World War I 1

Chapter One

World War I

On the 3rd of January, 1918, 181 men stood in formation at Fort Riley, Kansas, as Lieutenant Colonel Horace Bloombergh read the orders that formally 

created Evacuation Hospital Number 12. The 12th would help define the role of 

the US Army’s newest unit: What would an evacuation hospital do in the Army? 

How would it work in the field? What made an evacuation hospital different 

from any other kind of hospital? More immediately for the staff of the 12th, how 

soon would they arrive in France and get to work? 

The Role of the Evacuation Hospital

In World War I, the 12th and other “evacs” became a key link in the middle of 

the Army’s evacuation chain. Stretcher bearers carried wounded soldiers from 

the front lines to a doctor’s care at the battalion aid station, where bandages 

and splints were applied, but no resources were available for additional care. 

From the battalion aid station, other stretcher bearers and ambulances carried 

the wounded back to a triage point at one of an infantry division’s four field 

hospitals, located a few miles from the front lines. 

At triage, the wounded were sorted into “light” and “serious” cases, sick men 

were sent to a designated field hospital, and those suffering from poison gas 

went to another hospital. (The line between light and serious wounds varied, 

and gas casualties often had other wounds as well.) Some additional care was 

available at the triage point, but field hospitals had limited equipment and could 

treat the lightly wounded only. 

From triage, wounded men were taken by ambulance to the evacuation hospitals for surgical care, where they stayed several days to stabilize and begin 

recovery. From there, they were taken by hospital train to base hospitals, where 

they could receive complicated procedures and recuperate. The Army also experimented with mobile hospitals that were smaller than the evacs and focused 
2 Skilled and Resolute

entirely on surgical cases, but the experiment had mixed results. With an insufficient number of beds to handle postoperative patients, these hospitals lost mobility almost as soon as the first patients were treated.

Figure 1-1. Schematic diagram of the hospitalization and evacuation system of the American Expeditionary Forces. 

Reproduced from: Lynch C, Ford J, Weed F. Field Operations. Vol VIII in: The Medical Department 

of the United States Army in the World War. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office; 1925: 

262.
World War I 3

At the evacuation hospital, incoming patients were triaged again, into what 

were then termed the “slightly wounded” (who would be checked and rebandaged before being evacuated as soon as possible); patients who could go 

straight into surgery; patients who needed a radiograph before surgery (x-ray 

equipment was not portable and was usually located in a separate x-ray ward); 

shock patients (sent to a special shock ward to be warmed and given blood transfusions before surgery); and those who needed specialist surgical teams (formed 

to handle difficult cases as well as to provide reinforcements during busy periods) for head, chest, or abdominal wounds. 

An evacuation hospital ideally had ten operating teams, each with two doctors, a nurse, an orderly, and an anesthesiologist or nurse-anesthetist. Sometimes 

the doctors, working in teams, would take turns providing anesthesia—usually 

ether and chloroform—and performing surgery during a 12-hour shift. Each 

team had two operating tables, one in use while the other was cleaned and preFigure 1-2. Triage of patients at an evacuation hospital, World War I. 

Reproduced from: Signal Corps photograph SC-30556. Record Group 111, National Archives and 

Records Administration.
4 Skilled and Resolute

pared for the next patient. After surgery, the patient was moved to a specialized 

ward for each type of wound, gas exposure, or disease. 

In the wards, physicians rather than surgeons were in charge, checking that 

patients were stable and recovering and deciding when they were strong enough 

to be moved to base hospitals. Nurses (all women) and ward attendants (all enlisted men) cared for patients. Few drugs beyond painkillers were available, so 

care primarily meant keeping patients warm and calm, feeding them, and changing dressings. Probably the most time-intensive nursing procedure was applying 

and reapplying Dakin’s solution wound dressing—a very low concentration of 

bleach and boric acid devised during the war by British and French doctors. The 

solution was used for wound irrigation to kill bacteria (Dakin-Carrel treatment) 

as well as postoperatively soaked into gauze pads and applied to wounds to prevent infection during the early stages of healing. 

