WWII sub sailor known for appendectomy dies

NEW BERN, N.C. (AP) — Wheeler Lipes, a World War II pharmacist's mate who performed an emergency appendectomy aboard a submarine with makeshift instruments such as bent spoons, has died at 84, two months after receiving belated honors for his feat.

Lipes died Sunday after a battle with pancreatic cancer, said his brother-in-law, Chris Doney.

Lipes used bent spoons for retractors and alcohol from torpedoes for sterilization in 1942 when he removed the appendix of sailor Darrel Dean Rector aboard the USS Seadragon, 120 feet below the surface of the South China Sea.