LX. The World War—Base Hospital No. 41
One of the most vital and successful of all the services
which the University of Virginia performed in the prosecution
of the war in France was the establishment of
Base Hospital No. 41 in Paris. It had, at one time, been
hoped that the institution would be able to organize
such a hospital through its own medical faculty alone,
but it was quickly perceived that this could only be done
by closing the doors of the medical department. It was
then hoped that such a hospital could be founded by enlisting
the medical staff from the ranks of its alumni.
After interviews with Dr. W. D. Anderson,—who had
recently come back from France,—and the President of
the University, Dr. W. H. Goodwin, the associate professor
of surgery, and Lewis D. Crenshaw, who had
been instrumental in organizing the two ambulance units,
visited Washington for the purpose of consulting with
Colonel Kean, the Director General of Medical Relief
of the Red Cross. He approved of the selection of the
staff from the alumni, on condition that the enrolled
personnel should satisfy all the prerequisites laid down
for the medical enlisted reserve corps; and that the
nurses too should hold the diplomas of a training school
in a hospital having under treatment, on the average,
not less than fifty patients a day.
The typical base hospital called for twenty-four medical
officers commissioned in the Medical Officers' Reserve
Corps, one chaplain, fifty primary nurses, fifteen reserve
nurses, and one hundred and fifty-three men, of ages
ranging between eighteen and forty. Fifteen civilian
employees were also required. An organization committee
composed of President Alderman, Professor
Hough, Professor Flippin, Professor Goodwin, Miss
Cowling,—the superintendent of the University training
school,—and Lewis D. Crenshaw, was authorized to
assemble this force for the projected Base Hospital No.
41. Miss Cowling enrolled sixty-five graduate nurses,
with nine additional in reserve. In order to secure the
men, an application was first made to all alumni of the
classes from 1908 to 1916, exclusive of former medical
and engineering students; but the choice was not restricted
to this circle, or even to the alumni of the University of
Virginia, for, as already stated, there were needed experts
in an extraordinary variety of trades,—assistants
in laboratory, dispensary, and operating-room, bakers,
carpenters, cobblers, electricians, interpreters, machinists,
metal-workers, orderlies, pharmacists, photographers,
plumbers, stenographers, telegraph and telephone
operators, watch-menders, waiters, and barbers.
To avoid the delay that would be caused by rejection
for physical deficiencies, about three hundred and fifty
of the applicants were accepted,—from which number,
the desired one hundred and fifty-two sound men were
subsequently to be chosen; but before this could be
effected, the order arrived from Washington that the personnel
were not to be formally enlisted without further
instructions, and moreover, it was announced that the
right to enlist at all was suspended for the time being.
The Director General of Medical Relief also required
that the medical staff should be increased to thirty, the
number of nurses to one hundred, and the total of the
personnel to two hundred, just as soon as the right to
enlist was restored. But these directions were afterwards
recalled, as well as the earlier order to enlarge
the capacity of the hospital to one thousand beds.
The confusion resulting from this fickle and halting
course of action could not be removed by the repeated
visits which Professor Goodwin made to Washington.
At last, all further effort seemed to be rendered hopeless
by the announcement that the Government could not
then furnish the necessary supplies; and that, unless
Base Hospital No. 41 could procure them at its own expense,
it would not be called into service at once. It
was estimated that forty thousand dollars was the smallest
sum that would be required for the purchase of the
indispensable equipment. How was this to be obtained?
Everything was in a completed state for an early start
if the money could only be got. All the physicians had
joined the Medical Officers' Reserve Corps, and all the
nurses, the Red Cross, in anticipation of certain and
early employment in France. Staff and personnel were
only waiting for the word of command to enter upon the
first stage of their undertaking.
At a joint meeting of the respective representatives
of the branches of the Red Cross in Norfolk and Richmond
and the base hospitals Nos. 41 and 54, forty thousand
dollars was promised by the Richmond and Norfolk
chapters; and the amount to be thus secured was increased
to $53,500 by the separate guarantee of the chapters of
Portsmouth and Lynchburg; but this generous action
seems to have been rendered practically nugatory by the
opposition of the General American Red Cross to the
use of such funds for the equipment of base hospitals
at all. At this critical moment, it was announced that
the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks had collected
from its own members one million dollars to be expended
for war relief. It happened that the Exalted
Ruler of this great organization was Frederick Harper,
of Lynchburg, a loyal and distinguished alumnus of the
University of Virginia. It occurred to Dr. Goodwin
that, through the personal intervention of Mr. Harper,
Base Hospital No. 41 might be successfully financed; and
this expectation soon proved to be well grounded. The
Elks' War Relief Commission, at Mr. Harper's solicitation,
promised to appropriate sixty thousand dollars for
that purpose, and even more, should it be required.
