CHAPTER XXII
EMBARKATION AND DEBARKATION HOSPITALS
As will be seen in more detail in that part of the history which deals with ports of embarkation, troops were shipped or disembarked at 11 different ports in the United States and Canada. While this was so, in ports other than New York and Newport News no special port hospitals were maintained. The problem of taking care of overseas sick and wounded need be considered at the two ports of the first class only, New York and Newport News, for no such sick and wounded were transferred from abroad to other ports. At minor ports the casual sick and injured, of troops destined for overseas service, as well as of the permanent personnel at the ports, were sent to local hospitals (Army hospitals whenever practicable); and the same disposition was made of the casual sick of returning troops. At Charleston, S. C., casual patients, homeward bound, were evacuated to the United States Naval Hospital at that place.1
Where our country entered the World War plans for great ports of embarkation did not exist. It is not to be wondered at, then, that the Medical
Department plans were nebulous likewise. Furthermore, throughout the war, no one was prepared sufficiently far in advance to permit the provision of hospitals; to inform the surgeons of ports regarding the number of troops to be embarked month by month; or, even after the armistice, to specify the number of overseas sick and wounded to be shipped back. In consequence, the port surgeons had to estimate both the numbers of embarking troops and the probable number of returning patients. It might be thought that they would have been on firmer ground, so far as the permanent provision of the ports was concerned, but these varied widely at different times. Substandard men were sent to the ports with commands under orders for overseas. Instructions were existent which should have limited this condition to a relatively minor degree, but once at the ports they had, of necessity, to be culled from the physically acceptable, and to be placed in the port hospitals, and no sys?
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tem existed which would constantly and promptly free the port hospitals of these physically unfit men. Literally thousands of such men demanded hospital care from the port medical departments. The fact that the port surgeons at the major ports estimated so closely what they would need in the way of hospital accommodation so that, except at first, all patients could be well taken care of even at the maximum number with no undue extravagance in hospitalization, is an eloquent testimonial to the sound judgment of the officers selected for these difficult duties.
At both New York and Newport News those in local charge experienced considerable difficulty in convincing higher authorities of the needs as regards hospitals.
HOSPITAL SITUATION AT PORT OF NEW YORK
At New York the first hospital to be made available for Army use was St. Mary`s Hospital, Hoboken. Patients in limited numbers were admitted to this hospital as early as June, 1917.2 On September 18, 1917, it became known as Hospital, Port of Embarkation, and 200 beds were turned over to the Army;3 but it was not until July 1, 1918, that the entire hospital, with its 650 beds, was taken over by the port surgeon.4 During October, 1917, arrangements were made with certain civilian hospitals, Englewood Hospital, Englewood, N. J., North Hudson Hospital at Weehawken, Jersey City, Isolation Christ Hospital and St. Francis Hospital in Jersey City, N. J., for the care of a limited number of Army patients, but the aggregate number of all these was less than 200 beds, and the arrangement was most unsatisfactory.3 Operative cases were made eligible for admission to General Hospital No. 1, Williams Bridge, N. Y., then a 500-bed hospital, in October, 1917.5 Briefly, then, there were approximately 400 beds available for the Port of New York on October, 1917. These 400 beds had to suffice for the sick of the permanent cadre of the port, and for those detained on preembarkation inspection of troops en route to Europe. During October, 1917, the number detained was 311.3
On November 15, 1917, the War Department, predicating its action upon cabled recommendations from General Pershing, that increased effort be made to eliminate venereal diseases from troops embarking for Europe, issued orders directing a preembarkation physical examination of all troops for the detection of venereal disease.6 Those detained on this inspection were sent to St. Mary`s Hospital until such time as adequate provision could be made for their disposition. Meanwhile, negotiations were entered into with the New York State quarantine authorities for the use, by the Army, of hospital space in their quarantine hospital at Hoffman Island,7 as this was the only civilian hospital in New York City which would accept venereal cases. Arrangements were effected whereby approximately 700 beds were thus made available, the institution being designated as United States Army Hospital, Hoffman Island;8 later, Embarkation Hospital No. 3.9 The buildings of this hospital were old and the plumbing and heating arrangements left much to be desired; however, the location was ideal for isolation, and an acute situation was very materially relieved by its acquisition.10
