Slicing Through the Military:
A Salute to the Brigadier General
A man of modest
beginnings, Dr.
Plugge became a
surgeon, was
named a chief
flight surgeon in
the Air Force,
rose to the rank
of Brigadier
General and was
professor of
surgery at the
Uniformed Ser-
vices University
of the Health
Sciences in
Bethesda, Md.
Reporters from around the world raced to Wiesbaden to cover the story, and Dr. Plugge fielded their questions. His biggest concern was the health and safety of the hostages, who were seized when militants stormed the U.S. Embassy on Nov. 4, 1979, in Tehran. “The hospital provided a cocoon for them,” says Dr. Plugge, a 1957 graduate. “They had been in prison for months. It was letting them ventilate.”
An entourage of politicians, including former President Jimmy Carter, Vice President Walter Mondale and Secretary of State Cyrus Vance met the hostages at the hospital. “I was on a high,” says Dr. Plugge, who had escorted President Carter through the hospital. “I thought the hospital and the staff had worked together in an extremely professional manner. I was very proud of them.”
Indeed, Dr. Plugge is proud of what he has accomplished in his own career. A man of modest beginnings, Dr. Plugge became a surgeon, was named a chief flight surgeon in the Air Force, rose to the rank of Brigadier General and was professor of surgery at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. “I’ve had a fascinating life,” says Dr. Plugge, 71.
One of two children, Dr. Plugge grew up in Washington, D.C. His father was the general manager of a Washington leather goods company, and his mother was a bookkeeper. Dr. Plugge never intended to become a surgeon; he thought he wanted to become a dentist like his uncle Frederick, who drove nice cars and had vacation homes. “I really hadn’t focused on what I wanted to do in my life,” Dr. Plugge recalls. “Everybody assumed that I was going to work in my father’s store.” He told his friends that he wanted to become a dentist, and they gave him the nickname, “Painless Plugge.”
Dr. Plugge attended the University of Pennsylvania and excelled in his studies. But many of his friends planned to go to medical school, and they wondered why he wanted to spend the rest of his life “looking in the mouths of people.” Dr. Plugge recalled his response: “Have you considered what a proctologist does?” He thought about his career again, talked it over with his father, and switched to medicine.
Dr. Plugge focused on surgery, and in 1957, he graduated from Maryland. He moved to Montreal, Canada and completed a rotating internship at the Royal Victoria Hospital in 1958. During his residency at Maryland, he was a reserve officer with the Air Force Reserve’s 628th Hospital in Baltimore. He completed his residency in 1962, and entered active duty as a general surgeon, assigned to the 7505th USAF Hospital at the RAF station in Burderop, England.
 Dr. Plugge with former President Jimmy Carter at the United States Air Force Hospital in Wiesbaden, Germany |
“That changed my life,” Dr. Plugge says. “I had a quality practice. A good practice that was doing 200 major cases a year. There was not a year while in England that I did fewer than 300.”
In 1964, Dr. Plugge returned to America and entered private practice. But within six months, he missed England and wanted to come back to the Air Force. He returned to active status with the 22nd Medical Services Squadron in Baltimore. And by July 1965, he was activated and finished a course in aerospace medicine at Brooks Air Force Base in Texas.
One year later, Dr. Plugge was named chief of the general surgery service at Malcolm Grow USAF Medical Center, Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, and became chairman of the department of surgery. At Andrews, Dr. Plugge was involved in the medical missions of the 89th Military Airlift Wing, and supported missions that involved President Gerald Ford, First Lady Rosalynn Carter, Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger, and Secretary of the Air Force John McLucas.
In 1978, he was tapped as chief of hospital services of USAF Hospital Wiesbaden, and less than two years later was named commander, in time to oversee the return of the American hostages. He held other positions with the Air Force following his service in Wiesbaden and retired in October 1991.
Since then, Dr. Plugge has given generously to the medical school. He endowed a chair in memory of Dr. Robert Buxton, the former chairman of surgery, who supervised Dr. Plugge’s training. He has provided money for a lectureship in memory of his late classmate and close friend, Charles Henderson, ’57; he created a Frederick W. Plugge IV Fellowship; and he established a professorship in memory of his parents, Campbell and Jeanette. “I wanted to name something for my parents in appreciation and gratitude for the roles they played in my becoming a doctor,” Dr. Plugge said. When asked why he has given so generously to Maryland, Dr. Plugge’s answer is a simple one: “It is my alma mater.”