Books and Documents > Medical Department of the U.S. Army in the World War, Volume III, Finance & Supply
SECTION III
FIELD EQUIPMENT
CHAPTER XIV
INDIVIDUAL EQUIPMENT
The paraphernalia or equipment required by the medical department of an army, to enable it to fulfill adequately its mission in the salvage of men, must be diversified. It must be especially selected to meet the conditions under which the services of that department are to be rendered and to the kind of treatment required. Those services extend from the battle line at the front to the fixed hospitals in the home territory or zone of the interior, and cover every phase of medical science. The equipment provided must meet these varied conditions all along the line where it is to be used. Far back in the home territory are the great general hospitals, fixed institutions where varied and extensive treatment can be given for as long periods of time as the needs of the individual patient may require. There the equipment is, as it should be, elaborate and in keeping with the character of the treatment to be given. It varies with the classes of disabilities to be treated. One hospital may be devoted entirely to a special class of cases, such as orthopedic, maxillofacial, neuropsychiatric, tuberculous, etc.; another may treat all classes of cases. The equipment in either event must be adapted to the kind of disabilities to be treated in the institution. The personnel, augmented from the surrounding civil community, must be as numerous and as skilled as required for the most effectual handling of the patients admitted. The equipment of general hospitals corresponds very closely to that of the best of the larger civil hospitals, and is fully equal to them.
As one goes toward the front, the type of hospitals and equipment changes. In the communications zone will be found the base hospitals. These are large institutions for the definitive treatment of acute conditions, both wounds and disease. The surgery here is less hurried than that at the front and is devoted to the operations of election. The less seriously wounded remain in these hospitals until their wounds are healed and they are fit to be sent to convalescent camps for further recuperation or to be returned to their commands for duty. The permanently disabled and those not likely to be fit for duty within three months, whether incapacitated by wounds or by disease, are evacuated to the general hospitals in the home territory as soon as their condition and the state of transport will permit. Consequently these base hospitals, while fixed, are much less permanently so than the general hospitals; their equipment, though adequate for the work required of them, is less complex, extensive, and elaborate than that of general hospitals. Already the question of transportation has
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begun to play a part in the selection of articles of equipment. Uniformity of equipment has also become essential. These hospitals may be near the combat zone or hundreds of miles from the scene of action. They must have adequate rail transportation, sidings, and loading platforms.
As the combat zone is entered the type of equipment again changes. Here mobility of the unit and transportability of its equipment become imperative. In this zone the service becomes active and the treatment emergency in character. Several types of units of personnel and equipment are required from the evacuation hospitals, just out of range of the enemies’ heavy artillery, to the regimental detachments on the battle field. The equipment of the evacuation hospital is limited and mobile but is sufficiently extensive for all emergency surgery and the primary treatment o the wounded. The patients remain in these hospitals only long enough to be fitted for the journey to the base hospitals in the communications zone.
In advance of the evacuation hospitals are the field hospitals, ambulance companies, and regimental units. The equipment provided each of these units is inconformity with its mission. Mobility is the dominant factor. To achieve this the articles of equipment of these units must be compact, strong, durable, and as light as possible consistent with their mission. They must be able to stand field transportation and rough usage incident to frequent changes of location made necessary by changing battle conditions. The complexity of the equipment must be reduced to the simplest essentials compatible with the efficient functioning of the particular unit.
The equipment provided for the several units of the Medical Department in the combat zone and on field duty generally for many years has been designated field equipment. The articles used by those units have long been known as field supplies. In the combat zone three types, units, or sets of equipment. are provided, viz, that furnished regimental medical detachments for rendering first-aid treatment, including aid stations; that for sanitary trains, including ambulance companies and field hospitals; and that for evacuation hospitals. The mobility of the unit and its equipment increases from the rear to the front, reaching its maximum in the regimental detachments with the combat troops. The equipment of such detachments, because of the place in which it was. intended to be used, came, in 1916, to be called combat equipment, and is so listed in the standard supply table. The combat equipment can be transported on a cart, on a pack mule, or, if the need arises, it can be carried on litters by members of the detachment.
