Newspaper Articles

Wakeman General Hospital
under construction

The more than forty buildings in the hospital group are of the permanent type of construction. Constructed of concrete blocks, the buildings are two stories in height and connected with more than three miles of corridors. The hospital boasts the finest laboratory equipment designed and embodies the most modern type of construction. (photo - Indianapolis Star) 12.31.1942

This building, under construction, was to become the Wakeman General Hospital Headquarters. It still stands and is the headquarters building for the Atterbury Job Corps.

The Atterbury Crier - October 16, 1942
Atterbury Hospital, Among Finest In Country, Organized Quickly

Camp Atterbury's big station hospital, like the rest of the camp, has a brief but fast moving history. The new hospital is semi-permanent in construction, ultra-modern in design and completely equipped. Its cement block exterior makes it the only unit in the Camp designed for permanent operations after the war.

It is located in Block 10, between Edinburg Road and State Road 252 and covers nearly 75 acres of ground. Thirty-one of the 43 buildings are connected by corridor, the longest one being over one-third of a mile long. Each of its connected ward buildings contain four wards in two-story buildings. This new improved arrangement, enjoyed only by Station Hospital at Camp Atterbury, gives it compactness in spite of its size and spaciousness.

ARRIVED IN JUNE

On June 18, 1942, 1st Lt. Charles Lonero, in charge of Medical Supply Department, was the first medical officer to arrive at camp. By the end of June, a temporary dispensary, under the direction of Maj. Carlos Fish, was established in a building near School House Road and Division Street.

There were several officers assigned to report on July 1. However, due to delay in construction, many received temporary assignments in other Army camps. Col. Charles S. Hendricks, Surgeon, did not arrive until the middle of July.

During the next week about 175 enlisted men arrived from Ft. Harrison, Ind., and a few days later 125 more men shipped in from Ft. Know, Ky. These men were first assigned to cleaning everything in Block 10. The new barracks soon became home, trash was burned, hospital windows were washed by scrub squads with gallons of suds.

OPENS DENTAL DEPT.

By August 1, Col. Guy A. Carr was organizing the Dental Department and Lt. Col. R. G. Grossman was aiding the Surgeon in organizing the many new hospital units. The first Medical Basic Training School of nearly 200 soldiers was organized July 27, by 1st Sgt. Aleshire under the supervision of Capt. E. M. Hilson, detachment commander. It was September before nurses were seen in numbers.

Similar to large corporations, the station hospital is departmentalized to conduct its work swiftly and efficiently. Major divisions of the hospital organization may be allocated to Medical Administration, Veterinary, Sanitary, Dental, Medical and Nurses Corps.

DIVISIONS LISTED

The departments in the hospital, one of the most complete in the Army, are the surgical service which includes general, orthopedic, genito-urinary, eye, ear, nose and throat, obstetrical and gynecological sections. The medical service includes general, medicine, contagious, heart, respiratory, neurological, psychiatric, dermatological and gastro-intestinal sections.

Veterinary service includes food inspection of animal origin both at processing plants and kitchens. Sanitary service includes public health, sewage disposal, mosquito control and checking on drinking water supplies. Dental service includes X-ray, extracting, plate work and general practice. The best and most advanced equipment has been installed in the pharmacy, X-ray department and general laboratory.