At Camp Mills, Long Island, in the fall of 1917, the 41st Division was quartered in tents, and a camp hospital, also under canvas, was maintained for the sick of that organization.11 The 42nd Division, which had incurred a con-
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siderable incidence of contagious disease, had just vacated Camp Mills, leaving behind the potential seeds for disaster. With the advent of cold weather trouble of a serious nature began. Disease in epidemic form made its appearance (scarlet fever, diphtheria, cerebrospinal meningitis, measles, bronchitis, and pneumonia) and the camp hospital, with about 900 beds, was soon filled to overflowing. The water pipes, which had been laid on the surface, were frozen, and the means of heating tents were lacking.12
Until this time, War Department plans contemplated control by the Surgeon General of all hospitals in the vicinity of the port of New York, the port surgeon`s jurisdiction being limited to the supervision of embarkation and the piers. On November 23, 1917, following a conference between a representative of the Surgeon General`s Office and the port surgeon, New York, War Department instructions were issued charging the port surgeon with the responsibility for the distribution of all sick in New York and its vicinity.13 On the same date the port surgeon received telegraphic instructions from the Surgeon General to relieve the distress at Camp Mills.14 The tent hospital at Camp Mills was filled to overflowing with sick, a very considerable proportion of whom were contagious cases. The capacity of General Hospital No. 1, with its 500 beds, was soon exhausted, and relief had to be sought in civilian hospitals.3 After considerable difficulty, bed space was obtained in the following institutions:15 Bellevue, Willard Parker, Greenpoint, Rockefeller, St. Vincent`s, and Mount Sinai Hospitals in New York, and Nassau County Hospital, Long Island. A serious obstacle to the evacuation of sick from Camp Mills was encountered when the railroads refused to transport contagious-disease patients; accordingly, it became necessary to transfer such patients by ambulance, obtained from the Red Cross and the Women`s Motor Corps of America, to New York, a distance of approximately 35 miles, through deep snow in almost zero weather.16
Meanwhile barracks construction was going on at Camp Merritt, N. J., and several organizations (501st, 502nd, and 503rd Engineers) were sent there for equipment in October. It was not until November, 1917, however, that embarkation troops began passing through this camp in considerable numbers. Before the Camp Mills situation had been relieved epidemic diseases similar to those which had appeared at Camp Mills erupted at Camp Merritt, and here again the port surgeon was confronted with the problem of inadequate bed space. Prior to this time the sick from Camp Merritt had been sent to St. Mary`s Hospital at Hoboken and to other civilian institutions in Hoboken and Jersey City, where a few beds had been made available. These were soon filled, and on December 20, 1917, the isolation ward of the base hospital at Camp Merritt was opened17 and was filled on the same day. At the Secaucus Hospital suitable space was obtained for patients with contagious diseases, 128 cases of mumps being transferred to that hospital on December 18.3
The Secaucus Hospital was later (January 9, 1918) taken over by the Army and operated as a contagious-disease hospital under the direction of the port surgeon.18 No hospital train being available at that time,3 the transfer of contagious cases from Camp Merritt was made by ambulances and by a hospital car rented from the Erie Railroad.
The base hospital at Camp Merritt was officially opened January 9, 1918, with a bed capacity of 416.19 These beds were rapidly filled, but they mate-
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rially relieved the situation. On May 1, 1918, this hospital was increased in bed capacity to 1,200, and eventually (November 1, 1918) it became a 2,500?bed hospital.20
On December 23, 1917, Hospital Train No. 1 was sent to the New York port21 and pressed into service for the relief of the overcrowded situation at the Camp Merritt hospital, and patients were evacuated thence to general hospitals at Fort Ontario, N. Y., Lakewood, N. J., Fort McHenry, Baltimore, and Walter Reed, Washington.
At all times the War Department was slow in being convinced of the needs of New York in regard to hospitals, and between the date of the approval for more hospitals and the time when these hospitals were actually needed for use a sufficiently lengthy period was not allowed for the construction work required to put the buildings in order for occupancy. It was therefore necessary in the emergency to place patients in hospitals before the facilities for their proper care could be completely provided. In one hospital in particular the messing arrangements and appliances were in such a state of incompletion that it was immeasurably difficult to have cooked and served food sufficient for the wants of the patients. Debarkation Hospital No. 3, at the Greenhut Building, New York City, which was made available for patients on November 23, 1918, and Debarkation Hospital No. 5, at the Grand Central Palace, New York City, which opened on December 22, 1918, furnish splendid examples of what may be accomplished in the way of adapting modern commercial buildings to hospital use.
