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EVEMNG PUBLIC LEDGER PHILADELPHIA, MONDAY, APRIi; 21, 1919
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Reconstruction of Wounded Soldiers
A REVELATION
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Four hours and a four-mile walk last Monday took us up and
down, by stairs and elevators, and over long inclined planes; wind
ing around and around, built so that kindly human helpers may
gently carry upon stretchers suffering men, to be put on" their feet,
if they have any left,br to be made over again physically if human
skill and science can work that miracle. . f
It was ari'unf orgettable visit to the Walter Reed U. S. General
Hospital,;in Takoma Park, Washington, D. C, a group of thirty-one
buildingsupon eighty acres, of ground, with a capacity of 2400 beds,
, arid often, overfull of soldiers:and sailors.
The Washington Monument, of white marble, magnificent in
stateliness and beauty, overtowers every building at the Capital,
hut it has no heart.
The great' Walter Reed Hospital, named in honor of a doctor
who sacrificed his life for humanity, has a heart; and it surely is the
heart of the United States.
Mothers, Wives, Sisters
and Sweethearts
whose boys are in the United States hospitals
Suffer This Suggestion
A National Heart
It is a great red-blooded, throbbing, health-giving heart that feels for
the boys, bullet and shrapnel, stricken, gassed and poisoned, saber cut,
maimed and lamed,, some with two legs and two arms gone, and many, very
many, with but one leg Jef t.
It was in this hospital that I saw, in the, twenty-two wards I visited,
1676 men, and three-fourths of them were in bed. .
127 doctors in attendance.
211 trained nurses in attendance.
158 assistant nurses in attendance.
99 aids for massage and electric apparatus work.
and 1378 enlisted men, orderlies, who helped to carry; cooks, dining-room
attendants, wooden leg and arm makers, workshop teachers, and experts in
. trades and professions, all working to the end that the men who are incapac
itated by the war may leave the hospital with a new bread-winning ability.
Taking care of these good fellow whom we call "our boys," though
they are men of the best type America has ever produced, are the leading
surgeons and physicians, and their capable assistants. An(J besides these
there are tidy-up men, doing all sorts of chores and "stunts" to take care of
and cheer up their mutilated and war-shocked, convalescent, homesick com
rades, by means of the Y. M. C.A., Knights of Columbus and Red Cross
recreation rooms, gymnasiums, and music and pleasure-giving halls.
With all the serious conditions and solemn responsibilities, the loss, of
.limbs .or arteries or muscles, the shattered eyes. and ears, fingers broken and
impaired, not a single face wore a scowl or an expression of regret for the
sacrifice, either by word or by1 look and there were 1676 men in whose
, faces I read hope, courage and content with the price they had had to pay for
their country's sake.
Your boys offered their all to their country, and the United States truly
intends to offer its all and best for the wounded and returned men.
Believe me, I am deeply impressed with the necessity of giving the
Government time to nurse and repair stricken nerves, shattered bones and
fractured ligaments, and to fit new legs and arms and other parts and make
them comfortably workable and practical for service.
Therefore, I most earnestly recommend to you to stop influencing the
boys to get home, much as you want them. Do not hurry them out of the
hospitals, where the Government is giving them good food, the finest sur
gical skill and trained nursing, and the splendid oversight of competent, in
terested military and scientific care.
There is something in the air and management of "a hospital such as
the Walter Reed at Washington, that says to all the fellows: "Boys, stay
with us where you are, patiently, until we have mothered yoi and mended
you to the utmost of our knowledge and ability; only give us time and you
shall have our best service, whatever the cost may be to the United States
Government, whose servants we are and which has instructed us to spare
no pains in time or money to heal your hurts."
How can we say, or Jiow can we feel, that the war and the work of the war
are finished, or anywhere nearly finished, until the wounded men have been mended
and every one of them put upon a sure path of earning a livelihood?
The Walter Reed Hospital is given as an example. Engaged in this
same fine work there are also these
U. S. Army Reconstruction Hospitals
Genei'al Hospital No. 2 Fort McHenry, Md.
General Hospital No. 3 Colonia, N. J.
General Hospital No. 4 Fort Porter, N. Y.
General Hospital No. 6 Fort McPherson, Ga.
General Hospital No. 7 Roland Park, Baltimore.
General Hospital No. 9 Lakewood, N. J.
General Hospital No. 13 Dansville, N. Y.
General Hospital No. 14 Fort Oglethorpe, Ga.
Army and Navy General Hospital Hot Springs, Ark.
Army and Navy General Hospital Cape May, N. J.
Letterman General Hospital, San Francisco.
Base Hospital, at Fort Des Moines, la.
Base Hospital, at Fort Riley, Kan.
Base Hospital, at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
'and a great number of patients are being cared for in other hospitals in our
large cities.
Surely we must keep up this and other great necessary works, for the
rehabilitation of our brave fighting men, for the safe maintenance and safe
return of the army overseas, and for the firm establishment of a wise peace.
In Order to Keep Up the Good Work, Let Us Put Through the Victory Loan Quickly.
It Is Not Only a Duty Loan, But Also a Good-Cheer Loan to Lonesome
Fellows a Long Time in Hospital.
: F And Then With Good Work Well Done,
Altogether for a New America
Signed
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Citizen
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