WW2 Plasma and Blood Technology

An overview of Blood/Plasma technology and services during WW2.
More War Movie Content: / johnnyjohnsonesq
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Movies featured:
The Thin Red Line 1998
Band of Brothers 2001
Passchendaele 2008
Fires on the Plain 1959
Generation War 2013
Who am I? 1998
#history #ww2

[@RedentSC]

within 1 minute of this video i have learned 2 new things. that Plasma can be dehydrated (amazing) and that usable mass-produced plasma was only available form 1940 onwards... brillaint

[@ThommyofThenn]

I had no idea it could be dried like that. I guess I thought they had it in those glass bottles (like the ones you see in MASH) or ampules (now that i think about it a bit more, that size would be nowhere near enough to be useful) Just don't mistake it for the powdered eggs or milk!

[@VikingTeddy]

War really has given us incredible inventions. I wish the same amount of funding would be afforded scientists during peace time.

[@rebelboi88]

And just think. This was just a handful of DECADES after "huh. Sounds like you have ghosts in your blood, you should do cocaine about it." Was a "standard practice."

[@ThommyofThenn]

@@rebelboi88 Like Sherlock? I love how even LSD was totally fine for a while

[@rebelboi88]

@@ThommyofThenn and Heroin. You can't cough if we turn off your diaphragm.

[@paleoph6168]

"Phased plasma rifle in 40-watt range." "Hey, wrong plasma, pal."

[@JohnnyJohnsonEsq]

lol I very much appreciate such comments

[@WhatIsSanity]

Yeah I'll show you plasma, buddy! Bites tongue* have at thee, tin man!

[@shaynewheeler9249]

WW2 German veteran

[@guessundheit6494]

I was expecting other differences between the allied and German methods. The allies drew blood and stored it in bottles, while the Germans still relied on direct body to body transfusion. This meant allied soldiers could donate and return back to the fight, while a healthy German donor soldier was sidelined along with an injured one.

[@bruhism173]

Idk that's fair, bro gives some blood let him rest

[@cantbanme8971]

Germany lacked the manpower to rotate troops off the line easily like that compared to the US though.

[@WhatIsSanity]

That and donations could be given in the field right where a soldier had fallen to ease shock and increase survival chances even before reaching triage.

[@mickvonbornemann3824]

The British used whole blood, the US used plasma

[@thekhoifish0146]

We’ve gotten the double Johnny Johnson special for Christmas lads

[@JohnnyJohnsonEsq]

One new. One old. =)

[@Vextonomy]

Jolly johnson

[@ThommyofThenn]

JJ keeping it classy

[@thekhoifish0146]

@@Vextonomy YES

[@eamonnclabby7067]

Excellent...

[@Chiller11]

Great video. I’m a retired surgeon who’s done my share of trauma surgery, road accidents, gunshot wounds etc. most important is to replace volume which can initially be done with crystalloids or saline like solutions but if the patients have lost a great deal of blood whole blood may be necessary because it replaces RBC’s as well. If shock is prolonged or the patient continues to lose protein, like burn patients, a colloid like fresh frozen plasma is useful. Plasma and antibiotics saved thousands of lives in WW2. I’ve never had to resort to coconut milk thank goodness. Varicosely???

[@user-fl6te2eq7h]

❤ спасибо что вам что вы доктор .

[@shaynewheeler9249]

😢😢😮

[@Jay-ln1co]

One of the things we had to learn in medic training was the content of each of the two dozen boxes a field hospital is packed in. One of the boxes contained the various IV liquids, but for the life of me I can't remember the number. Had to check if one of my manuals had it, but wasn't in any of them.

[@ThommyofThenn]

Listening to anything about blood or getting wounded makes my skin crawl these days but this period footage is amazing! I've watched a ton of these documentary and "morale film" type things on my own time and found them endlessly fascinating. Almost like a film time capsule! Must have been a ton of fun to sift through and find the perfect footage for this. Cheers and hope you have the best holiday season possible

[@JohnnyJohnsonEsq]

Thanks, man, you too for 🎄 🎁 or whatever you choose to celebrate 🥳

[@PitFriend1]

I was familiar with plasma but honestly had never heard about the dehydrated version. I did always wonder how field medics had plasma available. The more you know!

[@AlexSDU]

I'm more curious how the field medic get distilled water when sometime normal clean drinking water is in limited supply. Would they use drinking water as replacement for distilled water to liquefy the plasma?

[@bungarraoz254]

Probably boil and filter it first, maybe.@@AlexSDU

[@Yostuba]

While reading the Patton papers two weeks ago. General Patton brought up plasma many times everytime a hospital was spoken about, as if it was something magical and one of the things winning the war. It really was the elixir of life. Medical tech during WWII was insane how far it progressed in such a short amount of time.

