Title: United States Army Base Hospital 22 Records and Photographs
Inclusive Dates: 1918-1976

Creator:

• United States Army Base Hospital 22,

Call Number: WVM Mss 500

Quantity: 0.2 linear ft. (1 archives box and 2 oversize folders) of papers and 1.0 linear ft. (2 archives boxes and 1 oversized box) of photographs.

Repository:

Wisconsin Veterans Museum
Have questions? Contact the Reference Archivist

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Veterans Museum (Map)

See the catalog entry for current shelf locations and additions.

Abstract:

Photographs, reunion, and scattered materials pertaining to Base Hospital #22, also known as the Milwaukee Base Hospital (named Beau Desert and located near Bordeaux, France). The core of the collection are two photographic scrapbooks which document Base Hospital 22 and its staff. Photographer Roy Dowd captured the service of the soldiers working at BH-22 through images of stateside preparations, the hospital in France, medical care, soldiers on leave in various cities, and return to the United States. A typeset list of photo captions is found in the collection, intended to help BH-22 veterans order photographs from Dowd. Wartime materials include two commendation notes, a roster, and list of soldiers returning to the U.S. aboard the U.S.S. Henderson. Reunion materials include a souvenir program for the first reunion which with two original photographs, a list of members addresses, correspondence, and a history of the hospital which appeared in the “Wisconsin Medical Journal.”

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.wvm-mss00500

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Base Hospital 22 was organized in 1917 by the Milwaukee Chapter of the American Red Cross and was lead by Dr. Curtis A. Evans, Thomas J. Kirkpatrick, and Thomas Gore; the hospital was located near Bordeaux, France at Camp Beau Desert. BH-22 was a 1,000 bed hospital which, at the height of its service was home to 5,100 patients. Soldiers stationed at the hospital treated casualties from numerous battles including Chateau-Thierry and epidemics like pneumonia and Spanish flu. Soldiers reached France and BH-22 in July of 1918 and were relieved from active duty on January 25, 1919, the hospital staff returned to the United States aboard the U.S.S. Henderson and reached New York on April 2, 1919. The group held annual reunions on the anniversary of their call to active duty, with the first in 1919.

The records of Base Hospital 22 are divided into two series: Records and Photographs.

Records (1918-1976) consists of commendation notes, a roster of men in the unit, and a list of BH-22 soldiers who returned to the United States aboard the U.S.S. Henderson. Reunion materials include a souvenir program of the 1st reunion and a list of members addresses. A typeset list of photo captions is included with the papers providing brief descriptions of the more then 500 photographs in this collection. There is a photocopy of the dissembled photo scrapbook (see Photographs series) which shows the original order of the photographs and the captions.

Photographs (1918-1919) are divided in to three subseries: Overseas Service, Stateside Service, and Homecoming. The photographs were originally contained in two scrapbooks. One, “Pictorial History of Base Hospital 22” is found intact. The second was disassembled for preservation purposes with the scrapbook captions noted on the photographs. A photocopy of this scrapbook is located in the Records series.

The intact scrapbook, Pictorial History of Base Hospital 22, includes photos of soldiers mess halls, medical care, barracks, BH-22 football and baseball teams, hospital tents, and a funeral ceremony. There are also images of patients, Army nurses, and pictures of facial wounds and amputated legs.

The photographs were taken by Milwaukee, Wisconsin native Roy Dowd. A professional photographer, images have excellent composition, are centered and focused, and provide a rare look at the activities of World War I soldiers.

The photos of overseas service document the camp at Beau Desert, various hospital wards, a Thanksgiving and Christmas celebration at camp, soldiers on leave in various French cities, and Chinese laborers. There are also scenes of military life, loading and unloading troop trains, and soldiers exploring French mountains.

Stateside service shows BH-22 preparing to leave Milwaukee, Wisconsin, loading supplies for France, marching in a Liberty Bond parade, and drilling at Marquette University.

Homecoming photos show soldiers aboard the U.S.S. Henderson, views from the ship as they approach New York City, and soldiers attempting to sink a stray buoy.

Acquisition Information

Presented by American Legion, Department of Wisconsin, 1991. The collection was previously known as Accession Number: V1991.5. This collection was organized as a result of the National Historic Publications and Records Commission project grant (2003-075).

Processing Information

Preliminary inventory by Mark Van Ells, 1992; processed by Abigail Miller in 2003.