Ideally, patients would be on the wards only a day or two, although unstable 

patients were kept until they were strong enough to be moved. Certain types of 

wounds also required longer stays for stabilization: head wounds about 10 days, 

chest or abdominal wounds 10 to 14 days, and badly fractured legs longer. By 

moving postoperative patients out as soon as possible, the Army kept the evacuation hospitals ready to receive new patients while quickly moving the wounded 

back to better-equipped base hospitals for full recovery.

The Army found that evacuation hospitals were best situated 9 to 15 miles 

from the front lines; any closer and they were likely to be shelled, any farther 

back and evacuation took too long. Location near a railway line was important 

because evacuation to base hospitals by hospital trains (carrying up to 400 patients each) was more efficient than transporting patients four per ambulance; 

therefore, railway locations were favored even when they were farther from the 

front lines. The Army tried to stock each hospital with supplies for 10 days in 

case supplies were interrupted. Hospitals also needed fuel and water, but could 

not be located close to supply dumps or other military camps because of the 

danger from shelling and bombing. 

Although evacuation hospitals were not meant to be easily moved (requiring 

90 to 120 three-ton truck trips to relocate), staff practiced setting up tents to begin operations quickly; they also practiced setting up an extra 500 beds (above 

the standard 1,000 beds) in case rearward evacuation was delayed. With no laundry facilities of their own, evacuation hospitals needed a laundry unit nearby to 

clean sheets and blankets; the hospitals had a limited number of service vehicles 

for such routine activities. Although seldom providing enough electricity, Army 

electric generators powered the radiographic equipment and lights in the operating room, administrative offices, and triage and preoperative wards. Any additional power was a luxury, and lights were installed in wards ahead of living 

quarters. 

Unlike evacuation hospitals, field hospitals were relatively easy to create: they 

were small and had limited equipment, and four field hospitals were shipped 
World War I 5

to France as part of each division. Many base hospitals had been formed and 

equipped by the Red Cross before the United States joined the war, so they were 

ready to deploy to France; some had even deployed before US combat units and 

worked with the British Expeditionary Force for the duration of the war. Evacuation hospitals posed a larger problem for the Army. Although the United States 

declared war against Germany in early April 1917, the first evac was not formed 

until the end of September; by December only four had been formed, and none 

was ready for the field. The 12th was part of the next batch, started in January 

1918.

The Army ultimately formed 29 evacuation hospitals, although several did 

not get to France and others arrived only after the fighting had ended. Shipping space was a bottleneck: German U-boats had sunk thousands of ships, 

and the United States had begun shipping the entire American Expeditionary 

Forces (AEF) in addition to raw materials and supplies for the Allies. Politics 

and military operations caused priorities for supplies and troops to fluctuate, 

which changed shipping schedules. Due to German offensives in March and 

April 1918, the Army downgraded support units, instead shipping more fighting 

troops. This change was meant to be temporary, but logistical units never caught 

up, resulting in a shortage of AEF forward surgical hospitals and evacs alike. So 

serious was the shortage that at times when too many patients arrived at forward 

hospitals, some of the lightly wounded were bandaged and shipped immediately 

to base hospitals. Unfortunately, this practice led to preventable deaths among 

the wounded when hospital trains were sidetracked on the way.

The 12th Deploys

It would be several months before the 12th was ready for action. In World 

War I, the Army mobilized from a standing start: in December 1916 the Army 

consisted of about 200,000 men (including the National Guard), and it peaked 

at 3,685,000 troops in 1918. Thousands volunteered and the draft brought in 

many more. The 12th was formed from men who volunteered for the Regular 

Army (beginning with one officer and 181 enlisted men), and many were not 

fully trained. Two Army medical training schools existed, one at Fort Riley and 

another at Camp Greenleaf (outside Chickamauga, Georgia), each providing 3 

months’ training. However, the schools were not large enough to handle the 

student load; some men were assigned to units without attending any training, 

and some students were transferred to short-handed units before they finished 

the course. 

Records suggest that the 12th’s officers, aside from Lieutenant Colonel 

Bloombergh (a Regular Army officer), received training in one of the 3-month 

courses at Fort Riley or Camp Greenleaf. Both schools taught the newly uniformed officers about Army regulations, the Manual for the Medical Department 

(Washington, DC: Government Printing Office; 1916), and Army paperwork. 
6 Skilled and Resolute

By law, only physicians could serve in the Medical Corps, so the Army created 

the Sanitary Corps for supply officers, laboratory scientists, sanitary engineers, 

psychologists, and other positions. In addition to the expertise brought from 

their fields, these men allowed doctors to spend more time caring for patients. 

