US Naval Hospital Corps School - Yearbook (San Diego, CA)

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in troop air transports, on hospital and sea transport ships, and in all shore-based hospitals. The Dental Corps was established in 1912, and dental offi- cers served with distinction in both world Wars and in Korea. Over 7,000 were in service during World War II. In 1945 an organizational change in the Bureau assigned to dental offi- cers the technical control of dental activities' ashore and afloat. The Medical Service Corps was established in 1947, giving commissioned rank to administrative specialists and men trained in such fields as pharmacy, optometry, psychology, bacteriology, and other sciences related to medicine. 'Officers of the Medical Service Corps, with ranks up to and including Captain, have been of immeasurable assistance to medical and dental officers by absorbing much of the administrative workload and serving as specialists in various sciences. During the present century, training and technical educa- tion have expanded continuously, in step with growing specialization, increasing complexity of the medical sciences, and enlarging scope of Medical Department operation. In 1902 there was established, in addition to the Naval Medical School, the first school for training hospital corpsmen. This X N was at Norfolk, Virginia, other schools were established later at Great Lakes, Illinois, Bainbridge, Maryland, and San Diego, California. In 1922, the Naval Dental School was inaugurated for postgraduate training of dental officers. In 1939, the Naval School of Aviation Medicine was set up at Pensacola, Florida, in 1942 the Naval School of Hospital Administration was started at Bethesda, Maryland, and in 1951 Field Medical Service Schools were commissioned at Camp Pendleton and Camp Lejeune. The Bureau of Medicine and Surgery observed its 116th anniversary on 31 August 1958. It is the only Navy bureau still retaining its original name as established by Congress in 1842, but only since 1942 has it occupied the present 'quarters in the group of buildings around the old Naval Observatory. Its more recent accomplishments, and those of the devoted officers and men who constitute the Medical Department of the United States Navy, have been so many and varied that they cannot even be mentioned in this short historical sketch. Suffice it to say that naval medicine has made tremendous progress since 1775, and that in recent years this progress has been accelerated enormously. Today, the quality of professional care furnished to Navy and Marine Corps personnel is outstanding and second to none. MODERN SURGERY

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authorities, in determining trends of morbidity and mortality rates. One development that had an early beginning-the estab- lishing of hospitals in ships-conferred mobility on definitive medical and surgical care, making it possible to furnish such care wherever on the seven seas it might be needed. The best-known hospital ship employed during the Civil War, the Red Rover, was a Mississippi sidewheeler cap- tured from Confederate forces and converted for use as a hospital under the command of Surgeon Ninian Pinkney. The staff included the first female nurses of whom there is any record in the Navy. They were Nursing Sisters who volunteered only for service during the war. Other hospital ships followedg of these the USS Solace, converted to hospital use in 1898 during the Spanish- American War, was the first of our naval vessels to fly the Geneva Red Cross flag. A long controversy over whether -a medical or a line officer should command such a ship finally ended in placing a line officer in command of the ship proper, with a medical officer in command of the hospital within the ship and of all professional medical matters. During World War 1 and World War ll, more and more advanced hospital ships were developed, particularly those few that were built from the keel up for this purpose. Near the close of the latter war, some 12 hospital ships were in operation by the Navy, those of the Haven class being of advanced design. Still greater effectiveness was achieved during the Korean Conflict by the addition of landing platforms for helicopters so that casualties wounded in battle could be flown in a matter of minutes from close behind the front line to the safety and expert care available on the ship. Such atraumatic and expeditious handling saved many lives. Other early developments of great value were instituted by the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. A book of Instruction for Medical Officers, now known as the Manual of the Medical Department, was first published in 1886. A Naval Medical School was established by Surgeon General Presley M. Rixey in 1902 for post graduate instruction of newly appointed medical officers in special aspects of naval medi- cine. Annual physical examinations of naval personnel were begun in 1909. To provide information on current progress in professional matters to Medical Department personnel, wherever they might be, publication of the U. S. Naval Medical Bulletin was inaugurated in 1907. The Bulletin with its successor, the U. S. Armed Forces Medical Journal, have been published continuously to the present day. A supple- mentary Hospital Corps Quarterly, now the Medical Tech- nicians Bulletin, was provided for non-professional Medical Department personnel. It is especially enlightening to consider the changes that have taken place over the years in the status of various com- ponent groups having a part in naval medicine. The term, Medical Corps, was first employed in an appropriation act of 1871. Thereafter medical officers were listed as mem bers of the staff corps of the Navy. Their grades were Medi- cal Director, Medical Inspector, Surgeon, Passed Assistant Surgeon, and Assistant Surgeon, with ranks of Captain, Commander, Lieutenant Commander, Lieutenant, and Master flater changed to Lieutenant, junior gradej. Since 1918, medical officers have held the regular military titles of their rank. Prior to 1898, enlisted assistants to medical officers were known successively as loblolly boys, surgeons' stewards, apothecaries, nurses, and baymen. In that year the Hospital Corps was established by legislation, which specified quali- fications and duties. The 60 years that have elapsed since then have seen the Hospital Corps demonstrate increasingly high morale and technical competence based both on the fine quality of personnel assigned to the Corps and the careful training afforded each member. The Navy Nurse Corps was established without commis- sioned rank in 1908, and women nurses thereafter served ably in many shore-based hospitals and on hospital ships. In World War I1 over 11,000 nurses were in service. An act of 1947 made members of the Nurse Corps permanently commissioned staff officers with rank, pay, and allowances equal to those of other staff officers up to and including Captain. Officers of the Nurse Corps have performed in- valuable service in field medical units in Japan and Korea,

