Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-06-22
AMERICANS TAKE
OVER SIX LARGE
FIELD HOSPITALS
British Staffs Released For
Service Nearer Own
Lines
THOUSANDS OF BEDS
Flag Flies Over Great Mill
tary Establishments
in France
OF BEDS
By associated Press

by fSSotldtcd fFcSS
British Headquarters in France,
June 22.-Quietly and with very little
ceremony, so as to escape practically
all but official attention. American
doctors. nurses and enlisted men have
within the last fortnight taken over
six of the Grtish great general field
hospitals. releasing the English staffs
for duty near their front. American
surgeons have been rendering vaIua-
BILE aid also in the forward casualty
clearing stations during the battle of
Messines. This has been the quickest
organized aid the United States has
given British arms in France and has
been greatly appreciated.
The Americans have been much i'm
pressed by the cordiality of their well
come as we'll as by the thoroughness
and effectiveness of the British hos
pital system. So smoothly have the
transfers been made that the Amer
leans have taken up their new work
without even a moments upset in the
routine of the various hospitals. The
Stars and Stripes fly with the British
Union Jack from each hospital flag
staff, the two ensiSns huttering side
by side in the cool breezes that sweep
I'M from the seas.
Units Are Large
The British selected their hospital
sites with the greatest care and have
developed them with a completeness
that has come from nearly three years
of field experience. Some of the gem
eral hospitals are made up of tented
wards, accommodating forty to sixty
beds each. Others are constructed of
a series of huts. Both styles are mod
els of field comfort and convenience.
The operating theaters are splendidly
built and seem to lack nothing in the
way of modern surgical equipment.
Originally planned for 1,040 beds
each, the general hospitals have been
practically enlarged to 1,400 beds and
during crisis one can accommodate
1000 patients. The units which have
taken over the various hospitals were
organized by the American Red Cross
as United States base hospitals" and
with the declaration of war these
staffs were turned over to the regular
army for service as required.
Marked Efficiency
Each unit has brought along an or
ganizing director who was a surgeon
in civil practice but now takes COM
mand as a major in the United States
reserve. The commanding officer in
q q A
surgeon, while the subordinate mem
bers of the staff are made up of reg
ular army surgeons and doctors COM
missioned from civil life. The nurses
are all graduates of well-known train
ing schools and will probably be sup
plemented soon by voluntary aid de-
tachments of young women workers
such as are now attached to the vari-
Gus British staffs. The noncommis-
stoned orderlies and privates were
practically all taken from civil life
but in keeping with the doctors and
nurses have settled into their new
work with marked efficiency ana en-
thusiasm.
The first of the American units to
reach France was known as United
States Base Hospital No. 4. and was
organized in Cleveland by DR.. George
W. Grille, with Major Gilchrist. of the
United states army, as commanding
officer. This unit has taken over
British general hospital No. 9, some =
where in France" United States base
hospital No. 5, organized at Harvard
University by DR.. Harvey Cushing,
with Major r. U. Patterson as COM
manding officer. has taken over Brit
ish general hospital No. IL; United
States base hospital No. 2. from the
Presbyterian Hospital, New York. or
ganized by DR.. George Brewer, with
Major Lucius p. Hopewood command
ing. has taken over British general
hospital No. / United States base nos
pital No. 81; organized in st. Louis by
DR.. Frederick Murphy, with Major
James ID. Fife commanding, has talk
en- over British general hospital No.
l2; United States base hospital No. 10,
organized in Philadelphia, largely in
the University of Pennsylvania, by DR..
Richard Harte, with Major NJ. A. De-
laney commanding. has taken over
British hospital No. 16; United States
base hospital No. 12. organized in Chi
cago by DIR. Frederick Besley, with
Major &C. Collins commanding. has
taken over British general hospital
No. IS, all. of course. somewhere in
France"
Mobile Units
Each American hospital staff has
also organized a mobile unit for serv-
ice in the casualty clearing stations
just back of the firing lines for emer-
gency work during the first days OF
great battles. The American hospitals
present an interesting international
study with patients from England,
Scotland, ireland. Australia. New Zea-
land and Portugal. Steps will be taken
soon to increase the various units and
bring them up to the strength re-
quired for enlarged hospitals. Amer
ican doctors and iurses have already
acquired the tea habit, which they en-
joy every afternoon with the con-
valescent wounded.
DENY CAPTURE OF RAIDER
By fssocidfed Press