The hospitals at the port of New York, with the date of opening of each, were as follows:22
|
|
Date of opening |
|
Embarkation Hospital No. 1, Hoboken , N.J. |
July 1, 1918a |
|
Embarkation Hospital No. 2, Secaucus, N. J |
Dec. 18, 1917 |
|
Embarkation Hospital No. 3, Hoffman Island, N. Y. |
Nov. 1, 1917 |
|
Embarkation Hospital No. 4 (Polyclinic Hospital), New York, N. Y. |
Oct. 20, 1918 |
|
Debarkation Hospital No. 1, Ellis Island, N. Y. |
Mar. 8, 1918 |
|
Debarkation Hospital No. 2, Fox Hills, Staten Island, N. Y. |
Aug. 2, 1918b |
|
Debarkation Hospital No. 3 (Greenhut Building), New York, N. Y. |
Aug. 2, 1918 |
|
Debarkation Hospital No. 4, Long Beach, Long Island, N. Y. |
Sept. 8, 1918c |
|
Debarkation Hospital No. 5 (Grand Central Palace), New York, N. Y. |
Jan., 1919 |
|
Auxiliary Hospital No. 1, New York, N. Y. |
Aug. 24, 1918 |
|
General Hospital No. 1, New York, N. Y. |
Sept. 1, 1918d |
|
Nurses` mobilization station, Ellis Island, N. Y. |
June 15, 1917 |
|
Base Hospital, Camp Mills, Long Island, N. Y. |
Dec. --, 1918 |
|
Base Hospital, Camp Merritt, N. J. |
Jan. 9, 1918 |
HOSPITAL SITUATION AT PORT OF NEWPORT NEWS, VA.
In the early days of the war, conditions, so far as hospitals were concerned, were no better at the port of Newport News than were the conditions described above at the port of New York.
One of the first questions taken under consideration by the port surgeon was the location and the construction of a hospital for the port. At the time of the selection of Newport News for a port of embarkation the medical mem?
aPartly used by the Army from June 9, 1917.
bOperated as clearing hospital, Fox Hills, from May 10, 1918.
cDate of designation. This hospital was not actually used as a debarkation hospital.
dDate it was placed under the control of the port surgeon.
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ber of the board appointed for the selection of the port advised that a hospital be constructed on vacant land on the water front, known as the Casino. This land was owned by the Old Dominion Land Co. and was held at a high rental, $15,000 a year. In the opinion of the port surgeon this site for a hospital would have been excellent from many standpoints, and its selection as such was approved by him. However, its selection was disapproved by the Secretary of War personally at an inspection which he made of the port August 1, 1917. Another site for a hospital on leased land at the north end of the town was suggested; but placing a hospital at this point would have caused its separation by a considerable distance from the largest camp of the port, Camp Stuart. A tract of land at Camp Stuart was ultimately chosen as a site for an embarkation hospital, and a hospital of 200 beds was planned.23
On August 22, 1917, the port surgeon addressed a letter to The Adjutant General, in which he reported the fact that 16.7 acres, at Camp Stuart, had been set aside as a site for a hospital, and indicated the length of time requisite to perfect a smoothly operating organization for the care of the sick. He strongly recommended that immediate steps be taken to build a hospital and start its organization. This letter was conveyed to Washington by the commanding general of the port, personally, and indorsed back to the port surgeon, with the inclusive statement that a hospital of 200-beds capacity would be constructed on the selected site at Camp Stuart.24
On August 23, 1917, a resident physician of Newport News submitted a proposition to rent his private hospital of 120 beds to the Government for a yearly rental of $10,000.25 This was disapproved by the Surgeon General.
