WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.100 I want to start today by asking you to just close 00:00:03.100 --> 00:00:05.290 your eyes for a second. Seriously, just try to 00:00:05.290 --> 00:00:07.490 imagine you were somewhere very, very specific. 00:00:07.669 --> 00:00:10.390 A very high stakes location. Exactly. You are 00:00:10.390 --> 00:00:12.949 hundreds of feet beneath the surface of the Pacific 00:00:12.949 --> 00:00:16.890 Ocean. And it is 1942. Right in the absolute 00:00:16.890 --> 00:00:18.989 height of the Second World War. Yeah. And you 00:00:18.989 --> 00:00:22.449 are inside this steel tube. The air is, well, 00:00:22.510 --> 00:00:24.910 it's incredibly heavy. It is hot. And it smells 00:00:24.910 --> 00:00:27.070 awful, I would imagine. Completely. It smells 00:00:27.070 --> 00:00:30.230 like a mix of diesel fuel, hydraulic fluid, and 00:00:30.230 --> 00:00:33.130 the body odor of 50 or 60 men who just haven't 00:00:33.130 --> 00:00:36.179 showered. in weeks. You are serving in the silent 00:00:36.179 --> 00:00:39.600 service. Which is the nickname for the submarine 00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:43.219 force. And it is a very fitting name because 00:00:43.219 --> 00:00:46.320 silence was literally your only defense out there. 00:00:46.399 --> 00:00:49.240 Right. You are deep in enemy territory. You are 00:00:49.240 --> 00:00:51.759 hunting Japanese shipping, but you are also actively 00:00:51.759 --> 00:00:54.259 being hunted. Because every creak of the hull 00:00:54.259 --> 00:00:57.060 could give you away. Exactly. Every drop wrench, 00:00:57.179 --> 00:01:00.200 every loud footstep could be picked up by a destroyer 00:01:00.200 --> 00:01:03.060 on the surface. So it is this incredibly high 00:01:03.060 --> 00:01:05.560 pressure environment in every sense of the word. 00:01:05.620 --> 00:01:07.980 You have the physical pressure from the water 00:01:07.980 --> 00:01:10.739 outside and the psychological pressure from the 00:01:10.739 --> 00:01:12.799 enemy above. Yeah, the tension must have been 00:01:12.799 --> 00:01:15.519 unbearable. And now I want you to imagine that 00:01:15.519 --> 00:01:18.799 in the middle of all this, where you are miles 00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:21.840 and miles from the nearest friendly port, completely 00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:25.079 cut off from the outside world, a crisis starts 00:01:25.079 --> 00:01:27.859 to unfold. A crisis that has absolutely nothing 00:01:27.859 --> 00:01:30.319 to do with the war. Right. At least not directly. 00:01:30.340 --> 00:01:32.879 It is a medical crisis. Which is the last thing 00:01:32.879 --> 00:01:34.879 you want on a submarine. You have a shipmate, 00:01:35.019 --> 00:01:37.680 a young guy just like you, and he starts complaining 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:40.920 of a stomach ache. Which, you know, at first 00:01:40.920 --> 00:01:43.319 you might just chalk up to the food. Submarine 00:01:43.319 --> 00:01:45.480 food wasn't exactly five -star dining. Right. 00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:48.000 You think it's just indigestion. But then he 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:51.540 collapses. He is in absolute agony. He's sweating. 00:01:51.579 --> 00:01:54.219 He's feverish. And if you are the medic on board, 00:01:54.299 --> 00:01:56.359 you know exactly what this is. You recognize 00:01:56.359 --> 00:01:59.900 the signs. It is acute appendicitis. Now, if 00:01:59.900 --> 00:02:02.219 you get appendicitis today, it's basically just 00:02:02.219 --> 00:02:04.500 a Tuesday. You go to the ER. They knock you out. 00:02:04.540 --> 00:02:06.459 They make a few tiny holes. They snip it out. 00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:09.500 And you are sitting at home watching Netflix 00:02:09.500 --> 00:02:12.680 in recovery a few hours later. Exactly. But on 00:02:12.680 --> 00:02:15.879 a submarine in 1942. It is a death sentence. 00:02:16.319 --> 00:02:19.120 And I want to be clear that that is not an exaggeration. 00:02:19.159 --> 00:02:22.500 If that appendix bursts, bacteria floods the 00:02:22.500 --> 00:02:24.979 abdominal cavity. Right. You get peritonitis. 00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:28.240 Right. You get sepsis. It is a slow, screaming, 00:02:28.580 --> 00:02:31.919 agonizing way to die. And here is the massive 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:34.620 problem. There is no doctor on board. None at 00:02:34.620 --> 00:02:36.680 all. There is no operating room. There are no 00:02:36.680 --> 00:02:39.280 scalpels. There is no anesthesia machine. What 00:02:39.280 --> 00:02:41.629 they have is a 22 -year -old kid. named Wheeler 00:02:41.629 --> 00:02:44.550 Lipes, a guy who used to work in a lab, and basically 00:02:44.550 --> 00:02:47.090 a drawer full of kitchen utensils. It sounds 00:02:47.090 --> 00:02:48.969 like the setup for a bad joke, doesn't it? A 00:02:48.969 --> 00:02:51.030 guy walks into a submarine galley with a spoon. 00:02:51.189 --> 00:02:53.629 It really does. But what happened next is widely 00:02:53.629 --> 00:02:56.789 considered the very first major surgery ever 00:02:56.789 --> 00:03:00.050 performed on a submerged submarine. So today 00:03:00.050 --> 00:03:02.490 on this deep dive, we are telling the incredible 00:03:02.490 --> 00:03:05.650 story of Wheeler Bryson Lipes. The crew called 00:03:05.650 --> 00:03:08.400 him Doc. Even though he wasn't a doctor? Right. 00:03:08.460 --> 00:03:10.919 We are going to unpack how a high school dropout 00:03:10.919 --> 00:03:14.199 with zero surgical training pulled off a literal 00:03:14.199 --> 00:03:17.639 medical miracle using bent spoons and a tea strainer. 00:03:17.740 --> 00:03:20.620 And perhaps even more surprisingly, we are going 00:03:20.620 --> 00:03:23.080 to explore why the Navy didn't celebrate him 00:03:23.080 --> 00:03:25.300 for it. Yeah, that part is wild. Instead of a 00:03:25.300 --> 00:03:27.139 medal, there was actually serious talk of a court 00:03:27.139 --> 00:03:30.000 -martial. Talk about no good deed going unpunished. 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:33.120 It is a fascinating story. Our mission today 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:36.080 is to look at the clash between rigid military 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:39.340 bureaucracy and the kind of desperate, on -the 00:03:39.340 --> 00:03:41.840 -fly improvisation that saves lives. It's about 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:44.819 rule -breaking, ingenuity, and a justice that 00:03:44.819 --> 00:03:47.599 was delayed for an entire lifetime. So we are 00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:49.780 diving deep. Let's just start with the man himself. 