Army Surgeons Lash Themselves to Table to Remove Corp. E.O, Williams' Appendix on the High Seas, Jan. 21, 1919

From The Monroe Journal, Jan. 21, 1919

Operation Performed Upon N.C. Soldier at Sea During Storm

Coast artillerymen from Connecticut and scattered troops from Pennsylvania, Iowa and Oklahoma who reached port Saturday on the armored cruiser South Dakota went through a storm two days out from Brest described by naval officers as one of the most tempestuous they had ever experienced.

Mountainous waves buffeted the vessel and one demolished the pilot house, injuring Captain Luby, 

Commander Caldwell and a number of officers and sailors.

In the midst of the storm, with waves at times running 40 feet high, two army surgeons performed an operation for appendicitis upon a soldier aboard the South Dakota.

When the condition of Corporal E.O. Williams of the 56^th coast artillery, whose home is in Airlie N.C., was pronounced dangerous, the war vessel lay to in order to facilitate the operation. Lashed to the table, the surgeons accomplished their delicate task between lurches of the ship and today the artilleryman was removed to a hospital, on the way to recovery.