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Casualties being unloaded at Base Hospital 21 Casualties being unloaded at Base Hospital 21 from a British Red Cross ambulance.
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Rear of the grandstand of the Chaps des Courses Racetrack Rear of the grandstand of the Champs des Courses racetrack in Rouen, France. The racetrack housed not only Base Hospital 21 but also two other, smaller B.E.F. base hospitals. Base Hospital 21 utilized the racetrack’s permanent buildings. The grandstand was used for the company’s offices. The huts at the right and background were for officers.
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British General Hospital No. 12 British General Hospital No. 12 was one of the earliest British hospitals established in France. It had been situated on the Champs des Courses racetrack at Rouen since August 1914, excepting for a brief period in 1914 when the oncoming German army had forced the hospital to evacuate down the Seine on barges. It was one of fourteen hospitals and convalescent camps, with a total of approximately 25,000 beds, maintained by the British Expeditionary Forces in the Rouen area.
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Base Hospital 21 Officers and Nurses in London After members of Base Hospital 21 landed in Liverpool, the enlisted men were sent to Blackpool for training. The officers and nurses were sent to London for a two-week conditioning course on the medical tragedies of war. The officers and nurses were also invited to a number of receptions, teas, and theater performances while in London.
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View of New York Pier 61 from the S. S. St. Paul The view from the deck of the S.S. St. Paul, as it departed New York Pier 61 on May 19, 1917.
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Group of nurses on the S. S. St. Paul A group of nurses from Base Hospital 21 on the deck of the S. S. St. Paul in May 1917. The nurses did not receive their uniforms from the Red Cross until they reached New York and were about to sail for England. Chief Nurse Julia C. Stimson is at far right.
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Major James D. Fife Major James D. Fife, of the regular Army Medical Corps, assumed command of Base Hospital 21 in May 1917, just prior to the unit’s sailing to England. Fife was one of the few Army officers added to the unit who had military experience and were familiar with Army procedures. On October 18, 1917, Fife was ordered to the office of the Chief Surgeon of the American Expeditionary Forces. Major Fred T. Murphy succeeded Fife in his command of Base Hospital 21.
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Celebration for the visit by the French Mission Celebration on May 7, 1917 in front of Barnes Hospital for the visit by the French mission to the U.S., led by General Marshall Joffre, and the presentation of flags to Base Hospital 21. Ten days later more than 8,000 people crowded St. Louis' Union Station to watch the unit depart.
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Chief Nurse Julia C. Stimson May 1917 passport photograph of Julia C. Stimson, Chief Nurse of Base Hospital 21. With the exception of six nurses from Kansas City, the nursing staff of Base Hospital 21 were nearly all graduates of Barnes, St. Lukes, City, and other St. Louis hospitals. The American nurses were assisted by British V.A.D.’s (Voluntary Aid Detachments) who functioned as nurses’ aides.
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Captain Arthur W. Proetz Capt. Arthur W. Proetz headed the Ear, Nose, and Throat Service for Base Hospital 21. After the war, Proetz returned to St. Louis and to Washington University. Dr. Proetz received his undergraduate degree from Washington University in 1910 and graduated from the School of Medicine in 1912. He taught on the University medical faculty from 1919 to 1954 and served as president of the American Laryngological Association (1948) and the American Board of Otolaryngology (1949-1950).
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Major Fred T. Murphy Major Fred T. Murphy on the deck of the S.S. St. Paul en route from New York to Liverpool. Murphy, a professor of surgery at Washington University, was appointed director of Base Hospital 21 when it was formed in 1916 under the sponsorship of the Red Cross.
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Doctors, nurses and enlisted men of Base Hospital 21 Doctors, nurses and enlisted men of Base Hospital 21, Rouen, France. The unit took over the running of British General Hospital No. 12 in June 1917.
