Happy New Year!

"Then New Years' Eve came, and with it a lot of celebrating. There was a masked ball affair at the recreation hall, and everyone turned out, decorated in some sort of a costume. Many of the boys went to Mesves or some of the other small towns nearby and celebrated, and everyone seemed to be in the best of spirits.

New Years' Day was rather quiet, as the night before had had some effect on the men, and they did not feel quite so good as they did the day previous. There was very little work, and it was more or less of a holiday with everyone. The enlisted men had a very fine dinner in their mess hall, and after this a number of patients from the convalescent camp put on a vaudeville show, a stage having been constructed at one end of the mess hall."¹

A new year, 1919, dawned with the promise of peace. The men and women of Base Hospital 50, their workload diminishing, turned their attention to filling out the myriad of military paperwork, dismantling wards and other duties in anticipation they would soon receive orders to return to the United States to be mustered out of service.

The mood of the unit was light as they went around their work, there was more time to explore the French countryside and even take in a trip to Paris. It was a heady time. The influenza epidemic that had been raging worldwide for the past six months was finally winding down and the convalescing patients at the hospital center were recovering enough to begin their own journeys home. The experience would be one the men and women would carry with them the rest of their lives and, after returning home, they continued to gather, reminisce and remember their fallen comrades for decades to come. 

---

References:

1. United States. Army. Base Hospital No. 50. The History of Base Hospital Fifty: A Portrayal of the Work Done by This Unit While Serving in the United States and with the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Seattle, Wash. : The Committee, 1922. Page 75.

100 Years Ago: Thanksgiving, 1918

Thanksgiving Day came, and with it came a very good time. Everyone was feeling in very high spirits, and there seemed to be so much to be thankful for this year. Turkey, with all the trimmings, was served to all, and it was indeed a very enjoyable meal.¹

With the war finally over, and the stream of wounded beginning to slow, the men and women of Base Hospital 50 were finally in a position to relax and enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday which took place on Thursday, November 28, 1918.

In just three short months, since the first patients arrived on August 15, the unit had seen thousands of patients pass through its wards. Five of its men had died as a result of hard work, making them susceptible to diseases such as diphtheria, influenza, and pneumonia. The most recent death, that of Bruce White, came just days before the war ended.

The work of the unit would continue into the new year, but for this Thanksgiving, the unit had much to be grateful for as the men and women, in their respective mess halls, cut into their holiday meal.

Base Hospital 50 Nurses in Mess Hall, Mesves, France, ca. 1918-1919.

---

References:

1. United States. Army. Base Hospital No. 50. The History of Base Hospital Fifty: A Portrayal of the Work Done by This Unit While Serving in the United States and with the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Seattle, Wash. : The Committee, 1922. Page 75.

100 Years Ago: On the Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month

At 11 a. m. on November 11 a French flyer alighted at the convalescent camp and brought the word that the armistice had been signed early that morning. A number of our men were away on short passes, and four of our men felt so good that when they got on the train to return from Nevers they forgot to get off until the train reached Paris. After spending several days in that gay city celebrating, they returned to camp and were brought up for being A. W. O. L. They were given slight sentences and fined, and then put to work in the incinerator.¹

Today marks the 1ooth anniversary since the guns of war were silenced, signaling an end to the Great War. The news didn't reach the men and women of Base Hospital 50, and the rest of the hospital center at Mesves, France, until several hours after the agreement was signed. The hope that the steady stream of wounded would slow after the war ended was short-lived as more forward hospitals began evacuating their wounded to the rear and the grueling work continued.

Meanwhile back home, Seattleites streamed into the streets in jubilation, despite the influenza ban in effect against public gatherings. The Great War would soon become known as World War I because it wasn't the War to End all Wars after all. A generation later an even great conflict would grip the world.

But one hundred years ago today, war-weary men on both sides of  No Man's Land laid down their weapons and came out of the trenches. And America celebrated its part in bringing this great conflict to an end. This pivotal event of the 20th-century would mark the beginning of America's emergence as one of the world's superpowers.

---

References:

1. United States. Army. Base Hospital No. 50. The History of Base Hospital Fifty: A Portrayal of the Work Done by This Unit While Serving in the United States and with the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Seattle, Wash. : The Committee, 1922. Page 75.

100 Year Ago: The Journey Begins... Again

Ships in Halifax Harbor. "Halifax at War". The Halifax Explosion.

The S. S. Karmala proved to be a very slow boat, and the morning after the convoy's departure from New York the ship steadily fell behind the other ships, which were much faster. The convey had to slow down so as to not lose sight of the Karmala. That first day at sea, the Karmala brought up the rear of the convoy. The next morning the Captain received word the Karmala was to proceed to Halifax, Nova Scotia to await another convoy.