The equipment to be provided for any Medical Department unit consists ordinarily of two parts, the individual equipment and the unit equipment. The former is provided for the immediate use of the individual member of the unit and is, for the most part, carried on his person. The latter is the equipment ordinarily required by the unit in the performance of its mission. Individual equipment may be divided again into two parts, personal and technical. The personal equipment is for the use of the individual in the care of himself. It consists of his clothing, mess equipment, and temporary or emergency shelter (shelter tent). The technical equipment includes articles designed for the care of others in the performance of the general mission of the individual as such.
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and differentiated from the mission of the unit as a whole. The individual equipment accompanies the soldier on every change of station. It is issued to him and he is responsible for it. It goes with him when transferred from one organization to another. The unit equipment, on the other hand, moves with the unit to which issued.
The technical equipment provided for the individual use of Medical Department personnel naturally divides into two groups, that for the officer and that for the enlisted assistant. The two differ materially.
FOR MEDICAL OFFICERS
During the decade prior to the World War, the conception that the medical officer with combat troops would perform operations on the field of battle or at the dressing or aid stations was gradually abandoned. The conception that it was the duty of such officers under combat conditions simply to protect the wound by a suitable occlusive dressing, relieve pain and shock so far as practicable, and to supervise and expedite the removal of the wounded to the first hospital unit in the rear, gradually grew. Accordingly, when the equipment of the Hospital Corps was undergoing revision during 1913-1915, a corresponding unit of individual equipment was devised for the medical officer.1 The contents of this equipment appear below.2
M. M. D. 864. Individual equipment, medical officer
M.M. D. 919. Case, instrument, for medical officer’s belt
Chart
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M. M. D. 920. Case, Medicine, for medical officer’s belt
It was intended originally that the belt of this outfit should be woven in a manner similar to the standard cartridge belt furnished combat troops. The specifications of this belt as prepared by the board which developed it are as follows:
BELT FOR MEDICAL OFFICERS
(Revised model; February, 1916)
The revised model of the belt for medical officers shall consist of one pair of specially woven carriers and one 2 ¼inch back adjustment strap 26 inches long.
Adjustment strap - The adjustment strap shall be made of 2 ¼inch ribbed web. Each end of the strap shall be fitted with a brass end piece having an end hook properly formed to engage the adjustment eyelets set in the rear wall of the carriers. Three eyelets and washers shall be inserted 5/16 inch from the top selvage of the strap, one eyelet being set in the center of the strap and the other two, 1 ½ inches center to center on each side of the center eyelet. In like manner eyelets and washers shall be set along the lower selvage of the strap, the first eyelet set in the center and eight eyelets set 1 ¼ inches center to center on each side of the center, making a total of 17 eyelets and washers in the lower selvage of the strap.
Carriers.- Each Carrier shall be woven in one piece except for the covering flaps, and shall have two pockets, one large and one small, the large pocket being toward the front of the belt on both carriers. The back wall of each carrier shall be woven in two cloths for a depth of 5/8 inch, thus forming a housing slit in which the covering flaps are stitched. The pocket shall be fitted with both front and side flaps to protect the contents from the weather. The flap on the large pockets shall have two caps bearing the eagle design, and two sockets to properly engage the studs set in the pocket, and the small pockets shall have one complete Mills fastener. In each of the small pockets shall be stitched to the rear wall of the carrier a ¾ inch lifting strap fitted complete with a small fastener. In the small pocket of the left carrier shall be stitched a dividing partition. Round eyelets and washers shall be inserted in each carrier along both top and bottom selvages between the two pockets and just beyond the outer wall of each pocket. Five pairs of adjustment eyelets shall be set in the back wall of each carrier centered so as to permit the end hook on the adjustment strap to engage in these pairs of eyelets. One pair shall beset between the two pockets, three pairs shall be set 1 7/16 inches center to center in the back wall of the large pocket, and one pair shall be set in the selvage beyond the front wall of the large pocket and on a line connecting the eyelets in the upper and lower selvages, respectively. At the rear end of each carrier shall be inserted and stitched a 2¼ inch chape having a double-bar gridiron or slide through which the back adjustment strap is inserted. On the front end of the right carrier shall be inserted and stitched a 2¼ inch chape having the regulation 2 3/8-inchArmy male toggle fastener, and in the frontend of the left carrier shall likewise be stitched a chape having the female part of the fastener.
