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The 24th Field Hospital
The 24th Field hospital was activated at Camp White
Oregon on August 19, 1942. Initially, the cadre consisted of 24 enlisted
personnel and one officer. When fully staffed the Field Hospital could perform approximately eighty operations
a day. A field hospital platoon supported an infantry division and was usually
located at the level of the clearing station. Its function was to operate solely
on casualties hit in the chest, abdomen, or large bone of the leg. Of course,
other wounds were fixed at the same time, but the idea was to bring major
surgery as close to the line as possible. All other casualties followed a route
back to the evac hospitals. Each of the field hospital's three platoons
consisted of about 60 enlisted men, six nurses, and about a half dozen
surgeons.
The first commanding officer of the 24th was 1st
Lieutenant Alvin M. Josephs, M. D. By November or 1942, the 24th would have two
other commanding officers with Lt. Col. L. B. Hanson, M. D. assuming command on
that date.
>Evacuation hospitals had 53 nurses each and could
accommodate up to 750 patients. Doctors operated on patients sent from field
hospitals. Patients with postoperative stomach wounds were routinely kept in an
evacuation hospital ten days before they were sent on, and those with chest
wounds were usually kept at least five days before they were evacuated.
Critically wounded patients needing specialized treatment were air evacuated to
station and general hospitals. Stable patients requiring a long recuperation
were sent on via hospital ship. Station and general hospitals advanced more
slowly than field and evacuation hospitals and were usually housed in
semipermanent locations.
Over 85 percent of those soldiers operated on in field
hospitals survived. When postoperative patients grew strong enough, they were
transported by ambulance to evacuation hospitals.
The Camp White Hospital was opened on August 19, 1942, it
was served by the Medical Division, Service Command Unit 1913. Initially
military personnel were treated at the Sacred Heart Hospital in Medford, but on
the 24th of July, 1942, temporary buildings were made available for the care of
the less serious cases.
When finished, the Station Hospital was the best equipped
1400 bed military medical facility on the west coast and contained more beds
than both Medford Hospitals do today. It has been said that it was constructed
of brick rather than wood because of the shortage of timber caused by military
camp construction throughout the United States. It was also rumored that the
brick construction was the result of the military realizing that they would need
several hospitals to treat the injured after the war. By April of 1945,
casualties were returning from overseas at 1200 a day with 50,000 having
returned during the previous 3 months.
A second hospital training facility was located in the
north-west corner of the Camp. This was the Evacuation Hospital. It was designed
for the tactical units and would train more field hospitals than any other post
in the country. One of these, the 20th field hospital' would be honored for it
gallantry in the March, 44 issue of Life Magazine. The 20th was cited for it's
action on Attu.
SCU 1913 not only staffed the post medical facility but
also was involved in the training of the Tactical Hospitals. By August, 1943,
these included 81st, 80th, 79th and 83rd General Hospitals, the 316th, 318th
Station Hospitals, the 23rd and 24th Field Hospitals, the 45th, 44th, 43rd, 42nd
and 41st Portable Surgical Hospitals. Each 1000 bed General Hospital had a
compliment of 105 nurses, 55 commissioned officers and 500 enlisted men. Because
of the shortage of authorized medical officers assigned to the station hospital,
medical personnel from the tactical hospitals were assigned to the Station
Hospital and provided medical service as well as serving as teachers in the
Station Hospital's medical school.
The 24th would eventually see service in the Pacific
Theater serving on Bouganville and Japan
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