| Banning, CA: May to December 1943. | |
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| The 51st new set-up was in a just-mowed oatfield on the outskirts of Banning. Jeep-drawn hay-rakes cleared the stubble from the fields before the tents were erected. |  |
| The new 1,000 bed hospital gradually took shape ... |  |
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... and looking out the pass toward Palm Springs, we had the 11,000 ft. peak of Mt. San Gorgonio on our left ... |
| ... and Mt. San Jacinto, over 10,000 ft. high, on our right. |  |
| The hospital was soon filled with patients, many of whom were sent to us for "Section 8 discharge" (undesirables), or a "C.D.D." (certificate of disability discharge) for drafted misfits, and we had 3 wards full of chronic V.D. patients. | |
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Our days, as usual, began with calisthenics. |
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| Mess was still only B rations, and new orders from Desert Training Center Hdqrs. required that we wear helmets and carry gas masks at all times. | |
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| At Banning, the hospital received a "mobile surgical unit", which consisted of two operating room trailers and two more trailers for central supply and sterilizing. We found the operating units too small and crowded to be efficient, and they were left behind with our next move. | |
| An ingeniously constructed "Officers’ Club", with adjacent horseshoe pit, was well patronized in our free time. Other free-time activities (if "leave", gasoline and a car could be obtained), were trips to Palm Springs or Lake Arrowhead. Dudley Saeltzer and I hiked to the top of 10,700 ft. Mt. San Jacinto, which now can be reached more easily by cable car from Palm Springs. | |
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| This was the era of the "Pin-Up Girl", and among our nurses we had our own "Pin-up Girls": | |
| Lt. Dallas Fellersen, (photo) a school nurse from Grass Valley, California. |  |
| Frances Smith, one of the three Smith sisters in our unit from Nellie, Kansas. |  |
| Lts. Jeannette Hoyt and Jane Robb. |  |
| It was not surprising that the "fly-boys" buzzed the nurses’ shower whenever they flew through the pass. |
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| It was usual for the medical officers entering the U.S. Army Medical Corps to get their indoctrination training at the Medical Field Service Training School at Carlisle Barracks, PA. |  |
| However, I had been in the service for a year when finally ordered to report there. This was decidedly easier than it would have been for me coming directly from civilian life! The strenuous course consisted of lectures, demonstrations, drilling, hikes with simulated aerial strafing, bombing and gas attacks, and finally a formal parade and review graduation. |  |
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In November the first rains came to Banning, and then a violent windstorm, which forced evacuation of all 1,000 patients during the night. |
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The unit started packing up for the next move ... |
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... keeping only part of the personnel busy. |
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The hospital was a desolate looking place at Thanksgiving, but we did have turkey with stuffing and cranberry sauce ... |
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... also liberally dusted with sand. |
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| Orders finally arrived in early December 1943 for the unit to move to Camp San Luis Obispo, CA, and we watched our last sunrise at Banning. |
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