(The Army Dental, Nurse, and Veterinary Corps were already established.)

Like most units, the 12th had to provide basic training to some personnel on 

everything from saluting to wearing uniforms to marching in step; it also had 

to provide technical training for medical duties. Although medical personnel 

were not supposed to carry weapons and thus did not need marksmanship training, Lieutenant Colonel Bloombergh requested “pistol practice” for his officers 

because they were deploying overseas. The War Department failed to reach a 

decision on the request before the 12th left for France.

Prewar plans for evacuation hospitals called for 18 officers and 179 men to 

support 432 beds. However, wartime demands for beds resulted in expansion to 

1,000 beds per evacuation hospital. The Army ultimately settled on 34 officers 

(including Quartermaster, Sanitary, and Dental Corps) and 237 men. However, 

more personnel were added in France because of the workload, and units operated above their formal authorization (up to double the authorized number). Extra 

personnel helped with labor duties, kitchen work, grave digging, and a host of 

other duties. Extra surgical teams were assigned to help with a rush of casualties. 

Nurses were also added to evacuation hospital staff, although they were not 

originally authorized because, unlike in the 19th century, long-range artillery 

and aircraft brought evacs too close to combat. However, the need for nurses in 

surgery and patient care outweighed the Army’s traditional aversion to putting 

women (all Army nurses were female until male nurses were accepted in 1955) 

at risk, and, following a decision the Allies had already made, about 50 nurses 

were assigned to each of the evacuation hospitals in Europe. No record survives 

of what day in 1918 nurses joined the 12th, but they were apparently treated as 

part of the unit.

Institutionally, the Army remained uneasy about nurses. Despite the longFigure 1-3. The men of Evacuation Hospital No. 12. 

Reproduced from: Year Book: Medical Officers Training Camp, Fort Riley, Kansas, 1917-1918. 

Kansas City, MO: Union Bank Note Co; 1918: 82–83.
World War I 7

recognized need for nurses (at about one per ten hospital beds), the Army was 

all-male and, especially in an era when most troops were assigned to combat 

units, there was strong resistance to bringing women into the force. Thus members of the Army Nurse Corps (established in 1901) had no rank and could not 

issue orders. Nurses served in the Army, but were recruited by the Red Cross, 

paid less than men, and issued thoroughly impractical uniforms that had to be 

modified in the field.

Almost 5 months were spent on recruitment and training before the 12th Evacuation Hospital was ready to deploy. On June 1 the unit moved by rail to Camp 

Dix (now Fort Dix), New Jersey, a holding area for units awaiting shipment 

overseas. The 12th was slightly delayed at Camp Dix as it waited for additional 

personnel in response to the Army’s decision to increase the size of the evacuMap 1-1. Western Front, final Allied offensive, September 25–November 11, 1918. The Allied offensives in late 1918 broke the German army. The AEF attacked near St Mihiel and then in the 

Meuse-Argonne. Pagny-sur-Meuse is marked “P” and Royaumeix is marked “R.” 

Reproduced from: US Military Academy at West Point website. Campaign Atlas to the Great 

War. http://www.dean.usma.edu/departments/history/web03/atlases/WorldWarOne/WWOneJPG/

WWOne23.jpg. Accessed October 19, 2009.
8 Skilled and Resolute

Figure 1-4. Kitchen of a hospital in the field, World War I.

Reproduced from: Signal Corps photograph SC-150396. Record Group 111, National Archives and 

Records Administration.

ation hospitals. Two weeks later, 150 men arrived, some trained, some partly 

trained, and some untrained. The unit spent the next month choosing which men 

to retain and finishing their training. By July 10, the 12th was again ready to sail 

but had to wait until mid-August to depart, probably due to the shortage of shipping and the higher priority given to combat units. On August 16, the unit left 

New York harbor, en route to England.

The Army used a number of liners (including some former German ships) 

to shuttle troops to Europe. All of them were packed with men, often over 

double the peacetime capacity. Although men did not have to share bunks, 

the galleys frequently could produce only enough food for two meals a day, 

and men could spend most of their day lined up waiting for those two meals. 

