i

BORDEN’S

DREAM

The Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Mary W. Standlee

INSTITUTE

BORDEN

United States Army Medical Department

Office of The Surgeon General

AMEDD Center & School
ii

Borden’s Dream

BORDEN INSTITUTE

Martha K. Lenhart, MD, PhD Colonel, , MC, US Army

Director/Editor in Chief

Bruce G. Maston

Layout Editor

Doug Wise

Layout Editor

The opinions or assertions contained herein are the personal views of the authors and are not to be construed as doctrine of the Department 

of the Army or the Department of Defense.

Published by the Office of The Surgeon General, US Army

Borden Institute

Walter Reed Army Medical Center

Washington, DC 20307-5001

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Standlee, Mary W. (Mary Walker)

Borden’s dream / by Mary W. Standlee.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-9818228-4-6

1. Walter Reed Army Medical Center--History. 2. United States--Armed Forces--

Medical care--History. 3. Borden, William Cline, 1858-1934. 4.Doctors--United

States--Biography. I. Borden Institute (U.S.) II. Title.

UH474.5.W3S73 2009

355.7’209753--dc22

2009010398

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office

Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; DC area (202) 512-1800

Fax: (202) 512-2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402-0001

ISBN 978-0-9818228-4-6
iii

If you would understand anything,

observe its beginning and its development.

—Aristotle

Contents

CONTENTS

Preface ......................................................................................................... iv

Prologue ..................................................................................................... vii

Prolegomenon .............................................................................................ix

The Text of Borden’s Dream .................................................................... xii

Postface

Walter Reed General Hospital of the United States Army.......................... 425

Original Suggested Edits................................................................................ 441

About the Author............................................................................................ 463
iv

Borden’s Dream

PREFACE

The Story of the Book

Publication of this book has been abandoned twice—its appearance now coincides with the 

abandonment of Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC), established over 100 years 

ago. The story begins in 1938 when Mary Walker Standlee began to collect anecdotes about 

WRAMC. She was a Texan, born in 1906. She left medical school at the University of Texas 

to marry First Lieutenant Earle Standlee, MC, USA.1 He was a graduate of Baylor University 

School of Medicine and also a Texan. She accompanied him on service tours to Washington, 

the Philippines, Boston and New York, and on his return from World War II to Washington. 

He held senior staff positions in the Surgeon General’s office and the Department of Defense. 

Promoted to Major General in 1952, he served as Far East Command Surgeon, U.S. Army 

forces in Japan, 1953–1957.2

 He retired on returning to the United States in 1957.3 During the 

three years in Japan Standlee, with a Japanese collaborator, wrote The Great Pulse (Rutland, 

VT, Tuttle, 1959), a short monograph on the history of medicine, midwifery and obstetrics in 

Japan. She later wrote, “This I did . . . so that I would always have a good excuse for escaping 

the ladies luncheons.”4 Standlee notes in her foreword that she had been collecting Walter 

Reed “stories” and had begun an informal history in 1948. The book really began in 1950 

when Brigadier General Paul S. Streit, MC, Commanding General, requested and partially 

funded the work. She did much of it on her own time as she was the “general’s dogsbody, 

editing a nursing procedures manual, speech writing and ‘ghosting’ articles.” (Foreword) She 

was also editing two histories of Army nursing, but neither was published.5 The 399-page, 

300-photograph manuscript reflects Standlee’s vivid personality, for example, page 157: 

“. . . the topic for social conversation at Army dinner tables”; pages 160–161: “Twice told tales 

. . . wide circulation . . . ”; pages 180, note 13 and 181, note 27: “Personal knowledge of the 

writer” and variously “Social conversations with . . . .” Chapter 3, “The Intermediate Host” 

(on the Walter Reed yellow fever study), led to extended correspondence with Dr. Phillip 

Hench of the Mayo Clinic (and Nobel Laureate). Hench collected Walter Reed material (now 

deposited at the University of Virginia), and sent her a detailed, single-spaced, 15-page letter 

of advice on 15 August 1961. This chapter was published earlier, in 1954, as a journal article.6

Standlee’s draft manuscript was circulated to a number of readers. In general the letters praise 

the text—but usually with a demur or two about what was said about the readers. There is no 

evidence that she altered any of the text. The final typed manuscript with photographs was 

prepared in four copies. The original was sent to the Office of the Surgeon General, one to 

the Walter Reed General Hospital library, one to the Borden family, and one Standlee kept. 

The manuscript was not published. In 1988 Colonel Mary Sarnecky, writing a history of the 

Army Nurse Corps, found an item in the National Archives labeled “Borden’s Dream.” She 

gave the call number to me; I filed it and resurrected it 20 years later for Colonel Lenhart, 

director of the Borden Institute. She and her staff found a treasure chest of letters (including 

mine) and other records in the National Archives, which I have used for this account. The 

reasons that the manuscript was not published are not fully obvious, but a story can now 
v

be suggested. In chapter 17, there are hints that Standlee and MG Streit had a falling out. 

