1970-08-11-sc-p3-ltg-towner-in-spokane

August 11, 1970 Spokane Daily Chronicle Page 3:

Top Air Surgeon Visits

By JIM DULLENTY

For Lt. Gen. Alonzo A. Towner, the surgeon general of the Air Force, the return to Spokane today was like ‘“gettin’ back to God’s country.”

And this is where he hopes to stay. He has about two years left before retirement and he said he then plans to settle here. He said he already has changed his official residence to Spokane. He met his wife — whose relatives reside here — while an intern at Deaconess Hospital. When he entered military service in February 1940, he was assigned to the old 4th Infantry at Ft. George Wright.

Prior to a visit to the USAF Regional Hospital at Fairchild Air Force Base, Towner expressed his view on a number of topics:

—The Army is doing a "fine job" with the nerve gas shipments to the Atlantic Coast where the gas will be dumped in the ocean. "I have no quarrel with their procedures," he said, adding he saw no possibility of pollution in the ocean.

—Men entering military service are healthier now than when he entered service because of improvements in nutrition, use of vitamins and better exercise.

—Drug abuse in the military is about the same as in civilian life “because we get our military personnel from civilian life and some of them bring a history of drug abuse with them.” However, he thinks the military services have more control over their people and thus, the drug abuse problem is not as severe in the military.

—An all voluntary military would result “in an extremely expensive program which I do not think Congress or the American public would want to pay for” — thus, he foresees continuation of the draft.

—Budget cuts for the military "definitely have affected" the medical services, mostly in the area of laying off personnel or making it "easier for them to return to civil life."

Towner said he was here to visit with local hospital officials and determine their problems. He brought with him 12 staff members. From here the group plans to visit several remote Air Force installations including bases in Alaska, he said.

[photo]

T. Sgt. Larrie E. Smith, (left), an X-ray technician at the USAF Regional Hospital at Fairchild Air Force Base, shows some of his X-rays today to Lt. Gen. Alonzo A. Towner, surgeon general of the Air Force.