Camp Crier

Newspaper Articles

12-05-41	Hospital expansion must await word on camp
09-26-92	Hospitals painted
10-27-42	First baby (boy) born at hospital
12-11-42	Additions to camp hospital planned
03-04-44	Hospital facilities to be expanded
04-01-42	Col. Conner to held hospital
04-03-42	Hospital to be activated
04-05-42	Hospital to receive new patients and 62,600 soldiers have received dental work at Atterbury
04-17-44	Camp hospital almost ready - One of nation's largest
05-08-44	Hospital named "Wakeman General Hospital"
06-06-44	Wakeman expanding its facilities
08-18-44	War wounded arrive at Wakeman - Hospital Receives Battle Casualties
08-19-44	More additions planned
08-29-44	Causalities flown in
09-02-44	Wakeman expansion planned. Woman Doctor assigned
09-22-44	Carmen Miranda entertains Wakeman patients
09-30-44	Wakeman to have new swimming pool for therapy
11-13-44	Chief of Army Nurse Corps tours Wakeman
11-30-44	22 Nurses Aides arrive for duty
12-02-44	Article on plastic artificial eyes - a new procedure at Wakeman
12-19-44	1,800 Wakeman patients get Christmas leaves
01-04-45	General Fredendall's son is a patient at Wakeman
01-19-45	Wakeman Hospital capacity doubled (now 6,000 beds)
02-05045	Hospital bed capacity to increase
02-06-45	Wakeman plans expansion
02-10-45	Wakeman granted personnel increase
02-15-45	Wakeman gets MP section
02-15-45	Class "B" finance office opens at Wakeman
02-26-45	Wakeman to get WAC medical training facilities
03--3-45	Additional buildings and facilities planned
03-07-45	Medical Detachment goes from 500 to 1,600 people
03-14-45	Construction program approved
03-28-45	Wakeman to have radio station "WAKE"
04-20-45	Wakeman officially becomes two hospitals; General and Convalescent
04-24-45	4,328 enrolled in education reconditioning program
05-02-45	Reorganization of Wakeman
05-18-45	Col. Cole to replace Col. Conner
05-26-45	Construction workers needed
06-01-45	Bone surgery is miraculous
07--7-45	Expansion planned for Wakeman (theater, libraries, PX's, etc.)
07-27-45	Anniversary of Army Medical Department observed at Wakeman. Now has 9,000 patients. Third largest U. S. Army hospital
08-06-45	Wakeman capacity expanded by 246 more beds. Now tops 9,000
08-13-45	Need stressed for continued aid to Wakeman wounded

Camp Crier - Vol. 2, #48 - 18 August 1944

Hospital Receives Battle Casualties

Patients Speeded Here By Plane and Hospital Train

Giant C-47 air transport planes and special Medical Department hospital trains are speeding war casualties from all theaters of operation to Wakeman General Hospital, it has been announced by Col. Haskett L. Conner, commanding officer.

The arrival of casualties here is marked by efficient and clock-work organization. Recently a three-car train was unloaded in 17 minutes, with the first man entering Wakeman before the last man was unloaded from the hospital car. Planes arriving at Atterbury Army Air Field, 12 miles distant, are unloaded by specially trained litter bearers, with the casualties resting in their wards in less than an hour's time.

Commenting on the handling of new arrivals, Col. Conner declared: "I want the patients to get the very best care and attention it is humanly possible to give them. They are getting it, too. They are entitled to it, and it should reassure the families of servicemen to know that everything that medicine and science can do will be done at Wakeman."

The 5,000-patient Wakeman medical center is now in operation fulfilling the program announced by the War Department in April, Col. Conner stated. This includes the establishment of a convalescent reconditioning center for patients in the latter stages of convalescence.

The hospital itself has undergone extensive alterations since Col. Conner assumed command and now can accommodate over 2,000 bed patients. Several new ward buildings have been added and other units converted in order to provide specialized treatment. A well balanced staff, consisting of specialists in neuro, plastic, orthopedic and ophthalmologic surgery, has arrived at Wakeman from other sections of the country and are now treating the casualties.

TYPES OF CASUALTIES: Casualties here are of the type requiring orthopedic surgery, surgery of the bones and joints; neuro-surgery, surgery of the brain, surgery to rebuild parts of the body and ophthalmologic surgery, eye surgery. Barracks have been adapted for the Convalescent Reconditioning Service of Wakeman General Hospital. This service is part of the patient's hospital treatment and is for men who have reached the convalescent stage, but who still require specialized treatment. The principal course of the treatment in the center includes occupational therapy and physical and mental reconditioning. The program also embodies all types of recreational activities, both indoor and outdoor.