On Wednesday morning, July 17, about 11:00 a.m., the Karmala entered Halifax harbor and dropped anchor. There the crew of Base Hospital 50 waited for three days while another convoy was assembled. On Saturday morning, July 20, they set sail again, now part of a convoy of twenty-two ships and a cruiser. It was "a very slow, tiresome journey, and lasted a very long ten days." The route the convoy took was far to the north, and most of the time it was cold and foggy. One highlight of the trip was when several large icebergs were spotted to the north of their route."Life on board ship was none too pleasant, as there was nothing to do to occupy one's time, and also the food was very poor at times. Many were very seasick and had to be put on deck or in sickbay."

---

References:

1. United States. Army. Base Hospital No. 50. The History of Base Hospital Fifty: A Portrayal of the Work Done by This Unit While Serving in the United States and with the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Seattle, Wash. : The Committee, 1922. Page 66.

100 Years Ago: The Journey Begins

"Early on the morning of July 13th, one hundred and ninety-nine men, accompanied by Col. Bryan, Maj. Eagleson, Capt. Plummer, Lieuts. Kantner, Denno, Van Den Bosch and Lybecker, put on their packs and started on one of the hardest hikes that we made. The men had just been issued their woolen uniforms and hob-nail shoes, and the march up over that long hill and down to the boat landing on that hot July day was about all that we could stand.

Pier 29, East River, New York. 
New York Public Library Digital Collections.

At 11:30 we went aboard a small river boat and started down the Hudson River, arriving at Pier 29 at the foot of Brooklyn Bridge at 1:30. We got off the boat and then had to stand in line with our packs on for two hours before our turn came to go aboard the boat. The Red Cross served us with coffee and doughnuts while we waited on the dock. The other fifteen officers were left at Pier 59 to go as casuals on the S. S. Baltic in the same convoy.

We went aboard the Karmala in command of Capt. Flannigan, U. S. A. The ship was formerly a British freighter in the P. & O. service, and had been used to carry cattle, and was not fit for anything else. The quarters were all very crowded and foul smelling, and the men had to spend most of the time up on deck. The rest of the ship's passengers were Base Hospital personnel and anti-aircraft troops.

Red Cross Base Hosptial 50 Photograph Album, 1918-1919.
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections, PH Coll 387.

It was not until the following morning, Sunday, at 11, that we left our moorings at the dock and started down the bay and joined the rest of our convoy, which had assembled there. The convoy consisted of twelve transports and a cruiser. While we steamed down the bay a huge dirigible balloon and two seaplanes flew overhead, and several sub chasers accompanied us until dark, and then turned back."

Like other vessels requisitioned as North Atlantic troop transports, the Karmala was painted with a wartime camouflage pattern known as dazzle. The dazzle pattern was not intended to hide the ship completely, but to make it difficult to estimate a ship's speed, direction, and dimensions. Every ship was painted a unique pattern to prevent them from being recognizable. By breaking up the ship's traditional coloring it served to confuse German U-boat rangefinders.

---

References:

1. United States. Army. Base Hospital No. 50. The History of Base Hospital Fifty: A Portrayal of the Work Done by This Unit While Serving in the United States and with the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Seattle, Wash. : The Committee, 1922. Page 66.

100 Years Ago: Arrival at Camp Merritt, New Jersey

Camp Merritt, N.J., Verne O. Williams, 1919. Library of Congress 2007664148.

"We arrived at Camp Merritt at 11a.m., July 10th, and were immediately marched to barracks. We had been advised that the Unit would probably have a delay here of about one week before sailing, but, owing to the late arrival of another unit scheduled to sail in three days, we were instructed to change our uniform equipment from cotton to overseas wool and heavy shoes (hobnail) at once and take their place.

This necessitated our working day and night in order to get everything in shape to leave. New wool clothing, hob-nailed shoes, and other articles were issued, and at the last moment, orders came in that all men should have their hair cut close, and this was not so popular with most of the men. The tails of the long overcoats were also shortened.

The History of Base Hospital Fifty, pg. 119.

One number of our unit. Jack Mullane, had to be left behind in the hospital at Camp Merritt on account of sickness. On arriving at Camp Merritt, Major Eagleson found that several of the officers assigned to the unit had not received orders to meet us there. He went to the Surgeon General's office in Washington, D. C, in an endeavor to have the orders changed, but was only partially successful, with the result that Capt. Karshner and Lieuts. Swift, Mattson and Cornet were not able to follow us, and other men were assigned by the Surgeon General's office to fill the vacancies. Lieuts. Schmidt and Hulett joined us here and the others came over on a later boat. Capts. Allen and Helton and Lieuts. Thompson and Buckner, of our own staff, were waiting here. Lieut. Mattice was ordered to join us, but failed to arrive before the unit sailed, and came over on a later ship."

---

References:

1. United States. Army. Base Hospital No. 50. The History of Base Hospital Fifty: A Portrayal of the Work Done by This Unit While Serving in the United States and with the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Seattle, Wash. : The Committee, 1922. Page 65-66.

