16 
The Philippine Journal of Science 
1920 
Prior to the war, fifty Red Cross base hospitals were organized 
in the United States, composed of the elite of the medical profes- 
sion in the States. These hospitals were the backbone of our 
hospital system in France, and rendered brilliant service. The 
medical officers of these hospitals were composed of civilian prac- 
titioners with usually a regular army medical officer in com- 
mand. These and all base hospitals were grouped in what is 
known as a Hospital Center. A man severely wounded at the 
front received first aid and antitetanic serum, and was passed 
back through the regimental aid station, dressing station, and 
field hospitals to the evacuation hospitals by motor transport. 
From the evacuation hospitals, which were usually at a rail 
head, he was taken to a base hospital of a Hospital Center by 
hospital railroad trains. 
One important function of the Medical Department in France 
was the retention of man power in the theatre of war. Each 
base hospital had organized a disability board which classified 
all wounded at that hospital in one of four classes, “A”, “B”, 
“C”, “D”. “A” cases were men who had recovered and were fit 
for combat duty at the front; “B” cases, not fit for combat duty 
but rather heavy work in the Service of Supply — that is, in the 
rear of the battle front; “C” cases were those capable of only 
light work in the “S. 0. S.”; and “D” cases were entirely dis- 
abled, to be sent back to the homeland. 
The Hospital Center was an entirely new idea in our service. 
It was commanded by a regular medical officer who, aided by 
a staff, provided the base hospitals in the Center with every- 
thing — food, clothes, transportation, medical supplies, laborers, 
butchers, sanitary squads composed of specially trained enlisted 
men — which left him to devote all his energies to the care of 
the sick. Being in command of a Hospital Center I had on my 
staff an Adjutant, four Quartermasters, an Evacuation Officer 
to evacuate arriving hospital trains, a R. T. O., a Zone Major, a 
Provost Marshall, a Medical Supply Officer, a Sanitary Officer, 
and a chief Laboratory Officer; and attached to Headquarters, 
an Ambulance Company, a Butcher Company, a Labor Company, 
and a Sanitary Squad. These hospitals varied from 1,000 to 
3.000 beds each. You can understand the necessity of butchers 
to make an economical cutting of meats in a hospital of 3,000 
beds. This Center took care of 9,000 patients at one time, and 
23.000 patients passed through the Center from July 2, 1918, 
to February 1 , 1919 . A Hospital Center in France was then a 