Wakeman is now capable of caring for 3,000 men in its convalescent reconditioning service. Patients from other general hospitals in the Fifth Service Command are sent here for the Army program designed to bring every soldier up to maximum physical fitness.

Camp Crier - 25 August 1944

By "Air Ambulance" to Wakeman ---"MAN YOUR STATIONS!"

Skilled litter bearers are gently unloading Pvt. Rudolph J. Severenski from the "air ambulance" Lt. Ann Kopcsp, flight nurse, directs the bearers. Capt. Harold Lipshutz, receiving medical officer from Wakeman (extreme right) watches the procedure.	The next step is the loading of the patient in a waiting ambulance. Pvt. James Westmoreland is shown being carried into the vehicle and soon will be placed on the litter holders inside.
At Wakeman General Hospital, less than a hour later, Pvt. John N. Cook was admitted. With cigarette in mouth, Cook is shown.

This command wasn't a battle warning but a medical officer's order for the litter bearers and ambulance drivers of Wakeman General Hospital to be ready to unload battle causalities from the giant C-47 army transport as soon as it cut its motors.

The "cut" came at 1136 according to the clock at the Atterbury Army Air Field and 21 seconds later litter bearers from Wakeman General Hospital were inside the "air ambulance" aiding the flight nurse prepare her 17 patients for unloading. Next in the plane was Capt. Harold Lipshutz, receiving medical officer from Wakeman. The captain worked fast. He checked each patient's record and inquired about the trip. As soon as he formally received a battle casualty, the doctor "tagged" the soldier, assigning him to a hospital ward. Then the litter bearers took over.

OPERATE SMOOTHLY: The bearers worked fast but gently. One quartet operated within the transport while the other foursome took over from plane to waiting ambulance. It took less than five minutes after the Captain checked a soldier before he was being placed into the vehicle. Lt. Ann Kopcso, flight nurse, stated that the trip from Mitchell Field, N. Y., took but four hours and 25 minutes. She reported that all her wards were "resting well", with no ill effects resulting from the takeoff or landing - the only bumps usually experienced in the "air ambulance".

Before leaving the air field, Capt. Lipshutz investigated each man's record again and his present condition. He made sure that the litter cases were resting comfortably, head first in the ambulance. The captain also rechecked the wounded's tags to make sure the ward assignments were correct so that no time would be lost getting the men in bed upon arrival at Wakeman.

12 MILES TO WAKEMAN: - Then came the last phase of the journey. Specially trained ambulance drivers wheeled their vehicles the 12 miles to the hospital at a steady speed of 35 miles per hour. The ambulance convoy's journey was uneventful and one of the casualties claimed it was "just as smooth as being in the air." When the vehicles halted at the hospital's receiving building, another group of Wakeman attendants "manned their stations". Wheeled litter stands were waiting and as soon as a patient was unloaded from the ambulance, he was whisked straight to his ward for a complete medical examination.

So, in less than six hours, patients confined in the AAFTC and Regional Station Hospital at Mitchell Field, N. Y., were receiving specialized medical attention at Wakeman General Hospital - more than 700 miles away.

Of the 17 patients received by air transport, 9 of them were fighting in France and Italy just a week previously. They were flown to the States almost immediately - with one casualty leaving France less than two hours after being wounded by machine gun fire, Most of the men were flown to Mitchell Field from England, but two came direct from the invasion coast. The same type plane, C-47, which landed the paratroopers on D-Day is flying the wounded from the battlefronts. The transports have been converted with built-in beds lining the ship's sides. A flight nurse is in attendance to furnish any attention required during the journey.

The Caduceus - Weekly newspaper published for the patients and staff at the U. S. Army Hospital during the Korean War era was founded April 1951. (Wakeman General Hospital was referred to simply as U. S. Army Hospital after WW2.)