Lamar Soutter Exhibit - His Medical School and Residency Years

Dr. Soutter's Residency Years

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Residents at Columbia Presbyterian, 1936

Source: Archives, Columbia University Health Sciences Division

Source: Official U.S. Navy photo--Courtesy of Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

The photo at left shows Dr. Soutter (in the center) along with the Surgical Department at the Presbyterian Hospital in New York City where he was a resident in the mid-1930s. Dr. Allen O. Whipple, head of the Surgical Department, had this to say about Soutter when recommending him for a surgical appointment at Massachusetts General Hospital:

Soutter has been one of the best men we have had in a long time--thoroughly capable, reliable, industrious, and absolutely trustworthy. Furthermore, he has a very rare sense of humor which has been a joy to all of us who have come to know him. (Private papers of Dr. Allen O. Whipple)

Dr. Soutter described his residency years in New York City as not having very many exciting moments. However, that was to change in 1937.

On May 6, 1937 the Hindenburg, one of the largest zeppelins ever built, exploded in midair over Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey where it was attempting to land. One of the 62 survivors was the Captain of the ship, Max Pruss. He was barely alive and had sustained severe burns that required several operations. Dr. Soutter assisted in many surgical procedures on the victims of the explosion. When Captain Pruss was well enough to travel back to his home in Frankfurt, Germany, Dr. Soutter accompanied him. While in Germany, he toured the zeppelin factories in Friedrichshafen near Lake Constance in the southern part of the country.

Web Resources for Further Information:

NewYork-Presbyterian: The University Hospitals of Columbia and Cornell

Radio Days - Hindenburg - features the historic eyewitness recording by Herb Morrison of the Hindenburg's destruction

Hindenburg disaster (Wikipedia)

"Max Pruss" at Airships.net

Zeppelin Museum Friedrichshafen

Sources used for this page:

Private papers of Dr. Allen O. Whipple, courtesy of Dr. Kenneth A. Forde, José M. Ferrer Professor of Surgery, Department of Surgery, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Harvard College, Class of 1931, 25th Anniversary Report 1931-1956.
Navy Lakehurst Historical Society, Inc. web site