"They call you a battalion surgeon. I didn’t know surgery; really, I was simply trying to save lives." (Audio Interview, 9:58)

William M. McConahey, Jr.

War: World War II, 1939-1946 Branch: Army Unit: 2nd Battalion, 344th Infantry Regiment, 90th Infantry Division Service Location: France; Germany; Czechoslovakia; European Theater Rank: Captain Place of Birth: Pittsburgh, PA

In the summer of 1945, William McConahey, a physician working with the Occupation forces in Germany, decided to write a memoir of his experiences in the European Theater. He had landed in France on D-Day Plus Two and had seen the casualties of fighting from Normandy through the Battle of the Bulge and beyond. He had also visited a liberated concentration camp at Flossenberg, expressing frustration at not being able to save so many dying prisoners. McConahey’s memoir, Battalion Surgeon, wasn’t published until 1966, when he was already on the staff of the prestigious Mayo Clinic.