00:03:50.060 --> 00:03:53.719 Who was Wheeler Lipes? So Wheeler Bryson Lipes, 00:03:53.719 --> 00:03:56.599 he was a Virginia boy, born in Newcastle on July 00:03:56.599 --> 00:04:00.139 12, 1920. Okay. Now, to really understand Lopes, 00:04:00.199 --> 00:04:01.979 you have to understand the era he grew up in. 00:04:02.060 --> 00:04:04.780 The Great Depression. Exactly. Opportunities 00:04:04.780 --> 00:04:06.960 were incredibly scarce. If you were a young man 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:09.319 in the 1930s, joining the military wasn't just 00:04:09.319 --> 00:04:11.919 about patriotic duty. It was a guaranteed job. 00:04:12.180 --> 00:04:14.819 It was three square meals and a bed. Right. So 00:04:14.819 --> 00:04:18.879 Lopes enlisted in the Navy in 1936. Wait, let 00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:21.939 me just do the math on that. Born in 1920, enlisted 00:04:21.939 --> 00:04:26.459 in 1936. He was 16. He was 16 years old. Was 00:04:26.459 --> 00:04:30.189 that even allowed? Technically, no. But practically 00:04:30.189 --> 00:04:32.110 speaking, it happened all the time back then. 00:04:32.930 --> 00:04:34.730 Recruiters often just looked the other way or 00:04:34.730 --> 00:04:36.829 parents would sign waivers. Or kids would just 00:04:36.829 --> 00:04:39.949 lie about their age. Exactly. Lopes was eager. 00:04:40.110 --> 00:04:42.410 He just wanted to get out into the world. He 00:04:42.410 --> 00:04:44.730 actually served on the USS Texas first. Which 00:04:44.730 --> 00:04:47.529 is a battleship, a massive floating city compared 00:04:47.529 --> 00:04:50.920 to a sub. Yes. But his destiny was really in 00:04:50.920 --> 00:04:54.100 the smaller boats. So on December 10th, 1941. 00:04:54.439 --> 00:04:57.079 Which is just three days after the attack on 00:04:57.079 --> 00:04:59.660 Pearl Harbor. Exactly. He joined the crew of 00:04:59.660 --> 00:05:02.899 the USS Seadragon. The Seadragon. SS -194. That 00:05:02.899 --> 00:05:05.759 was a Sargo -class submarine. And his role on 00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:08.939 that boat was pharmacist's mate. Right. And we 00:05:08.939 --> 00:05:10.879 really need to clarify this term because words 00:05:10.879 --> 00:05:13.680 change meaning over time. Yeah. Today, a pharmacist 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:16.829 is the person at the drugstore. Exactly. When 00:05:16.829 --> 00:05:19.170 we hear pharmacist, we think of the person counting 00:05:19.170 --> 00:05:22.970 pulls behind a counter. But in the 1942 Navy, 00:05:23.350 --> 00:05:27.149 a pharmacist's mate was the entire medical department 00:05:27.149 --> 00:05:30.250 for a small vessel. But he still wasn't a doctor. 00:05:30.569 --> 00:05:32.910 Absolutely not. And that is the most critical 00:05:32.910 --> 00:05:36.029 point of this entire story. A pharmacist's mate 00:05:36.029 --> 00:05:38.910 is an enlisted rate. A doctor is a commissioned 00:05:38.910 --> 00:05:41.430 officer with a medical degree. But he did have 00:05:41.430 --> 00:05:44.050 some training, right? He did. He had been a hospital 00:05:44.050 --> 00:05:46.899 lab technician for three years. So he knew how 00:05:46.899 --> 00:05:48.939 to use a microscope. He could identify blood 00:05:48.939 --> 00:05:50.980 types, things like that. He could do all of that. 00:05:51.199 --> 00:05:53.839 He could set a broken bone, stitch up a cut, 00:05:53.980 --> 00:05:57.819 dispense aspirin. He treated dysentery. And very 00:05:57.819 --> 00:06:00.439 commonly in the Navy, he treated venereal diseases. 00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:03.319 So he was basically a glorified paramedic and 00:06:03.319 --> 00:06:06.319 a nurse rolled into one. Yes. But he had absolutely 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:08.980 zero training in surgery. He had never actually 00:06:08.980 --> 00:06:11.680 cut a person open. Never. He had observed surgeries 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:14.060 in the hospital while he was a lab tech. He had 00:06:14.060 --> 00:06:16.220 read medical textbooks. He was a very smart guy, 00:06:16.379 --> 00:06:19.220 very curious. But watching and doing are two 00:06:19.220 --> 00:06:22.879 very different things. Exactly. Watching a surgeon 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:26.060 remove an appendix and doing it yourself is the 00:06:26.060 --> 00:06:28.339 difference between watching a pilot fly a jumbo 00:06:28.339 --> 00:06:31.100 jet and trying to land it yourself. With no instructor 00:06:31.100 --> 00:06:33.220 in the seat next to you. And no landing gear. 00:06:33.459 --> 00:06:36.300 Right. So that sets up our protagonist. We have 00:06:36.300 --> 00:06:38.819 a 22 -year -old kid who knows the medical theory 00:06:38.819 --> 00:06:41.620 but has never done the actual practice. Which 00:06:41.620 --> 00:06:46.459 brings us to September 1942, the crisis. So the 00:06:46.459 --> 00:06:49.060 Sea Dragon is on its fourth war patrol. They 00:06:49.060 --> 00:06:51.600 are deep in the Pacific. The sources specifically 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:55.120 note they were in enemy waters. This likely means 00:06:55.120 --> 00:06:57.019 they were patrolling the heavily guarded shipping 00:06:57.019 --> 00:06:59.980 lanes near Indochina or the Philippines. Meaning 00:06:59.980 --> 00:07:02.240 that Japanese destroyers are just everywhere. 00:07:02.600 --> 00:07:04.720 Yes. If they surface during the day, they are 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:07.399 dead. If they use their radio to call for help, 00:07:07.540 --> 00:07:09.939 the Japanese can triangulate that signal and 00:07:09.939 --> 00:07:12.240 drop depth charges. So they have to remain completely 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:14.600 invisible. They are ghosts. And while they are 00:07:14.600 --> 00:07:17.060 creeping along in the dark, one of the crew members, 00:07:17.259 --> 00:07:20.139 Daryl Dean Rector, starts feeling sick. He was 00:07:20.139 --> 00:07:23.319 a seaman first class, just 19 years old. And 00:07:23.319 --> 00:07:26.220 on a submarine, sickness spreads incredibly fast 00:07:26.220 --> 00:07:28.620 because of the recycled air in close quarters. 00:07:28.839 --> 00:07:31.519 But this wasn't the flu. No. Rector is complaining 00:07:31.519 --> 00:07:34.540 of severe abdominal pain, starts around the navel, 00:07:34.579 --> 00:07:36.939 which is typical, and then migrates to the lower 00:07:36.939 --> 00:07:39.100 right quadrant. He loses his appetite. He has 00:07:39.100 --> 00:07:41.420 a fever. Yeah. And his abdominal muscles get 00:07:41.420 --> 00:07:43.639 extremely rigid. That's that classic sign called 00:07:43.639 --> 00:07:46.600 guarding, right? Exactly. It's the body's involuntary 00:07:46.600 --> 00:07:49.139 reflex, trying to protect the inflamed organ 00:07:49.139 --> 00:07:52.819 underneath. Lipes examines him. He checks his 00:07:52.819 --> 00:07:55.459 white blood cell count. Because he was a lab 00:07:55.459 --> 00:07:57.920 tech, he actually had the skills and the microscope 00:07:57.920 --> 00:08:00.639 to do that. Yes, and the count comes back sky 00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:03.560 high. Which means a massive infection. Massive. 