The chapter does not have the analysis of WRAMC’s commander found in all the other 

chapters. There are hints in three of her letters that she is preparing a new chapter 17 about 

MG Streit that might not be favorable.7 Perhaps the best evidence that Streit stopped the 

publication is his letter of September 1974 to Colonel John Lada, Director of the Army 

Medical Department’s Historical Unit. Noting that there was a re-awakening of interest in 

“Borden’s Dream,” he writes that “in the early 1950s I had some reservations about publication 

without some revisions, but I am now convinced that enough time has passed to remove my 

previous reservations. I write now to withdraw previous reservations and to urge you most 

strongly to publish Borden’s Dream. It is a delightful memoir . . . I am most anxious to see 

Mrs. Standlee’s volume inprint.” 8

 In 1961 Standlee published a very short Part II to “Borden’s 

Dream” on the Army Medical Library, which began as the Library of the Surgeon General’s 

Office in 1836 and later evolved into the National Library of Medicine. Her account is brief, 

not as well documented as Part I, but has the same insouciant air and unique oral histories. 

The account covers the period from 1836 to 1956, when the Army turned over the library 

collections and responsibility to the U.S. Public Health Service and the National Library of 

Medicine began.9 In 1974 the Commanding General of WRAMC, MG Robert Bernstein, 

MC, asked me to write a history of the medical center for the upcoming dedication of the 

new hospital building. I agreed, found the “Dream” manuscript in the hospital library and 

said, “Here is the history.” I planned to edit and update the manuscript. I learned that 

General and Mrs. Standlee were alive and active in Texas. LTC Charles Simpson, MSC, USA 

(Ret.), was the Executive Officer of the Army Medical Deptartment Historical Unit and an 

old friend. He knew the Standlees “from the old days.” When Mrs. Standlee agreed to my 

request to permit publication, I immediately asked him to help, especially with publishing 

the book. In fits and starts as time allowed I edited the chapters.10 I described my editorial 

approach as “look at content and for documentation of facts, and then do an overall rough 

cut at format.” Mrs. Standlee, who did not agree with some of my suggestions, commented, 

“You know the modern Army. I knew the ‘old Army.’ Let’s not nitpick. In general, I think 

your suggestions are excellent.”11 However, she did comment after reviewing some of my 

later suggestions about “the blood on my ax. . . . “12 In August 1976, after five years at the 

Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, I accepted a faculty position at the new Uniformed 

Services University of the Health Sciences medical school. I kept in touch with Standlee 

and the manuscript’s situation through Simpson. By 1977 the Historical Unit had been 

absorbed by the U.S. Army Center of Military History. Charles Simpson died in 1982. His 

replacement, Dr. Jeffrey Greenhut, asked me about the “Dream.” I sent all the material I had 

collected to him, discussed the issues, and lost track of the project. I discovered a year or so 

later that he had left the center, and “Borden’s Dream” was not going to be published. COL 

Lenhart told me April 2008 that Robert Mohrman, the Walter Reed librarian, had brought 

the “Dream” to her attention, suggesting that publication might be germane as part of 

the commemoration of the closure of WRAMC, and she agreed. So there it is: a tale 

that begins in 1938 and ends 70 years later. A book that twice comes near to publication 

Preface
vi

Borden’s Dream

and fails each time. Finally, ironically, the first history of WRAMC is being published as 

the medical center is being closed. And Mary Walker Standlee? She passed away in 1985, 

twice disappointed by not having her work published. She would have wonderfully pithy 

comments on the reason her book appears at last. But the book is being published as she 

wanted. “I would not want anyone to update it to carry through later administrations. 

It represents the end of an era.”13 “I do not want the material updated. It is a ‘period 

piece’ and not Swedish Modern. Let’s keep it that way.”14 This wonderful text is published 

exactly as she wrote it.

Emeritus Professor Robert J.T. Joy, MD, FACP

Department of Medical History

Colonel, MC, USA (Ret.)

Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

REFERENCES

Unless otherwise noted, all references are to an extensive collection of material at the 

National Archives and Records Administration, RG 112, Entry 1004, “Borden’s Dream: 

(1936–1977).” Copies of this material are on file at the Borden Institute.

1. Telephone conversation, M.E. Condon-Rall and Robert Bueshler, grandson, April 2008.

2. File, General Officers, Medical Corps, Office of the Surgeon General of the Army.

3. Department of Defense Press Release, 23 April 1957.

4. Letter, Mary W. Standlee to Robert J.T. Joy, 26 July 1957.

5. Florence A. Blanchfield: The Army Nurse Corps in World War II, 2 vols and Organized 

Nursing and the Army in Three Wars, 4 vols. She was Chief of the Army Nurse Corps, 

1943–1947. Manuscript copies are in the library, USUHS.

