Henry M. Carney received the M.D. from Vanderbilt in 1933. He served his surgical residency at Vanderbilt, working with Dr. Barney Brooks and Dr. Alfred Blalock. When the United States entered World War II, Dr. Carney joined the Vanderbilt unit, the 300th General Hospital of the U.S. Medical Army Corps. Major Carney served as a surgeon with this unit, which was headquartered in Naples, Italy. While in Italy he became fluent in Italian and at the end of the war escorted several movie stars who came overseas to entertain the troops.

After the war, Dr. Carney moved to Texarkana, Texas, where he and another Vanderbilt graduate, Dr. Spencer Allen Collom, started a clinic. Dr. Carney remained in Texarkana for the remainder of his career, where he was a beloved physician and member of the community.

In retirement, Dr. Carney devoted much time to recording his memoirs of medical school days and his adventures in World War II for the Historical Collection in the Eskind Biomedical Library. These wonderful oral histories are a part of the Historical Collection.