268TH STATION HOSPITAL
CAMP COLUMBIA,
WACOL, BRISBANE
IN AUSTRALIA DURING WWII
The 268th Station Hospital, an all African American 150-bed hospital, was activated at Fort Huachuca, Arizona on 1 March 1943. The unit embarked for the Southwest Pacific Area on 15 October 1943 on the SS Monterey without a convoy arriving in Sydney, New South Wales eighteen days later in November 1943. They relocated to Brisbane and established their hospital facilities at Camp Columbia at Wacol on the southern outskirts of Brisbane in south east Queensland whilst they waited for their hospital was being constructed at Milne Bay in New Guinea.
The nurses of the 268th Station Hospital worked closely with Australian Sister Elizabeth Kenney who had developed a nursing procedure for polio. Their hospital in Milne Bay was finished in April 1944 and they left Brisbane on a hospital ship.
A contingent of 15 nurses arrived
in the SWPA, received their
first batch of home mail at 268th Station Hospital, Camp Columbia
on 29 November 1943. Three of the nurses are Lts.
Prudence L. Burns, Inez Holmes, and Birdie E. Brown.
"While awaiting assignment after arriving in Australia, first Negro nurses to reach these shores try bicycle riding near their quarters in Camp Columbia, Wacol, Brisbane. Left to Right: 2nd Lt. Beulah Baldwin (Cleveland, Ohio), 2nd Lt. Alberta S. Smith (Kansas City, MO), and 2nd Lt. Joan S. Hamilton (Kansas City, MO), all attached to the 268th Station Hospital." Photographer: Williams. Photo was produced or created on 29 Nov 1943.
REFERENCES
"The Medical Department: Hospitalization and Evacuation, Zone of Interior" by Clarence McKittrick Smith
Interview with Prudence L. Burrell (nee Burns)
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This page first produced 20 December 2018
This page last updated 08 January 2025