6. Mary W. Standlee, “Seeking the intermediate host,” Mil. Surg. 115, 256–267, 1954.

7. Letters, Standlee to Joy, 11 February 1976, 11 March 1976, 20 June 1976. 

8. Letter, Paul B. Streit to John Lada, 5 September 1974. 

9. Wyndham D. Miles, A History of the National Library of Medicine, Washington, D.C., 

Public Health Service, 1982.

10. I was Deputy Director and then Director, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

11. Letter, Standlee to Joy, 11 February 1976: comment written on return of edited chapter 7.

12. Letter, Standlee to Joy, 11 March 1976.

13. Letter, Standlee to Joy, 26 July 1974.

14. Letter, Standlee to Joy, 17 August 1976.
vii

PROLOGUE

If you peruse the history of Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) on the 

hospital Web site,1 the first entry is dated 1909, the date Walter Reed General Hospital was founded, and the second entry is dated 1972, when planning for the current 

hospital building began. Only two sentences between the two entries summarize what 

transpired in that 63-year period. At the WRAMC Medical Library, we have been 

asked more times than I can count where to find additional historical information 

about the intervening years. Aside from a chapter in a 1923 book about the US Army 

Medical Department,2 when the hospital was only 14 years old, any detailed history 

or description of the development of this installation is hard to find (except perhaps 

in boxes in the National Archives). We are approaching two milestones in WRAMC’s 

history: the centennial of its founding and the anticipated closing of the original site 

(for the planned integration of WRAMC with the National Naval Medical Center in 

Bethesda, Maryland). Closing the medical center without a published history would be 

a sad legacy of its 100-year history. 

Fortunately, a record of the first 40 years of the medical center does exist. The littleknown manuscript, called “Borden’s Dream” after the surgeon whose concept it was to 

build this institution, started out as a collection of newspaper clippings and historical 

photographs by the hospital’s first librarian, Mary E Schick. Intending to the use the 

collection as the basis for an institutional history, Schick continued to file materials 

but never found time to tackle the writing for the project. Instead, in 1943 she urged a 

younger member of the staff, Mary W Standlee, to write the story as an informal narrative history.3,4 The story was finished in 1951, but Schick died shortly before the first 

draft was typed and never saw the finished product. It was deposited in the post library 

as a permanent documentary record.

Except for a copy donated to the author’s alma mater, the University of Texas at 

Austin, and a few photocopied volumes distributed to military medical libraries, the 

book has never been made available to the public. It is known only to a few researchers as a source of historical information about WRAMC. When I came to work in the 

WRAMC library in 1997, I was briefed on the existence of this rare manuscript, but 

aside from trying to keep it intact and safely locked in a cabinet, we did nothing to 

preserve it. As the years passed, a number of the photographs and illustrations fell out 

or disappeared, and the ink slowly bled into the onion skin paper and became illegible. 

Clearly, something needed to be done to save this work for the future, but there were 

always more pressing issues. 

When I took charge of the library in 2002, I decided it was time to correct this 

oversight. Inspired by the Library of Congress’ American Dream project, I researched 

digitization as a means of not only preserving but also providing access to the document. There was much more work (and expense) involved than I had anticipated, 

however, but then a serendipitous meeting with the staff of the Borden Institute 

Prologue
viii

Borden’s Dream

provided the answer. Over the last 5 years, first COL Dave Lounsbury and then his 

successor, COL Martha Lenhart, gave their wholehearted support to the project, and 

not only have we succeeded in preserving a digital copy of the original manuscript, but 

it has been formatted for publication for the first time. 

As this icon of dedicated military medical care enters its second century, WRAMC 

finds itself once again crowded with soldiers wounded in combat. As in decades past, 

state-of-the-art care is being provided by a committed professional staff to men and 

women injured while serving our country. We hope that this book will help place the 

mission of this great hospital in the context of 100 years of honored service, as well 

as in a larger tradition of the Army medicine that dates to the founding days of the 

Republic.

Bob Mohrman

Librarian

Walter Reed Army Medical Center

June 2007

References

1. 96 Years of Service: 1909–2005. Walter Reed Army Medical Center Web site. Available at: 

http://www.wramc.army.mil/welcome/History.htm. Accessed July 19, 2007.

2. Weed FW. The general hospital (permanent): Walter Reed General Hospital, Washington, DC; 

pre-war period. In: Ireland MW, ed. Medical Department of the United States Army in World War. 

Vol V. In: Military Hospitals in the United States. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 

1923: Chap XV. Available at: http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwi/WRAMCWWI/

WRGHWWI.html. Accessed July 19, 2007.