00:08:03.720 --> 00:08:06.000 Lipes knows it. The commanding officer, Captain 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:08.500 Farrell, knows it. It is acute appendicitis. 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:11.360 And the clock is just ticking down now. It is. 00:08:11.800 --> 00:08:14.480 Once that inflammation really takes hold, you 00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:17.459 have a very narrow window, maybe 24 hours, maybe 00:08:17.459 --> 00:08:20.560 48 if you are lucky. And after that? The organ 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:23.220 dies, it becomes gangrenous, and then it bursts. 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:25.639 And if it bursts on a submarine with no heavy 00:08:25.639 --> 00:08:28.259 antibiotics? There is no coming back from that. 00:08:28.379 --> 00:08:31.699 You cannot treat peritonitis with aspirin. Rector 00:08:31.699 --> 00:08:35.840 will die. So Lipes goes to Captain Farrell, and 00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:37.480 they have to have this completely impossible 00:08:37.480 --> 00:08:40.399 conversation. Lipes essentially says, Captain, 00:08:40.990 --> 00:08:43.830 He is going to die. And the captain has to say, 00:08:43.929 --> 00:08:46.570 we cannot surface. We are thousands of miles 00:08:46.570 --> 00:08:49.649 from any kind of real help. It is the ultimate 00:08:49.649 --> 00:08:52.250 command decision. Think about the burden on a 00:08:52.250 --> 00:08:55.289 captain. Do you risk the entire boat, all 60 00:08:55.289 --> 00:08:58.509 men on board, by surfacing and radioing for help? 00:08:58.690 --> 00:09:01.549 Or do you let one man die to save the rest of 00:09:01.549 --> 00:09:04.629 the crew? The cold utilitarian military calculation 00:09:04.629 --> 00:09:07.929 says you let him die. That is brutal. Military 00:09:07.929 --> 00:09:10.129 regulations actually explicitly covered this 00:09:10.129 --> 00:09:12.429 scenario. In the absence of a qualified surgeon, 00:09:12.750 --> 00:09:14.529 the pharmacist is supposed to make the patient 00:09:14.529 --> 00:09:17.129 comfortable, administer morphine, and just wait. 00:09:17.250 --> 00:09:19.649 Wait for him to die. Yes, that was the official 00:09:19.649 --> 00:09:22.970 legal option. But Lifes is only 22. He is looking 00:09:22.970 --> 00:09:25.269 at his friend. He is simply not ready to just 00:09:25.269 --> 00:09:27.610 sit there and watch him die. And neither is Captain 00:09:27.610 --> 00:09:30.169 Farrell, honestly. Farrell asks Lifes, is there 00:09:30.169 --> 00:09:32.570 absolutely anything you can do? And Lifes says, 00:09:32.769 --> 00:09:35.940 I can operate. Imagine the sheer guts it took 00:09:35.940 --> 00:09:39.700 to say those words. I can operate, having never 00:09:39.700 --> 00:09:42.179 done it in his life. Lipes was basically saying, 00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:44.639 look, I have watched doctors do it. I think I 00:09:44.639 --> 00:09:46.799 understand the mechanics of it, but everything 00:09:46.799 --> 00:09:49.019 is working against us. So the captain decides 00:09:49.019 --> 00:09:51.600 to put the choice to Rector himself. This is 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:53.200 the part that really gets me. They go down to 00:09:53.200 --> 00:09:55.259 the sick bay, which is just a tiny little bunk. 00:09:55.500 --> 00:09:57.299 And they lay it all out for the patient. They 00:09:57.299 --> 00:09:59.919 say, look, Daryl, Doc Lipes says he can try to 00:09:59.919 --> 00:10:03.740 cut it out, but he is not a surgeon. If he messes 00:10:03.740 --> 00:10:06.899 up, you die on the table. If we do nothing, you 00:10:06.899 --> 00:10:09.059 die anyway. It is your call. And Rector says 00:10:09.059 --> 00:10:12.299 yes. He told the captain, I trust Doc. Wow. That 00:10:12.299 --> 00:10:14.379 bond between shipmates is just something else. 00:10:14.700 --> 00:10:17.120 He put his life entirely in the hands of a guy 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:19.360 whose only medical qualification was a certificate 00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:22.559 in lab technology. So the decision is made. And 00:10:22.559 --> 00:10:25.100 this brings us to the surgery itself. This is 00:10:25.100 --> 00:10:28.000 where the story shifts from dramatic to completely 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:30.559 unbelievable. Right. This is the ultimate MacGyver 00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:33.100 moment. They have absolutely no operating room. 00:10:33.480 --> 00:10:35.820 Submarines are cramped. They're filled with pipes 00:10:35.820 --> 00:10:38.379 and machinery. Where do you even put a surgical 00:10:38.379 --> 00:10:41.120 patient? They chose the wardroom. Yes. That's 00:10:41.120 --> 00:10:43.600 the officer's dining area. It had the only table 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:45.620 big enough for a man to lie on, which was the 00:10:45.620 --> 00:10:47.700 dining table. But even that table was too short, 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:49.460 right? They had to slide it out or extend it 00:10:49.460 --> 00:10:51.519 somehow. They did. But having a table is just 00:10:51.519 --> 00:10:54.220 step one. You need surgical tools. And this is 00:10:54.220 --> 00:10:56.980 where Leip's ingenuity and really the whole crew's 00:10:56.980 --> 00:11:00.860 ingenuity just shines. They didn't have scalpels. 00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:02.740 They didn't have hemostats to clamp bleeding 00:11:02.740 --> 00:11:05.519 veins. They didn't have retractors. Let's talk 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:08.559 about the spoons because that is the detail everyone 00:11:08.559 --> 00:11:10.600 remembers from this story. Yeah. How do you use 00:11:10.600 --> 00:11:13.879 spoons in surgery? Well, in a proper operating 00:11:13.879 --> 00:11:16.379 room. After the surgeon slices through the abdominal 00:11:16.379 --> 00:11:18.899 muscles, they need to pull those muscles apart 00:11:18.899 --> 00:11:21.799 to see inside the cavity. To get to the appendix. 00:11:21.899 --> 00:11:25.100 Exactly. use a tool called a retractor. It is 00:11:25.100 --> 00:11:27.860 basically a bent piece of rigid stainless steel. 00:11:28.100 --> 00:11:30.419 Which they obviously didn't have. But they had 00:11:30.419 --> 00:11:32.279 the galley. They went into the kitchen, took 00:11:32.279 --> 00:11:34.919 regular tablespoons, and physically bent the 00:11:34.919 --> 00:11:37.960 handles back at a 90 -degree angle. So the bowl 00:11:37.960 --> 00:11:40.100 of the spoon hooks under the muscle and holds 00:11:40.100 --> 00:11:42.340 it back, and the bent handle is what the assistant 00:11:42.340 --> 00:11:46.259 holds onto. Yes, an instant improvised retractor. 