US Army Hospitals

[norwichpaul]

US ARMY HOSPITALS

US Army hospitals were generally known as General Hospitals or Station Hospitals; they were manned by personal of the Medical Corps (equivalent to the British RAMC). As a general rule, hospitals having a bed capacity of 1000 or more were General Hospitals. In addition to these, a number of dispensaries was also established at the ports, and in certain other places; these were the equivalent to the British Reception Stations.

Port Dispensaries were established to care for the sick and wounded of personnel in transit and port staff. Patients were retained in dispensaries not longer than 72 hours; if further treatment was necessary they were then evacuated to the nearest US Army Hospital.

In cases of emergency a patient would be sent to the nearest British Military, or Emergency Hospital. Patients were then transferred to a US Military Hospital as soon as they were fit to travel. The Merton Hotel (50 beds) at Liverpool Docks, and Tredegar Pill (45 beds) at Newport Docks were US Army Dispensaries.

US Military Hospitals were generally established within five miles of an Ambulance Train Railhead. Examples include:

▪ Wolverley – 52nd General Hospital (1,084 beds) – railhead at GWR Kidderminster, at two miles distance
▪ Bewdley – US Army Camp & Hospital located at Wolverley Castle (capacity 4,400 personnel) – railhead at GWR Stourport Park Sidings, at 1.5 miles distance.

Ambulance trains were given identification numbers, for example No.61 HAT was used by the US Army for their own use and was stabled at Sudbury.

[david watkins]

Hi Paul, have been searching and finally found an American Army hospital I was sent to for a broken arm in 1943 whilst being evacuated in Sherborne village Glos.I believe I'm correct in saying it was 'Bradwell Grove Camp' in Burford and at the time I was admitted, 7 years old, there were somewhere in the region of 8 to 9 hundred wounded arriving from I believe, Dieppe. I was apparently classed as a VIP being the youngest 'wounded' in a side ward. Wonderful but sad memories when some of the walking wounded popped their heads arond the door to say hello. I was 'mended' by a Surgeon Colonel who was woken at 1 a.m to put my arm straight, In the morning I was treated to peaches and cream packets of Lifesavers, chewing gum and milk chocolate, great memories for a seven year old. My elder sister found work at one of the air bases there and I remember seeing all the planes and gliders leaving for Normandy , thanks for your time Dave.

[norwichpaul]

Thanks for that David, very interesting.

[OneEighthBit]

David,

I know where that is

It was the hospital just north of RAF Broadwell which for years I thought was part of the airfield. I remember that when on occasion we would drive down that road to the wildlife park with my dad you could see derelict huts through the trees. I spent one summer working as a labourer on a building site in Filkins and tried to sneak up there for a look during my lunch break but it was farther than I thought

Sadly it's gone now, built over by a housing estate and caravan park and I regret not trying to visit it when I explored Broadwell airfield all those years ago. You can still see it on Google Earth though if you wind the clock back to 1945 though.

Many many years ago (circa 1999) I found a website by a chap who had been posted there who had gone back to visit. He'd photographed the derelict buildings and commented on what they all were and his memories of it. Sadly it's vanished off the web now - I guess he too passed on and the website got deleted after time.

There are references to the camp on these two sites if you're interested though:

http://med-dept.com/testimonies/harriett_lecours.php
http://med-dept.com/testimonies/william_dutcher.php
http://hospitals.med-dept.com/203rd..../itinerary.php