3. Standlee MW. The book lady (obituary of Mary E Schick). Military Surgeon. July 1952: 49.

4. Standlee MW. Borden’s dream. Vol 1. Unpublished manuscript. 1952: i-ii.
ix

PROLEGOMENON

Borden’s Dream represents the culmination of years of work by Mary Standlee. It includes 

research, interviews, and interpretation by the author that provide insight into lesser known 

events in the history of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Although significant time has 

passed between completion of the manuscript and its publication, many of the situations, interactions, and reactions revealed within translate as familiar scenarios—lessons learned—still 

applicable today. Readers need to keep in mind that the manuscript content is original and 

unedited. In so noting, reflection on some of the contents may uncover circumstances that in 

their time went unremedied. No offense is intended by publishing this manuscript as originally 

written; rather, it is in keeping with the author’s comment of more than fifty years ago that the 

book represents a “period piece” at the end of an era. 

The publication is laid out with contemporary additions to the front matter – Preface, Prologue, 

and this introductory material, the Prolegomenon. The text of Mary Standlee’s work begins with 

her Foreword on page xii and concludes at the Index on page 424. We have added a Postface 

after the Index that includes Major Borden’s article: “The Walter Reed General Hospital of the 

United States Army, Mil Surg. 20-35, 1907,” detailing his vision. Original suggested edits with hand 

written comments shared between Dr Joy and Mary Standlee (original materials now housed at 

the National Archives) and author information bring to a close the Postface.

And yet, this manuscript would remain unpublished today if not for the efforts and contributions of those acknowledged below.

Robert J. Mohrman —— as WRAMC librarian tasked with maintaining the manuscript and who 

sought preservation of this remarkable aging text and its images.

Bruce G. Maston —— who created the original design and layout that inspired further efforts

toward publication of this work. His artistry and eye for imagery is 

extraordinary.

Sheryl Cohn Chiasson —— whose intrepid attention to detail resulted in the accurate transition 

of the original manuscript to the published text.

Dr. James Cox, Jr, COL, MC, USAF (Ret) —— who imparted energy, expertise and thoughtful 

input assuring our attention to detail in the final push to publication. 

Dr. Chuck Callahan, COL, MC, USA (former WRAMC DCCS) —— wholeheartedly supported the publication efforts.

Prolegomenon
x

Borden’s Dream

Dr. John Pierce, COL, MC, USA (Ret) —— as unwavering supporter of WRAMC history.

Dr. Robert Joy, COL, MC, USA (Ret) —— who earlier engaged the author, Mary Standlee,

and more recently bridged the gap between initial 

efforts to publish the manuscript and its ultimate 

printing. 

Martha K. Lenhart

Colonel, MC, US Army

Director, Borden Institute
xi

WilliamClineBorden

* Guides to Historical Writing, Reprinted from The Bulletin of the U.S. Army Medical 

Department, Vol. V, No. 1, January 1946.

“

History is a narrative account 

of the past, which presents, in readable 

form, what actually happened, why it happened, and what the effects were. History, 

like all stories, shows the development of 

the events which are being described – the 

early beginnings, the growth, and the fruition. There is, therefore, an orderly movement through the medium of time.”*
xii

Borden’s Dream

FOREWORD

The life story of the Army Medical Center has long been of interest to the library staff 

of the Walter Reed Army Hospital, who have been obliged to answer many pertinent 

reference questions each year. The writer collected some of the human interest stories 

used in this manuscript as early as 1938, as by-products of social conversations with 

Miss Mary E. Schick, senior librarian, the most frequently consulted authority on Post 

history. General and Mrs. M.W. Ireland, as well as other distinguished members of the 

Medical Corps, had often asked Miss Schick to write the hospital story, but, contrary to 

the usual conception of a librarian as a sedentary person stamping the “date due” on an 

endless succession of books, her activities left no free time for so exacting a pastime as 

writing. Largely because of her insistence, in 1943 the writer began an informal narrative 

history, one which did not, however, discuss the growth of the Walter Reed Army Medical 

Center in context with the general development of the Army Medical Service. As word 

got around that a collection of “Post Lore” was being made there were many interested 

inquiries regarding the progress of the history, and in the summer of 1948 Colonel 

Clifford V. Morgan, then Deputy Post Commander of the Army Medical Center, urged 

that a permanent record of Post activities be prepared for local use. Unfortunately, the 

writer was not then free to devote the time necessary for completing the project. 

In the late winter of 1950, Major General Paul H. Streit, the nineteenth Post Commander, 

was interested in the project and suggested that the writer develop an adequate history of 

the installation but disclaimed an ability to provide appropriated funds for what would 

be a possibly two-year project. The writer requested, in turn, at least a six-month period of 

subsidized research, the final history to be completed, as begun, on a non-pay status. No time 

limit was imposed, but in accordance with the policies established by the Historical Division 

of the Surgeon General’s Office, the manuscript was to be properly coordinated with the 

broad aspects of the Medical Service history by individuals familiar with the Corps history, two 

copies of the finally assembled material, including some two hundred historical photographs, 

were to be deposited with the Post Library as a permanent documentary record.

