Dr. Howard A. Buechner, 84, Renowned Physician
Louisiana Lou
Thursday November 27, 2003
From staff reports
Dr. Howard A. Buechner, a retired doctor who was a nationally known
specialist in respiratory disease, died Monday at his home. He was 84.
Dr. Buechner, a lifelong resident of the New Orleans area, also was a
retired Army colonel, an emeritus professor of medicine at the Louisiana
State University School of Medicine, an author, a painter and an art
collector.
Dr. Buechner was born in New Orleans and graduated from Metairie High
School; Tulane University, where he was named to the Phi Beta Kappa honor
society; and the LSU School of Medicine, where he was named to Alpha Omega
Alpha, a medical honor fraternity.
After finishing medical school in 1943, he spent four years as an Army
doctor, serving in Germany and receiving the Bronze Star and Medical Combat
Badge.
He was the first American doctor to enter the Nazi death camp at Dachau, an
experience he recounted 40 years later in a book, "Dachau: The Hour of the
Avenger," which describes how American soldiers and freed inmates executed
hundreds of German soldiers at the camp even though the soldiers had
surrendered.
Upon returning to the United States, Dr. Buechner trained further in
internal medicine and pulmonary disease and then joined the staff at what
was then known as New Orleans Veterans Memorial Hospital, eventually
becoming its chief of staff.
He was on the faculty at Tulane University School of Medicine before joining
the LSU faculty.
At LSU, he won several awards for teaching excellence and was named alumnus
of the year. A professorship of medicine at the school bears his name after
being endowed in his honor by former students.
Dr. Buechner wrote several books about World War II, a biography of
Louisiana artist Alexander Drysdale and a biography of his own grandfather,
Louisiana artist and lithographer Daniel Buechner.
A member of several medical organizations, he also wrote 120 medical
articles and book chapters.
Dr. Buechner's wife, author Emajean Jordan Buechner, died in 2001. Survivors
include a nephew, James Carter of Globe, Ariz., whom Dr. Buechner adopted as
a son.
A Mass will be celebrated Monday at 2 p.m. at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral
Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd. Visitation will begin at noon. Burial will be
in Lake Lawn Park Cemetery.
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