Dr. Goodwin and Mr. Fanning, the secretary of the
Order of Elks, met in Washington and arranged with
the purchasing department of the American Red Cross
for the acquisition of the necessary equipment. This
equipment embraced all the materials essential to a complete
outfit for kitchen, mess, and laundry on a great
scale; for the commensurate office, ward, and operating
rooms; and for the living-rooms of doctors, nurses,
and enlisted men. There were also needed many sets of
surgical instruments and x-ray apparatus, and also numerous
ambulance trucks, bicycles, and touring cars.
Electric fixtures, drugs, surgical dressings, splints, and
orthopedic appliances also were called for in large quantities;
and an ice-plant too must be provided.
When the medical staff of Base Hospital No. 41 had
been first chosen, Dr. Hugh Nelson, of the University
Faculty, who was a captain in rank, was appointed chief;
but he was afterwards ordered to Camp Lee; and while
there, was placed in charge of a field hospital. This
constrained him to withdraw from the staff of Base Hospital
No. 41. The corps of officers, as finally made up,
consisted of Major W. H. Goodwin, director, Major
Lomax Gwathmey, chief of the surgical section; Major
Charles S. Venable, quartermaster; and nine others who
held the commission of captain, and one, Rev. Beverly
D. Tucker, Jr., that of chaplain. There were also twelve
first-lieutenants, most of whom belonged to the surgical
division; there were, in addition, two connected with the
laboratory section and two with the dental; and there
was, besides, one expert in the use of the Roentgen ray.
Some of these officers had been pursuing special courses
in medicine or surgery, in anticipation of their duties in
the hospital service,—of this number, were Major
Gwathmey, Major Venable, and Captain Minor C. Lile.
Among the one hundred nurses under the leadership of
Miss Cowling were dieticians, anaesthetists, assistant
training school superintendents, and assistants in the
operating room.
We have seen that the right to enlist the personnel of
one hundred and fifty-two men,—afterwards increased
to two hundred,—had been suspended, for a time, by
order from the War Department. On August 30
(1917), this order was withdrawn, and during the following
month, the men were assembled, physically examined,
and enrolled as privates. They were then temporarily
dismissed. It was not until February 20,
(1918) that they,—then residing in their widely dispersed
homes,—were summoned by telegraph to return
to the University for mobilization. Instructions had
been brought from Washington by Lieutenant H. T.
Jackson, whom Major Goodwin had chosen as his assistant,
that the Hospital force, so soon as it could be
got together, should set out for Camp Sevier, in South
Carolina.
The first roll was called in the shadow of the University
hospital, and all,—although some resided as far
apart as Seattle and Tampa,—answered to their names.
The drill took place on Lambeth Field; and the exercises
with the bicycles were carried out in the region surrounding
Charlottesville. Daily lectures were also delivered
on the various subjects which would fall under observation
in the active service. The members of the hospital
contingent were sheltered in the local hotels and the
dormitories of East Range; and the meals of a large
number were provided by the kitchen of Commons Hall.
On the 5th of March, they entrained for Camp Sevier.
After their arrival there, they were, for a time, put in
quarantine, in accord with regulations to which all new
comers had to submit. At first, they were housed in a
long row of canvas tents, where their beds consisted of
canvas cots padded with straw-stuffed sacks, while plain
wooden boxes served as their tables, chairs, and wardrobes.
Their principal amusement now seems to have
been to exchange flights of arrows of wit with the tenants
of an enclosure nearby in which troops soon to depart
were always stationed. This enclosure was known as the
bull pen. Its occupants, at this time, showed, by taunts
and gibes, their contempt for the raw "rookies" over the
way, who, still unequipped, were compelled to wear their
old civilian clothes, and to remain,—in appearance at
least,—entirely alien to their real professional character.
To prepare them to combat exposure to disease, the
members of the unit were subjected to inoculations for
typhoid and small-pox. In this interval of waiting, they
did a great amount of rough work,—swept the roads,
dug ditches, prized up the stumps. "We did not know
any better," sadly says Bernard P. Chamberlain, one of
the members of the unit, to whom we are indebted for an
interesting diary of these events. "We worked our
heads off nearly. People stopped to watch us, their
looks showing admiration and surprise."
Near the end of April, the contingent was assigned to
duty in Camp Sevier itself. Here the hospital work
began. There were various wards in the camp hospital,
—one for prisoners, one for lunatics, others for sufferers
from different maladies. Down to this time, the medical
officers of the unit had not reported for duty, since
they were engaged elsewhere, as already stated, in pursuing
special preparatory lines of research. Lieut.Colonel
Julian Cabell had now taken over the command.
The unit, having been ordered to Camp Mills, on Long
Island, was safely established there by June 19. Here
Major Goodwin, who had been promoted to the rank of
Lieutenant-Colonel, was assigned to the position of head
of the surgical branch. This camp was situated only
four hundred yards from aviation field No. 1, and the
members of the unit were awakened the morning following
their arrival by the buzzing sound of aeroplanes
flying overhead. The duties consisted of day drills and
night guard; but these were cut down as far as possible
so as to give the men much leisure to enjoy the amusements
of New York City.