General .- The adjustment strap, carriers, flaps, and chapes shall be woven of fast-color olive-drab yarn subject to the regulation Government tests and shall be free from imperfections of weave and finish. The stitching of the carriers shall be with 30/3 olive-drab linen thread, approximately 10 stitches per inch. All metal parts shall be of brass and the end pieces, eyelets, washers, toggle fasteners, and fastener caps shall be finished in dull bronze. The belt complete shall be made to conform to the standard approved sample.
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The requirements for woven belts for the combat branches of the Army proved to be so great that it became necessary to adopt a sewed or stitched belt as a substitute and to make certain changes in the processes of manufacture. The stitched belt conformed in design to the woven belt. The changes made in the woven belt were as follows:
CHANGES IN THE MEDICAL OFFICER’S BELT
1. Pocket flaps. - In order to increase the speed of manufacture and thereby promote more rapid delivery of these belts, a change in the pocket flap to be authorized so that this flap shall conform in design to a sample submitted June 13, 1917, to be approved; this change to apply to both flaps one each of the carriers of this belt.
2. Retaining strap. - Omit the retaining strap from the small pocket in each carrier of this belt.
The following table gives the number of these belts purchased during the years 1917-18.3
Web belts, medical officer`s
FOR ENLISTED MEN, MEDICALDEPARTMENT
Hospital Corps and orderly pouches were used with satisfaction through the Spanish-American War, the Philippine insurrection, the Boxer rebellion, and by the Army in the field for a number of years. The pouch possessed many advantages, but it also had a few rather serious disadvantages. Unless the web shoulder strap was passed under the belt the pouch would swing to the front and was in the bearer’s way while ministering to the needs of a patient lying on the ground. Under those conditions it was to be removed .and placed on the ground, where it was apt to become soiled or upset and its contents spilled. A few years prior to the World War, improved equipment was being adopted for both Infantry and Cavalry, and it appeared to the Surgeon General desirable that a study be made to determine whether the new equipment of those arms could be adapted to the needs of the Hospital Corps.4 Accordingly, a board of medical officers was appointed in December, 1913, at Texas City, Tex., for this purpose.5 Such models of suggested improvements in this equipment as were available were furnished the board. One of these was a Hospital Corps belt, with a small hand ax to replace the Hospital Corps knife.6
The board submitted sketches of belts for both medical officers and enlisted men in June, 1914.Sample belts were made in accordance with the sketches and sent to the board for trial.7 Before a definite conclusion had been reached by this board it ceased to function because its members had been ordered to stations elsewhere.8 Accordingly a new board was appointed in September, 1914,at Washington, D. C.9 For continuity of action this board
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was composed of two of the members of the original board and one new member. Members of the board visited the manufacturers’ plants and personally supervised the development of a belt designed to carry the first-aid equipment of the Hospital Corpssoldier.10 A sample of the equipment as finally recommended met the approval of the SurgeonGeneral.11 This equipment consisted of a web belt with pockets for the first-aid material, with an adaptation of the Cavalry ration bags instead of a haversack in which to carry rations, and a blanket roll for the shelter tent half, blanket, and extra clothing for prolonged field service.12 Five hundred of these belts were purchased through the Ordnance Department in April, l915.13 They were delivered by the manufacturer to the field medical supply depot, Washington, D. C.14 There they were filled and distributed to the several ambulance companies and field hospital companies within the territorial limits of the United States.15 The reports from the commanding officers of these units on the new equipment were uniformly favorable.a On January10, 1916, the board submitted its report and recommendation in favor of the new equipment, which received the approval of the Secretary of War.16 The equipment recommended by the board was incorporated in the supply table of 1916, as prescribed by paragraph 865, Manual for the Medical Department, as follows:
M. M. D. 865. Individual equipment, Hospital Corps
a Though this equipment gave entire satisfaction in the preliminary trials, it did not withstand the test of actual war. The medical belt and the Medical Department pack for enlisted men proved a source of much dissatisfaction, both as to methods of packing and contents, thus leading the board of medical officers, appointed by the chief surgeon, A. E.F., to recommend the discontinuance of the belt principle. See last paragraph, p. 837, and footnote on p. 838, Vol. II. - Ed.
