Hospital at War: The 95th Evacuation Hospital in World War II

Ch1 Preparing for War

P R E P A R I N G F O R W A R 3 C H A P T E R 1 Preparing for War C amp Breckenridge was born in Morganfield, near Henderson, Kentucky, on March , . Flames of war fanned the camp into existence. The Axis powers had conquered Europe, and their rolling Panzer divisions were now overrunning North Africa, threatening to cut off the Suez Canal and close the most direct route to India and the Far East. Having yet to suffer a defeat, they seemed invincible, with only poorly armed Britain remaining to oppose them. In the Far East, the armies and navy of Tojo controlled the Eastern Pacific from Mongolia to New Guinea and were prepared to advance onAustralia.In the United States, people responded to Japan’s sneak attack on Pearl Harbor with a committed determination to destroy the forces of evil enslaving so much of the world. Nine months after Camp Breckenridge’s inception,the pastures around Morganfield had been divided into streets lined with two-story frame buildings separated by puddles of water and a sea of mud.Theth Evacuation Hospital was one of several military units assigned to this drab and dismal camp.Of the hospital’s three components that assembled at Camp Breckenridge in early , the doctors were recent graduates from the eastern part of the country; the nurses were drawn from civilian and military hospitals in the Midwest; and the non-professional support personnel mostly from Fort Francis E.Warren in Wyoming. (Constituted in  in the Regular Army as the th Surgical Hospital, the unit had been activated at Fort Warren on July ,, as the th Evacuation Hospital.) Upon their arrival at Camp Breckenridge,each group was an isolated unit, a stranger to the others; however, two years later, having overcome numerous dangers and endured many hardships of war together,they would be welded into a closely knit, efficient force capable of taking on any medical mission. 4 C H A P T E R 1 The enlisted personnel came first, activating the th as a strange hospital without a single doctor, nurse, or patient. They were well-trained, professional soldiers, and most of them had worked together on training exercises for nearly two years. After basic training, many had completed courses in various army technical schools. Under the command of Maj. Hubert Binkley they had erected and dismantled a field hospital on dozens of occasions—during the day and at night,under blackout conditions, and in fair and stormy weather. They were proficient in loading equipment ,traveling to a new destination,and,in record time,setting up a field hospital under combat conditions.Should a building be available for hospital use in the combat zone,they could make the necessary modifications and could establish a hospital under its roof as well as in tents in the field. They were hardened by long marches with full packs and bivouacs on an average of two weeks each month. Repeatedly they reviewed training films concerning medical support and logistics, and, although they were not to be involved in combat tactics,they were trained in approach,flanking , and rear guard deployment. Their discipline and morale were beyond doubt, and they were bonded into a wholesome, contented, and trustworthy organization. Beginning in January, , medical officers started reporting to headquarters at Breckenridge at the rate of about two or three per week. Some had received basic training in military operations and etiquette, many had not. They were civilians in uniform, and most would have preferred to be practicing medicine and surgery in their hometowns or, as in the cases of the younger ones,continuing their medical training.They griped that their competitors were reaping a profit in practice while they had to pass their time waiting in these depressing barracks. With a long war predicted, they faced the likelihood of remaining in the army for many years, and their inability to plan for the future and to support their families disturbed them. Compounding their depressed state were the training marches on the muddy parade ground, the conferences on military subjects, and technical films on medical logistics that seemed so irrelevant to scientific medicine. They might have been receptive to films on the treatment of casualties, but few of these were available, and those that were shown were outdated. Most of the doctors were trained in the practice of general medicine; twelve were practicing surgeons, including a thoracic surgeon, general...