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WAKEMAN HOSPITAL
The original plans for
Camp Atterbury called for the erection of a 1,700-bed hospital to care for
the Army personnel in training there and at the same time to serve as a
training center for medical units. The story of its development and
ultimate conversion into a 6,000-bed convalescent center for wounded
soldiers is one of the most interesting episodes in Indiana's war history.
Spreading over some 75 acres of ground, the hospital center first
contained 43 two-story buildings, 31 of which were connected by corridors,
the longest corridor being one third of a mile long. The buildings were of
cement block construction. Buildings designed for patients were divided
into four wards with a number of private rooms for those needing special
attention. There was a patients' mess hall, a post exchange, a large
auditorium and recreation center, clinics, and quarters for the officers
and enlisted men of the medical units and for the nurses.
Lieut. Charles Lonero, in charge of the Medical Supply Department, was the
first medical officer to reach the camp, arriving on June 18, 1942. By the
end of June a temporary dispensary, under the direction of Maj. Carlos
Fish, was established in a building near Schoolhouse Road and Division
Street. Col. Charles S. Hendricks, post surgeon, arrived the middle of
July. The first medical basic training school was organized July 27, 1942,
with approximately 200 soldiers. A dental department was set up by Col.
Guy A. Carr by August 1. Early in that month came news of an expansion
program to include buildings for the training of field hospital units.
Medical units which reported at Atterbury for training included evacuation
hospital units, a portable surgical hospital unit, field, general, and
station hospital units, and medical sanitary companies. The men were
trained not only in the performance of their various duties, but in how to
perform them on the battlefield or back of the lines. For example, the men
in the field hospital units learned to set up their tents and go into
action quickly in all kinds of weather; they had to be able to move, too,
on short notice, and know how to protect themselves in case of a surprise
attack. Some of the men acted the part of casualties and were carried from
the field and given emergency treatment. When reports from the battle
front showed the need for light, mobile hospital units capable of changing
locations swiftly, the 72d and 73d General Hospital units were
re-organized in June, 1943, into the 228th and 231st station hospitals.
With the exception of emergency cases, the men stationed at the camp
reached the hospital through the dispensaries scattered over the camp
area. Whenever a man's condition showed the need of hospitalization, the
medical officer at the dispensary arranged for his admittance. The
equipment of the hospital was the very best and the men received excellent
medical treatment. The Red Cross arranged recreation features for the
patients, including movies, games, handicrafts, and entertainers from
outside the camp. Various methods were devised to keep the men in touch
with their units while undergoing treatment.
As the hospital approached the end of its second year as a station
hospital, most of the units that had used it for a training center had
moved on for further training or to the battle front. The War Department
was looking ahead to the invasion of Europe and to the care of the
casualties that were bound to come. With air transportation, wounded men
could be flown back to the United States after preliminary treatment
overseas. The announcement was made on March 31, 1944, that the Atterbury
hospital was to become a general hospital for treatment of men injured in
battle. It was to specialize in cases requiring neuro (brains and nerves),
plastic (rebuilding parts of the body), and orthopedic (bones and joints)
surgery and therapeutic treatment. The change took place officially on
April 5 and with it came the activation of the 3547th Service Unit to
re-place the WAC and medical sections of the 1560th Service Unit. In
addition to providing beds for 2,000 patients, the hospital was to have a
reconditioning center capable of caring for 3,000 soldiers in the
convalescent stage. The principal course of treatment for these was to be
occupational therapy and physical and mental re-conditioning. Col. Haskett
L. Conner, a Hoosier from New Albany, was made commanding officer of the
General Hospital.
The change in status brought the need for a new name, and on May 8 Colonel
Conner announced that the name of Wakeman General Hospital had been chosen
in honor of the late Col. Frank B. Wakeman. A native of New York, Colonel
Wakeman enrolled at Valparaiso University in Indiana in 1913, received a
pharmacy degree two years later, and then stayed on to complete the work
for a pharmaceutical chemist's certificate and the B. S. degree. With the
entrance of the United States into the European War in 1917, he was
commissioned a lieutenant in the Medical Corps and served two years. Upon
receiving his discharge, he became professor of chemistry in the Oklahoma
School of Mines, and later entered the medical school at Indiana
University where he received the M.D. degree in 1926. Following his
graduation, he returned to active duty with the Army and rejoined the
Medical Corps in 1928, with the rank of captain. At the time of his death
in March, 1944, Colonel Wakeman was serving as chief of the Training
Division, Office of the Surgeon General, Washington, D. C.