00:11:46.340 --> 00:11:48.279 But what about the cutting part? You cannot use 00:11:48.279 --> 00:11:50.480 a butter knife for an appendectomy. No, you need 00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:52.820 something razor sharp. They scrounged the boat 00:11:52.820 --> 00:11:56.100 for blades. The sources vary slightly here. Some 00:11:56.100 --> 00:11:58.159 say they used actual scalpel blades that were 00:11:58.159 --> 00:12:00.799 in the ship's first aid kit, but they just didn't 00:12:00.799 --> 00:12:02.960 have the handles to hold them properly. And other 00:12:02.960 --> 00:12:04.919 sources say they just sharpened the galley knives. 00:12:05.139 --> 00:12:07.460 Either way, they used whatever was sharpest. 00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:09.759 And then they had to sterilize everything. How 00:12:09.759 --> 00:12:12.120 do you even do that? You don't have an autoclave 00:12:12.120 --> 00:12:14.259 on a submarine to steam sterilize instruments. 00:12:14.820 --> 00:12:17.279 They used boiling water from the galley. And 00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:19.759 for chemical sterilization, they used torpedo 00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:23.309 alcohol. Torpedo alcohol. Yes. The torpedoes 00:12:23.309 --> 00:12:25.710 on the Sargo -class submarines were powered by 00:12:25.710 --> 00:12:29.330 engines that burned a highly refined, high -proof 00:12:29.330 --> 00:12:32.809 alcohol. It's basically 180 -proof grain alcohol. 00:12:33.169 --> 00:12:35.649 The sailors called it torpedo juice. They did. 00:12:35.850 --> 00:12:38.389 And sometimes they found ways to drink it, but 00:12:38.389 --> 00:12:40.789 in this specific case, it functioned as the perfect 00:12:40.789 --> 00:12:43.909 medical disinfectant. So they're scrubbing down 00:12:43.909 --> 00:12:46.610 the spoons and knives with torpedo fuel. That 00:12:46.610 --> 00:12:49.070 is incredible. But what about the biggest hurdle 00:12:49.070 --> 00:12:52.720 of all? You have to knock Rector out. You cannot 00:12:52.720 --> 00:12:55.440 perform deep abdominal surgery on a conscious 00:12:55.440 --> 00:12:58.019 person. They actually had ether on board, right? 00:12:58.059 --> 00:13:00.519 They had ether. Ether is a liquid that easily 00:13:00.519 --> 00:13:03.460 turns into a gas. When a patient inhales it, 00:13:03.539 --> 00:13:07.100 they lose consciousness. But ether is incredibly 00:13:07.100 --> 00:13:09.679 tricky to administer. Because if you give him 00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:11.679 too little, he wakes up screaming in the middle 00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:13.779 of the procedure. And if you give him too much, 00:13:13.860 --> 00:13:16.580 his respiratory system shuts down and he dies. 00:13:16.759 --> 00:13:18.860 Plus, you need a way to deliver it to his lungs. 00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:21.940 Normally, an anesthesiologist uses a specialized 00:13:21.940 --> 00:13:25.019 mask. It looks like a little wire cage that fits 00:13:25.019 --> 00:13:27.679 snugly over the nose and mouth. You drip it with 00:13:27.679 --> 00:13:29.919 layers of gauze. And then you drip the liquid 00:13:29.919 --> 00:13:32.279 ether onto the gauze so it vaporizes and the 00:13:32.279 --> 00:13:34.759 patient breathes in the fumes. But they didn't 00:13:34.759 --> 00:13:37.440 have that mask. So Leaps looked around the galley 00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:41.320 again and he saw a tea strainer. A standard metal 00:13:41.320 --> 00:13:43.830 mesh tea strainer. The kind you use for loose 00:13:43.830 --> 00:13:46.450 leaf tea. He took that tea strainer, wrapped 00:13:46.450 --> 00:13:49.549 it in gauze bandage, and fit it right over Rector's 00:13:49.549 --> 00:13:52.230 nose and mouth. That is just brilliant problem 00:13:52.230 --> 00:13:55.250 solving. It is engineering at its finest. It 00:13:55.250 --> 00:13:57.409 provided the exact perfect structure to hold 00:13:57.409 --> 00:14:00.029 the soaked gauze away from the skin, preventing 00:14:00.029 --> 00:14:02.909 chemical burns while still allowing decent airflow. 00:14:03.230 --> 00:14:05.509 But wait, ether is highly flammable, isn't it? 00:14:05.610 --> 00:14:08.049 It is basically explosive. And think about where 00:14:08.049 --> 00:14:11.220 they are. A submarine is a metal tube filled 00:14:11.220 --> 00:14:13.779 with electrical sparks, running motors, open 00:14:13.779 --> 00:14:16.299 switches. If the ether vapor concentration got 00:14:16.299 --> 00:14:18.320 too high in the air and someone just flipped 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:20.879 a light switch. The entire boat blows up. They 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:23.779 were terrifyingly aware of this risk. They restricted 00:14:23.779 --> 00:14:26.159 all movement in the rest of the boat. No switches 00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:28.480 could be thrown. They tried to ventilate the 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:31.019 wardroom as best they could while remaining completely 00:14:31.019 --> 00:14:34.759 submerged. So just picture this scene for a moment. 00:14:35.240 --> 00:14:37.639 You are in the officer's mess. It's tiny, it's 00:14:37.639 --> 00:14:39.779 sweltering. Lipes is wearing, did he even have 00:14:39.779 --> 00:14:43.259 surgical scrubs? No scrubs. He wore pajama tops 00:14:43.259 --> 00:14:45.860 turned backward to simulate a sterile surgical 00:14:45.860 --> 00:14:49.399 gown. And he wore a makeshift mask made of medical 00:14:49.399 --> 00:14:52.320 gauze. And his assistant? His assistant was Norvell 00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:54.960 G. Ward. He was the communication officer, I 00:14:54.960 --> 00:14:57.100 believe. He was drafted to be the anesthesiologist. 00:14:57.399 --> 00:15:00.100 He was the guy sitting at Rector's head, carefully 00:15:00.100 --> 00:15:02.740 dripping the ether onto the tea strainer. So 00:15:02.740 --> 00:15:05.980 Lipes steps up to the table. And he makes the 00:15:05.980 --> 00:15:08.360 first incision. He cuts. He goes through the 00:15:08.360 --> 00:15:11.340 skin, the fat, the fascia layer. He separates 00:15:11.340 --> 00:15:13.820 the muscle fibers. He finally enters the abdominal 00:15:13.820 --> 00:15:16.059 cavity. And does he find the appendix right away? 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:18.970 That is the surgeon's nightmare. In the medical 00:15:18.970 --> 00:15:20.809 textbooks, the appendix is beautifully drawn, 00:15:20.909 --> 00:15:22.970 always right in the same spot. But in reality, 00:15:23.090 --> 00:15:25.870 bodies are messy. Intestines move around. Exactly. 00:15:26.129 --> 00:15:28.309 The appendix can be tucked behind the cacum. 