Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Lieutenant Colonel

Unit:

9th Medical Laboratory, Surgeon's Office, HQ, China-Burma-India Theater (CBI), U.S. Army

"For his untiring efforts and outstanding ability which contributed greatly to the control of communicable disease in the India-Burma Theater. As Commanding Officeer of the Ninth Medical Laboratory and theater consultant for medical laboratories, Lt. Col. Van Auken dtrove unceasingly to establish an efficiently operating base medical laboratory serving the specialized needs of the India-Burma and China Theaters. By co-ordinating and standardizing the work of all hospital laboratories he succeeded in organizing a theater-wide service for sanitary control of water and food supplies and the investigation of outbreaks of infestinal diseases, which resulted in appreciable lowering the incidence of epidemics."