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WEB BELTS
As has already been indicated, the individual equipment of the enlisted personnel, Medical Department, is divided into two quite definite and distinct parts. The one is required for his own comfort and well-being; the other provides him with the “tools of his trade.” The former is contained in the pack; that is, ration bags and blanket roll. The latter consists of the web belt, model 1916, and contents. The contents of the belt were prescribed in paragraph, 907, Manual for the Medical Department, 1916, given here in full.
M. M. D. 907. Belt, web, Hospital Corps
The specifications for the manufacture of the belt were as follows:
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF BELT FORHOSPITAL CORPS
Belt . -The belt shall be woven into one solid fabric, except for the flaps covering the pockets, approximately 4 inches wide, the pocket space being of sufficient length for 10 pockets, and the 4-inch plain web billet extending one each end beyond the pockets. Eighty-five per cent of the belts are to have 10 ½-inch billets; 10 percent to have 12 ½-inch, and 5 percent to have 14 ½-inch billets. Both billets shall befitted with brass end pieces having end hooks to properly engage the adjustment eyelets. The back wall of the belt shall be woven in two cloths for a depth of three-fourths inch, thus forming a housing slit in which the covering flaps for the pockets are attached. The lower front selvage of the belts shall be so woven as to permit the insertion of eyelets arid washers in the double back wall without interfering with the front or pocket fabric of the belt.
Pockets. - Eight pockets shall be of the proper size to carry two first-aid packets. The pocket at each end shall be made smaller and a partition stitched in same so that the rear sections hall be of proper size to carry one first-aid packet and the front section to carry a package of pins or other articles. In each of the two end pockets shall be inserted arid stitched to the back wall of the belt a ¾-inch lifting strap to properly retain the contents of the outside section and also to more easily withdraw the first-aid packet. This lifting strap shall be fitted with a small Mills fastener. All of the pockets shall be fitted with both front and side covering flaps to protect the contents from the weather. Each flap shall be fitted with socket and bronzed cap bearing the Army eagle design to properly engage the stud of the fastener set in the pockets.
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Eyelets. - In each of the billets shall be inserted four pairs of adjustment eyelets, in which the hooks of the end piece are to engage. Similar adjustment eyelets shall also be set in the back of the belt between the first and second, second and third, and third and fourth pockets on each side, and also set centered in the back wall of each of the first three pockets on each side. On the belts having longer billets, additional pairs of adjustment eyelets shall be set. Between each two pockets and outside the last pocket on each side shall be set eyelets and washers along the top selvages, in which the hooks of the suspenders may he inserted. Oval eyelets and washers shall be inserted in the back wall of the belt along tile lower selvage between each two pockets. Round eyelets and washers shall be inserted in the lower selvage on the inside and outside of the outer side wall of the last pocket at each end of the belt. These eyelets and washers in the lower selvage shall be properly spaced so that the regulation hanger may be inserted therein.
Fasteners.- Each belt shall be equipped with 4-inchtoggle fasteners of the same design as used on the regulation United States Army cartridge belt.