[@jacobrigby3172]

can we also appreciate how much of an advantage penicillin provided the allies?

[@mbryson2899]

My mouth is agape, Johnny. Very, very few pay attention to blood replacement, much less share their research and make a video about it. As a former hospital worker you have my truest thanks. 😊

[@JohnnyJohnsonEsq]

Thanks man I was hoping you'd appreciate this one. The research was tricky as was trying to distill it down to something everyone including myself could understand. Blood is wildly complicated.

[@mbryson2899]

@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq You read me very well, and I'm certain others as well! Thank you again Johnny, you never fail to deliver.

[@eamonnclabby7067]

​@@JohnnyJohnsonEsqas ex NHS staff ...we salute you...

[@fortawesome1974]

Wow imagine how many hundreds of thousands of lives this saved!! I'm an ex Infantry combat veteran and seeing this made me realise the extent they went to to save wounded soldiers in the field. I also know that in Vietnam (my Dad was an Australian Tunnel rat there is a book about them called "No Need For Hero's") the South Vietnamese army used coconut water straight from the nut as an IV. It didn't replace the blood but it was able to keep them alive until they got to a hospital or medic and it worked!! It was used on Australian reporter Neil Davis when he got shraped by a mortar and wounded badly. He lived to tell the tale so it obviously works. I paused and wrote this before you mentioned the coconut water. Wow, what a coincidence. Look at the records of South Vietnamese medics and you will find many men were saved using it as a stop gap to get to proper medical help!!

[@Curious359]

A key concept that we've realised in terms of IV fluid replacement is sometimes patients survive inspite of what we do not because of it.

[@jerrysmooth24]

Waverly Woodson deserves the MOH he saved twice as many lives as Desmond Doss on Normandy and later became a doctor and worked at NIH.

[@JonSkinner1944]

Thank you, explaining plasma and blood. It’s was very interesting, especially with the background of methods making plasma. As suggestions, your next should be medical evacuation from the battlefield. From the American civil War horse drawn ambulances to the Vietnam War and helicopter dust off. And again, thank you for all your hard work and contribution!

[@amirmoezz]

This was very educational. Thank you.

[@Great_Sandwich]

9:28 - That's it. I think I just died, and came back. 😵‍💫 Outstanding research on this one, Johnny. I had no idea of most of this. Well done. O-positive that this was one of your best.

[@bigblue6917]

Thanks, Johnny. An interesting departure from your usual fair and in an area not usually covered in other channels. I hope you can continue finding such gems.

[@TheTrooper506]

Cool video, nice departure from weapons and vehicles. Suggest super glue for a video subject, medics used it in the vietnam war and its history goes back further to gun sight research and development during ww2.

[@JohnnyJohnsonEsq]

Super glue! Very cool idea. Adding it to my list.

[@sisyphous5849]

I’ve been studying medicine, and having it coincide with your history videos is lovely to see. Great work!

[@JohnnyJohnsonEsq]

Thank you so much and good luck to you 👍❤️

[@shaynewheeler9249]

😢😢😢😢😢😢😢

[@paulwee1924dus]

Plasma very important! Most Waffen SS soldiers indeed had a blood group tattoo. Some cut these out of their arms in 1945. Himmler had none. And in the miniseries "Hitler's SS" (1985) we see a tattoo that is wrong. Instead of the blood group, the SS officer Helmut Hofmann had 2 SS runes on his upper arm, which meant his death.

[@fraserihle4847]

There’s always some random autistic waffling about something unrelated 😂😂

[@ljackson8597]

@@fraserihle4847😭😭

[@magila1]

Not that unrelated Jonny mentioned the fact that SS soldiers had their blood type tattooed on them.@@fraserihle4847

[@tmanF4]

@@fraserihle4847Bold of you to insult someone’s interest in random history… under a video about a random history 😂

[@fraserihle4847]

@@tmanF4 WW2 content is specifically riddled with random autistic boomers posting some novel of a comment that in unrelated to the video. Sorry if you feel insulted….I thought it was funny 🙄

[@TrickiVicBB71]

Really educational there Johnny. Have a happy holiday

[@geordiedog1749]

One of your best videos yet, JJ. And the end pun was brilliant. I know I shouldn’t encourage you but that was a good one!

[@gilschannel641]

Awesome piece on a difficult subject. Thanks Johnny

[@LanceKnott]

One of your best uploads, and that's saying something, thank you.

[@fancyultrafresh3264]

This was WILDLY informative, thank you so much.