00:15:28.409 --> 00:15:30.389 It can be adhered to the bowel wall from the 00:15:30.389 --> 00:15:32.629 inflammation. Leib's had to go hunting for it. 00:15:32.690 --> 00:15:35.570 With his fingers? With his gloved fingers. Physically 00:15:35.570 --> 00:15:37.929 feeling around inside his friend's gut. Can you 00:15:37.929 --> 00:15:41.269 imagine the sweat? The intense heat in that confined 00:15:41.269 --> 00:15:44.669 room? And the absolute silence of the boat. The 00:15:44.669 --> 00:15:46.830 whole crew was holding their breath. And remember, 00:15:46.909 --> 00:15:49.970 they are still underwater. If a Japanese destroyer 00:15:49.970 --> 00:15:52.070 happens to pass overhead right at that moment 00:15:52.070 --> 00:15:54.610 and drops a death charge. The lights go out, 00:15:54.649 --> 00:15:57.929 the boat violently rocks, and the scalpel slips. 00:15:58.309 --> 00:16:00.850 It is the highest stakes operation you can possibly 00:16:00.850 --> 00:16:04.789 imagine. But finally, Leaps finds it. What condition 00:16:04.789 --> 00:16:07.169 was it in? It was incredibly bad. It was black, 00:16:07.370 --> 00:16:10.929 gangrenous. It had severe adhesions, meaning 00:16:10.929 --> 00:16:13.690 it was stuck to the surrounding tissue. It was 00:16:13.690 --> 00:16:16.070 swollen huge. So his diagnosis was completely 00:16:16.070 --> 00:16:19.240 right. 100 % right. If they had waited even another 00:16:19.240 --> 00:16:21.919 few hours, that appendix would have burst. So 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:24.240 now he actually has to remove it. He clamps it 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:26.840 off. He likely used hemostats from the first 00:16:26.840 --> 00:16:29.320 aid kit if they had a few or maybe more improvised 00:16:29.320 --> 00:16:32.600 tools. He tightly ties off the base with catgut 00:16:32.600 --> 00:16:35.759 sutures. And he cuts the rotting organ free. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:38.139 But you can't just leave a cut hole in the intestine. 00:16:38.440 --> 00:16:40.460 No, you have to cauterize the stump. You have 00:16:40.460 --> 00:16:42.740 to perfectly seal the wound so intestinal bacteria 00:16:42.740 --> 00:16:45.340 doesn't leak out into the abdomen. He used phenol 00:16:45.340 --> 00:16:48.429 for that. Phenol is an extremely harsh chemical. 00:16:48.710 --> 00:16:52.029 It burns tissue instantly. He dipped a medical 00:16:52.029 --> 00:16:54.830 probe in phenol, applied it to the stump to burn 00:16:54.830 --> 00:16:57.549 it shut, and then quickly neutralized the burning 00:16:57.549 --> 00:16:59.610 acid with alcohol. And then he has to stitch 00:16:59.610 --> 00:17:02.210 it up. He inverted the stump back into the wall 00:17:02.210 --> 00:17:05.210 of the intestine, which is classic, proper surgical 00:17:05.210 --> 00:17:07.750 technique. And he stitched the outer wall shut 00:17:07.750 --> 00:17:10.470 over it. He used a purse string suture, right? 00:17:10.670 --> 00:17:13.269 Yes. It works exactly like drawing a drawstring 00:17:13.269 --> 00:17:15.450 bag closed. Then he has to close the abdomen 00:17:15.450 --> 00:17:18.109 back up, layer by careful layer. The muscle, 00:17:18.230 --> 00:17:20.609 then the fascia, and finally the skin. And what 00:17:20.609 --> 00:17:23.170 about Rector? They stop, the ether drops, the 00:17:23.170 --> 00:17:25.829 anesthesia wears off. And he wakes up. He is 00:17:25.829 --> 00:17:28.529 actually alive. He is groggy, he is in a lot 00:17:28.529 --> 00:17:30.869 of pain from the incision, but he is alive. And 00:17:30.869 --> 00:17:33.190 more importantly, the deadly source of the infection 00:17:33.190 --> 00:17:36.309 is completely gone. Lipes really did it. He performed 00:17:36.309 --> 00:17:39.250 a major abdominal surgery underwater in enemy 00:17:39.250 --> 00:17:42.269 territory with spoons and a tea strainer. It 00:17:42.269 --> 00:17:44.210 is nothing short of a miracle. The rest of the 00:17:44.210 --> 00:17:46.690 crew must have just gone wild. He was an absolute 00:17:46.690 --> 00:17:49.410 hero on that boat. Doc Lipes, the man who cheated 00:17:49.410 --> 00:17:52.690 death. The morale boost was massive. But the 00:17:52.690 --> 00:17:55.170 Sea Dragon eventually has to end its patrol. 00:17:55.390 --> 00:17:57.890 They have to go home to port. And this is exactly 00:17:57.890 --> 00:18:00.569 where the story takes a very sharp turn. We move 00:18:00.569 --> 00:18:03.410 into the aftermath. You would naturally expect... 00:18:03.589 --> 00:18:06.349 A ticker tape parade. You would expect the admiral 00:18:06.349 --> 00:18:08.150 to come down to the docks and shake his hand. 00:18:08.309 --> 00:18:11.190 You would expect that, yes. But the Navy is a 00:18:11.190 --> 00:18:14.569 massive bureaucracy, and bureaucracies run entirely 00:18:14.569 --> 00:18:17.490 on rules and regulations. So what was their actual 00:18:17.490 --> 00:18:20.410 reaction? The Navy medical establishment was 00:18:20.410 --> 00:18:23.470 furious. The Surgeon General of the Navy was 00:18:23.470 --> 00:18:26.289 reportedly apoplectic over the whole thing. But 00:18:26.289 --> 00:18:29.670 why? He saved a sailor's life. Yes, but think 00:18:29.670 --> 00:18:32.269 about how he did it. He broke every single rule 00:18:32.269 --> 00:18:34.640 in the book. He performed a major surgery without 00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:37.099 a medical license. He risked the life of a sailor 00:18:37.099 --> 00:18:39.700 on a massive gamble. But the gamble paid off. 00:18:39.740 --> 00:18:43.140 The guy lived. To us looking back, yes. But to 00:18:43.140 --> 00:18:45.440 the admiral sitting at desks, it set a terrifying 00:18:45.440 --> 00:18:47.819 precedent. They were deeply afraid of what you 00:18:47.819 --> 00:18:49.579 might call the cowboy effect. What does that 00:18:49.579 --> 00:18:52.420 mean? They thought, if we pin a medal on Lapa's 00:18:52.420 --> 00:18:55.140 chest for this, every pharmacist mate in the 00:18:55.140 --> 00:18:57.730 entire Pacific fleet is going to start... trying 00:18:57.730 --> 00:19:01.029 to do brain surgery with a salad fork. Ah, they 00:19:01.029 --> 00:19:03.990 wanted to discourage reckless improvisation. 00:19:04.109 --> 00:19:06.950 They needed to maintain strict medical standards. 00:19:07.309 --> 00:19:09.829 They argued that Lipes was just incredibly lucky, 00:19:09.950 --> 00:19:12.549 not skilled. They said he recklessly endangered 00:19:12.549 --> 00:19:15.869 the patient. There was very serious talk of a 00:19:15.869 --> 00:19:18.690 court -martial. A court -martial for saving a 00:19:18.690 --> 00:19:20.890 man's life. They actually wanted to charge him 00:19:20.890 --> 00:19:22.970 with medical malpractice, maybe even assault. 00:19:23.549 --> 00:19:26.029 That is just mind -blowing to me. It is the ultimate 00:19:26.029 --> 00:19:28.529 clash of cultures. The frontline combat culture 00:19:28.529 --> 00:19:31.430 says, do absolutely whatever it takes to survive 00:19:31.430 --> 00:19:34.150 today. The rear echelon bureaucratic culture 00:19:34.150 --> 00:19:36.509 says, you must follow the established procedure. 00:19:36.869 --> 00:19:38.930 So Leibs is standing there, probably expecting 00:19:38.930 --> 00:19:41.210 a pat on the back, and instead he is looking 00:19:41.210 --> 00:19:43.490 at going to the brig. He was in real trouble. 