellanville, SC for control of Aedes
spp in a small village. Two delousing units were assembled for mass delousing
operations and one hydraulic sprayer unit was assembled for mass treatment
of utilities and tentage.
Many, many pesticides, formulations, and application techniques have
been studied by Navy entomologists over the years. These studies may not
have resulted in firsts which are reported in this document, but collectively
they form the matrix of progress in the Navy entomology program. In recent
years, work, has focused on the field testing of biological insecticides
and utilization with MMART equipment.
As a result of the close preventive medicine support given to the Marine
Corps during the Vietnam conflict and due to an identified need for continuing
support of Marine Corps activities and installations worldwide, a Navy
entomologist, LT Stanley R. Husted was assigned to Marine Corps Base Camp
Smedley D. Butler (later 3rd Medical Battalion, 3rd
Force Service Support Group) in Okinawa in 1969. In 1975, LT John H. Zimmerman
became the first Navy entomologist assigned to 2nd Medical Battalion,
2nd FSSG, Camp LeJeune, North Carolina, and in 1986, LT William
W. Kanour was assigned to 1st Medical Battalion, 1st
FSSG, Camp Pendleton, California. Duties carried in the "FMF"
roles are ever challenging and range from coordinating USDA required "washdown"
or quarantine operations for all rolling stock going ashore in foreign
countries prior to redeployment to the United States, to supporting home
base field operations, to deploying and serving with Marine Corps Amphibious
Units in areas such as Egypt, Honduras, Thailand, Republic of the Philippines,
Korea, Japan, Norway, and Germany. As needs for FMF medical entomology
support have grown, so too have the opportunities for greater responsibility
in providing that support. In 1984, LT James T. Need became the first Navy
entomologist to serve as a Medical Company Commanding, serving with Alpha
Company, in the 2nd Medical Battalion, 2nd FSSG.
In 1986, CDR John H. Zimmerman became the first Navy entomologist to serve
as Executive officer, then Commanding Officer of a Battalion as he became
Commanding Officer of 1st Medical Battalion, 1st
FSSG, Camp Pendleton. He was followed in 1989 by CDR Gary C. Breeden, who
became the first Navy entomologist to command a unit during a time of war
in Operation Desert Storm.
The Catastrophe Aid Bill was passed by Congress in 1950. A portion of
this bill allowed for assistance in controlling insect populations, which
increase following a natural disaster. DVCC, Jacksonville established a
Vector Control Team in order to provide quick response during natural disasters.
This was the first Navy unit to provide such assistance, being called upon
to assist during the great Kansas City flood of 1951. The team was under
the direction of LCDR John M. Hirst. Some of the disaster and special assistance
activities in which Navy entomologist have played a role are as follows:
fly control in Key West and Miami, Florida during a polio epidemic, fly
control in Tampa, Florida following a Red Tide fish kill; mosquito control
prior to President Truman's dedication of Everglades National Park; and
participation in mosquito control efforts during St. Louis encephalitis
outbreaks in several U.S. cities. Other examples include vector control
efforts during the sweeping of the Suez Canal; relocation of Vietnamese
refugees (Operation New Life); Hurricanes Kathleen (California) and David
(Caribbean); plague control in California; and rabies control in Alaska.
Recently, Navy entomologists have participated in supporting the following
disasters/relief efforts: Hurricanes David (Dominican Republic), Hugo (Charleston,
SC, Puerto Rico, St. Croix) and Andrew (Miami, FL); dengue hemorrhagic
fever control in Venezuela; disaster assistance in the 1989 San Francisco
earthquake, Eastern Equine Encephalitis surveillance in central Florida;
severe filth fly control at Rongelap Atoll (Marshall Islands), Haitian
refugee support in Guantanomo Bay, Cuba; preventive medicine support and
vector control for Operation Restore Hope in Somalia; and St. Louis encephalitis
surveillance during the historic Midwest floods of 1993. These and other
activities, perhaps not so well known, are part of the Navy entomology
history of contingency response efforts.
In 1983, it became obvious that deploying Navy and Marine Corps units
needed timely, accurate vector-borne disease information regarding potential
port calls. Four requests were received that year. So many requests were
received the next year at DVECC, Jacksonville that a separate Medical Entomology
Information (MEI) department was formed. Both DVECCs now have MEI departments.
Presently, Disease Vector Ecology Profiles (DVEPs) are maintained and updated
by those departments for every country to which our forces may deploy.
Nearly 500 requests for MEI products are received annually.
