Leonard D. Heaton

Leonard Dudley Heaton was an American army surgeon who served as Surgeon General of the United States Army from 1959 to 1969. Born on 19 November 1902 in Parkersburg, West Virginia, he graduated from the University of Louisville medical school and was commissioned in the Army Medical Corps Reserve. He was chief of surgical service in Hawaii at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor and later commanded the 802d Hospital Center in England during the Second World War. He commanded Walter Reed General Hospital, became the first Army medical officer to reach the rank of lieutenant general, and kept operating while in office. As Surgeon General he oversaw the expansion of Army medical services to Southeast Asia and urged wider use of helicopters for medical evacuation. He died on 10 September 1983.