1st Evacuation Hospital

The 1st Evacuation Hospital arrive din Brisbane in early April 1942 and was initially sent to Gatton Agricultural College where the 153rd Station Hospital was already operating. The 1st Evacuation Hospital was divided into smaller groups which were distributed around the Brisbane area, to look after small dispensaries handling soldiers in those areas. A small base dispensary with an attached dental unit was established in the office of the Area Surgeon to look after general medical work.

The x-ray facilities for that dispensary was carried out at the hospital being established at that time in buildings plus some prefabricated buildings at Nudgee Junior College at Indooroopilly. Captain Vernon L. Bolton, MN, the radiologist, was sent to the Surgeon’s office in Brisbane to make some pay enquiries was immediately attached to the Surgeon’s staff. Luckily the radiology work for the 1st Evacuation Hospital was not very large at that time.

Although the Gatton hospital was a considerable distance from Brisbane it was ready to take casualties from the Battle of the Coral Sea in early May 1942.

Like most American base units, many difficulties were experienced using US Army electrical equipment on the Australian domestic power supplies. The voltage and frequency were both different in Australia.

The 1st Evacuation Hospital moved to Rockhampton in central Queensland in September 1942 to support the 41st Division. X-ray work at the 1st Evacuation Hospital was mainly of the station hospital type, including routine examinations, injuries sustained during maneuvers, sinus X-rays, and a lot of gastrointestinal work. Fluoroscopy work was normally carried out at night due to the extreme heat in central Queensland, which also made it hard to enforce the wearing of protective gloves and aprons.

Captain Bolton was very concerned that his personnel could be receiving large doses of scattered radiation due to the fact that there was no protection around the X-ray equipment.

In July 1942, the SS Rufus King, ran aground in Moreton Bay and broke in two with one half sinking. The ship was carrying most of the equipment for a number of field and general hospitals. Most of the X-ray equipment on board was salvaged using small craft. After the X-ray equipment was all dried out, cleaned and reassembled, most of it was found to be in good working order.

Dr Walter Powell, former Director of Planning and Historic Preservation for the Borough of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and grandson of the late Doctor Louis J. Hampton who served in the 1st Evacuation Hospital in Australian and New Guinea from 1942 through to 1945 visited Rockhampton in August 2011. Dr Louis Hampton was stationed in the Rockhampton area from July 1942 to December 1942. He was a surgeon with the 1st Evacuation Hospital which was located at a location behind today's Crematorium on the outskirts of Rockhampton. US Army Doctors and nurses had their own club in Rockhampton which was located in the Grammarian Club in Quay Street, opposite Customs House. Walter Powell met up with Jack Fleming of Emu Park, a former member of the 41st Division. He also met Bonnie Beak whose family gave Dr Hampton a farewell party before he left Rockhampton in December 1942.

When maneuvers began to cease and troops were sent to New Guinea, the 1st Evacuation Hospital was split into three units. One of these units continued to operate the hospital at Rockhampton. The other two units went into tent hospitals and trained for their upcoming relocation to New Guinea. In January 1943, one of the three units established itself at the airfield at Port Moresby in New Guinea supporting the Army and Air Forces in the area. Their main work was the treatment of malaria, rather than combat related injuries. X-ray workload was light.

By March 1943, all three units of the 1st Evacuation Hospital had arrived at Oro Bay, on the northern side of New Guinea. The 1st Evacuation Hospital was later designated the 362nd Station Hospital when its role became more and more that of a fixed hospital. Later as its demands for hospital care became important it was designated as the 248th General Hospital. It later relocated to the Philippines.

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