The Great Secret:The Classified World War II Disaster That Launched the War on Cancer Jennet ConantNorton2020400 pp. In The Great Secret, Jennet Conant recounts one such breakthrough, which was made in the wake of a deadly disaster. Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Alexander, a medical officer attached to General Eisenhower’s headquarters in North Africa, was sent to coordinate medical relief efforts. Others had to be supported, as they cradled fractured arms in improvised slings or dragged mangled limbs…Almost all of them were covered in thick, black crude oil,” writes Conant. After analyzing the positions of the ailing seamen, Alexander reported that an American Liberty ship, the John Harvey, was the source of the problem, speculating that it likely contained a secret cache of nitrogen mustard (i.e., mustard gas).

Source: The North Africa Journal September 08, 2020 15:00 UTC