00:19:43.670 --> 00:19:45.950 Yeah. But he had an ace in the hole. Or rather, 00:19:46.029 --> 00:19:47.609 the story itself had an ace in the hole. Right, 00:19:47.670 --> 00:19:49.910 the secret got out. You cannot keep a story like 00:19:49.910 --> 00:19:52.430 that contained. The crew of the Sea Dragon told 00:19:52.430 --> 00:19:55.069 everyone they met. And the civilian press got 00:19:55.069 --> 00:19:57.609 wind of it. And the press definitely did not 00:19:57.609 --> 00:20:00.410 care about Navy regulations. No, they saw a truly 00:20:00.410 --> 00:20:03.809 fantastic story. An American boy, using good 00:20:03.809 --> 00:20:06.630 old American ingenuity, saving his buddy with 00:20:06.630 --> 00:20:09.960 kitchen tools. It was the absolute perfect morale 00:20:09.960 --> 00:20:13.319 booster for a country that was weary from war. 00:20:13.579 --> 00:20:15.839 A reporter named George Weller ended up writing 00:20:15.839 --> 00:20:21.059 the story. Yes. On December 14th, 1942. He published 00:20:21.059 --> 00:20:23.940 it in the Chicago Daily News. The headline was 00:20:23.940 --> 00:20:25.940 something along the lines of pharmacists mate 00:20:25.940 --> 00:20:29.460 performs appendectomy in submarine. And it wasn't 00:20:29.460 --> 00:20:31.859 just a small local human interest piece. It went 00:20:31.859 --> 00:20:34.650 completely viral. Well, in the 1942 sense of 00:20:34.650 --> 00:20:37.329 the word. And get this detail. George Weller 00:20:37.329 --> 00:20:40.130 actually won the Pulitzer Prize for reporting 00:20:40.130 --> 00:20:43.049 in 1943, specifically for that article. A Pulitzer 00:20:43.049 --> 00:20:45.450 Prize. The highest possible honor in print journalism. 00:20:45.690 --> 00:20:49.289 So now the Navy is in a massive bind. They really 00:20:49.289 --> 00:20:51.970 want to punish Lubbs. But the entire country 00:20:51.970 --> 00:20:54.390 is celebrating him as a homegrown hero. If they 00:20:54.390 --> 00:20:56.369 court -martial the subject of a Pulitzer Prize 00:20:56.369 --> 00:20:58.829 winning story, they look like absolute monsters. 00:20:59.190 --> 00:21:02.109 Exactly. The intense positive publicity literally 00:21:02.109 --> 00:21:04.109 saved him. They couldn't touch him after that. 00:21:04.289 --> 00:21:06.730 And the pop culture phenomenon didn't stop with 00:21:06.730 --> 00:21:08.849 the newspaper article either? No, Hollywood jumped 00:21:08.849 --> 00:21:12.890 on it almost immediately. In 1943, they released 00:21:12.890 --> 00:21:15.829 the movie Destination Tokyo. Starring Cary Grant. 00:21:16.009 --> 00:21:18.170 The biggest movie star in the world at the time. 00:21:18.470 --> 00:21:21.250 There's a very specific scene in that movie where 00:21:21.250 --> 00:21:24.029 a pharmacist's mate performs an appendectomy 00:21:24.029 --> 00:21:28.109 on a submarine. It is directly, openly ripped 00:21:28.109 --> 00:21:30.869 from Lifes' story. So Lipes is probably sitting 00:21:30.869 --> 00:21:33.150 in a movie theater somewhere, watching Cary Grant's 00:21:33.150 --> 00:21:35.190 movies, seeing his own life play out on the big 00:21:35.190 --> 00:21:37.809 screen. And then there was radio. Cavalcade of 00:21:37.809 --> 00:21:40.809 America. This was a hugely popular radio drama 00:21:40.809 --> 00:21:43.250 series back then. They did an entire episode 00:21:43.250 --> 00:21:45.789 called Pharmacist's Mate First Class. It aired 00:21:45.789 --> 00:21:49.970 in May 1943 on the NBC Red Network. And the source 00:21:49.970 --> 00:21:51.710 material mentions Lipes actually appeared on 00:21:51.710 --> 00:21:54.150 that broadcast? He did. The actor Michael O'Shea 00:21:54.150 --> 00:21:56.509 played the character based on him. But at the 00:21:56.509 --> 00:21:58.750 very end of the drama, they brought the real 00:21:58.750 --> 00:22:00.869 Wheeler Lifes onto the microphone to speak to 00:22:00.869 --> 00:22:03.730 the audience. That is just surreal. He is technically 00:22:03.730 --> 00:22:06.190 in the doghouse with the highest Navy brass, 00:22:06.349 --> 00:22:08.730 but he is out doing celebrity guest spots on 00:22:08.730 --> 00:22:11.849 national NBC radio. It perfectly shows the power 00:22:11.849 --> 00:22:15.109 of public opinion. The public loved him unconditionally. 00:22:15.690 --> 00:22:18.549 The Navy had to begrudgingly let the whole thing 00:22:18.549 --> 00:22:20.859 slide. But they still didn't reward him. No, 00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:22.759 they've dropped the court -martial talk, but 00:22:22.759 --> 00:22:25.700 they absolutely refused to give him a medal or 00:22:25.700 --> 00:22:27.920 an official commendation. They just ignored his 00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:30.599 achievement entirely. They froze him out. No 00:22:30.599 --> 00:22:33.839 recognition. No official well -done. Just total 00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:36.799 bureaucratic silence. And yet, even years later, 00:22:36.940 --> 00:22:40.200 the story just kept coming back around. In 1958, 00:22:40.519 --> 00:22:42.359 there was a television show called The Silent 00:22:42.359 --> 00:22:45.140 Service, which focused entirely on submarine 00:22:45.140 --> 00:22:47.519 stories. They did an episode called Operation 00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:49.920 Sea Dragon. Who played him in that one? Richard 00:22:49.920 --> 00:22:52.500 Deacon. Wait, the tall, bald guy from the Dick 00:22:52.500 --> 00:22:54.839 Van Dyke show? The very same actor. Before he 00:22:54.839 --> 00:22:57.000 was famous for playing Mel Cooley, he was on 00:22:57.000 --> 00:22:59.319 screen playing Wheeler Lipes. That is a hilarious 00:22:59.319 --> 00:23:02.420 piece of trivia. So Lipes becomes this enduring 00:23:02.420 --> 00:23:05.200 pop culture legend. But I want to pivot back 00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:07.700 to the patient for a moment. Daryl Dean Rector. 00:23:07.839 --> 00:23:10.859 Yes. This brings us to a really tragic twist 00:23:10.859 --> 00:23:14.119 in the story. Lipes saves him in September 1942. 00:23:14.660 --> 00:23:17.230 Rector recovers from the surgery. He goes back 00:23:17.230 --> 00:23:19.490 to his duties. He was a very good sailor. He 00:23:19.490 --> 00:23:21.509 continued to fight in the Pacific Theater. He 00:23:21.509 --> 00:23:23.569 eventually transferred off the Sea Dragon to 00:23:23.569 --> 00:23:28.789 another boat. The USS Tang, SS -306. And the 00:23:28.789 --> 00:23:32.049 Tang is a very famous submarine in naval history. 00:23:32.349 --> 00:23:34.450 It was the most successful American submarine 00:23:34.450 --> 00:23:37.529 of the entire war, commanded by the legendary 00:23:37.529 --> 00:23:40.589 Dick O 'Kane. It sank more enemy tonnage than 00:23:40.589 --> 00:23:44.740 any other boat. But in October 1944, during a 00:23:44.740 --> 00:23:47.119 nighttime surface attack in the Taiwan Strait... 