100 Years Ago: Departure Orders Received

"Packing Up" July 2, 1918
Red Cross Base Hospital 50 Photograph Album, 1918-1919, pg 18.
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections, PH Coll 387.

During the month of June, the Unit received several tips from the War Department to be in readiness for orders to depart. On July 1st,  Brigadier General Joseph Leitch, Commanding Officer of Camp Fremont, inspected the Unit and gave a farewell address to the officers and wished them "Godspeed." Finally, on Tuesday, July 2, 1918, orders were received to pack up and prepare for their long-awaited overseas deployment.

Their departure set was for July 4th, which proved to be a very busy day. Camp was broken and tents and camp equipment were packed up and turned over to the Camp Quartermaster. At noon the Unit marched to a special train at the Remount Station. The train consisted of a combination observation and sleeping car, several sleeping cars, a baggage car outfitted as a commissary, a cook car, and freight cars for baggage. In addition, there were flat cars for ambulances and an automobile, crated and ready for overseas shipment, which had been donated by the people of the Seattle.

Goodbyes were said to families and friends, many of whom had followed the Unit to Palo Alto while they were in training. The schedule called for the Unit to be on board and ready to leave at 1:00 p.m, however, one of the wheels on the cook car was discovered to be badly cracked, requiring another to be sent over from a nearby train yard. Finally, about 5:00 p.m. the train steamed across the head of San Francisco Bay and proceeded through Oakland. Six months after their initial training meeting in Seattle, the Unit's eastern journey had begun. As noted in the Unit's history the train traveled over "the Central Pacific Railway to Ogden, thence over the Union Pacific Railway to Chicago, thence over the Michigan Central to Buffalo, thence over the Erie & Western to Camp Merritt, New Jersey."

Railroad in the United States, 1910
Maps ETC, etc.usf.edu/maps [map #02089]

References:

1. United States. Army. Base Hospital No. 50. The History of Base Hospital Fifty: A Portrayal of the Work Done by This Unit While Serving in the United States and with the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Seattle, Wash. : The Committee, 1922. Page 65.

100 Years Ago: Preparing for Gas Attacks

From The History of Base Hospital 50:

"On June 21st, several experts in gas drill, some being British Army officers, arrived from Camp Fremont, and, for five days, gave instructions to officers and men in the use of gas masks. Actual experience with gas was given each man in a gas tent especially erect for this purpose in camp."

"Ready for the gas"

Red Cross Base Hospital 50 Photograph Album, 1918-1919, pg 16.

University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections, PH Coll 387. 

---

References:

1. Seattle Daily Times, July 7, 1918, pg 7.

100 Years Ago: High-Class Men Wanted!

Seattle Daily Times, June 4, 1918, page 2.

On June 1, 1918, while the men were receiving training at Camp Fremont, near Palo Alto, California, Dr. Eagleson received the news that Base Hospital 50 would be increased from a 500-bed hospital to 1000 beds. This necessitated an increase in the number of enlisted personnel from 100 to 200 and an increase in officers from 25 to 35.

The increase in personnel was to come from a transfer from Camp Kearney. However, Eagleson thought that they would not integrate well so he went back to Seattle and enlisted an additional 50 men; nevertheless, the Kearney men were still transferred.

Seattle Daily Times, 

June 5, 1918 page 5.

Eagleson ran newspaper ads seeking "high-class men" for enlistment, encouraging those interested to visit his home at 902 Boren Avenue June 5-7th. Eagleson's home was located on Seattle's "First Hill", so-named because it was the first development after early settlers moved out of the original townsite. The grand turreted home in the lower left-hand corner of the postcard below is believed to be that of Dr. and Mrs. Eagleson.

100 Years Ago: South to Camp Fremont

After several months of preparations, the men of Base Hospital 50 were finally on the move! On Saturday, April 6 – exactly one year after Wilson's declaration of war on Germany – Major Eagleson led his unit to Camp Fremont, near Palo Alto, California, for further training."Wives and sisters, sweethearts and mothers, gathered at the station an hour before train leaving time, in order to 'surely be there when Jim left.' The men, many of whom are among the best known in the city, and many of whom are former University of Washington students, were given a rousing sendoff by Seattle friends" and boarded a train headed south to continue their training in anticipation of soon being deployed overseas.¹

The special train, which departed at 11:15 a.m., consisted of "Pullman sleepers, a dining car and a baggage car, which was used for an assembly hall for concerts for the trip. Friends of the Unit in Seattle presented a folding organ, which, with numerous musical instruments brought by the men added to the pleasure of the trip."² The unit was met at 6:00 p.m. by a delegation of Portland citizens and served a "splendid dinner" at a nearby hotel before continuing their journey. The unit arrived at Camp Fremont at 11:00 a.m. on April 8, 1918, and reported to Major Ray W. Bryan, regular Medical Corps, United States Army, who had been detailed by the War Department as Base Hospital 50's commanding officer.

