Move Back
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George Lott, 22, wounded in both arms by German mortar fire, suffers as doctors mold a plaster cast to his body, 1944.![george_lott_2]()
Feeling better, less than an hour after his wounding, George Lott smokes a cigarette. Morphine is taking effect. [This is a] time out after splinting his left arm and before putting right arm through painful procedure of stretching it on traction splint.![george_lott_3]()
In body cast [George] Lott lies unconscious at end of three-hour operation in Nancy [France] Hospital. For those who will later take care of him, surgeons write diagnosis on cast. 'FCC' means 'fracture, compound, comminuted' (broken bones, penetrating flesh wounds, shattering of bone). Chief surgical effort was to improve blood supply to lower right arm by operation on single large artery.![george_lott_4]()
On first morning George Lott wakes to find himself encased in 30-lb. plaster cast. Between the battalion aid station and this point his memory is blank. He can move fingers of left hand.![george_lott_5]()
Cigarette is given to Lott by Red Cross girl. From the beginning he showed great patience in learning to depend on others.![george_lott_6]()
Weather watch was kept for three days by Lott and other wounded who were scheduled to fly home with him to U.S.Young wounded warriors: Remembering George Lott
In January 1945, LIFE magazine published a groundbreaking story, featuring dozens of photographs by Ralph Morse, chronicling the journey of a badly wounded American medic named George Lott from a battlefield in northeastern France to a veterans’ hospital in the States. See the full gallery at LIFE.com which includes Morse's iconic photo of Lott, as well as many unpublished pictures.
Move Forward
- Young wounded warriors: Remembering George Lott