Pouch for diagnosis tags and instruments. - With each belt shall be furnished one specially woven pouch of the proper size to carry the diagnosis tags and instruments. This shall have a covering flap complete with two Mills fasteners and shall have attached to the back a hanger and wire double-end 1100k to be inserted in the eyelets along the lower selvage of the belt.
Canteen hanger. - There shall also be furnished with each belt a hanger for carrying the canteen. This shall have the regulation double-end hanger wire for inserting in the eyelets of the lower selvage of the belt and shall also have two eyelets properly spaced to engage the wire hanger on the canteen cover.
Ax carrier. - The ax carrier used with this belt shall be the regulation carrier, United States Army, model of 1910.
General. -All the fabric shall be woven of fast-coloro live-drab yarn, subject to the regulation Government tests, and shall be free from imperfections of weave and finish. The stitching of the belts and other articles shall be with 30/3 olive-drab linen thread, approximately 10 stitches per inch. The toggle fasteners, fastener caps, hanger wires, end pieces, and eyelets shall be of brass finished in dull bronze. All articles are to conform to the standard approved sample.
Figure 2 shows the belt and contents. It will be noted that the belt described above was a woven belt which required special machinery and could be furnished only by one manufacturer. Additional machinery for weaving them was difficult to obtain. The demand for woven belts for combat troops was very great. It became imperative that modifications be made in the Hospital Corps belt to permit of a wider distribution for manufacture. A substitute belt, sewed or stitched, was authorized in June, 1917, and the manufacturer was permitted to supply both types.17 The following changes proposed by the manufacturer were agreed upon and deliveries accepted accordingly:
CHANGES IN HOSPITAL CORPS BELT
Because of the existing emergency which must continue for some months, and the urgent demand for the earliest possible production of a large quantity of these belts, the following changes are suggested, with the view to simplify manufacture and therefore increase the average daily product per operative.
CHANGES IN THE REGULATION BELT
1. Eyelets. - Omit six pairs of adjustment eyelets, three pairs at either end of the belt, each of these pairs being set in tile middle of the back of the first, second, and third pockets from each end; the adjustment eyelets between the pockets to remain as now.
2. Pocket flap. - For the pointed boxed pocket flap, as shown in the drawings, substitute a newmodel of flap as illustrated in a sample submitted June 13, 1917, to be approved.
3. Retaining strap. - The retaining straps in the two end pockets of the belt to be hereafter omitted.
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FIG. 2.- Medical Department enlisted man`s web belt.
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PROPOSED SUBSTITUTE BELT
In lieu of the woven regulation belt, delivery to be authorized of a substitute belt to be manufactured of olive-drab duck of as good quality as to cloth and color as the haversack and pack carrier forming part of the Infantry equipment; in design this belt to be as nearly as practicable a duplicate of the regulation woven belt, but of such form that it may be produced on sewing machines; the belt in length, width, size of pockets, position and number of eyelets, method of adjustment, and all other essential details to be as nearly like the regulation woven belt as possible, and to be interchangeable with it as to application thereto of other articles of equipment or of the standard contents.
Substitute diagnosis tag pouch. - In order to apply all weaving machinery possible to the production of belts readily producible only by such machinery, the diagnosis tag pouch may he manufactured of duck of the same quality as to cloth and color as the substitute Hospital Corps belt; a sample of this substitute diagnosis tag pouch to be approved as a pattern.
N0TE. - The belt for enlisted men must have the hanger for canteen.
