Fradd, on Leave from University, Assists Army in Veteran Rehabilitation Program

Increasing tempo of the fighting on the war's many fronts is reflected in the six-fold expansion of facilities in the New England area for convalescence and rehabilitation of wounded war veterans. Thus Norman W. Fradd, Director of Physical Education, on leave of absence from Harvard, and now civilian consultant to the First Service Command, described the inauguration on February 5 of the new 6,000-bed reconditioning base hospital at Camp Edwards.

Fradd, who is on a one-year leave of absence from Harvard, works solely with the remedial phase of the rehabilitation program, dealing with men in the latter stages of recovery. His experience in working with shell shock and gas cases in France, and with amputees at the Walter Reed Hospital as a Lieutenant during the last war, make him well qualified for this work.

A pioneer in physical education and one of the top authorities in the country on that subject, be developed a new type of athletic program here after the last war, and more recently introduced the now-famous Harvard Step Test, which is widely used today in service camps.

These new reconditioning facilities replace the base which had been operating at Fort Devens since March, 1944. When Fradd left Harvard last June to assume his new duties, some 300 casualties had come for treatment at Devens, having been released from Lovell and Cushing General Hospitals, and from several other receiving centers in this area. As the list reached a peak of 1,100, these facilities proved inadequate, and thus the new "Convalescent Hospital at Camp Edwards" came into being.

As reconditioning activity grows more intensive in the final stages, calisthenics, road marches, obstacle courses, and group games are included, until the former convalescent is able to meet physical standards comparable to those in the regular Army Physical Efficiency tests. He is then ready to re-enter active service in the Army.

If, on the other hand, his physical improvement over a ten-week period is not sufficient to merit his return to active duty, he is recommended for a medical discharge.

To conduct this enlarged recondition- ing program, the Army has built extensive facilities at its new Camp Edwards base. Several playing fields, an enclosed sports arena, a swimming pool, and 16 remedial gymnasiums are among the many features of the new plant. This base serves only casualties from the First Service Command. The Navy, the Marines, and the Army Air Corps maintain separate facilities for their wounded.

The greatest difficulty confronting him, says Fradd, who first came to the University in 1919 as an instructor in Physical Education, is the lack of enough well-trained enlisted men to carry on this work. He and his associates are currently trying to build up a large staff of competent personnel who, in addition to their regular training in this field, will have also seen action under fire themselves. This experience makes them better able to work with war-weary battle casualties.

How soon he will return to his duties at Harvard depends, says Fradd, on several factors, including the size of future casualty lists and the demand created by veterans returning to their studies. In the meantime, he can devote only partial attention to the post-war problems of the Physical Education Department