[@Chris-lr2qb]

Genuinely one of the most fascinating videos you've produced. I learned so much.

[@Mag_Aoidh]

Very cool Johnny!

[@hanzgetzaluger5852]

Finally, I have always wanted to know this! Thanks I freaking love your content

[@michael2974]

Thanks Johnny, this was a great video, and a fascinating topic. Good luck to you.

[@Lord_winterfell]

Great vid one of your best, not to say that your other videos are bad but that was very informative about somthing that was essential for the allies and generally overlooked. I learned from you a new thing Thank you

[@parallel-knight]

That was fricking sick! Dope video man.

[@richardglady3009]

That was a great video. Thank you for all your hard work in its creation. I love videos looking at little known, but vital bits of history…plasma, for example. Thanks.

[@achiu31]

This was an interesting watch, as I'm in the blood transfusion field and did not know about the use of storing plasma in powdered "freeze-dried" form. Nowadays we keep our plasma products frozen until thawed for use, so I'm wondering what the storage costs/benefits are of powdered vs frozen. 🤔

[@KB-313]

Super informative Johnny, great stuff!!

[@timothygourley5690]

That was a great video, thank you

[@harrybuckner8232]

Quick added note, Whole Blood & Plasma contains Platelets & Cryoprecipitate.

[@JohnnyJohnsonEsq]

I just went with the term clotting factors to make it easier on myself and the average audience.

[@harrybuckner8232]

@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq no problem. I used to work for a local blood bank so I just want to update

[@JohnnyJohnsonEsq]

I appreciate it all added info my friend and respect the work greatly 👍🙏

[@scottycooley6459]

@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq Clotting factors doesn't mean that it will form blood clots. Coagulation is rather complicated. Different clotting factors in the plasma and serum work with platelets to form blood clots. Platelets generally get separated from the plasma before being dried. So plasma on it's own doesn't form blood clots, it will only help the remaining platelets and fibrinogen in the patients body to form clots.

[@TellySavalas-or5hf]

Great intel here. John. You are the best from the YT Block,

[@russellhaskell7313]

Fantastic video! keep up the great work!

[@masterofrockets]

This was a fascinating episode! I look forward to more content like this!

[@AJBrayWrites]

That was legitimately one of the most fascinating videos I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching. Also, I was delighted to see someone finally use a clip from Passchendaele. 6.7 stars out of 5. Subscribed.

[@JohnnyJohnsonEsq]

Thank you so much glad you enjoyed it 🙏

[@thedarknightmedic6187]

Great video. Thank you for putting in the research to make it.

[@Materialist39]

This is an excellent video, keep it up Johnny. While I love the clips channel, these genuinely are fascinating video essays about often portrayed, but rarely converted, topics.

[@Propganda]

Great vid Johnny

[@scorcher46]

Never would've known this without your video, thanks for these amazing videos.

[@dellawrence4323]

Awesome video Boss, very educational, I hope people appreciate the amount of research you must have done to make it.

[@jgonzalez101]

Thank you for sharing this very interesting and informative video! I'm glad to know how and what type of blood products were used in WWII, and prior. This was a great watch!

[@RolfYeager]

Good video as always and yes a little different from the usual videos but just as entertaining and informative

[@niagarawarrior9623]

I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for making these videos, I recently discovered you channel and have found every topic so far to be interesting, well presented, and informative.

[@JohnnyJohnsonEsq]

Well thank you for leaving the kind and motivational words.

[@ugarit5404]

Thank you for covering this overlooked part of war,maybe youll do more similar videos in the future

[@Volhaas]

Very interresting johnny, Thanks for the video!

[@carmenpuddinpop8642]

Very nice. Thanks, Johnny!

[@peterpellegrino]

i appreciate you covering this topic.

[@andrelagoy8968]

Love your videos man, thanks for the great work

[@idaho_girl]

Super interesting video. Well done and Thanks!

[@BWIENS789]

Alot of good information packed in a video under 10 minutes. I learned some new stuff. You should do one on antibiotics.

[@tippytoes2133]

I have often wondered about this in the back of my head, great video!

[@livelurked4103]

Great content as always!

[@lorimeyers3839]

Wow, this is fascinating. Great upload.

[@jackshistory9378]

Really cool video, my great grandfather ran a blood bank in London during ww2 so it was great learning about what that entailed.

[@garfieldsmith332]

Thanks for posting this very important story in history. I never knew anything about Plasma at all. A very interesting top. And well present by you. If you do come across some more medical stories you fell need sharing, please do.

[@tacdad1034]

I always enjoy your videos, this was different but very interesting!