At the time of the declaration of war, April 6, 1917, the Ordnance Department was charged with the supply of certain individual equipment to the combat troops. Because of the similarity of the web belt adopted for the Hospital Corps to that of the cartridge belt for combat troops, the procurement of web belts for the commissioned and enlisted personnel of the Medical Department had devolved upon the Ordnance Department. The estimated requirements for medical officers’ and Hospital Corps belts were transmitted to the Ordnance Department officially in June, 1917.18 The details had previously been discussed by representatives of both departments. These estimates called for a total of 15,000 officers’ belts and 150,000 Hospital Corps belts. Orders for 10,000 Hospital Corps belts had been placed by the Ordnance Department in December, 1916,19 and for 2,700 officers’ belts and 6,600 Hospital Corps belts in March, 1917.20 These orders were included in the totals above stated. The manufacturer of these belts in a personal interview with a representative of the Surgeon General’s Office, June 15, 1917, promised delivery of 15,000 medical officers’ belts in three months, 37,000 Hospital Corps belts by September 1, 75,000 by November 1, and to complete the delivery of the entire 150,000 by February 1, 1918.21
It was early foreseen that the issue of the web belt by the Ordnance Department and its contents by the Medical Department would be most unsatisfactory. Neither belt nor its contents could be used without the other. The Surgeon General accordingly proposed, June 15, 1917, that proper orders be issued directing the Medical Department to supply the belts as well as their contents.18 The Ordnance Department was requested to purchase the belts and deliver them to the Medical Department at the field medical supply depot, Washington, D. C. Reimbursement of the Ordnance Department was to be effected by a Treasury transfer of funds in the customary manner. 18 The belts were to be filled with the prescribed contents at the field medical supply depot and issued complete as a unit. This would insure uniformity of contents and a greater certainty of supply. The proposed plan was approved by the Ordnance Department June 27, 1917, 22 and by the War Department July 3, 1917.23 The Chief of Ordnance advised on June 27th at steps were being taken to procure, with the least practicable delay, the number of belts requested.22 The Chief of Ordnance advised of the adoption of a substitute stitched belt and
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stated that it was expected that 10,000 medical officers’ belts and 40,000 Hospital Corps belts would be ready for delivery by the first part of September.22 The belts to be procured included a pouch for diagnosis tags and a canteen hanger.18 Arrangements were perfected shortly thereafter where by any belts in the possession of medical detachments would be transferred to the Medical Department, accounted for on the property returns of that department,24 issued to the authorized personnel as personal equipment. This information was furnished all Medical Department personnel in August by a supply letter from the Surgeon General’s Office, and was republished in December, 1917, in Compilation of Supply Letters, Nos.1 to 23,inclusive. (See appendix, p.864.)
The deliveries of belts did not materialize as promised, for officers or enlisted men. The Regular Army was expanded in June and July to full war strength. New Medical Department units were organized, hut there were not belts enough to equip them. Although the Chief of Ordnance reported in June that there were 3,000 woven Hospital Corps belts on hand and 20,000 due by September 1,25 the manufacturer wired August 10 that 2,600 medical officers’ belts and 8,820 enlisted men’s belts had been shipped since June 22, and that not so many of them were being made as had been hoped owing to the urgent requirements of other kinds of belts.26 On August 15 the officer in charge of field medical supply depot, Washington, reported that the total receipts to that date were medical officers’ belts 1,840, and enlisted men’s belts 6,600.27 By October 30,1917, deliveries of medical officers’ belts at that depot were approximately 6,540 and enlisted men’s belts 26,299.28 Troops had assembled in all the training camps, but the insistent demand for belts was not satisfied until the following April or May. Belts insufficient number to equip the Medical Department personnel already overseas were sent to France from the early deliveries. Belts were sent to the medical superintendent, Army transport service, New York City, in August, 1917, to equip the personnel of Medical Department organizations passing through that port.29 The first effort was to equip the organizations of the Regular Army, since it was expected that they would be the first to go overseas. The remaining organizations were placed on a priority list in accordance with the order in which they were scheduled to sail, and issues made as rapidly as the belts became available. The two primary ports of embarkation, Hoboken, N. J., and Newport News, Va., were kept stocked with belts in quantities sufficient to meet the needs of the smaller units passing through and which could not well be reached from the field medical supply depot. These units were dispatched at frequent intervals, and information of their prospective departure did not often reach the depot in time to permit shipment to their respective stations before the units left for the port of embarkation. A stock of belts was kept at the ports of embarkation and at the camps later assigned to receive troops for embarkation until the need for them was terminated by reason of the armistice.