Following the announcement of the change in the hospital's status,
preparations were made to care for the battle casualties. Specialists in
the fields of neuro, plastic, and orthopedic surgery were added to the
staff. Equipment was ordered, and a records system installed. In July a
technicians' school for WACs was transferred to Wakeman from Hot Springs,
Arkansas, to train girls as medical, surgical, X-ray, laboratory, and
dental technicians. Assisting in the hospital was a part of their regular
work. The length of the course was from three to four months. During the
first six months, some 1,300 were trained for hospital work. Some of these
stayed on at Wakeman while others were sent to other Army hospitals
throughout the country. (6)
The first casualties from the European invasion arrived on August 18,
1944. From that day on they came in a continuous stream by plane and
train. The giant C-47 transport planes landed at the Atterbury Air Field,
12 miles distant; specially trained litter bearers removed the injured
from the planes and placed them in ambulances for the ride to the
hospital. In less than an hour after their arrival at the airfield they
were resting in their wards. Those who came by special medical department
hospital trains were whisked to the hospital in about fifteen minutes,
with the first man entering the hospital before the last man was taken
from the train.
6 See ante, 31-32.
Wakeman General Hospital
Colonel Wakeman
Some of the men were
flown directly from France, but most of them came from England. Their
first stop in the United States was at the Regional Station Hospital,
Mitchel Field, New York. The trip from there to Wakeman could be made in
four and one half hours by plane. Some patients were transferred to
Wakeman from other Army hospitals and some veterans of the Pacific area
were also sent here for treatment.
On August 24, 1944, bids were opened for the construction of additional
facilities. The expansion program was expected to cost about $400,000.
Work was started soon thereafter on three new buildings; some barracks
buildings were converted into hospital buildings to be used for clinics
and wards. Air conditioning was in-stalled in the operating and X-ray
rooms, and a ventilation system was installed in all the wards that could
change the air in one minute. A chapel was moved from another part of the
camp and attached by corridors to the main wings of the hospital to
provide patients easy access to religious services.
Wakeman was one of the best equipped among the forty-three specialized
general hospitals in the United States, and the largest in the Fifth
Service Command. It had one of the best qualified staffs in the service.
Maj. Truman G. Blocker was in charge of the plastic surgery. There were
five wards in this department. At one time there were 350 plastic surgery
patients, each of whom underwent an average of four operations; some will
need treatment for as long as ten years. Plastic surgery served as a great
morale builder among the wounded. Wakeman was also a specialized hospital
for eye cases. Plastic eyes were used—the finest in the world. Capt.
Gerhard Thrun was in charge of this department. Wakeman was one of twelve
hospitals in the United States handling these cases, and the only one in
the Fifth Service Command.
An advanced reconditioning section for the benefit of patients
experiencing a prolonged convalescence was established in barracks, in the
Clark Street cantonment area, about two miles from Wake-man Hospital. Here
the men were clothed in uniforms and lived in barracks the same as duty
soldiers. This unit was commanded by Lieut. Col. Ray M. Conner, and was
staffed by officers and en-listed men who had had extensive experience in
physical education.
They were specially
trained for their duties at Washington and Lee University at Lexington,
Virginia, and at the physical reconditioning school at Camp Grant,
Illinois. The men participated in calisthenics, remedial exercises,
athletics, and games. The purpose of this pro-gram was to hasten the
soldiers' recovery and thus reduce the number of days they must spend in
the hospital before returning to duty. There was a dispensary in this area
giving twenty-four hour service to patients requiring prompt medical
attention.
For the most part these convalescent patients looked after their own needs
the same as any other military unit; this included policing their own
barracks and operating their own mess halls.
The education and orientation phase of the reconditioning service included
instruction along various lines, discussion and explanation of current
news, and instruction in military subjects. For volunteer study, Armed
Forces Institute Courses were available to patients both in the hospital
and in the barracks. Classes were established for those interested in
commercial subjects. Carpentry, automotive repair, and radio mechanics
shops were set up for patients in the advanced groups, while those in the
hospital worked at various handicrafts.
About forty American Red Cross volunteer nurses' aides gave their time at
Wakeman Hospital. They lived in nurses' quarters, ate in the nurses' mess,
and worked in the wards in day and night shifts without compensation. They
came from Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio, and included business women,
housewives, schoolteachers, and women from all walks of life, who gave up
vacation or spare time to be of service in the war effort.
About eighty "Gray Ladies" from Bartholomew and Johnson counties also
assisted at Wakeman Hospital. Colonel Conner and others gave lectures to
acquaint them with the hospital ethics, medical conditions, and ward
requirements. Their official name was Volunteer Special Services Hospital
and Recreation Corps. They were popular with the patients. They gave
information and acted as guides for visitors; distributed books,
magazines, cigarettes, and games; wrote letters and did errands such as
sending telegrams, mailing packages, and shopping for gifts; and, in
general, added the woman's touch of home to the hospital. Chairman of the
Wakeman Corps of "Gray Ladies" was Mrs. Kenneth Andrews, of Franklin, with
Mrs. A. T. Carpenter, of Columbus, as subchairman.
