In cramped quarters aboard the submarine USS Seadragon, beneath the Pacific Ocean, with enemy warships circling above, 22-year-old pharmacist’s mate Wheeler Bryson (Johnny) Lipes was ordered to perform an emergency appendectomy on seaman Darrell Dean Rector.
It was the first such operation performed on a submarine, and it was all the more miraculous because Lipes was a high school dropout, he had never attempted such an emergency procedure, and the Seadragon lacked proper surgical equipment. But with the cooperation of other crew members, Lipes began the daunting assignment of saving the life of his fellow crewman.
A Bursting Appendix and No Surgeon Around
On the morning of September 11, 1942, his 19th birthday, Darrell Rector awakened with stomach pain and asked for a laxative. When Lipes examined him, he determined that his patient’s appendix was about to burst, but he was reluctant to work on him.
“He had the classic symptoms of appendicitis,” Lipes remembered. “His temperature was rising. His abdominal muscles were getting that washboard rigidity. He began to flex his right leg up on his abdomen to gain some relief.”
