Speaker: William McNiece
Base Hospitals were part of the approach the USA used to provide medical and surgical care to Army personnel in Europe during WWI. Base Hospital 32 was staffed with physicians, nurses and enlisted men primarily from Indianapolis and the surrounding area.
William McNiece, M.D. is an Associate Professor of Anesthesia at Indiana University School of Medicine, Immediate President of the Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology and President of the Marion County Historical Society and a Scientech member.
Program: Live and Zoom: BASE HOSPITAL 32 - INDIANA'S MEDICAL CONTRIBUTION TO WWI
Speaker: William McNiece, MD, Associate Professor of Anesthesia, IUSM and more
Introduced By: Marty Meisenheimer
Attendance: NESC: 93; Zoom: 34
Guest(s): at least 8, most of whom were logged in, but the editor failed to record the log sheet…
Scribes: Benny Ko
Editor: Carl Warner
View a Zoom recording of this talk at:
https://www.scientechclubvideos.org/zoom/03242025.mp4
Historical Background
In 1914 when WW1 broke out, the map of Europe looked quite different from today. Germany was larger then, and of course, the Austro-Hungarian Empire no longer existed after the war, having splintered into many smaller nations.
In the summer of 1914, the war began with the assassination of Austria's Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo by a lone Serbian terrorist. Austria declared war on Serbia, and Russia declared war on Austria. Germany then joined the side of Austria, and, as Russia's allies, Britain and France were also drawn into the fray.
Initially, the sentiment in the U S was to stay neutral in this European conflict. In 1915, a British ocean liner, the Lusitania, was sunk by a German U-boat, and among the perished passengers were128 Americans. This turned the nation's opinion against the Germans. However, as late as the 1916 election, the candidates of both parties, Woodrow Wilson of the Democrats and Charles Hughes of the Republicans, still ran on a peace platform regarding the war in Europe. Wilson won a second term. In February 1917, Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare, and this further inflamed the Americans and prompted America to declare war on Germany in April 1917.
America and Indiana Prepare for War
America was gearing up for war. Anticipating war casualties from the frontlines, the Nation joined an existing system of field and base hospitals on the European front. Casualties were to be transported by stretchers from the front to field hospitals where emergent care was given. When the patients were stabilized, they were then transported to base hospitals by ambulance where more comprehensive care could be given. JC Lilly donated $25,000 to establish the training of such a base hospital, designated as Base Hospital #32. 22 physicians and surgeons received their training in Fort Harrison and a larger number of nurses were trained out of state. They left for France in early December of 1917 in a blacked-out ship, the USS George Washington, to avoid the attention of prowling German U-boats.
War Time Service
The staff arrived at their destination, Contrexeville, France around Christmas. It took January and February of 1918 to settle in and the hospital received its first American casualties in March. The patients were mainly American soldiers, but Base Hospital #32 also treated other allied soldiers as well as a small number of Germans. The hospital's mortality rate was documented at 1.14%, an amazingly low figure in the pre-antibiotic era and with the 1918 flu raging simultaneously.
After the War
The war came to an end on 11/11/1918, known subsequently as Armistice Day. The hospital activities were winding down by January 1919, and the staff departed from Nantes, France on the USS Freedom bound for the United States. By May, most staff members were back in Indianapolis. Base Hospital #32 was in existence for 18 months, half of that time it was in active service.
Among its staff members, many physicians and nurses became prominent figures in Indianapolis and contributed enormously to our city and the medical community. Some of these distinguished people included Dr. L Page, Dr. B Munford, Dr. E Finkhauser, Dr. B Kennedy, Dr. R Beeler, Dr. E Clark, and Chief Nurse, F Martin.
William McNiece