	Series: Records
	Subseries: BH-22
Box   1 Folder   1	Background materials (History), 1919; 1976
Box   1 Folder   2	Commendations, 1919
	Photographs
Box   1 Folder   3	Scrapbook (Photocopied), 1918-1919
Ov   6 Folder   8	Typeset photograph list, undated
Ov   6 Folder   9	U.S.S. Henderson ship register
	Subseries: Reunions	⇧
Ov   6 Folder   4	Materials, 1927-1960
Ov   6 Folder   5	Program, 1919
Ov   6 Folder   6-7	Rosters, 1919-1936
	Series: Photographs	⇧
	Subseries: Overseas Service - France
Box   3 Folder   1	Aviation camp [1]
Box   3 Folder   2	BH-14 fire [2]
	BH-22
Box   3 Folder   3	Baseball team, “officers vs. bucks” [2]
Box   3 Folder   4-5	Football team [11]
Box   3 Folder   6	Holiday celebrations
	Hospital grounds
Box   3 Folder   7	Contagious tents [2]
Box   3 Folder   8	Hospital tents [3]
Box   3 Folder   9	Miscellaneous buildings [7]
Box   3 Folder   10	Wards [4]
Box   3 Folder   11	Officers [5]
	Platoons
Box   3 Folder   12	1st [1]
Box   3 Folder   13	2nd [1]
Box   3 Folder   14	3rd [2]
Box   3 Folder   15	4th [1]
	Camp Beau Desert
Box   3 Folder   16	Aerial views [4]
Box   3 Folder   17	Buildings [6]
Box   3 Folder   18	Cemetery [4]
Box   3 Folder   19	Grounds [2]
Box   3 Folder   20	Guards [2]
Box   3 Folder   21	Patients [3]
Box   3 Folder   22	Soldiers [3]
Box   3 Folder   23	Chinese laborers [7]
Box   3 Folder   24	Crossing the English Channel [1]
	Groups
PhOv   7 Folder   15	Army Nurse Corps [1]
Box   3 Folder   25	Identified [5]
Box   3 Folder   26	Lum, Aub, E.P., and Pat [4]
Box   3 Folder   27	Hospital train [6]
	Individuals
Box   3 Folder   28	Roy A. Dowd (photographer) [2]
Box   3 Folder   29	Lum [2]
Box   3 Folder   30-31	Individuals [15]
	Non-military scenes
	European scenes and scenery
	French civilians
Box   3 Folder   32	Children [6]
Box   3 Folder   33	Harvesting grapes [4]
Box   3 Folder   34	French scenes [7]
Box   3 Folder   35	Girondins statue and park [4]
Box   3 Folder   36	King of Monte-Negro summer home [4]
Box   3 Folder   37-38	Mountain scenery [10]
Box   3 Folder   39-42	Groups climbing (in uniform)[19]
Box   3 Folder   43	Individuals climbing [3]
Box   3 Folder   44	Ruins of the castle of the Black Prince [5]
Box   3 Folder   45	St. Andre Cathedral [5]
	Leave in France
Box   4 Folder   1-2	Bordeaux [9]
Box   4 Folder   3	Roads [5]
Box   4 Folder   4-6	Lourdes [15]
Box   4 Folder   7	Paris [2]
Box   4 Folder   8	Pau [4]
Box   4 Folder   9	Souge Road [2]
Box   4 Folder   10	Southern France [3]
Box   4 Folder   11	Toulouse [2]
Box   4 Folder   11	Various cities [4]
Box   4 Folder   12	Merry Christmas celebration [2]
Box   4 Folder   13	Nurses [2]
Box   4 Folder   14	On pass [2]
Box   4 Folder   15	Prisoners of war [2]
Box   4 Folder   16-18	Recreation activities [13]
Box   4 Folder   19	Surrendered Germans [1]
	Subseries: Stateside Service	⇧
Box   4 Folder   20	Base Hospital 22 Leaving Milwaukee, Wisconsin [6]
Box   4 Folder   21	Camp Merritt, New Jersey [2]
Box   4 Folder   22	Liberty Bond Parade [1]
Box   4 Folder   23	Loading trains for France [5]
Box   4 Folder   24	Marquette University drills [2]
Box   4 Folder   25	New York City [5]
Box   4 Folder   26	Soldier recreation [4]
	Subseries: Return Home	⇧
	BH-22 Soldiers and staff
Box   4 Folder   27-28	Shipboard scenes [9]
Box   4 Folder   29	U.S.S. Henderson [2]
Box   4 Folder   30	Views of New York [6]
Box   4 Folder   31	Welcome home tug boats [2]
Box   4 Folder   32	Class “D” patients [4]
Box   2 Folder   1	A photographic history of Base Hospital 22 (scrapbook), 1918-1919