Private First Class Elmer Robert Smith (1889-1976)

PFC Elmer Smith

Armistice Day

November 11, 1918

Today we call it Veterans Day, but for people who served in World War I, this was the day the treaty was signed to end their war. My grandpa was one of those, and he told me it will always be Armistice Day to him.

I asked him once what he did in the war, and he said, “I fought World War I with a mop and a bucket." He chuckled, and I thought it was just a joke, but after reading the history of Base Hospital 50, I realized it was true.

My grandfather, Elmer R. Smith, was born in Mitchell, South Dakota, in 1889, and when he was 3 years old, his family moved to Ballard, Washington, where he lived the rest of his life. He died in 1976.

Grandpa Elmer enlisted in 1918, specifically to be part of Base Hospital 50. Organized by the Red Cross by state and financed by the people of that state. Washington was the last hospital created by the Red Cross. He went to France with men and women from Washington mostly and a few career military officers, doctors and nurses.

They went to Mesves, France, located in the Loire River Valley in central France, away from the front lines. This was no MASH unit but a very large complex of many temporary buildings. It opened on August 6, 1918, and by the Armistice it had 38,765 wounded on site. Back to the bucket and mop. 

Reading the history of Base 50 it said France was knee deep in the mud. Just keeping the hospital building clean was a big job and it was given to the orderlies, men like my grandpa. We know keeping wounds clean to prevent infections is crucial to recovery.

So, while serving with a mop and bucket sounds like a boring way to serve your country, it saved lives. And I think it was exactly the type of service that suited the kind, gentle man I knew.

The words at the end of the Base Hospital 50 history book say it very well: And this is the end, as far as military duties were concerned, of an organization that went when called, going through all the hardships of war and doing the greatest work of all, the reconstruction of man, not the destruction.

Submitted by Laura Chandler, Granddaughter of Elmer Smith

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Editor's note: Elmer is buried at Holyrood Cemetery in Shoreline Washington.