The number of troops at the port of embarkation utilized for guard duty and various other purposes was now gradually being increased. No hospital facilities for the sick among these men were available, except at Fort Monroe. Sick call was held in the attending surgeon`s office, Newport News, and at other places when required, and patients were transported by motor ambulances, and occasionally by trolley car, to the hospital at Fort Monroe. Since the garrison at Fort Monroe was likewise increasing in strength, it required greater hospital facilities; in consequence, the only hospital available to the troops at Newport News became overcrowded about November 1, 1917.26 Transportation of patients to Fort Monroe was effected by road, which was in wretched condition and proved a severely trying experience for the sick.26
Many of the negro stevedores, assigned to the Stevedore Regiment at the port, were taken sick; for them, space was rented in the Whittaker Memorial Hospital, Newport News. About 40 beds were thus made available.26
In spite of frequent personal and official requests, made by the port surgeon, for hospital facilities, and emphatic statements of the importance of early completion of the embarkation hospital, construction work was considerably delayed.27 This delay resulted from a variety of causes, but principally from difficulty in securing material and labor and the necessity for rushing other work. In the meantime, Camp Hill, at the north end of Newport News, had been completed and was filled with troops; many stevedores were encamped to the north of Camp Hill, and Camp Stuart was about to be filled with troops. Two small infirmary buildings at Camp Hill, having a capacity of about 50 patients, were operated as hospitals.28 Fort Monroe was unable to accept further admissions from Newport News after November l, 1917.26
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About November 10, 1917, the port surgeon succeeded in securing the equipment of two company groups of barrack buildings, for hospital purposes, at Camp Stuart. Medical property had already been secured for equipping 200 beds; 13 medical officers, 75 enlisted men, Medical Department, were assigned, and by the evening of the 13th, 100 patients were being treated.23 The buildings which were assigned to the Medical Department were the ordinary temporary barrack type, without water or sewer connections, and accommodated 20 patients on each floor. An operating room was established in one of the wardrooms wherein emergency surgical work was performed as required.23 This extemporized hospital was gradually augmented until it held over 600 patients. Shortly before January 1, 1918, plans for the embarkation hospital, at Camp Stuart, had been changed, increasing its bed capacity from 200 to 500, various additions having been requested meanwhile.29 All this time, too, on account of the inadequacy of the hospital, whenever patients temporarily increased in number beyond the capacity of the hospital, these barracks had to be used for hospital purposes. This state of affairs was true of Camp Hill as well as Camp Stuart. This forced use of barracks, though absolutely essential, was most unsatisfactory from every standpoint. Finally, in the latter part of March, 1918, a battalion block of barracks, having a troop capacity of 1,000, was turned over to the Medical Department for hospital use.30 This block was so near the hospital proper that it was quite as useful from that point of view as if it had been originally constructed for hospital purposes. While it was never used for patients, except convalescents, its component barracks housed nearly all enlisted hospital personnel, as well as convalescents from time to time as necessary. The enlisted personnel of the Medical Department being removed from the hospital proper and quartered in the barracks liberated their quarters at the hospital which it was then possible to convert into wards. After April 1, 1918, barracks were never again used for seriously sick, even during the epidemic of influenza in the fall of 1918. Dating from April 1, then, hospitalization at the port of Newport News was for the first time on a satisfactory basis. A great deal remained to be done, it is true, but subsequent to that time available hospital beds always outnumbered patients instead of the reverse, which had formerly been the case.
Local conditions at Newport News differed decidedly from those which obtained at its larger, sister port, from the hospital standpoint as well as from every military standpoint involving its use as a port: No buildings were available either in the city of Newport News or its vicinity, for use as hospitals; nor were there civilian hospitals sufficiently large to warrant taking them over for Army use. The Hotel Chamberlain at Fort Monroe received some consideration as a possible hospital; but while this large building would have fulfilled this purpose very well, the port commander opposed using it because of its exposed site. The only other possibility was the beautiful Soldiers` Home, at Hampton, Va., which was ultimately secured, but only after authorization by a congressional enactment, and not until immediately prior to the armistice.31
While measures for securing the Soldiers` Home were being pursued, and during the summer of 1918, it was necessary to go to Richmond, Va., 85 miles distant, to obtain the nearest satisfactory building convertible to hospital use.32 In this connection, it should be stated that the peninsula, upon which,
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Newport News is located, is a swamp, the only high ground of which is near Newport News. Extensive filling was required even at the Embarkation Hospital, and further hospital construction at the port would have involved building in a swamp. Furthermore, there were too many activities already in operation on the peninsula, and on the Norfolk shore. Conditions in these respects were no better on the Norfolk shore than at Newport News.
To secure adjacent hospital facilities, in the face of all these almost insurmountable difficulties, one other possibility presented itself: This was taking over Morrison Aviation Camp in its entirety for a hospital of approximately 5,000 beds.33 Because of the armistice this project was not carried to a point of completion.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PORT AND OTHER MILITARY HOSPITALS
The hospitals at both New York and Newport News formed groups, in this sense being more like the hospital centers in France, than base or general hospitals in the United States, where each operated independently. In order that each port hospital might play its proper part in group action, the port surgeons exercised direct control over them for the purpose of coordinating their work. Like all activities in a port of embarkation, all the hospitals connected therewith operated constantly under high pressure; instead of following the more or less routine of the ordinary home base or general hospital, port hospitals were so organized and administered as to meet totally unexpected demands at any and all times. Intended, as they were, mainly for temporary care rather than definitive treatment of patients, and thus involving constant and rapid changes, the administrative rather than the professional side of the hospital was emphasized. In respect to the patients culled from troops departing for overseas, the administrative duties of the hospitals, in their connection with these physically unfit, were emphasized. They must be cared for and then properly safeguarded no matter how they came to hospital. Many were admitted to hospital for conditions which were temporarily disabling, necessitating their return in the greatest possible number to their respective commands prior to the time for sailing, at the same time exercising the utmost care to eliminate any who might prove a burden or a source of danger through contagion. In the hurry of departure, when there was a tendency on the part of the troops to forget or disregard every regulation, it was felt that the administrative functioning of the port hospitals could not be too strongly emphasized.