---

References:

1. Seattle Hospital Men Speeded on Way to South. Seattle Daily Times, Saturday, April 6, 1918. Page 4. 
2. United States. Army. Base Hospital No. 50. The History of Base Hospital Fifty: A Portrayal of the Work Done by This Unit While Serving in the United States and with the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Seattle, Wash. : The Committee, 1922. Page 63. 
3. "Seattle Hospital Unit Leaving." Seattle Daily Times, Sunday, April 7, 1918. Page 25. 

100 Years Ago: Unit Receives Mobilization Orders

On March 26, 1918, while studying Base Hospital organization and management at Camp Lewis under Lieutenant Colonel Eugene Northington, Dr. James Eagleson received the much-anticipated "telegram from the War Department instructing him to proceed at once with the mobilization of Base Hospital No. 50 for active training."¹

Northington came to Camp Lewis in June, 1917, with the task of not only commanding the Camp Hospital but building it. Eighteen days after construction began on August 20, 1917, it was ready for 405 patients.²

At the meeting of the Base Hospital 50 "personnel at the State Armory on March 27 the order to mobilize the Unit at once was announced, and was received with great glee. Telegrams were sent to those living outside of Seattle to report at once for duty. At the request of Major Eagleson the men were ordered to mobilize at Fort Lawton," in Seattle's Magnolia neighborhood.¹

---

References:

1. United States. Army. Base Hospital No. 50. The History of Base Hospital Fifty: A Portrayal of the Work Done by This Unit While Serving in the United States and with the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Seattle, Wash. : The Committee, 1922. Page 63. 
2. Henderson, Alice Palmer. The Ninety-first, the First at Camp Lewis. Tacoma, Wash. :  John C. Barr, 1918. Page 44. 
3. "Seattle Hospital Unit to Mobilize." Tacoma Daily Times, Wednesday, March 27, 1918. Page 5. 

100 Years Ago: Unit Holds First Training Meeting

Young Men's Christian Association
UW Libraries, Special Collections Curtis 13423.

As soon as the men were enlisted and funding for the unit's equipment secured, plans were made to ready the new recruits for active service. On January 2, 1918, the nascent Base Hospital 50 unit met for the first time in the auditorium of Seattle's central YMCA, located at 909 4th Avenue, which still stands today. A schedule of meetings was mapped out to be held in the State Armory. M.D. Sergeant gave the men setting-up exercises and litter drill.

Belle McKay Fraser, superintendent of the children's orthopedic hospital, and afterward chief nurse of the unit, gave lectures on nursing, care of the sick, bed making, and surgical dressings. At these meetings, the men were vaccinated and given their anti-typhoid inoculations. Major Eagleson spent the first three days of each week in January, February, and March studying base hospital organization at Camp Lewis under the direction of Lieutenant Colonel Northington.

Lieutenant Vanderboget gave lectures on first aid based on Mason's Handbook, copies of which were loaned for use of the unit by Major Betts, of Fort Lawton.¹

Carlton Lakey Vanderboget was the only child of Richard and Adeline Lakey Vanderboget. Born in Palmyra, New York in 1883, Vanderboget graduated from the University of Buffalo in 1910. A physician, he completed his internship at Seattle General Hospital and later practiced at the Cobb Building alongside many of Seattle's medical practitioners until 1916. As a member of the Washington National Guard (later Army Reserve), Vanderboget first served with General John Pershing along the Mexican border from 1916-1917. He was later called to active service in the regular army and ordered to act as the recruiting officer for Base Hospital 50 on December 3, 1917.²

Vanderboget -- by then a Colonel -- later served in World War II, in the Pacific Theater, where he was captured by the Japanese after the Battle of Corregidor, in the Philippines. He held as a prisoner of war from May, 1942, until Bilibid, the prison where he was being held outside Manila, was liberated in March, 1945.³ At the time of his capture, Vanderboget was the chief medical officer of a laboratory facility for Army General Hospital #2 near Cabcaban, Bataan.

Two years later, in 1947, he would retire from the military to a small farm near Edmonds, Washington. He died in Edmonds on March 7, 1970. Among his honors, Vanderboget received the Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, and Mexican Service Award. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

---

References:

1. Roster Organized by the Primary POW Camp in Bilibid Prison.
2. "Army Orders." Seattle Daily Times. December 3, 1917, pg. 8.
3. Mason, Charles Field. A Complete Handbook for the Hospital Corps of the U. S. Army and Navy and State Military Forces. New York : William Wood and Company, 1906.

