three uniformed services, but also with the Public Health Service, the Veterans' Administration, and the National Research Council." 38[1]
Triservice Administration
The first Director under the triservice arrangement was Brig. Gen. Raymond O. Dart, who was succeeded on i August 1950, by General DeCoursey, with Capt. Arthur W. Eaton, MC, USN, as a Deputy Director. Nearly a year later, in June 1951, the three-man directorate was completed when Col. Ralph M. Thompson, of the U.S. Air Force Medical Corps was named as the Deputy Director from the Air Force. On 15 February 1952, Capt. William M. Silliphant, MC, USN, was named Deputy Director, in the place of Captain Eaton. This triumvirate continued as the directorate of the Institute until mid-1955, after the move into the new building.
Preliminary to the move was a meeting called by Maj. Gen. Leonard D. Heaton, Commanding General of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, for the purpose of clarifying the various logistical relationships between the Medical Center and its several components, and the newest member of the Center, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. The meeting, held on n August 1954, was attended by key staff personnel of the Medical Center, the Military District of Washington, the Office of The Surgeon General of the Army, and the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.
In convening the meeting, General Heaton "made it plain at the onset that the AFIP is basically a tripartite organization — Army, Navy, and Air Force. It is a separate, distinct class 2 organization under administrative jurisdiction of The Surgeon General of the Army and under command of the Director. Although the AFIP will be physically located on the Post at Walter Reed, the only command responsibility that will be exercised by the Center will be of necessity in those areas of administration and logistical support, the responsibility for which has been laid down in SGO Administrative Letter 1-6. Insofar as those areas are concerned, the Director of AFIP will coordinate his activities with the Center Command." 39[2]
General Heaton proposed that the various questions raised be taken up "item by item * * * to assure that the proposed solutions are mutually agreeable to all of us." His opening remarks set the tone of a friendly and fruitful meeting which dealt with practical questions as to matters of personnel, official orders, transportation and travel, protection and surety services, cus-