Ships traveled in convoy because of the threat of submarine attack, zigzagging across the North Atlantic. Blackouts were strictly enforced at night, and 

everyone had to stay below deck lest one glowing cigarette reveal the location 

of the convoy. 
World War I 9

Figure 1-5. Laundry of a hospital in the field, World War I. 

Reproduced from: Signal Corps photograph SC-15040. Record Group 111, National Archives and 

Records Administration.

After 12 days at sea, the 12th arrived at Liverpool, probably the first time most 

of the men had been overseas. The next day they traveled by train to the south 

coast of England, and on August 30 they boarded a smaller ship for an overnight trip across the English Channel to France. At Cherbourg they immediately 

boarded a French train, crowding into boxcars labeled “40 homme/8 chevaux” 

(40 men or 8 horses), and headed east toward the front.

Into Action

On the morning of September 3, 1918 (after 3 days and 2 nights in the cramped 

boxcars), the 12th Evacuation Hospital unloaded at the village of Pagny-surMeuse. It was a small village, with about 1,250 inhabitants before the war (although by then most of the men were in the French army), situated on a low 

rise next to the Meuse River. Two American medical units were already located 

there: a field hospital and a motor ambulance company. The 12th moved into the 
10 Skilled and Resolute

facilities of a French military hospital consisting of ten wooden barracks-like 

wards and a large tent. 

Staff began setting up more tents and digging latrines, but the ground was 

swampy; when the latrines filled with water, more had to be dug. The few patients in the wards, probably from the American divisions holding the line in 

the quiet sector, did not have serious injuries. After 9 days of quiet, the US First 

Army launched the first major American attack of the war, the St Mihiel offensive, on September 12, intending to break the German hold on an important 

railway line. The 12th was not slated to receive casualties; instead it packed up 

on September 13 and began moving to a forward site at Royaumeix. The move, 

close behind the right flank of the St Mihiel advance, took 3 days. The field hospital and motor ambulance company moved with the 12th (they were probably 

being used as a group). At Royaumeix the unit occupied another French hospital, this time a large one with many Adrian barracks (prefabricated, one-story, 

Figure 1-6. Gas casualty being brought into an evacuation hospital, World War I. 

Reproduced from: Signal Corps photograph SC-14532. Record Group 111, National Archives and 

Records Administration.
World War I 11

frame buildings with tar paper roofs, built to provide double-decked bunks for 

96 soldiers; they were hastily built and drafty, and many had earthen floors) and 

no tents. Both Pagny and Royaumeix had good road networks for ambulances 

to bring patients in and railroads to carry treated patients out to base hospitals. 

However, by the time the 12th was established, the St Mihiel offensive was over 

and all the wounded had been sent to other hospitals. 

Although the 12th was now 15 miles from the front, most US units were moving north and west for the Meuse-Argonne offensive, and Royaumeix remained 

a fairly quiet sector behind the Second Army. However, few hospitals, including 

only two evacuation hospitals, supported the sector, so the 12th received some 

urgent surgical cases as well as many of the slightly wounded, gas casualties, 

and sick patients. 

On November 6, just 5 days before the war’s combat ended, the Second Army 

pushed forward and more wounded flowed back. Wounded continued to arrive 

after the armistice because some could not be reached by the stretcher-bearers 

while the fighting continued, and muddy roads slowed the ambulances. WoundFigure 1-7. US troops marching into Trier, December 1, 1918. 

Reproduced from: Signal Corps photograph SC-33181. Record Group 111, National Archives and 

Records Administration.
12 Skilled and Resolute

ed continued to arrive in large numbers through the night of November 13, some 

of them inexperienced troops who had picked up unexploded munitions. The 

12th treated 2,700 patients in its 56 days at Royaumeix, averaging about 48 admissions per day. Of these, 1,000 were seriously wounded (about 18 per day). In 

the second half of November, the 12th also received about 200 liberated Allied 

prisoners, whom they treated for a variety of conditions.

Into Germany and the End of the War

On December 1, the 12th Evac received orders to join the occupation of Germany. Although Germany had asked for an armistice and the fighting ended on 

November 11, no peace treaty had been signed. The Allies began occupying 

parts of western Germany to make sure the Germans could not regroup during 

the armistice and resume the war. The US Third Army advanced, accompanied 

by the 12th, which was ordered to the town of Echternach in eastern Luxembourg, and other hospitals. An advance party from the 12th started forward on 

December 2. On the way there, however, the unit learned that Third Army’s 

Figure 1-8. Fracture ward of a World War I hospital. 