100 Years Ago: War Relief Bazaar Closes

One hundred years ago today the doors closed on the Seattle Girls War Relief Bazaar. As previously described the purpose of the Bazaar was to raise the necessary funds to outfit Base Hospital 50. The long-awaited authorization from the Red Cross received in October 1917, included the stipulation that Seattle raise all the money for the necessary equipment for the unit.

The Bazaar was held in downtown Seattle in the Arena and the Hippodrome. The Arena was the home of the Seattle Metropolitans, a professional ice hockey team based which played in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association from 1915 to 1924. The Metropolitans won the Stanley Cup in 1917. The Hippodrome located across the street was a popular dance hall. Neither building is standing today. The streets in-between were closed while the Bazaar was open providing additional entertainment including No Man's Land, a replica of the wartime trenches in use in France, and a carnival game area known as the Sammies Sector.

Seattle Daily Times, Wednesday, December 12, 1917, pg. 21.

The Bazaar opened on Monday, December 17, following a parade led by organizers on horseback through downtown and ran through Saturday, December 22, 1917.

Each day had a theme to encourage Seattleites to attend including:

• Monday: Girls Night 
• Tuesday: Army & Navy Day 
• Wednesday: Fraternal Night 
• Thursday: University Night 
• Friday: Art Students' Day 
• Saturday: Children's Day¹

In addition to the daily parade, the program included food conservation demonstrations, bayoneting, dramatic readings, dances, war movies and a wide variety of concerts from diverse groups such as the Victoria Pipe Band and the Whangdoodle Quartet. The Arena was described as a veritable fairyland as the result of the combined efforts of Seattle architect Carl Gould and local artist Irene Ewing.

The Arena was outfitted with many booths designed to inspire attendees to part with their money by purchasing donated knitted clothing, baked goods and more. The Daughters of the American Revolution devoted their booth to the re-creation of an 18th-century tableau. University of Washington instructor Mary F. Rausch developed a popular cookbook featuring recipes enabling families to comply with the wheatless, meatless rationing.

When all the proceeds had been tallied, the bazaar had raised over $120,000 dollars and was declared an unmitigated success. Fifty thousand dollars was turned over to the Seattle Chapter of the Red Cross to equip Base Hospital 50 and the remainder was designated to support dependents of soldiers and sailors from King and Kitsap counties. Just six months later many of the same women would join forces to organize the Seattle Girls Victory Carnival!

---

References:

1. "Program of Week's Events," Seattle Sunday Times, December 16, 1917, pg. 4.

100 Years Ago: Enlistment Closed

On December 15, 1917, enlistment for closed with 150 men enrolled; 81 were graduates or students from University of Washington. The group included college instructors, high school teachers, chemists, bacteriologists, bank cashiers, bookkeepers, stenographers, clerks, dentists, pharmacists, undertakers, engineers, mechanics, carpenters, plumbers, painters, auto drivers, automobile repairmen, cooks, tailors, and barbers.

In addition, the majority of the medical staff would come from Seattle and the greater Northwest, as well. The exceptions were the required military officers including the Commanding Officer, from the regular Army Medical Corps, and the Quartermaster, assigned from the Army Quartermaster Corps, in addition to a chaplain.

100 Years Ago: Base Hospital 50 Enlistments Begin

Dr. James Eagleson had traveled to Washington, D.C. in October of 1917 to meet with the Department of Military Relief of the Red Cross and the Surgeon General's office about the organization, enrollment of personnel, and equipment of the Base Hospital.

Dr. Eagleson returned to Seattle and immediately began to arrange for the enrollment of the personnel of the unit. Initially, the unit was to consist of twenty-six officers, selected by the Director except for the Commanding Officer, assigned from the regular Army Medical Corps when the unit was called into active service, and the Quartermaster, assigned from the regular Army Quartermaster Corps. All officers selected by the Director had to be commissioned in the Medical Reserve Corps, U.S. Army, and assigned to Base Hospital No. 50. A chaplain was also to be appointed for service with the unit.

The nursing personnel originally consisted of a chief nurse and sixty-four nurses. Before the unit was called into active service, this number increased to 100 in anticipation of increasing the number of beds in the hospital. All nurses were enrolled in the Red Cross nursing service and then were assigned to Base Hospital 50. Other positions authorized included a dietician, laboratory technicians, and stenographers, if there were not enlisted personnel who could take these roles.

First Patients Arrive

Surgeon and staff operating on a wounded patient,
Base Hospital 50, Mesves, France, ca. 1918-1919

The officers and enlisted men of Base Hospital 50 reached Mesves, France, on Tuesday, August 6. Arriving by train too late to disembark, the men didn't get to the Hospital Center until the next morning when they marched from the station to the complex. The men of Base Hospital 50 were the second unit to arrive, having been preceded by Base Hospital 67.