Only two specific guideposts were proposed for developing the manuscript. The first 

was suggested by General Streit, who requested inclusion of biographical sketches of 

the eighteen former Post Commanders. The second requirement, consensus of several 

opinions and endorsed by the Commanding General, provided that a discussion of 

the hospital activities, Walter Reed Army Hospital, constitute the main theme of the 

story. Under the written terms of reference the writer became the final authority on 

the inclusion of any material presented in the volume. The agreements, both verbal and 

written, which encouraged completion of “Borden’s Dream,” are undoubtedly unusual; 

it is therefore appropriate here to acknowledge publicly a debt of gratitude to General 

Streit for his interest in and endorsement of an installation story of this scope. Sufficient 

material for an additional volume, “The Interrupted Dream,” mainly dealing with the 

locator problems of the Army Medical Library and Museum, long proposed as part of 
xiii

Foreword

the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, is organized and partially written but could not 

be completed prior to termination of General Streit’s term as Post Commander, a goal 

toward which the writer has driven with stubborn determination.

It has been a pleasure as well as a privilege to recreate through interviews with former 

Army Medical Service personnel, and insofar as such personnel has been available, the 

individuality of some of the Post Commanders. The physical appearance of these men 

was familiar, for The Library has long maintained a chronological collection of their portraits. As individuals, the majority were unknown to the writer. In one or two instances 

the biographical sketches are meager past the point of acceptability, for contemporaries 

who knew the subjects well cannot be located. This is an unfortunate handicap, not an 

oversight. The writer has, however, accepted the familiar precept that the recording and 

interpretation of history “involves not only a clear conception and a lively explanation of 

events and characters, but a sound, enlightened theory of individual and national morality, 

a general philosophy of human life whereby to judge them and measure their efforts.”

In 1935 a former executive officer of the Army Medical Center, Major (later Major 

General) Paul R. Hawley, unwittingly proposed a satisfactory maxim:

The Army Medical Center was, in the beginning, an idea. By slow and 

at times painful processes the institution has evolved to its present state. 

It is not yet complete; and no one man is responsible for all of the accomplishments thus far. Many distinguished officers have left indelible 

impressions upon these masses of brick and stone.

The story of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center could not be encapsulated and set 

apart from the plans and policy program of the Army Medical Service, and so it has 

been necessary to include some general discussions which clarify the military hospital 

program. The reader should, therefore, fully understand the interrelationship of this 

installation to the Office of the Surgeon General, which prescribes the medical doctrine 

implemented in this and other Medical Service installations. The writer has made a 

conscientious attempt to keep this relationship in sight without detracting from the 

unusual development of the Army’s most famous general hospital.

The majority of the photographs and illustrations were provided from the files of the Walter 

Reed Army Medical Center. However, Miss Helen Campbell and Mr. William C. Harris of the 

Arts Section, Catalogue Division of the Armed Forces Medical Library, not only assisted in the 

selection of some of the pictures, but with unfailing industry and cheerfulness they provided 

many “missing links.” To Miss Josephine Cobb, Chief of the Still Pictures Section, National 

Archives, the writer owes a very special debt, for as a result of her interest in locating early 

pictures of the U.S. Army General Hospital, Washington Barracks, D.C., the writer made the 

acquaintance of Daniel L. Borden, M.D., who permitted the uncensored use of his father’s 

personal records and papers, without which the story could not have been written.
xiv

Borden’s Dream

The list of interested readers was long, and the writer has profited immeasurably from 

the careful comments and kindly criticisms offered for the improvement of the manuscript. 

Colonel James M. Phalen, M.C., ret., editor of The Military Surgeon, not only volunteered 

his services as editor but provided considerable first-hand information of a historical nature. Major General Charles R. Reynolds, M.C., ret., formerly a Surgeon General of the 

Army, likewise edited the manuscript with extreme care, providing for the writer some 

fifteen pages of laboriously hand-written notes to be used as supplementary material. 

Colonel J.F. Siler, M.C., ret., provided comprehensive and complete technical editing of 

such a high nature that the writer is unable properly to express appreciation for the time 

expended. Chapter III, “The Intermediate Host,” has been the most difficult section of 

the book to write and would have presented nearly insurmountable obstacles without the 

unstinted editorial efforts of Philip S. Hench, M.D. of the Mayo Clinic, the outstanding 

civilian authority on Major Walter Reed and the Yellow Fever episode. Dr. Hench twice 

reviewed and corrected drafts of the chapter. As there are many published manuscripts 

on the strictly scientific aspects of the Yellow Fever experiment in Cuba, Chapter III 

was prepared as a medico-historical sketch of Walter Reed, the man, patron saint of the 

hospital and Center rather than as an evaluation of the scientist or his work.

More than one reviewer called to the writer’s attention the fact that much of the credit 

for successful installation management is due the able executive officers of the hospital and 

center who so loyally supported their chiefs. Unfortunately, proper acknowledgment of the 

services of these men could not be made, for the framework of the military structure is such 

that the commanding officer alone is finally responsible to “higher authority” for the success 

or failure of his organization. Further, the criticism has been offered that the only claim to 

distinction for the majority of the hospital commanders evolves from their assignment to 

the installation. This, however, was the first assumption used in preparing the manuscript.

