Mamiya Medical Heritage Center:

James Robert Judd

James Robert Judd was born May 20, 1876 in Honolulu, the son of Albert Francis and Agnes Hall (Boyd) Judd. He was the grandson of Dr. G.P. Judd, who came to Hawaii as a medical missionary in 1828 and became one of the "statesmen of Hawaii" in the years o f the Kamehameha dynasty.

Dr. Judd was one of nine children. His father was chief justice of the Supreme Court of Hawaii for 26 years and, like the grandfather played a prominent role in Hawaiian history during various critical periods.

His early education was received at Oahu College (now Punahou). He was granted an A.B. degree from Yale in 1897 and remained a staunchly loyal Yale alumnus throughout his lifetime. He got his M.D. degree from Columbia University in 1901. Dr. Judd interned at New York Hospital, New York City. He also took special work in the New York Post-graduate Medical School in 1902-03 and at Gottingen University in Germany.

In October 1903 he returned to Honolulu and started private practice.

In 1907 Dr. Judd served on a committee which founded the Kauikeolani Children's Hospital.

Dr. Judd married Louise Marshall of Chicago on February 29, 1908. The couple had two children, James Robert, Jr. and Alice Louise Judd.

Dr. Judd gave distinguished professional service in three wars -- the Spanish-American and World Wars I and II. He was also among the youngest Honolulu citizens to shoulder a rifle during the uprising against the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893.

In the Spanish American war he was a surgical assistant with the American Red Cross in Cuba.

In World War I both he and Mrs. Judd, who served as nurse's assistant, went to France and served in the battle areas. they volunteered with the American Ambulance Service long before the U.S. entered the conflict, and went to France together in 1915. Dr. Judd served first in Neuilly Hospital Seine, and was later made chief surgeon of the Juilly Hospital, Seine et Marne, from 1915-17. Mrs. Judd also served, nursing at the hospitals to which her husband was assigned. On their return to Hawaii in 1917, Dr. Judd wrote and published a book entitled "With the American Ambulance in France". All profits from its sale were sent to aid the fatherless children of France. He raised funds also by showing slides of pictures taken while serving in France.

This money was used towards the purchase of an Hawaiian ambulance.

In recognition of his conspicuous services to the French government during the war, Dr. Judd was awarded the Legion on Honor decoration on July 14, 1921.

On December 7, 1941, Dr. Judd was one of many physicians and surgeons who went to Queen's Hospital to care for the tide of burned and wounded which flowed in from Pearl Harbor and other naval and military posts as well as from certain city areas.

Following the First World War, Dr. Judd returned to Honolulu and resumed private practice. He was dean of surgery in Hawaii, employing many new surgical techniques. He was the first to use rubber gloves and an early advocate of attentive post-operative ca re and of getting the patient out of bed as soon as possible. He was associated with the Medical Group from its founding and served as Chief of Staff at the Queen's Hospital for a number of years. He frequently contributed articles to surgical journals.

A year before his death Dr. Judd's brother physicians paid him special honor on his 70th birthday when some 300 of them gathered to fete him and Mrs. Judd at the Ala Wai Officers' Club.

Dr. Judd died in San Francisco on June 2, 1947.

He was a member of the Territorial Medical Society, American Medical Association, Pacific Coast Surgical Association, a Fellow in the American College of Surgeons and a director of the American Hospital at Paris, France. He served on the Board of Health, the Territorial Board of Medical Examiners and as a trustee of the Honolulu School of Boys. He also held memberships in the University, Oahu Country and Hawaii Polo and Racing clubs. He belonged to Kawaihao Church in Honolulu.

Dr. Judd always maintained an active interest in foreign languages, speaking French and Hawaiian fluently as well as having a good knowledge of other languages.

He was an avid reader, covering a wide range of subjects, and traveled extensively.