Among Winston Churchill's many concerns as June 6, 1944, approached was whether there'd be enough penicillin to treat the troops wounded during the Allies' Normandy invasion, rediscovered official documents show. Months after D-Day, Britain's prime minister pronounced the efforts to obtain a supply of the antibiotic "very disappointing," the papers held by the National Archives indicate, reports the BBC, which has seen them. "The files give a glimpse into the extraordinary levels of preparation undertaken in advance of the D-Day landings," said Jessamy Carlson, modern records specialist.
Churchill was especially frustrated at the lack of supply because penicillin was discovered in London in 1928. When World War II started, a usable medicine to treat bacterial infections had still not been created from the bacteria-killing mold. Once a team of scientists conducted the first successful trials, the project had to be moved to the US to make large-scale production possible. His handwritten notes show the prime minister's distress that the US was "so far ahead" in its stockpile. On a Ministry of Supply report relaying that, Churchill wrote, "I am sorry we can't produce more."
In 1946, the "wonder drug" became fully available to the public. But in 1944, the priority was the military. The files include a telegram from a physician that year pleading for enough to treat a 10-year-old child. "No hope without penicillin," the telegram read. The request was turned down. (D-Day veterans gathered in Normandy on Friday for commemorations.)
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