The Hospital Center was located on the top of a small hill between the towns of Mesves and Bulcy, surrounded by low and rolling countryside. The unfinished buildings were built of hollow tile or concrete blocks, with wooden roofs, covered with tar paper. The men were put in temporary barracks until theirs were completed. Much of the complex was only half-built, building barely started on much of the facility. The center was scheduled to have been completed the following summer, "but the war had progressed so rapidly that it was necessary to have all the work rushed as fast as possible."¹ Intended to have a capacity of 40,000 beds when completed, in the end, the greatest number of patients at the center at any time were 27,000 men at the time the Armistice was signed.

The first task Base Hospital 50 staff undertook was to clear away debris from inside and outside the wards. Time was of the essence to get the wards cleaned and outfitted, as their first patients were expected at any time.

We had only half finished our task when we received our first trainload of patients, at 7:30 p.m., August 15. There were 315, but most of these were only slightly wounded and were called "sitters." There were a few litter cases, who were in rather serious condition. There were no electric lights, water was received only through temporary pipes, and at first, no bathing facilities were available. The Unit itself was handicapped by the non-arrival of a large part of our overseas baggage, which had been selected for any emergency that might arise. The equipment not having arrived, the hospital was equipped by the Medical Supply Depot. It was necessary to crudely construct from rough lumber, beaverboard, tin cans and any material at hand, office equipment, stoves, cupboards, etc., all required but which were impossible to secure at the Center. When the first trainload of patients ar- rived there was not a nurse in camp, and the men were forced to assume these duties, along with their other work, and not knowing much about this, it was very difficult; but with the aid of the doctors they were able to handle the job temporarily.² Just a week after the first patients arrived another train came in with 700 more, and this taxed us to the utmost. A few days later 300 more patients arrived, and this time we were able to get a few nurses from Mars Center, who helped us out a great deal.

Within days of arriving, Base Hospital 50 was a fully functioning part of the Mesves-Bulcy Hospital Center and the strains of overwork were already in evidence by early September when the unit's first casualty, Sam Parker, occurred.

---

References:

1. United States. Army. Base Hospital No. 50. The history of Base Hospital Fifty : a portrayal of the work done by this unit while serving in the United States and with the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Seattle, Wash. : The Committee, 1922.
2. The nurses of Base Hospital 50 encountered delays and bad weather during their crossing and didn't arrive at the center until the end of August. 

Collecting Moss for Uncle Sam

The Seattle Star, 3 April 1918, pg 4.

The Red Cross was a relatively small organization – just 107 chapters in 1914 – before the United States entered the Great War. With the outbreak of war, however, the organization experienced phenomenal growth. The number of local chapters grew to 3,864 by 1918 and membership increased from 17,000 to over 20 million adult and 11 million Junior Red Cross members.

A unique activity coordinated by the Red Cross during this period was the collection of sphagnum moss for wound packing. Sphagnum moss played an important part during World War I as a substitute for cotton gauze dressings. Dried moss can absorb up to twenty times its volume of liquid, including blood, and is superior to cotton dressing material for staunching wounds. Moss retains liquids better and distributes liquids more uniformly. It was cooler, softer, and less irritating than cotton, and could be produced more rapidly and more cheaply. Dried moss also has effective antibacterial properties due to its acidity. 

The Seattle Times, 16 June 1918, pg. 3.

Moss was certainly in great supply in the damp Pacific Northwest, which contributed 60% of the sphagnum moss collected for use during the war. University of Washington botany professor and Red Cross Northwest Division director John W. Hotson began identifying moss gathering locations in Washington in March 1918, when the American Red Cross authorized the use of the moss for bandages.

Red Cross volunteers around the Pacific Northwest organized work parties to bring in moss for making into bandages. Between October 1917 and November 1918, 595,540 moss bandages were made by Red Cross volunteers in Washington, Oregon, and Maine. Moss drives took place in South Bend, Long Beach, Ilwaco and Chinook gathering 90,000 pounds of moss which was spread out to dry before being sent to Seattle to be sewn into bandages.

The Sunday Seattle Times, 14 October 1917, pg 5.

In Seattle, and other cities around the Pacific Northwest, university students and women's clubs made bandages out of the dried moss. Women did most of the work of preparing the moss and putting together the bandages, often in addition to working at home or in a workplace all day. At the University of Washington women received course credit for making bandages. Some girls were tasked with picking over the moss while other more experienced girls made the bandages. As the war continued high school students were enlisted to help with picking over the moss so the university girls could devote their time entirely to the making of the bandages.

The doctors and the nurses

Look North with eager eyes,

And call on us to send them

The dressing that they prize

No other in its equal -

In modest bulk it goes,

Until it meets the gaping wound

Where the red life blood flows,

The spreading, swelling in its might

It checks the fatal loss,

And kills the germ, and heals the hurt

The kindly Sphagnum Moss.

Mrs A. M. Smith (1917). A member of the Edinburgh War Dressings Supply organisation.