Reproduced from: Weed F. The Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War. Vol 

XI, pt 1. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office; 1925: 122.
World War I 13

Figure 1-9. Surgical ward of a World War I hospital. 

Reproduced from: Lynch C, Ford J, Weed F. Field Operations. Vol VIII in: The Medical Department 

of the United States Army in the World War. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office; 1925: 

959.

plans had changed, and the 12th was ordered into Germany itself, to the small 

city of Trier on the Saar River. Although some vehicles ended up in Echternach, 

the 12th had begun functioning in Trier by December 3, in time for the arrival of 

230 patients the same day.

The 12th remained in Trier until May 1919, operating a 1,500-bed hospital. 

The hospital ultimately occupied 19 well-built modern buildings, with tiled corridors that made it easier to move patients. However, the plumbing systems were 

overworked and sewage had to be cleaned out of the basements as soon as the 

hospital moved in. The German economy had collapsed under the strain of the 

war and an Allied blockade (which continued until mid-1919 when the peace 

treaty was signed) made many supplies scarce. Even cleaning supplies were in 

short supply, and the buildings were infested with vermin, including bed bugs. 

Gradually the buildings were scoured out, bedding was disinfected, and an engineer company rebuilt the plumbing. Staff installed more equipment, improving 

patient care and their own quality of life. Kitchens were fitted with American 

bake ovens, wards received bathtubs and beds to replace older German ones, a 

Red Cross recreation area was set up, and ventilation was improved.

The 12th was busy at Trier, treating 6,795 patients, an average of 49 admissions per day. Some days were much busier; 331 patients were received on one 

day, and 450 discharged on another. Most of the 12th’s work in Trier was medical rather than surgical. Influenza spread around the globe over the winter of 
14 Skilled and Resolute

1918–1919, and although the 12th was spared the worst of the pandemic, its 

doctors also faced measles, mumps, chickenpox, scarlet fever, diphtheria, meningitis, erysipelas, typhoid, ear infections, and dysentery. Outbreaks of “childhood diseases” were typical of a draftee Army because many young men from 

rural areas who had not been exposed as children moved into barracks with 

those carrying pathogenic bacteria and viruses. The 12th treated 120 soldiers 

with diphtheria and 482 with pneumonia (doubtless some of them influenza patients who developed pneumonia while hospitalized); 89 pneumonia patients 

died. As contact increased between occupation forces and impoverished German 

women, the 12th treated 427 patients with venereal diseases. A neuropsychiatric 

service received 249 patients, although just 51 were surgical patients; the rest, 

termed “mental” patients, received rudimentary care only.

The 12th packed up in late April, shipped back to the United States in May, 

and arrived at Camp Stuart, Virginia, before heading to Camp Dodge, Iowa, and 

being demobilized on July 7, 1919. 

Between the Wars

The Army demobilized rapidly in 1919; peak strength was almost 4 million in 

1918, but by mid-1919 over half the troops had been mustered out, and by the 

end of December only about 130,000 remained. Once the Allies had won and the 

world was “safe for democracy,” most Americans felt little need for the Army. 

Few volunteered to serve. The government’s main response to concerns about 

infiltration by violent communists, socialists, anarchists, and labor unionists was 

through measures taken by the Bureau of Investigation (soon to be the FBI) 

and postal inspectors, rather than the military. Congress debated many defense 

decisions: military spending (which reverted to low prewar levels); recruitment 

(universal military training was considered but rejected); and organization of 

the armed forces. Ultimately, drastic cuts were made to the active duty Army’s 

personnel and equipment.

With reduced funding and authorizations for active-duty units, the Army attempted to retain some capability in what was formally titled the Organized 

Reserves against a future need. Before World War I, the reserves had not included units; it consisted only of men available for assignment. After the war, in 

theory, complete units were available for action, but in practice only officers and 

a cadre of enlisted men were assigned. In 1923, Evacuation Hospital No. 12 was 

constituted in the reserves, although staffing the unit took until 1925, when the 

12th was finally “organized” in Boston, Massachusetts. Despite becoming a real 

unit on the Army’s rolls, the 12th was still limited; the interwar reserves focused 

almost entirely on officers, enrolling few nurses or enlisted men. By 1928 the 

12th had slightly over half its officers, but no nurses or enlisted men.