It is an indisputable fact that the military hospital management is unique, not only from 

the standpoint of the complex administration but because of the generally homogenous 

employment background of the patients. Like members of a guild, they belong to a specialized group. The doctors, nurses, attendants and even the civilian employees reflect the 

group mores. Government Issue, military orders, inspection, “chow call” and formation are 

all familiar words in the daily routine. The writer has, for many years, been impressed with 

the lack of interest in, and knowledge of military medical administration evidenced by the 

average civilian, layman or doctor. It is to be hoped, therefore, that the reader will gain cleared 

insight into the intricacies of a service so often taken for granted and an appreciation of the 

splendid men who have given their lives to its development.

Mary W. Standlee

29 Fenwick Road, Fort Monroe, Virginia

5 December 1952
xv

Acknowledgments

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Lt. Col Jessie M. Braden, ANC, Ret.

Miss Clara Birmingham

Mrs. Montgomery Blair

Daniel L. Borden, M.D.

Colonel J.R. Darnall, M.C.

Colonel Chauncey Dovell, M.C., Ret.

Colonel James D. Fife, M.C., Ret.

Mrs. Leon Gardner

Miss Juanita Gould

Colonel James F. Hall, M.C., Ret.

Philip S. Hench, M.D.

Colonel John Huggins, M.C., Ret.

Colonel E.C. Jones, M.C., Ret.

Colonel H.W. Jones, M.C., Ret.

Mrs. J.R. Kean

Mr. Robert Kean

Portia B. Kernodle, PhD

Colonel James C. Kimbrough, M.C., Ret.

Major General N.T. Kirk, M.C., Ret.

Brig General Albert G. Love, M.C., Ret.

Major General George F. Lull, M.C., Ret.

Major General James C. Magee, M.C., Ret.

Major General Shelly U. Marietta, M.C., Ret.

Colonel Clifford V. Morgan, M.C.

Mrs. William Nichol

Colonel James M. Phalen, M.C., Ret.

Miss Frances Phillips

Major General Charles R. Reynolds, M.C., Ret.

Brig General Frederick F. Russell, M.C., Ret.

Miss Mary E. Schick

Colonel J.F. Siler, M.C., Ret.

Brig General James S. Simmons, M.C., Ret.

Mrs. Emmy Sommers

Brig General A.E. Truby, M.C., Ret.

Brig General Charles Walson, M.C., Ret.
xvi

Borden’s Dream

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter I

A HALF CENTURY BEFORE 1

Forecast For the Future 3

Politics or Progress 7

A Skirmish Is Called A Battle 9

Chapter II

SCHOOLING FOR THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT (1860–1901) 19

The Army Medical School 24

A Prod to Scientific Awakening 29

Chapter III

THE INTERMEDIATE HOST (1899–1902) 35

Itinerant Scientist 37

Setting the Stage for Martyrdom 42

Case History 44

Post-humous Recognition 48

Chapter IV

IN DEFENSE OF A DREAM (1903–1905) 57

The Proposal 57

The Lively Dreamer 62

With Pen and Scalpel 66

Chapter V

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING FOR MEDICAL PERSONNEL (1906–1912) 75

The Occupation 79

How Times Have Changed! 83

Enter: The Women! 84

On Seventh Street South 88

Subjoining the School and Hospital 91

Chapter VI

NORMAL GROWTH (1913–1916) 99

“The Old Soldier” 99

Business as Usual 102

Additions and Subtractions 103

“Go West, Young Man” 105

The Academic Emphasis 110

Evidence of Changes to Come 113
xvii

Chapter VII

THE WAR YEARS (1917–1918) 119

The Line of Succession 119

Expanding the Bed Capacity 122

Organization 127

New Functions 132

Nursing 136

Collateral Activities 141

Chapter VIII

THE GARDENER (1919–1922) 153

“Noisy Jim” 157

The Dominant Types 159

Within These Walls 162

Catastrophe 168

The Calendar Changes 169

Other Changes 173

The School Program 174

1921 176

1922 178

Chapter IX

THE ARMY MEDICAL CENTER (1923–1925) 183

Some Matters of Opinion 183

Professional Pageant 189

A Milestone of Progress 193

Exit a Dreamer 197

The Little Red School House 201

Chapter X

THE PRIDE OF THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT (1926 –1929) 211