The supply of belts for both officers and enlisted men of the Medical Department under the contracts placed by the Ordnance Department was never sufficient to meet the needs for them. Other sources of supply were sought by the officer in charge of the field medical supply depot. A satisfactory stitched belt of the same design as the woven belt but made of canvas was developed
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and contracts for 100,000 contract for an additional By the end of June, 1918,enlisted men’s belts were let in April, 1918. 30 A 50,000 enlisted men’s belts was let in July, 1918.31 By the end of June, 1918, the saturation point in the demand for belts had
FIG. 3. - A pile of filled enlisted men’s belts, representing a day’s work, awaiting boxing for shipment at the field medical supply depot at Washington.
FIG. 4. - Showing manner of filling belts.
been reached and thereafter no difficulty was experienced in meeting all requirements.
The filling of these belts was carried on at the field medical supply depot, Washington. Civilian employees were selected and trained to the work. A
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section of the depot was set apart for their use. Each employee filled a definite pocket in the belt. Others filled the pouch for instruments and diagnosis tags, and still others attached these pouches and the canteen hangers to the belts. Figure 3 shows a pile of filled belts, approximately a day’s work, waiting to be boxed for shipment; figure 4 the manner of filling them. The number of belts purchased is given in the following table:
Contracts for, deliveries, and cost of web belts, enlisted men, Medical Department
Chart
REFERENCES
(1) Supplementary report of board of medical officers to the Surgeon General on individual equipment. On file, Record Room, S. G. O. (Old Files).
(2) Manual for the Medical Department, U. S. Army, 1916, pars. 864, 919, and 920.
(3) Compiled from records on file in the Finance Department, Miscellaneous Section--contracts placed by the Ordnance Department, and Lieut. Col. M. A. Reasoner, M. C.,
Field Medical Supply Depot, Washington, D. C.
(4) Letter from the Surgeon General to The Adjutant General, December 9, 1913. Subject: Experimental tests of adaptability of new Infantry and Cavalry equipment for the
Hospital Corps. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 147549 (Old Files).
(5) Special Orders, No. 228,Headquarters Second Division, Texas City, Tex., December 19, 1913.Extract on file, Record Room, S. G. O., 147549-B (Old Files).
(6) Second indorsement, from Field Medical Supply Depot, Washington, to the Surgeon General, February 11, 1914. Subject: Designs for service belt or roll for packing contents,
Hospital Corps pouch. On file, Record Room, S.G. O, 147549-C (Old Files).
(7) Correspondence between Capt. Percy L. Jones, M. C., recorder of the board, the Surgeon General, and the Mills Woven Cartridge Belt Co., June 29, 1914, to August 25, 1914, relative to
belts for Hospital Corps and medical officers. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 147549-E-E3 (Old Files).
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(8) Letter from the division surgeon, Second Division, Texas City, Tex., August 20, 1914. Subject: Board of medical officers for unit equipment, Hospital Corps. On file, Record Room, S. G. O.,
147549-G(Old Files).
(9) Letter from the Surgeon General to The Adjutant General, September 4, 1914. Subject: Board of medical officers on personal equipment for Hospital Corps, and First indorsement thereon from
The Adjutant General to commanding general, 2d Division, Texas City, Tex. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 147549-H-B1 (Old Files).
(10) First indorsement, Surgeon General to The Adjutant General, November 7, 1914, approving request of the board for one of its members to visit the Mills Woven Cartridge Belt Co. Also: Letter
from the Surgeon General to The Adjutant General, February 26, 1916. Subject: Special duty, medical officers. On file, Record Room, S. G. O.,147549-K and 147549-3 (Old Files).
(11) Letter from the Surgeon General to The Adjutant General, March 22, 1915. Subject: Individual equipment of the Hospital Corps. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 147549-P (Old Files).
(12) Manual for the Medical Department, U. S. Army, 1916, par. 865.
(13) Indorsement from Chief of Ordnance to the Surgeon General, April 13, 1915, relative to contracts for medical officers’ and Hospital Corps belts. On file, Record Room, S. G. O.,147549-P (Old Files).
