John 襃ack� D. Flanagan, M.D., talks about his early years growing up during the Depression in Coos Bay, OR, his education at the University of Oregon and University of Oregon Medical School during World War II, his internship in Honolulu and residency in El Paso as an active service member, and his career in surgery in private practice after returning to Coos Bay. After entering private practice, he maintained a relationship with UOMS by regularly attending continuing medical education seminars and would often refer tough or unusual cases to faculty at Marquam Hill until his retirement in 1980. In this interview, Flanagan recalls some of the more interesting cases he saw over the course of his career, the rise of health insurance in private care, the use of intramedullary nails in orthopedic surgery, and the role of the surgeon versus that of the general practitioner in medical care.