For most of the 1920s, the reserves relied on the large number of officers who 

had served (albeit briefly) in World War I. Reserve service required no drills, and 
World War I 15

with no wars on the horizon, there was little risk in return for a commission in 

the reserves. On the other hand, reservists were not paid. The Army began professionalizing the reserves in 1927. Officers had to take correspondence courses 

to earn points for promotion and maintain their commissions. However, reservists remained unpaid, and when the 5-year reserve commissions from the postwar period started to expire, the number of reservists dropped. Another administrative change caused problems. Previously, the Army Medical Department 

(AMEDD) had been responsible for recruiting medical reserves and geographical corps area commands administered the medical units. In 1928 recruiting was 

reassigned to the corps areas, which showed little interest in medical recruiting, 

and the AMEDD lost visibility of its reserve units. One corps area headquarters 

did not even list the doctors in established medical units. As a result, the 12th 

Evacuation Hospital (its formal name beginning in 1925) had to be reconstituted 

in the mid-1930s.

The Army also changed the structure of the evacuation hospital, building on 

the experience of World War I. Original plans for evacuation hospitals called 

for focus on surgery, included no nurses and few technical support personnel, 

such as mechanics. In 1927 the Army produced a substantial organizational table 

composed of 40 officers, 60 nurses, and 300 enlisted men. The table included 

two dentists, four medical administrative officers (relieving doctors of administrative work), and a chaplain, as well as substantial numbers of nonmedical enlisted men. There were clerks for supplies and records, a typist for all the forms, 

mechanics for the vehicles and generators, a switchboard operator, a carpenter, 

and even two buglers (because the hospital would not have a public address 

system). On the medical side, there were cooks (including diet cooks for patients 

on special diets), pharmacists, x-ray equipment operators, dental and laboratory 

technicians, 15 men to help in the operating room, 88 ward men, and 50 litterbearers. Evacuation hospitals now had 750 beds (a compromise between the 

432 at the start of World War I and the 1,000 at the end), but only five trucks—

just enough to haul food, trash, and undertake other housekeeping requirements. 

When evacuation hospitals needed to move, the Army would have to provide 

transportation from other units.
16 Skilled and Resolute

Sources

No documents have been found specifically about the 12th Evacuation Hospital during World War I, beyond the précis in the 1919 Annual Report of The Surgeon General (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1919). Information on evacuation 

hospitals in general comes from the Annual Report’s section on evacuation hospitals; 

the Manual for the Medical Department (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office; 

1916); Major Joseph Darnall’s 1936 unpublished paper, “War Service with an Evacuation 

Hospital” (in the Special Collections of the Stimson Library, Academy of the Health Sciences, Army Medical Department Center & School, San Antonio, TX); and documents 

7906, 9237, and 10121 from Record Group 165 (Records of the War Department General 

and Special Staffs), National Archives and Records Administration. Field operations are 

covered in Colonel Charles Lynch, Colonel Joseph Ford, and Lieutenant Colonel Frank 

Weed’s The Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War, Vol VIII: 

Field Operations (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office; 1925). Information on 

Army nurses in the period is in Mary Sarnecky’s A History of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps

(Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), chapters 2 and 3.

For the interwar years, Major Clement Gaynor’s 1936 paper, “The Organized Reserve 

Corps— Procurement, Training, Distribution and Purpose of the Medical Section” (also 

at the Stimson Library Special Collections) gives some background, and the author’s 

article “Professional Doctors but Amateur Soldiers: The US Army’s Affiliated Hospitals 

Program, 1915–1953” (War & Society, May 2008) covers the interwar reserves. Tables of 

Organization and Equipment and the 212th’s “Lineage and Honors” statement (available 

at the US Army Center of Military History, Washington, DC, Force Structure Division) 

provide further data, and Steven Everett of the Center of Military History explained some 

terminology. 

Copies of this material are on file in the historical research collection of the Army 

Medical Department Center of History and Heritage, Fort Sam Houston, Texas.