Dr. Gilman Kirk
Skin Grafting Instrument
88mm mortar shell

This skin grafting instrument was made by Dr. Gilman Kirk during World War II from an 88mm mortar shell. The instruments supplied by the military did not work as well as Dr. Kirk would have liked, so he and a military engineer made this skin grafting instrument out of material that was available: an 88mm shell. This is an example of the ingenuity needed in battlefield medicine.