Patients who were able to travel were frequently the guests of
organizations and individuals in the neighboring communities. Flowers and
potted plants for the hospital were supplied continuously by various
organizations.
The Red Cross provided entertainment for the patients. Nationally known
entertainers appeared with USO shows; there were local talent shows, too,
and movies twice a week. The hospital had its own radio station, WAKE,
which put on programs for the benefit of the patients. Parties were held
frequently with Liberty Belles and Cadettes from Indianapolis, Cincinnati,
and other places as guests. These special events were in addition to the
games, con-tests, and handicrafts that were daily events. Portable
telephones could be connected at the bedside of any patient for his
convenience in making or receiving calls. Persons who came from a distance
to visit patients could stay in the guest houses at the camp for a very
small charge. Everything possible was done for the comfort of the patients
in addition to giving them the best of medical treatment.
As more and more casualties were returned to the United States, it was
necessary to increase still further the facilities at Atterbury as well as
at other hospitals. A contract for further remodeling was made with the
Whittenberg Corporation of Louisville for $141,911 on October 4, 1944. By
January, 1945, the number of patients in the convalescent and
reconditioning service had reached 6,000 and still they kept coming. To
care for them, the medical detachment, serving all branches of the
hospital and reconditioning service, had been increased to 1,600, three
times its original size. In addition, some 700 civilians were employed at
the hospital. Further construction of new buildings and conversion of old
ones was announced in the spring. On April 20, 1945, the hospital was
redesignated the Wakeman Hospital Center to be made up of the two units,
the Wakeman General Hospital and the Wakeman Convalescent Hospital Colonel
Conner remained as commanding officer of the Hospital Center with Col.
Harry F. Becker heading the General Hospital and Col. Charles T. Young the
Convalescent Hospital. The new setup was expected to bring about a greater
efficiency of operation and administration. A month later, Colonel Conner
exchanged positions with Col. Frank L. Cole, commanding officer of the
Wood-row Wilson General Hospital at Staunton, Virginia. Colonel Cole was
succeeded in turn by Col. Paul W. Crawford in January, 1946.
The close of the war in Europe in May, 1945, did not bring any immediate
decrease in the number of patients and the hospital continued to be
crowded to its capacity of 10,000 until after the end of the war with
Japan. Reconstruction work that was still going on was halted after V-J
Day. The convalescent branch was the first to feel the return to peace. By
the end of 1945 it was down to 360 patients and lost its status as a
separate unit. The Hospital Center reverted to its former status as the
Wakeman General Hospital.
In 1946 as more and more of the medical detachment became eligible for
discharge from the service, the biggest problem the hospital had to face
was keeping a sufficient staff to care for the patients. To help this
situation, a basic training course was established in April for two
companies of 217 selectees to train them for hospital service to replace
those being discharged.
The General Hospital remained open until the close of 1946. In August
there were still 2,000 patients, many of them very serious cases requiring
the utmost care. During the summer, when Colonel Blocker, plastic surgeon,
returned to civilian life and his home in Texas, his patients were
transferred to the Percy Jones Hospital at Battle Creek, Michigan. Special
arrangements were worked out, however, for him to visit his former
patients at regular intervals and check on their progress.
As the time approached for the closing of the hospital, various
suggestions were made for its future use. The State of Indiana, through
Governor Gates, asked for its release to the State for use as a mental
hospital; the Veterans' Administration explored the possibilities for its
use as a tuberculosis hospital, or, if the buildings themselves could not
be used, the transfer of the equipment to other veterans' hospitals. The
War Department, however, was reluctant to give up control of it and at the
end of the year announced that it would be retained as a station hospital
in connection with the training of National Guard units at the camp.
By the end of October, the number of patients was less than 2,000 and the
Medical Detachment Enlisted Technicians' School was in the process of
moving to Fort San Antonio, Texas. Before another month had passed, the
task of transferring the patients to other hospitals was well under way.
Proximity to the patient's home and the type of treatment needed were the
two factors considered in choosing where each should be sent. Between five
and six hundred patients who could be discharged or returned to active
service by the close of the year remained until the end.
The hospital could look back with pride on its record. Since its
designation as a General Hospital on March 31, 1944, Wakeman had cared for
some 85,000 patients. Through surgery and psycho-therapy the staff had
labored to wipe out the effects of war. An editorial in the Indianapolis
Star of November 7, 1945, paid this fitting tribute to the hospital. It
"has earned a national reputation for its amazing achievements in plastic
surgery. One of the most heartening accomplishments of medical science has
been successful bone and skin grafting. Men barely surviving terrible
injuries are being restored to economic usefulness with little evidence of
their experience. Whatever Wakeman's ultimate fate may be, it will always
remain a monument to medical skill in the hearts of many soldiers and
their families." |