The Personnel Quotient 215

The Happy Hours 217

Installation Support 219

Re-evaluating Subsidized Education 223

Post Commander Number 12 225

In the Course of Progress 226

Chapter XI

TIME MARCHES ON (1930–1931) 233

Carl Rogers Darnall 233

Progress Versus Recession 235

Table of Contents
xviii

Borden’s Dream

Operational Affairs 236

Army Medical Center 238

Reorganization 239

The Tabernacle 242

Chapter XII

REPLACING THE OLD WITH THE NEW (1932–1935) 251

A Hard Assignment 251

A Change in Specialists 257

In-Service Problems 258

For the Sick 261

As Affecting Morale 262

Of Interest to the Medical Department 263

The Thoroughbred 265

Chapter XIII

THE KINGPIN (1936–1939) 273

Folklore 274

The End of a Dynasty 276

Hospital Activities 279

The Hospital Corpsmen 282

Odds and Ends 285

Research and Investigation 288

The Hoff Memorial 290

Chapter XIV

WITH THE SUDDENNESS OF WAR (1940–1943) 295

Preparing for Mobilization 297

Increasing the Tempo 300

Expanding the Army Medical Center 305

A Distaff Branch 309

Associate Activities 313

Chapter XV

WARTIME READJUSTMENTS (1944–1945) 317

General Training 317

Whereas: The Civilian 319

In Line of Duty 320

School for MD PSS Technicians 326

Continued Expansion 328
xix

Chapter XVI

TWO DIFFICULT YEARS (1944–1945) 331

Something New is Added 332

Reconditioning 338

Routine Affairs 341

Technical Activities 344

The Crest of the Wave 347

Chapter XVII

FRAGMENTARY DISCUSSIONS (1946–1951) 353

New Patterns 356

Outside Influences 359

Fundamental Reorganization 364

The Training Program 366

They Call It Unification 373

The Last Year of Reign 374

Of Local Interest 377

ILLUSTRATIONS

Major William Cline Borden (frontispiece) ii

Wounded Come to Washington 4

Carver U.S. General Hospital 5

Civil War Ambulance 7

Blair House, Silver Spring, Maryland 8

Ft. Stevens, Washington, D.C., 1864 10

Sallyport at Ft. Stevens, 1864 12

Sharpshooters Tree Used by Confederates 13

Lay House 14

Seventh Street Turnpike, about 1861 22

Museum-Library Building, Home of Army Medical School 23

Minutes, First Meeting Army Medical School 25

First Graduating Class, Army Medical School, 1894 27

Hoff Memorial Prize Medal, 1897 29

The Young Doctor, Walter Reed 39

Fragments of Letter from Reed to Borden, 1894 44

Post Hospital, Washington Barracks, D.C. 45

Walter Reed’s Appendix 47

Major Walter Reed, 1902 48

Hans Schuler Bust of Walter Reed 49

Reed Headstone 50

Parade Grounds and Barracks, Washington Barracks, D.C. 58

Illustrations
xx

Borden’s Dream

Greenleaf’s Point, Washington Arsenal Grounds 60

Captain John S. Marshall, First Dental Officer, U.S.A. 60

Surgical Demonstration by Major Borden 63

Cartoon by Colonel Arthur 66

Post Hospital, Washington Barracks 68

“Borden’s Dream”, 1906 70

“Esprit de Corps”, Napkins from Washington Barracks 76

Brightwood Avenue about 1908 78

Old Main 80

William H. Arthur 84

Sunday Dinner for Walter Reed Patients 86

First Vaccination, Students at Army Medical School 89

Army Medical School, 1910 92

Charles Richard 93

H.P. Birmingham, 1914 100

Henry C. Fisher 101

John L. Phillips and daughter 105

Percy M. Ashburn, 1915 107

Major Walter Reed, 1851–1902 109

Home of Army Medical School, 1916–1923 111

Charles F. Mason, 1916 (two views) 119, 120

Medical Library, 1924 121

Mason Family at Shepherd Mansion 123

Williard F. Truby 123

Main Building and Hospital Corps Barracks, 1917 125

Exterior Views, 1917 127

Aerial View, 1918 133

Aide’s Hut, World War I 134

Barracks; Post Band 134

Carpenter Shop, 1919 136

Mrs. Emmy Sommers 138

Red Cross Hut, 1920 139

Fire Station, WRGH, about 1917 (two views) 140,141

Semi-Permanent Structure, World War I 142

War Service Library, World War I 144

Ground Map, 1918 146

Exterior Views, 1919 (two views) 154

Old Lay House, 1919 155

Ground Map, 1920 156

Colonel Glennan and Prince of Wales, 1920 158

Service Club or Guest House 160
xxi

Captain Herbert N. Dean and Dr. David Lumsden 161

Officers Quarters, 1919 162

Colonel Keller at work 163

EENT Operating Room, 1922 165

Library, WRGH, Exterior View, 1922 166

Traveling Library, 1922 167

Tulip Tree 168

Great Fire, 1919 169

Physiotherapy Aides 171

Army School of Nursing, First Graduating Class 172

The Hardings Visit Walter Reed 175

The Hardings Greeting Soldiers 176

Ward 9, Christmas 1922 177

Dahlia Street, 1922 178

Utilities, Warehouse, Incinerator House, Powerhouse Steam Cinder, Powerhouse 1922 179