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U. S. NAVAL HOSPITAL, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA MISSION The primary mission of this Hospital is to provide general clinical, hospitalization and dental services to military per- sonnel of shore activities and fleet units with the object of their expeditious return to duty and the prompt disposition of those patients who require special treatment not satis- factorily available or who are found physically unfit for re- tention in the military service. The secondary mission of this hospital includes the in- struction of Medical Department personnel, including intern and resident training, the care and treatment of authorized nonmilitary patients, research in authorized medical and related projects, and cooperation with military and civil authorities in matters pertaining to health and sanitation and in the event of local disasters or emergencies. HISTORY On 20 May 1958, the Hospital completed its thirty-ninth year of rendering aid to military personnel and their de- pendents. Today, this institution stands as a monument to the progress of the Navy and is a picturesque landmark in the State of California. A historical account of the present hospital would not be complete without a brief statement of facts of its founders and forerunners. Returning from Mexican waters in the Summer of 1914, the Fourth Regiment of the U. S. Marine Corps landed and established a base on North Island and in so doing gave being to the San Diego area as a great naval center. Lieutenant Commander U. R. Webb, who 17 years later became Medical Officer in Command of the Hospital, was the Senior Medical Officer attached to the Fourth Regi- ment. During the latter half of 1914, the Fourth Regiment, .along with its field hospital, was moved to Balboa Park as an exhibit in the Panama-California Exposition and remained there until the exposition closed in the Spring of 1917. With the advent of World War I, officials of the City of San Diego and the Navy Department realized the opportuni- ties afforded by the Balboa Park Exposition Grounds for use as a naval training center and on 20 May 1917, the Center was officially established. The medical segment of the Naval Training Center was housed in the Headquarters Building of the Park Police. This building, then named the '4War Dispensaryf' provided space for the medical administrative unit and two wards of 25 beds each. As the training center grew, the War Dis- pensary expanded so rapidly that tent camps had to be set up to accommodate the sick and injured personnel. By the end of the war the tent city,' had reached an 800 patient capacity. Commander Ammen Farenholt, who later retired in the rank of Rear Admiral, was the first senior Medical Officer of the War Dispensary. It was through Admiral Farenholt's hobby of collecting war relics that various familiar land- marks located at the hospital today were acquired. Two naval cannons used by the U. S. Marines during the Mexican War, SICK CALL: War Dispensary, Tent City, 1917