The Percy Jones Decade
 By Jeff Landenberger
  In the city of Battle Creek, Michigan, known for breakfast there is a federal office building that stands out. It has hosted the rich and famous of the early 20th century, catered to the care and recovery of WWII and Korean War Soldiers, and is now home to the Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services. **Originally built as a “health spa”, under the guidance of Dr. John H. Kellogg in 1903, with a major expansion in 1928 the building that would be know for a decade as The Percy Jones Army Hospital was the Army’s largest medical instillation of WWII.




A WWII era postcard shows the Percy Jones Army Hospital building. The image is in black and white. in the foreground are trees that hide part of the six story building but the tower addition stands tall with 15 floors.
        Percy Jones Army Hospital
            Originally built as a “health spa”, under the guidance of Dr. John H. Kellogg in 1903, with a major expansion in 1928 the building that would be know for a decade as The Percy Jones Army Hospital was the Army’s largest medical instillation of WWII.

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                    VIRIN: 230119-D-DO441-003**Rebuilt after a 1903 fire the building was originally the home of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, referred to by locals as “The Old San,” a world-renowned health resort. In those early years people like Henry Ford, Amelia Earhart and J.C. Penny came to the Sanitarium to learn to be healthy. No expense was spared by Dr. John H. Kellogg to make his guest feel welcomed. Shortly after the US entered World War II in 1942 the US army purchased the Sanitarium from Kellogg, renamed it the Percy Jones Army Hospital, and went about converting it into a hospital. The original plan in the summer of 1942 was for a 1000-bed Army general hospital. But by September of that same year the plan had added 500 more beds. The work continued through the fall and into the winter until January 15, 1943, when the Percy Jones Hospital received its first patients from near by Fort Custer. A month later 175 casualties from the Pacific theater arrived by hospital trains and on February 22 a dedication ceremony was held. **The portrait of Army Col. Percy L. Jones was unveiled by his widow, Fannie M. Jones, left, their daughter, Elizabeth J. Siegel and Maj.-Gen. James C Magee, surgeon general of the army during the dedication of the Percy Jones Army Hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan, Feb. 23, 1943.




In a black and white photo three people stand next to a painted portrait of a man (Col. Percy L. Jones) in an old style Army uniform. two of the people are women, the widow of Percy Jones and their adult daughter (who is the tallest person in the photo) and an Army General stands next to Percy Jones' widow.
        Dedication
            The portrait of Army Col. Percy L. Jones was unveiled by his widow, Fannie M. Jones, left, their daughter, Elizabeth J. Siegel and Maj.-Gen. James C Magee, surgeon general of the army during the dedication of the Percy Jones Army Hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan, Feb. 23, 1943.

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                    VIRIN: 230120-D-DO441-001**Fannie Jones unveiled a portrait of her late husband and building’s name sake, Col. Percy L. Jones, who was instrumental in organizing the Army’s Ambulance Corps in World War I while serving in France. Col. Norman T. Kirk, the first hospital commander presented the Purple Heart medal to 31 soldiers who were patients at the time. In 1944, Col. Joseph E. Bastion took command of Percy Jones when Kirk was named Surgeon General of the Army and transferred to Washington D.C. **File photo of Patient Ward Room number one of the Percy Jones Army Hospital, dated to Oct 1945.




Black and white photo of patients in beds next to each other recovering from wounds. The Soldier nearest the camera is looking in to the camera, he is missing his lower right leg.
        Patient Ward Room number one
            File photo of Patient Ward Room number one of the Percy Jones Army Hospital, dated to Oct 1945.

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                    VIRIN: 230119-D-DO441-002**Under Bastion’s direction, the hospital expanded rapidly to handle the increasing flow of battle casualties as the Allies launched the D-Day operations in Normandy France and the tempo of the war in Europe increased. First, the gift of W.K. Kellogg’s million-dollar estate at Gull Lake that was used as a convalescent center, the old Fort Custer Reception Center was added and as a reconditioning of battle casualties and finally the Fort Custer Hospital was placed under the jurisdiction of Bastion and was then known as the Fort Custer Annex. When these were all consolidated and activated as Percy Jones Hospital Center in April 1945, they made “The Old San” the Army’s largest medical installation. Percy Jones had become the Army Center of amputations, neurosurgery, deep x-ray therapy and plastic artificial eyes. 729 operations were performed in one month. In September of 1945, the month following the end of the war in the Pacific, records showed a peek of 11,427 patients. **File photo dated to 1945 a recovering soldier takes part in a class on telephone repair. While soldiers recovered at the Percy Jones Army Hospital they were able to take class to learn skills to support themselves once discharged from the Army.




A Soldier sits with his back to the camera operating test equipment on a phone.
        Telephone repair
            File photo dated to 1945 a recovering soldier takes part in a class on telephone repair. While soldiers recovered at the Percy Jones Army Hospital they were able to take class to learn skills to support themselves once discharged from the Army.

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                    VIRIN: 230119-D-DO441-001**Thousands of these patients enrolled in the Percy Jones Institute. An accredited high school and high education providing more than 20 fields of study including business, pre-technical training, agricultural and other professions were available to the recovering Soldiers. World War II’s end did not mark the end of what they called “war work” at Percy Jones. 1948 marked the seventh anniversary of the Perl Harbor attack, there were still more than 50 Soldiers still hospitalized with wounds form the war. Defense Secretary Louis Johnson surprised the city of Battle Creek and the staff of Percy Jones February 1, 1950, when he announced that Percy Jones would close June 30 of that year to save money. Percy Jones officially shut down days after hostilities broke out in Korea. By September rumors that Percy Jones would be reactivated reached Battle Creek and December 4, 1950, Percy Jones was reactivated as 1600 bed general hospital. Records show that by March 1951 Percy Jones had a patient population of around 1,000, a large portion of them frostbite cases from Korea. The end of the Korean War permanently closed Percy Jones in 1953. The hospital operated for a decade. Serving nearly 95,000 military patients from two wars. The building did not sit idle long. In 1954 it was renamed the Battle Creek Federal Center and multiple federal agencies moved in. The Percy Jones legacy was revived in 2003 when the building was renamed once again. This time to honor three patients from Percy Jones who, after the WWII went on to become Senators. Philip Hart of Michigan, Robert Dole of Kansas, and Daniel Inouye of Hawaii. Known today as the Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center the building is home of The Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services Headquarters and is the Defense Department’s reverse logistics center of excellence.