First Easter Egg Rolling, 1923 184

Army Medical School, 1923 185

Army Nurses, 1922 186

Signing of Hospital Bill, 1924 188

Rehabilitation 190

Dental Clinic, WRGH, 1922 191

YMCA Hut 193

Calvin Coolidge 195

Mrs. Calvin Coolidge and Pvt. Ralph Grimm 196

Residue From the War 197

Playing Field, 1924 198

Mrs. Walter Reed and General Glennan 199

Formal Garden 200

James Denver Glennan Memorial Plaque 201

Laying Cornerstone; Army Medical School at AMC (two views) 203

Army Veterinary School, Class of 1923 204

Enlisted Technicians (two views) 205, 206

X-Ray Room, 1925 212

Post Orchestra, 1924 213

Presentation of Bible, 1927 214

First Easter Sunrise Service, 1927 215

Rose Arbor, 1932 217

New Construction, 1927 218

Red Cross; Power House, 1929 (two views) 220

Convalescent Patients’ Dining Room 221

New Construction, 1929–1930 (three views) 224

Illustrations
xxii

Borden’s Dream

Delano Hall, 1931 (two views) 224

Faculty of Administration, 1929 225

James M. Kennedy 226

Dental Technicians 228

Guard House (two views) 229

F.F. Russell 229

Carl Rogers Darnall 234

Aerial Survey, 1930 236

Adding to the Army Medical School, 1931 237

Basal Metabolism Room, WRGH, 1931 238

General Darnall and Internes, 1932 240

Cornerstone, Memorial Chapel, 1930 241

Memorial Chapel, 1931 243

Memorial Chapel, Interior View 244

McCook Mortuary Chapel, 1931 245

Ralph Grimm, Expert Silversmith 247

Albert E. Truby 252

Blacksmith Shop 253

Temporary Barracks, World War I 254

Rose Garden, 1932 256

Post Exchange 257

Post Gymnasium, 1933 260

Rea Swimming Pool 260

First Gasoline Station, AMC 261

Hospital Corps Barracks, Interior, 1933 263

Recreation at the Red Cross “Hut” 263

Palm House, 1932 264

James C. Kimbrough 267

Wallace De Witt, Red Cross Birthday Party, 1938 274 

Salvage Warehouse, 1929 275

Laundry and Bakery, 1932 275

Main Operating Room, 1930 277

William L. Keller 278

Raymond F. Metcalfe 279

Waiting Room, Out

-Patient Clinic 281

Delano Hall, 1939 282

Laboratory Views (four views) 283,284

Stenographic Pool, 1948 286

Cartoon of “Dusty” Siler 287

Hoff Memorial Fountain 289

Radio Station, 1940 296

Bergonie Chair, 1940 298
xxiii

Roy Stout, Dental Surgeon 300

Shelley U. Marietta 301

Additions to Red Cross; New Fire Station (two views) 302,303

Forest Glen Section, Main Entrance 304

Forest Glen Section (two views) 306,307

Forest Glen Section, Recreation Room 308

Enlisted Men’s Game Room, WRGH 309

WAC Review 312

Main Post Exchange, 1949 318

WAC Technician 320

Central Dental Laboratory 321

Veterinary Biologicals 324

Monroe J. Romansky 325

Mrs. Rea Returns to Visit Gray Ladies 326

“Service Stripe”; Mark Austed (two views) 327

Richard P. Strong 328

General Marietta Decorating a Patient 328

Post Theatre No. II 331

Chapel, Forest Glen Section 333

Rehabilitation, Camp Ord, Maryland 334

Restaurant, WRGH Exchange 335

General Eisenhower and Patients 337

Harry S. Truman at Walter Reed 339

Milton Berle Entertains 340

Cadet Nurses, 1945 342

Red Cross Nurses’ Aides 343

WAC Laboratory Technician 344

Veterinary Biologicals 345

Orthopedic Activities (two views) 346

The Wounded Walk Under His Own Power Again (two views) 348

George C. Beach 354

Nursery, 1950 355

Occupational Therapy 356

Colonel Morgan and Lt Col Danielson 358

Physical Reconditioning, World War II 359

Fever Therapy 360

Sick Call, Station Surgeon’s Office 361

Physical Medicine (two views) 362,363

Sports for the Handicapped 364

The Dignity of Man 365

Occupational Therapy Painting of General Kirk 366

Corpsman as Nurse Assistant 367

Traveling Post Exchange 368

Illustrations/Appendix
xxiv

Borden’s Dream

File Room, Outpatient Service; Orthopedic Technician (two views) 369

Meat Inspection 370

General Callender and Colonel Plotz 371

Army Medical School Laboratories 372

Lt Col Gertrude Thomson 374

Post Exchange Fire, 1948 375

General Beach and Commander Burns 376

Paul H. Streit 377

Officers’ Club 379

Dependent Care (two views) 380, 381

Ground Map 382, 383

Army Medical Center Shield 384

APPENDIX

Thanksgiving 1914 401

Lt Niesen Tregor, MSC 411

Mary E. Schick 413