---

Learn more about sphagnum moss:

1. Hotson, John William. Sphagnum as Surgical Dressing. Seattle, WA : Northwest Division of the American Red Cross, 1918.
2. The Home Guard. University of Washington Tyee, 1918, pp. 22-23.
3. Sphagnum Moss - Voices of War and Peace.
4. Sphagnum moss and the 1914–18 war - The Pharmaceutical Journal blog, 26 March 2009.
5. Wound dressing in World War I - The kindly Sphagnum Moss - Field Bryology, No. 110, November 2013.
6. How Humble Moss Healed the Wounds of Thousands in World War I 28 April 2017.

Army Transport Passenger Lists

Physicians of Base Hospital 50 sailing on the SS Karmala for France.

In honor of the 100th anniversary of the United States' entry in the World War I, Ancestry recently released an important new database, U.S., Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, 1910-1939. A devastating fire in 1973 at the National Personnel Records Center – a branch of the National Archives located in St. Louis – destroyed an estimated 80% of Army personnel records. WWI draft registration cards do not provide proof of service and these troop passenger manifests help fill an important gap.

The collection includes 8.4 million records from the Army Transport Service (ATS). The ATS was established in 1899 as part of the Army Quartermaster Department. It was originally created to manage the transport of troops and cargo on Army ships that traveled between U.S. and overseas ports during the Spanish-American War. 

The ATS passenger lists document the movement of troops traveling to and from foreign ports. Civilian support personnel, such as nurses, and family members, war brides for example, may also be listed. The manifests also include deceased US soldiers whose remains were repatriated; invaluable information because this didn't happen until several years after the war ended.

Details recorded in these passenger lists typically include:

• Ship name 
• Arrival date and place 
• Departure date and place 
• Service member's name, rank, service number, age, residence, next of kin with relationship, and the regiment, company, detachment, or other organization that the service member was attached to.

For non-service members, entries also include their relation to a service member.

Answering the Call: The Army Nurse Corps

Oh, they are fine! One need never tell me that women can’t do as much, stand as much, and be as brave as men. 

Julia Catherine Stimson. Finding themselves: the letters of an American army chief nurse in a British hospital in France. Macmillan, 1918.

Four hundred nurses were already serving in Europe when the U.S. declared war on Germany in 1917. By war's end over 22,000 nurses had served in the Army and Navy Nurse Corps. Their service was indispensable and continued beyond Armistice as the world battled the influenza pandemic of 1918. Nurses in the American Expeditionary Forces served in France, Belgium, England, Siberia, Italy, Serbia, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. They worked in 58 field hospitals, mobile units, evacuation camps and convalescent hospitals; on troop trains and transport ships; and helped staff 47 ambulance companies which operated on the Western Front.

Of the nurses who served during World War I, nearly 300 died while in service. Many were themselves victims of influenza, as well as tuberculosis and pneumonia. Three Navy nurses were awarded the Navy Cross posthumously for their service during the epidemic. Three members of the Army Nurse Corps were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and 23 received the Distinguished Service Medal. Numerous nurses also received meritorious awards from the allied nations where they served including the French Croix de Guerre  and the Military Medal from Great Britain.

The Progressive Era brought about a rise in professionalization for many occupations including nursing. Recruitment posters called for graduate nurses to fill the ranks, women who had received formal training at a nursing school with a curriculum that included theoretical and practical nursing. Initially nurses were required to be U.S. citizens, unmarried Caucasian women between 25 and 35 years of age.

"War service was hard, uncomfortable and heartbreaking. Overseas the nurses faced raw, cold weather and shortages of water for bathing and laundry, long hours at work and little privacy or time off. They treated shrapnel wounds, infections, mustard gas burns, exposure and medical and emotional trauma." (Military Nurses in World War I)

Even with the recruitment of thousands of nurses, the number of patients far exceeded the 10:1 ratio initially planned. Base hospitals built to house 800-1000 beds routinely had double the number of patients. Base Hospital 50 was initially expected to be 500 beds but was quickly expanded to 1,000, with a staff of 250 and 100 nurses. Shifts of 14-18 hours were common at Base Hospital 50 as nurses cared for surgical patients and mustard gas cases. Overwork and fatigue was a common theme in the unit's history.

It is important to remember "the women who served in the Army Nurse Corps "rendered service ‘beyond expectations' at a time when women were not even allowed to vote" in the U.S. (Vane)  Nurses could have no expectation of a military rank or commission and still they served tirelessly. (As did equally disenfranchised women physicians.) Many extended their service after the war to go to war-torn areas of Serbia, Montenegro and Albania to help rebuild communities. By World War II – because of 'Rosie's Mom' and the groundwork laid by thousands of women who served during World War I – women's wartime roles would be expanded even more.