[@traFREAK]

I legit just finished band of brothers.

[@JohnnyJohnsonEsq]

My favorite of all favorites

[@traFREAK]

@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq i loved it too! Kinda saddens me "old" series are looked down upon by younger generations. They are just as good if not better!

[@Zendria]

Keep it up Johnny. You're doing a great job. It was really interesting.

[@MoreFormosa]

great story idea, facinating... always saw the plasma bottles on the TV show MASH but had little understanding of the how/when/why of blood vs plasma transfusions. Well done!

[@shoked99]

Learned a lot here. Great video. Very interesting stuff as usual. Thanks.

[@archiegeorge3969]

Great video!

[@Argon32]

😲👍🥰Great topic choice, very well produced, informative, thanks a ton, Johnny. (long time viewer/subscriber)

[@Stonewielder]

This was a very informative video for me. Thanks!

[@allanalopez1756]

You should do more videos like this one it is very important that we all know this history ❤❤

[@thomasnguyen7696]

I really enjoyed this video, learned a lot!

[@richardcartwright2199]

great job thanks

[@oliveradams1270]

Thanks man really appreciate it this was great

[@olekl839]

Great episode

[@interstellarsurfer]

Excellent work.

[@williamashbless7904]

Great content again.

[@wiseguy3696]

This was a very interesting and unique topic. Greatly appreciate the research

[@petercabanillas244]

Outfreakinstanding! Excellent work!

[@jgonzalez101]

Great Video WW2 facts! Thank you for sharing! 👍

[@generalflowerhead2047]

The Advancement in Medical Technology is Often overlooked! Thanks for the Video! I learned so much.

[@Harudian]

Hey john. Thanks for the video. Can you make more like this?

[@JohnnyJohnsonEsq]

I'll do my best!

[@tratos56]

Wow ! how interesting ! Probably one of your best video; Great thanks for it 😃

[@aurathedraak7909]

I also believe that penicillin was a huge major factor in this war as well. Do that video and should be more.

[@StuartMcKenzie-me9wc]

That was really interesting and well presented. Am a former UK combat med tech and with all our cool kit these days, including whole blood, I didn’t even know this (hangs head in shame) but now I do!!! Thank you!!

[@philo6850]

Great video, I've been a routine blood donor every eight weeks with the American Red Cross for years, a fascinating bit of history, thanks!

[@cody481]

Fascinating. THANK YOU

[@RJM1011]

That was a GOOD learning video to watch thank you. 👍

[@panzerdragoonss4021]

Very interesting to be sure, Johnny.

[@pshabino]

A great topic. Whole blood was also used extensively on the battlefield in WWII. The US military learned a lot about shock treatment during the war. Unfortunately a lot of these lessons were lost in the civilian practice of trauma medicine particularly after end of the US involvement in Vietnam. From the late 70s into the 90s as our civilian trauma protocols leaned heavily on crystalloid transfusions to treat shock given their easy availability and low cost. Ultimately we’ve learned through lives lost that the oxygen carrying capacity, clotting factors and osmotic components of blood products, particularly whole blood or separate blood products transfused in a 1:1:1 ratio (platelet, fresh frozen plasma, packed red cells) are superior to crystalloid or any one component alone for patients in hemorrhagic shock.

[@R3TR0J4N]

Wow.. just wow holy, i had no idea and learned overall, this was an eye opener 😮

[@RX552VBK]

Very fascinating. JJ, how about a short vid on Morphine and those syrettes they used WW2 and later. I remember the scene in Hamburber Hill when Courtney Vance's character Doc was shot and Timm Quill's Pvt. Beletsky gave him a pop in the arm (in the rain and the mud).

[@williamromine5715]

You did a great job in your research and your presentation of this subject. Thank you, and keep up with your videos. They are very informative. Although I generaly knew about plasma use in the war, most of what you said was new to me(coconut milk for plasma?).

[@brianbarker2551]

That was interesting. Nice pun at the end too

[@andrewdewit4711]

Excellent concise and fact-packed transfusion!

[@TheAtomicblast]

Vericosely, nice haha. But I was wondering about this after Band of Brothers. Thanks for this!

[@OhioCruffler]

Bloody well done!

[@Erwin_Von_Heidenheim]

Most interesting, I learned something new

[@12345maxtor]

Bloody good video

[@Jellytarts1]

Great video

[@eamonnclabby7067]

Best battlefield IV I saw was in the Falklands...will share this with Mrs C..ex QARNC captain...cheers Johnny...

[@kapten-awesome]

It be really cool if you did a video about surgeon's and surgeries in the field in ww2. :)