In 1944, an Army doctor is in charge of a neuropsychiatric ward at an Army Air Corps hospital in Arizona, and he must deal with a variety of tough cases.
In 1944, Capt. Josiah J. Newman is the doctor in charge of Ward 7, the neuropsychiatric ward at an Army Air Corps hospital in Arizona. The hospital is under-resourced and Newman scrounges what he needs with the help of his inventive staff, especially Cpl. Jake Leibowitz. The military in general is only just coming to accept psychiatric disorders as legitimate and Newman generally has 6 weeks to cure them or send them on to another facility. Among his latest of the ward's many patients are Colonel Norville Bliss, who has dissociated from his past; Capt. Paul Winston, who is nearly catatonic after spending 13 months hiding in a cellar behind enemy lines; and 20-year-old Cpl. Jim Tompkins, who is severely traumatized after his aircraft was shot down. Others come and go, including Italian prisoners of war, but Newman and team all realize that their success means that the men will return to their units and combat.—garykmcd
It's 1944, during WWII. During Captain Joe Newman, M.D.'s reign as head of the psychiatric ward at Colfax Air Force Base in Arizona, the number of patients in the ward has grown exponentially. According to Newman, the diagnoses are now only more accurate, not the number of Air Force personnel who have actually required psychiatric assistance. This assessment is against that of the base commander, Colonel Edgar Peyser, who believes many of the patients are fit for active war duty. Newman feels his ward is short staffed and he does whatever he needs to to get additional staff. So when Corporal Jake Leibowitz comes to the hospital to be assigned to work as an orderly in another ward, Newman manages to abscond the reluctant Leibowitz to work in the psych ward. One not high on ceremony, the excitable and energetic Leibowitz adds a little needed levity into the day-to-day operations of the ward, although many of his actions are less than military regulation. Newman also coerces the beautiful nurse, Lieutenant Francie Corum, to transfer into the ward, Newman believing her beauty will soothe the patients' psyches. Three of the more interesting cases in the ward are that of: Colonel Norville Bliss, who knows he needs help but isn't sure what is causing his mental breaks; Captain Paul Winston, whose primary symptom is a constant need to sleep, his mental issues which his VIP family would rather not deal with directly; and Corporal Jim Tompkins, whose excessive alcohol consumption, insomnia and bravado overshadow his real emotional issues.—Huggo
Dr. Josiah Newman runs the psychiatric unit of a U.S. Military Hospital during WWII. Short of help, Newman coerces newly-arrived neurotic orderly Jackson Leibowitz to work in his ward. Leibowitz's scheming and humor quickly turns life inside the ward upside down. Newman, while amused, tries to maintain a semblance of order. Newman's other recruit to the ward is nurse Lt. Francie Corum. Corum is at first shocked by what she sees in the ward, but admires the compassionate and effective way that Newman deals with each of his patients. Together Newman and Corum help a variety of patients with war related psychological traumas while they themselves struggle with the dilemma of healing these soldiers so they can be sent back into battle to face possible death.—E.W. DesMarais <[email protected]>