Read more about nursing service during World War I:

1. Brown, Carrie. Rosie's Mom: Forgotten Women Workers of the First World War. Northeastern University Press, 2002.
2. Budreau, Lisa M. and Richard A Prior. Answering The Call: The U.S. Army Nurse Corps, 1917-1919: A Commemorative Tribute to Military Nursing in World War I. Washington, DC : Office of the Surgeon General, Borden Institute, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 2008.
3. Feller, Carolyn M., and Cox, Debora R. Highlights in the History of the Army Nurse Corps. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Center of Military History, 2000. 
4. Gavin, Lettie. American Women In World War: They Also Served. University Press of Colorado, 2006. 
5. Jensen, Kimberly. Mobilizing Minerva: American Women in the First World War. University of Illinois Press, 2008. 
6. Sarnecky, Mary T. A History of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999. 
7. Stimson, Julia C. The Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War. Volume XIII, Part Two, The Army Nurse Corps. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1927.
8. Vane, Colonel Elizabeth A. P. Contributions of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps in World War I. Soins: La revue de référence infirmière, June 2014.

Learn more about women and the Progressive Era:

Kimberly Jensen, PhD, recommended the following reading in her 2011 interview discussing her book Mobilizing Minerva:

1. Kennedy, Kathleen. Disloyal Mothers and Scurrilous Citizens: Women and Subversion during World War I. Indiana University Press, 1999.
2. Nielsen, Kim J. Un-American Womanhood: Antiradicalism, Antifeminism, and the First Red Scare. Ohio State University Press, 2001.
3. Steinson, Barbara J. American Women's Activism. New York : Garland Publishing, 1981. 
4. Zeiger, Susan. In Uncle Sam's Service: Women Workers with the American Expeditionary Force, 1917-1919. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004.

Seattle Girls War Relief Bazaar

Museum of History and Industry

"Biggest thing that ever happened to Seattle"¹

That bold claim was published in response to the success of the Seattle Girls War Relief Bazaar, organized to raise the necessary funds to outfit Base Hospital 50.

The telegram Dr. Eagleson received in late October 1917 authorizing Base Hospital 50 also included the news Seattle was not only responsible for organizing the unit, but funding it. The equipment was to be "up to date in every respect."² "Society maids and self-supporting office workers and clerks" worked together to plan the bazaar which was the brainchild of Seattle shipping magnate Frank Waterhouse.³

Held the week before Christmas, the Seattle Girls' War Work Association, chaired by Miss Gladys Waterhouse and Miss Katherine Kittinger, organized the bazaar. Volunteers solicited goods and services from Seattle leaders and businesses — everything from cigars to Ford cars — to sell at the bazaar. More than 12,500 volunteers — from University of Washington sorority sisters, to Dames of the Daughters of the American Revolution — worked together to arrange all the details for the event which would attract over 10,000 Seattleites a day.

Library of Congress

The bazaar was designed and constructed by venerable Seattle architect Carl F. Gould and described as "cleverly conceived and well executed." Miss Irene Ewing was credited with arranging decorations deserving of "particular attention."⁴ The bazaar was held at the Seattle Arena and Hippodrome. Neither are still standing.

A jewelry drive was also held and "debutantes and working girls united in the bonds of Sammies Sisterhood" donated their gold and silver to be sold to help fund the war effort.⁵ The Moran Brothers, local shipbuilders, made a major donation of $16,000, and Waterhouse donated $10,000.

Come Thru, an original composition by Bertha Sophie Tremper, was adopted as the official song of the bazaar. Printed by Seattle's Craig Music Press, copies sold at the bazaar for fifteen cents. "Every miser helps the Kaiser" was a catchy refrain taken from the song billed as great for fairs and bazaars for its melodious rhythm.⁶  Miss Anita Miller won first prize in a contest for the best poster to advertise the Bazaar.⁷

When all the proceeds had been tallied, the bazaar had raised over $110,000 dollars. Fifty thousand dollars was turned over to the Seattle Chapter of the Red Cross to equip Base Hospital 50 and the remainder was designated to support dependents of soldiers and sailors from King and Kitsap counties.

---

1. News-letters to boys in France. Pacific Builder and Engineer. January 25, 1918. Vol. 24, pg. 13.
2. University Base Hospital. Northwest Medicine. December 1917. Vol. 16(12):381.
3. Seattle Working Girls Plan Meeting War Relief Bazaar. The Eugene Guard. September 29, 1917, pg. 2.
4. News-letters to boys in France. Pacific Builder and Engineer. January 25, 1918. Vol. 24, pg. 13.
5. Seattle Girls Give Up Jewels, The Spokesman-Review. November 23, 1917, pg. 15.
6. "Come Thru". Music and Musicians: Devoted Principally to the Interests of the Northwest. Vol. 3(12), 1918, pg. 10.
7. Poster Helps to Win Big Fund for Red Cross. The Poster. 1918. Vol. 9, pg 52.