When the current of the sick and injured was reversed, and they began to return from overseas, the administrative problems were more difficult. There were missing records to be replaced, and the disposition of cases by classification and their transfer to inland hospitals to be accomplished. All the many records, having to do with the payment of the patients, had to be made out, and payment actually made. Following this, the patients were gone over again carefully to prevent sending away any unfit to make the proposed journey to some other hospital. The last state, in the administrative details connected with sorting and transferring patients from the ports, had to do with placing them on the hospital cars with such information to the receiving surgeons as would enable them to give any needed treatment en route. The observance of infinite tact was requisite, though this was not solely a characteristic of
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hospitals of the ports. Many patients were in such a mental state, when debarked, that they were exceedingly difficult to manage. Especially was this true of the officer patients. This mental condition was fostered by the fact that, after the armistice a great many patients were returned from overseas who, upon arrival, were practically well and in a mood resistant to the necessary routine connected with their passage through the port hospitals. Not with the patients alone was tact necessary: their well-wishers varied from the wise to the foolish, and regulations had to be formulated which would encourage the continuance of the valuable assistance of the former, and at the same time curb the activities of the latter to an extent sufficient at least to prevent actual injury to the patients.
The port hospitals, during the war, were by no means on the same plane of activity; quite the contrary. Some of them received only overseas patients, such as the debarkation hospitals, the Greenhut Building and the Grand Central Palace in New York, and the National Soldiers` Home at Hampton, and the great debarkation hospital of the port of Newport News. Certain hospitals in New York were set aside for special purposes such as for the care of contagious diseases; other hospitals, at both ports, discharged a set of functions which combined those of a base hospital with the modifications imposed by the peculiar character of their relation to the culling out of noneffectives from troops going overseas, and the reception of debarking sick and wounded.
REFERENCES
(1) Letter from the Surgeon General to the port surgeon, Charleston, S. C., January 4, 1919. Subject: Hospital facilities at the port. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 680.3 (Charleston, S. C.), N.
(2) Letter from Sister Justa, superintendent St. Mary`s Hospital, Hoboken, N. J., to the Surgeon General, July 27, 1917. Subject: Account for hospital care and treatment, officers and enlisted men, June 9 to July 19, 1917. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 193776 (Old Files).
(3) Report of activities of the office of the surgeon, Port of Embarkation, Hoboken, N. J. On file, Historical Division, S. G. O.
(4) Letter from the commanding officer, Embarkation Hospital No. 1, to the Surgeon General, March 7, 1919. Subject: Report of hospital for the year 1918. On file, Historical Division, S. G. O.
(5) Letter from the commanding officer, General Hospital No. 1, to the department surgeon, Eastern Department, October 1, 1917. Subject: Patients. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 187538-7 (Old Files).
(6) Letter from The Adjutant General to the commanding generals of all divisions, all departments in the United States, all ports of embarkation, and to all staff departments, November 15, 1917. Subject: Inspection for venereal diseases before troops are embarked. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 726.1-1 (General).
(7) Letter from the Surgeon General to Dr. L. E. Cofer, chief quarantine officer, Rosebank, New York City, October 26, 1917. Subject: Facilities at Hoffman Island for use of the Medical Department. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 632 (Emb. Hosp. No. 3), I.
(8) G. O. No. 37, Hdqrs., Port of Embarkation, Hoboken, N. J., November 27, 1917.
(9) G. O. No. 88, Hdqrs., Port of Embarkation, Hoboken, N. J., August 2, 1918 .
(10) Report of Special Sanitary Inspection, U. S. Army Hospital, Hoffman Island, N. Y., June 27, 1918, by Col. A. E. Truby, M. C. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 721 (Emb. Hosp. No. 3), I.