00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:50.519 What exactly happened? The Tang fired its very 00:23:50.519 --> 00:23:53.839 last torpedo of the patrol. But the torpedo physically 00:23:53.839 --> 00:23:56.640 malfunctioned upon leaving the tube. It did what 00:23:56.640 --> 00:23:58.920 is called a circular run. Meaning it's steering 00:23:58.920 --> 00:24:01.420 jammed. Yes. It turned completely around in the 00:24:01.420 --> 00:24:03.700 water, came right back, and struck the Tang. 00:24:03.819 --> 00:24:06.420 The sub sank itself with its own weapon. It happens. 00:24:06.500 --> 00:24:08.700 It is a completely tragic mechanical failure. 00:24:08.779 --> 00:24:11.410 The Tang went down very fast. Most of the crew 00:24:11.410 --> 00:24:14.069 died in the explosion or drowned. Including Rector. 00:24:14.230 --> 00:24:16.410 Including Daryl Dean Rector. So he died just 00:24:16.410 --> 00:24:18.890 two years after the surgery. Almost exactly two 00:24:18.890 --> 00:24:21.569 years later. You know, a cynic or maybe those 00:24:21.569 --> 00:24:24.029 angry Navy brass might look at that and say, 00:24:24.089 --> 00:24:27.049 well, see, it didn't even matter. He died anyway. 00:24:27.170 --> 00:24:29.509 I strongly, strongly disagree with that perspective. 00:24:29.670 --> 00:24:32.470 I do too. Life's bought that young man two full 00:24:32.470 --> 00:24:36.319 years. Two years of life. Two years of seeing 00:24:36.319 --> 00:24:39.319 the sun, writing letters to his family, joking 00:24:39.319 --> 00:24:41.460 with his shipmates. And when he died, he died 00:24:41.460 --> 00:24:44.619 a clean death in combat. Exactly. He didn't die 00:24:44.619 --> 00:24:47.200 screaming in a tiny bunk, slowly drowning in 00:24:47.200 --> 00:24:49.759 his own bodily infection. He died at his post, 00:24:49.920 --> 00:24:52.500 serving his country. That matters immensely. 00:24:52.759 --> 00:24:54.940 There's real dignity in that. I agree completely. 00:24:55.079 --> 00:24:57.240 The surgery was absolutely worth the risk. It 00:24:57.240 --> 00:25:00.339 unequivocally was. So let's follow Lakes' journey. 00:25:00.779 --> 00:25:03.819 The war ends. Rector is gone. Lipes is this weird 00:25:03.819 --> 00:25:06.359 celebrity who the Navy still formally refuses 00:25:06.359 --> 00:25:08.880 to acknowledge. Does he just leave the service 00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:11.559 out of frustration? No. And I think this speaks 00:25:11.559 --> 00:25:13.680 volumes about his character. He loved the Navy. 00:25:13.720 --> 00:25:16.359 He stayed in. Did he stay as an enlisted pharmacist's 00:25:16.359 --> 00:25:19.420 mate? He advanced. He proved to the establishment 00:25:19.420 --> 00:25:21.779 that he wasn't just a lucky one -hit wonder. 00:25:21.980 --> 00:25:25.180 He was an incredibly competent, brilliant... 00:25:25.500 --> 00:25:28.980 medical administrator. In 1951, he was officially 00:25:28.980 --> 00:25:31.160 commissioned as an officer in the Medical Service 00:25:31.160 --> 00:25:34.259 Corps. So he went from enlisted Doc Lipes to 00:25:34.259 --> 00:25:37.220 Lieutenant Commander Lipes. He really did. He 00:25:37.220 --> 00:25:41.779 served an entire full career until 1962. He saw 00:25:41.779 --> 00:25:44.640 the Navy completely transition from those old 00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:47.240 diesel boats to the modern nuclear power era. 00:25:47.549 --> 00:25:50.190 And what did he do after he finally retired from 00:25:50.190 --> 00:25:52.009 the military? He took all that administrative 00:25:52.009 --> 00:25:54.509 experience and went into civilian hospital administration. 00:25:55.029 --> 00:25:57.170 He eventually became the president of Memorial 00:25:57.170 --> 00:26:00.109 Medical Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. He retired 00:26:00.109 --> 00:26:03.069 from that in 1991. So the guy who started his 00:26:03.069 --> 00:26:05.869 surgical career with bent spoons and a tea strainer 00:26:05.869 --> 00:26:08.789 ended up running a major modern hospital. It 00:26:08.789 --> 00:26:11.190 validates everything he did, doesn't it? It proves 00:26:11.190 --> 00:26:13.029 he wasn't just some reckless kid breaking rules 00:26:13.029 --> 00:26:16.289 for fun. He had a genuine, natural gift for medicine 00:26:16.289 --> 00:26:18.950 and for leadership. The Navy was very lucky to 00:26:18.950 --> 00:26:20.789 keep him. But there was still that glaring hole 00:26:20.789 --> 00:26:23.650 in his service record. The missing medal for 00:26:23.650 --> 00:26:26.049 the Sea Dragon Patrol. And that takes us to the 00:26:26.049 --> 00:26:29.490 final chapter. Justice delayed. Why did it take 00:26:29.490 --> 00:26:32.049 so long for them to finally make it right? We 00:26:32.049 --> 00:26:35.309 are talking about decades here. It is the ultimate 00:26:35.309 --> 00:26:39.009 example of bureaucratic inertia. Once a formal 00:26:39.009 --> 00:26:41.910 decision is made at the top, meaning we are not 00:26:41.910 --> 00:26:45.089 giving this man a medal, it takes a massive amount 00:26:45.089 --> 00:26:47.910 of energy to reverse it. The personnel file just 00:26:47.910 --> 00:26:50.529 gets dusty. The people originally involved retire 00:26:50.529 --> 00:26:53.190 or they die. It just sits there. For over 60 00:26:53.190 --> 00:26:56.230 years. 60 years. Life's lived its whole adult 00:26:56.230 --> 00:26:59.089 life without it. He raised a family. He was married 00:26:59.089 --> 00:27:01.609 to Myrtle Peterson, who sadly passed away in 00:27:01.609 --> 00:27:04.420 1997. She never got to see him recognized by 00:27:04.420 --> 00:27:07.099 his country. That is just heartbreaking. He later 00:27:07.099 --> 00:27:10.119 remarried a woman named Audrey. But stories like 00:27:10.119 --> 00:27:12.980 his, they don't really die. Historians kept writing 00:27:12.980 --> 00:27:15.359 articles about the Sea Dragon. Submarine veterans 00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:18.119 kept talking about it at reunions. And finally, 00:27:18.140 --> 00:27:20.579 in the early 2000s, the pressure mounted. Someone 00:27:20.579 --> 00:27:22.940 finally listened to reason. The Navy Secretary, 00:27:23.299 --> 00:27:25.799 or the current powers that be, finally looked 00:27:25.799 --> 00:27:28.410 at the historical record and said, This is ridiculous. 00:27:28.670 --> 00:27:31.650 This man is a hero and we need to fix this. So 00:27:31.650 --> 00:27:35.630 in 2005, February 2005, they held a special ceremony 00:27:35.630 --> 00:27:37.950 at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. What was the 00:27:37.950 --> 00:27:41.309 scene like? Leaps is 84 years old at this point. 00:27:41.549 --> 00:27:45.210 He is frail. He is in a wheelchair. He is surrounded 00:27:45.210 --> 00:27:47.990 by his family and current sailors who look up 00:27:47.990 --> 00:27:50.730 to his legacy. And the Navy finally gives him 00:27:50.730 --> 00:27:53.410 the medal. They awarded him the Navy Commendation 00:27:53.410 --> 00:27:56.369 Medal. It is not the Medal of Honor, but it is 00:27:56.369 --> 00:27:59.750 a highly respected official recognition. The 00:27:59.750 --> 00:28:02.849 citation specifically says it is for heroic achievement. 