I first met thrombin in 1962 and after living in sin, we formed a stable relationship in 1968 which persists  despite the tendency of thrombin to run off with other lover and form relationships with sodium ions developing new personalities.  However, what really amazes me is how much I missed about the past of this protein.  Oh, I knew about the early days in Iowa City where the thought was that, after its debut, it would be a staple in every barber shop.   That was followed by having to change names on a number of occasions while living in The Motor City.   In recent years thrombin has matured into a personality accepted by a broad range of biochemists. 
               I had largely missed your important role in World War II.  It was only recently that I came upon an interesting volume entitled "Blood Programs in World War II" edited by General Douglas B Kendrick which was published in 1964 (1).   This an extraordinary record of extraordinary people performing  extraordinary service. The Preface by General Kendrick is worth reading by anyone interest in program development.  While I was aware of some of work on thrombin that was performed during this period of time, there was considerable that I had missed. The thrombin work as the work on therapeutic immunoglobulin were very much secondary to the primary emphasis on albumin.  Thrombin was prepared from prothrombin contained in Cohn Fraction IV-1 (originally described as Fraction III-2)(3) by the action of tissue thromboplastin(2).  The derived thrombin was used for topical application but more often it was incorporated into derivative products such as fibrin foam and fibrin film using fibrinogen derived from Cohn Fraction I.   There was also civilian use of these products in the treatment of hemophlia.  Minot and Taylor (4) also used animal-derived thrombin for topical hemostasis.   The plasma fractionation industry that had been set up to support World War II disappeared after the war eliminating the supply of fibrinogen of thrombin.  Also, thrombin was found to be contaminated with hepatitis virus. Some fifty years, later thrombin reemerged as a component of fibrin sealant and as a free-standing therapeutic. Other early derivatives await resuscitation.

References
1. Blood Programs in World War II, ed. D.B.Kendrick, U.S Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1964.
2. Blood Programs in World War II., ed D.B. Kendrick, Chapter XIII, Byproducts of Plasma Fractionation, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1964.
3. Cohn, E.J., The separation of blood into fractions of therapeutic value, Ann.Int.Med. 26, 341-352, 1947.
4.  Minot , G.R. and Taylor, F.H.L., Hemophilia: The clinical use of antihemophilic globulin, Ann.Int.Med. 26, 363-367, 1947.