(11) Telegram from Brown to the Surgeon General, October 27, 1917. Subject: Hospital facilities at Camp Mills. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 632 (Camp Mills), D.
(12) Letter from The Adjutant General to the Surgeon General, November 22, 1917. Subject: Congestion, Camp Hospital, Camp Mills, N.Y. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 705 (Camp Mills), D.
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(13) 3d Ind. from The Adjutant General to the Surgeon General, November 23, 1917. Subject: Disposition of patients in New York Harbor. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 701 (New York, N. Y.), F.
(14) 1st Ind. from the Surgeon General to The Adjutant General, November 23,1917. Subject: Congestion at Camp Mills, N. Y. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 705 (Camp Mills), D.
(15) Telegram from Kennedy to the Surgeon General, January 3, 1918. Subject: Hospital facilities. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 701 (New York, N. Y.), F.
(16) Letter from the division surgeon, 41st Division, Camp Mills, N. Y., to the Surgeon General, November 21, 1917. Subject: Hospital facilities at Camp Mills. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 632 (Camp Mills), D.
(17) Letter from Col. J. M. Kennedy, M. C., surgeon, Port of Embarkation, to Col. J. D. Glennan, M. C., December 12, 1917. Subject: Hospital facilities. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 701 (New York, N. Y.), F.
(18) Report of special sanitary inspection of the Army Hospital, Secaucus, N. J., June 24, 1918, by Col. A. E. Truby, M. C. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 721 (Secaucus, N. J.), I.
(19) Telegram from Sloat to the Surgeon General, January 2, 1918. Subject: Estimate time when buildings will be completed at Camp Merritt. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 652 (Camp Merritt, N. J.), C.
(20) Shown on "Bed reports." On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 632 (U).
(21) Telegram from Reitz to the Surgeon General, December 23, 1917. Subject: Movement of Hospital Train No. 1. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 322.3 (Hosp. Train No. 1), I.
(22) Shown on monthly report of sick and wounded (Form 51). On file, Medical Records Section, World War Division, A. G. O. (name of hospital).
(23) Report of operations of the surgeon`s office, Port of Embarkation, Newport News, Va., from July 16, 1917, to March 21, 1918. On file, Medical Records Section, World War Division, A. G. O., 314.7, retained records, surgeon`s office, Newport News, Va.
(24) Letter from the surgeon, Port of Embarkation, Newport News, Va., to The Adjutant General, August 22, 1917, and indorsement thereto. Subject: Hospital at Port of Embarkation. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 632 (Newport News, Va.), N.
(25) Letter from Dr. Joseph T. Buxton, Newport News, Va., to the Surgeon General, August 23, 1917. Subject: Rental of hospital for use of the Government. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 201 (Buxton, Joseph T.).
(26) Letter from the surgeon, Port of Embarkation, Newport News, Va., to all medical officers, October 31, 1917. Subject: Care of sick. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 701 (Newport News, Va.), N.
(27) Letter from the surgeon, Port of Embarkation, Newport News, Va., to the commanding general, Port of Embarkation, September 21, 1917; and indorsements thereto. Subject: Embarkation hospital. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 632 (Newport News, Va.), N.
(28) Letter from the surgeon, Port of Embarkation, Newport News, Va., to Maj. H. H. Johnson, M. C., Surgeon General`s Office, January 8, 1918. Subject: Situation in regard to hospital facilities at this port. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 632 (Newport News, Va.), N.
(29) Letter from the surgeon, to the commanding general, Port of Embarkation, Newport News, Va., December 10, 1917; and indorsements thereto. Subject: Embarkation hospital. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 600.1 (Newport News, Va.), N.
(30) Letter from the commanding general, Port of Embarkation, Newport News, Va., to the Chief of the Embarkation Service, Washington, D. C., July 8, 1918. Subject: Provisions for housing enlisted personnel, Medical Department, at Embarkation Hospital. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 632 (Newport News, Va.), N.
(31) Bulletin No. 60, War Department. November 20, 1918, publishing act of Congress approved November 7, 1918.
(32) Letter from the surgeon, Port of Embarkation, Newport News, Va., to the Surgeon General, July 16, 1918. Subject: Hospital needs at Port of Embarkation, Newport News. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 721.6 (Newport News, Va.), N.
(33) Letter from the surgeon, Port of Embarkation, Newport News, Va., to the Surgeon General, November 23, 1918. Subject: Hospital accommodations. On file, Record Room, S. G. O., 721.6 (Newport News, Va.), N.