00:28:03.150 --> 00:28:05.170 It must have felt like a massive weight lifting 00:28:05.170 --> 00:28:07.750 off his shoulders after all those years. He gave 00:28:07.750 --> 00:28:09.910 a very short speech. He was incredibly humble 00:28:09.910 --> 00:28:11.529 about the whole thing. He basically told the 00:28:11.529 --> 00:28:13.710 crowd, I just did what I had to do to save a 00:28:13.710 --> 00:28:15.990 shipmate. But there is a very sad coda to this 00:28:15.990 --> 00:28:19.730 timeline. The timing is tragic. Leaps was actively 00:28:19.730 --> 00:28:22.599 dying during that ceremony. He had terminal pancreatic 00:28:22.599 --> 00:28:24.619 cancer. So he knew this was the end of his life. 00:28:24.900 --> 00:28:28.079 He died just two months after receiving the medal, 00:28:28.240 --> 00:28:31.920 April 17, 2005. It's almost like he intentionally 00:28:31.920 --> 00:28:34.900 held on just to see that wrong -righted. I really 00:28:34.900 --> 00:28:37.480 think he did. He wanted that validation, not 00:28:37.480 --> 00:28:40.099 for his own ego, but for the principle of the 00:28:40.099 --> 00:28:42.539 thing, to have the institution finally admit 00:28:42.539 --> 00:28:45.259 that what he did in that wardroom was right. 00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:48.180 He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, 00:28:48.319 --> 00:28:52.400 isn't he? Yes. Section 64, resting among the 00:28:52.400 --> 00:28:55.460 nation's greatest heroes, exactly where he belongs. 00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:58.539 You know, we have spent a long time today talking 00:28:58.539 --> 00:29:01.259 about the mechanics of submarines and improvised 00:29:01.259 --> 00:29:04.160 spoons and medical bureaucracy. But when you 00:29:04.160 --> 00:29:06.299 step back and look at the whole narrative, what 00:29:06.299 --> 00:29:09.480 is the big takeaway here for you? For me, it 00:29:09.480 --> 00:29:11.960 is entirely about the intense tension between 00:29:11.960 --> 00:29:14.380 the rulebook and the real world. Can you unpack 00:29:14.380 --> 00:29:16.599 that a bit? Well, the rulebook is there for a 00:29:16.599 --> 00:29:18.880 very good reason. You don't want chaos in a military 00:29:18.880 --> 00:29:20.920 unit. You don't want untrained people casually 00:29:20.920 --> 00:29:24.140 doing surgery. The Navy was right in a broad 00:29:24.140 --> 00:29:26.519 general sense to have those strict regulations 00:29:26.519 --> 00:29:28.819 in place. Sure, you need structure. But the real 00:29:28.819 --> 00:29:32.200 world is incredibly messy. The real world puts 00:29:32.200 --> 00:29:34.859 you in extreme situations the rulebook simply 00:29:34.859 --> 00:29:38.279 didn't anticipate. There is no page in the manual 00:29:38.279 --> 00:29:41.640 for an appendix bursting at 300 feet depth with 00:29:41.640 --> 00:29:44.799 enemy ships overhead and no doctor. So when the 00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:46.720 manual fails, you have to write your own page. 00:29:46.960 --> 00:29:49.640 Exactly. LAPES represents that vital spark of 00:29:49.640 --> 00:29:52.759 human agency. The rare ability to look at a regular 00:29:52.759 --> 00:29:55.940 soup spoon and see a life -saving medical retractor. 00:29:56.039 --> 00:29:58.599 The ability to look at a simple tea strainer 00:29:58.599 --> 00:30:00.980 and see an anesthesia mask. It's that ultimate 00:30:00.980 --> 00:30:04.200 MacGyver spirit. It is. But beyond the cleverness, 00:30:04.569 --> 00:30:06.910 It's about moral courage. It would have been 00:30:06.910 --> 00:30:09.309 so incredibly easy for Lipes to just shrug and 00:30:09.309 --> 00:30:12.190 say, sorry, Captain, not my job. The regulations 00:30:12.190 --> 00:30:14.829 explicitly say I can't do it. And Richter would 00:30:14.829 --> 00:30:16.430 have died. And Lipes would have been perfectly 00:30:16.430 --> 00:30:18.829 safe from any disciplinary action. He wouldn't 00:30:18.829 --> 00:30:20.390 have faced a court -martial. He would have just 00:30:20.390 --> 00:30:22.589 followed orders perfectly. But he consciously 00:30:22.589 --> 00:30:25.089 chose the hard path. He chose the human path. 00:30:25.369 --> 00:30:27.609 He put his friend's life above his own career 00:30:27.609 --> 00:30:31.109 safety. And here's the final provocative thought 00:30:31.109 --> 00:30:34.400 I want to leave our listeners with today. Leipz 00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:37.299 eventually got his medal. Right. But he got it 00:30:37.299 --> 00:30:40.400 because he had a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist 00:30:40.400 --> 00:30:43.400 writing about him. He had Cary Grant playing 00:30:43.400 --> 00:30:46.240 him in a Hollywood blockbuster. He had massive 00:30:46.240 --> 00:30:48.960 cultural visibility. But how many others didn't 00:30:48.960 --> 00:30:51.500 have that? That is the truly haunting question. 00:30:51.599 --> 00:30:54.779 How many sailors or soldiers or nurses or just 00:30:54.779 --> 00:30:57.980 regular everyday people broke the rules to do 00:30:57.980 --> 00:31:00.559 the morally right thing? But there was no reporter 00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:02.259 there to capture it. And instead of becoming 00:31:02.259 --> 00:31:04.940 heroes, they just got crushed by the bureaucracy. 00:31:05.460 --> 00:31:07.880 How many personnel files are sitting in military 00:31:07.880 --> 00:31:10.519 archives right now marked with insubordination 00:31:10.519 --> 00:31:12.920 or dereliction of duty that are actually hidden 00:31:12.920 --> 00:31:15.980 stories of incredible, desperate heroism that 00:31:15.980 --> 00:31:17.940 we just don't understand? It really makes you 00:31:17.940 --> 00:31:20.119 wonder. They say history is written by the victors, 00:31:20.119 --> 00:31:21.859 but it's also clearly written by the rulemakers. 00:31:22.200 --> 00:31:24.599 It certainly is. Wheeler Lipes managed to beat 00:31:24.599 --> 00:31:27.259 the rulemakers, but it took him 63 years to do 00:31:27.259 --> 00:31:30.240 it. Well, here is to Wheeler Doc. lives and here 00:31:30.240 --> 00:31:32.099 is to looking at ordinary things differently 00:31:32.099 --> 00:31:35.480 yes you will never look at a tablespoon the same 00:31:35.480 --> 00:31:38.920 way again absolutely not well that wraps up our 00:31:38.920 --> 00:31:42.420 deep dive for today it has been an incredible 00:31:42.420 --> 00:31:44.799 journey through a piece of history I didn't know 00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:46.599 much about it was a pleasure to walk through 00:31:46.599 --> 00:31:48.680 the details with you to you listening thanks 00:31:48.680 --> 00:31:50.700 for staying with us thanks for going deep into 00:31:50.700 --> 00:31:54.039 the story keep Questioning the rules, keep looking 00:31:54.039 --> 00:31:56.160 for the hidden tea strainers in your own life, 00:31:56.259 --> 00:31:59.220 and we will catch you on the next Deep Dive. 00:31:59.279 --> 00:31:59.859 Goodbye, everyone.