The first edition of the chart "Emergency Medical Treatment for
Acute Pesticide Poisoning", prepared by reserve officers serving their
active duty at DVCC, Jacksonville, was published in 1962. This chart is
considered a landmark work, and for years was an absolute requirement in
hospital emergency rooms throughout the Department of Defense. There have
been a number of revisions of the chart, with the most recent published
in 1980. In 1967, the first edition of the manual "Recommendation
for Chemical Control of Disease Vectors and Economic Pests" was published
at DVCC, Jacksonville, under the direction of CAPT Leslie W. Teller, Jr.
This manual was the reference standard on recommendations for control of
disease and pest insects. The most recent (seventh) edition of this manual
"Pocket Guide to Pest Management", published in 1980, has been
adopted as the standard reference guide by the Department of Defense. The
first "Shipboard Pest Control Manual" was published in January,
1979 at DVECC, Alameda under the direction of CDR Robert V. Peterson. This
manual is the standard Navy reference guide for shipboard pest control
programs. Numerous guides, manuals, pamphlets, and papers have been published
over the years on a number of subjects relevant to the Navy's entomology
programs. The contributions of many Navy entomologists in these efforts
have resulted in a collection of documents which provide comprehensive
guidance and information to Navy entomologists working throughout the world.
The professional development program for Navy entomologists began in
1944 when Ensign Roger W. Williams was ordered to Columbia University to
be a Research Assistant in parasitology. The object was to use Columbia
University as a training facility for naval officers. Ensign Williams was
able to begin work on his Ph.D. on a part-time bases. He subsequently was
released from the Navy, finished his degree, and remained on the staff
at Columbia. The first full-time outservice training candidate was LCDR
George S. Stains, who returned to school for a Masters Degree in Public
Health in 1949. Training opportunities for Navy entomologists continue
to be available. Currently there are numerous navy entomologists on active
duty who have received advanced degrees through the Navy's full time outservice
training program.
The first Navy entomologist assigned to a research unit was LT Richard
M. Bohart who was assigned to Naval Medical Research Unit #2 in January,
1944. His assignment, however, was in the U.S. National Museum in Washington,
DC. the first entomologist to actually conduct field research at an overseas
location was LT Bernard Y. Travis who was assigned to NAMR #2 in April
of 1944. He worked at several different locations in the Pacific. Navy
entomologists have been assigned to research laboratories located in Taipei,
Taiwan; Cairo, Egypt; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Camp LeJeune, North Carolina;
Manila, Republic of the Philippine; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Lima, Peru.
A research liaison officer is assigned from one of the services on a rotational
basis, at the USDA Laboratory in Gainesville, Florida. The first Navy entomologist
to fill that tri-service role was CDR Joseph M. McWilliams in 1965. Many
Navy entomologists have, through their research efforts and publications,
contributed to the bank of scientific knowledge on entomology. These publications
range in length from short articles to books.
The Army Surgeon General established the Army Committee for Insect and
Rodent Control in November, 1944. The U.S. Navy had a liaison representative
to that committee. Out of this beginning grew the Armed Forces Pest Management
Board (AFPMB), established in 1956 with all three services equally represented.
The mission of the Board is to develop and recommend policy for the Department
of Defense (DoD) pest management program to the Assistant Secretary of
Defense (Manpower, Reserve Affairs, and Logistics), and to serve as a scientific
advisory body to DoD. The first Navy entomologist to serve as Executive
Secretary to the AFPMB was CAPT Richard T. Holway who took office in October
of 1960. The Military Entomology Information Service (MEIS) was established
as an information center for the Board in 1962. The first Chief of MEIS
was CAPT John Decoursey. This service was renamed the Defense Pest Management
Information Analysis Center (DPMIAC) in 1980 following the installation
of computers for handling the information processing chores formerly done
by hand. The Board currently is composed of the Office of the Executive
Secretary (including DPMIAC), the voting members (4 from each service and
the Defense Logistics Agency), and agency representatives from each of
the services as well as representatives from most of the other federal
agencies.
This history of Navy entomology can not be fairly nor fully described
in a document of this length. This in an attempt to highlight events which
seem to represent the benchmarks of that proud history. Most striking is
the impact one little dapple winged mosquito, called Anopheles had
on the creation of the specialty of entomology within the Medical Service
Corps of the Navy. One can only speculate as to how much of a role it played
in the decision made in 1940 by the Navy Medical Department to establish
a specialty group for those fields allied to medicine. If numbers are significant
then one can say that, by virtue of occupying approximately 25% of the
allied scientist billets during WWII, the requirement for entomology support
played a significant role in the decision. But whether over 200 strong
as in 1945, or at our current strength of 41, Navy entomologists continue
to serve with pride and professionalism within the Medical Service Corps
of the United States Navy.
(The History of Navy Entomology was first compiled by CDR Robert V.
Peterson in 1981. It was updated by CDR Mark T. Wooster and LCDR James
T. Need in 1993.)
Additional info can be found at the
Naval
Historical Center (Comprehensive Source)
