Voyage of the Vance

When the 7,933-ton Zebulon Vance left Le Havre on May 7 with 369 G.I. brides and 57 children, a port commander said the ship was "in excellent condition." Two physical checkups had certified that the G.I. babies were in "good health." Since the Zebulon Vance was sailing 40 under capacity, there were hopes of a reasonably comfortable crossing. After many a tearful Gallic farewell, the brides settled down to what should have been the happiest voyage of their lives.

Thirteen days later the Vance docked at New York, a ship of sickness and tragedy. Babies were ill, their mothers panic-stricken, and with reason. Within 36 hours, four infants died at the Army's Fort Hamilton Station Hospital. In the next four days two more had died. (Still another, who had been on the Brazil, a transport which arrived the day before the Vance, died from apparently the same ailment.)

Purity & Prayer. When the Army tried to clamp down a tight censorship on the whole story, the press naturally played it up as a "Mystery Epidemic." Actually, the babies had been stricken by a disease known and feared by every mother. Called epidemic infant diarrhea, or summer diarrhea, it is not uncommon in hospitals and other institutions where newborn infants live in close contact.

Charges that medical and health arrangements on the Vance had been inadequate and slipshod indicated that conditions might have been ripe for an outbreak in the ship's nursery. But Army investigators reported that, despite the clearance at Le Havre, some of the babies were suffering from malnutrition when they were brought aboard ship. Said the investigators: "The outbreak . . . was due to a filterable virus and spread through contact infection."

A severe case of diarrhea is an acute medical emergency. It can be caused by insanitary bottles, dirty hands, or unsterilized milk; since milk is a good culture medium, bacteria multiply rapidly and the baby's intestines are not capable of combating them successfully. The baby loses large quantities of salts and water. This severe dehydration may result in death.

A doctor attending one of the stricken Vance babies said: "The only treatment is to get all the liquids we can into her." After the liquids comes prayer.

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