(14) Ninth indorsement, Surgeon General to Chief of Ordnance, April 27, 1915, requesting delivery of belts to Field Medical Supply Depot for distribution. On file, Record Room, S. G. O.,
147549-P (Old Files).
(15) Letter from the Surgeon General to the field medical supply officer, Washington, D. C., May 12, 1915. Subject: Issues of Hospital Corps belts and officers’ belts. On file, Record Room, S. G. O.,
l47549-Q (Old Files).
(16) Third indorsement from the Surgeon General to the Chief of Ordnance, April 29, 1917, relative to issue of pistol belts to detachment, Medical Department, Fort Myer, Va. On file, Record Room,
S. G. O., 127608-P (Old Files).
(17) Schedules of deliveries and prices on contracts made by the Ordnance Department with the Mills Woven Cartridge Belt Co., in 1917, copies furnished the Surgeon General,
October 23, 1917. On file, Finance and Supply Division, S. G. O., 750-550/9.
(18) Letter from the Surgeon General to The Adjutant General, June 15, 1917. Subject: Belts for medical officers and enlisted men, Medical Department. On file, Finance and Supply Division,
S. G. O.,13849-C.
(19) Contract No. 13794, December 8,1916. On file, Office of Chief of Ordnance, administrative division, contract section, 38310/364.
(20) Contracts Nos. 13735, March 13,1917, and 13840, March 22, 1917. On file, Office of Chief of Ordnance, administrative division, contract section, 38310/364.
(21) Letter from the Surgeon General to the Chief of Ordnance, June 15, 1917. Subject: Belts for officers and enlisted men, Medical Department. On file, Finance and Supply Division, S. G. O.,
13849-C.
(22) Second indorsement from Chief of Ordnance to The Adjutant General, June 27, 1917, relative to belts for officers and enlisted men, Medical Department. On file, Finance and Supply Division,
S. G. O., 13849-C.
(23) Third indorsement from The Adjutant General to the Surgeon General, July 3, 1917, relative to transfer of belts to Medical Department. On file, Finance and Supply Division, S. G. O.,13849-C.
(24) Correspondence between the Surgeon General, the Chief of Ordnance, and the field medical supply officer, July 31-August 15, 1917, relative to transfer of accountability for belts to Medical Department.
On file, Finance and Supply Division, S.G. O., 13849-E.
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(25) Indorsement from Chief of Ordnance on Surgeon General’s letter of June 15, 1917, to Chief of Ordnance, relative to belts for officers and enlisted men. On file, Finance and Supply Division, S. G. O.,
13849-C.
(26) Telegram from Mills Woven Cartridge Belt Co., Worcester, Mass., to the Surgeon General, August 10, 1917,relative to deliveries of web belts. On file, Finance and Supply Division, S. G. O., 509/2.
(27) Second indorsement from field medical supply officer, Washington, D. C., to the Surgeon General, August 15, 1917. On file, Finance and Supply Division, S. G. O., 509/2.
(28) Memorandum from the field medical supply officer, Washington, D. C., to the Surgeon General, October 31, 1917, relative to deliveries of web belts. On file, Finance and Supply Division, S. G. O., 750-550 Ord./9.
(29) Letter from the Surgeon General to the Medical Superintendent, Army Transport Service, New York, N. Y., August 1, 1917. Subject: Belts, web. On file, Finance and Supply Division, S. G. O.
(30) Contracts dated April 18, 1918, between Lieut. Col. M. A. Reasoner, M. C., Washington, D. C., and R. H. Long Co., and Hewes & Potter, for 50,000 belts each. On file, Office of Chief of Finance, Miscellaneous Section.
(31) Contract between Lieut. Col. M.A. Reasoner, M. C., and R. H. Long Co., July 1, 1918, for 50,000 enlisted men’s belts. On file, Office of Chief of Finance, Miscellaneous Section.
