| Goffs, CA: April – May 1943. |
| Goffs is a "whistle-stop" on the Santa Fe R.R. ... |  |
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| ... halfway between Barstow and Needles. | |
| To be dropped off with our bedrolls and footlockers in an area with nothing but sand and scrub as far as one could see was a bit intimidating. |
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| But some ... |  |
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... including Maj. Cordes Ankele, found the answer in assuming a horizontal position. |
| Even our headquarters looked anything but official ... |  |
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... and mess was just picnicking. |
| However, the enlisted men cleared away cactus and scrub brush and erected our entire tent hospital for the first time, and we were in operation. |
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Capt. Rosenthal was the first "O.D." (officer of the day). |
| A view from the high ground behind the unit shows the size and layout of our tent hospital. | |
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In tents, the enlisted men were quartered on the left, officers on the right, and nurses middle back. The operating portion of the hospital was in the green tents in the middle. |
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| In contrast to our winter at Ft. Lewis, the desert in spring was a wonderful place, with hot, dry days and cold, cold nights. Our days began with calisthenics as the air gradually warmed in the desert sun. | |
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| Mess was Army B rations. |  |
| No fresh foods, only canned or dehydrated. |  |
| We learned quickly how to wash our own mess gear. |  |
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At "officers’ call", Col. Weller gave orders for the day. |
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| Our medical work consisted of some casualties from the armored divisions maneuvers, including burns, one shown here being treated. |  |
| But, our wards were full of soldiers whose pilonidal sinuses had become symptomatic from being bumped and chafed in tanks and armored vehicles. We became acquainted with a new syndrome, "desert appendicitis": soldiers with signs and symptoms suggesting appendicitis, but which cleared with a liter or two of I.V. saline. | |
| All personnel in the Desert Training Center, including our unit, were limited to one canteen of water a day ... |  |
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... but fortunately we did not have to shower with the one canteenful. |
| We found a number of ways to make our tents more comfortable; for example, Maj. Dudley Saeltzer with his new washstand. |  |
| With truckloads of gravel from the nearby Colorado River, we poured concrete floors to make our tent housekeeping easier. |  |
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| New orders from Desert Training Headquarters required us to do our morning calisthenics with gas masks in place. |  |
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One of the happiest times of the day was "mail call". |
| There was usually time during the day for a few hands of cribbage or a game of checkers. |  |
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The "rock-hounds" in our unit searched the hills behind the hospital for unusual rock specimens. One of our M.A.C. officers shows Maj. Revere Cole a specimen he has found. |
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Looking now at the photos from those days, it is startling how youthful we appear. |
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Dr. Ted Rulison, Jr. |
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| There were a few inconveniences in our life on the desert, including rattlesnakes that had been displaced from their homes by our intrusion. |  |
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Also, when the wind blew, the "dust devil twisters" would often take an unpleasant spin through the hospital area. |
| In the evening, boxing matches and softball games against neighboring outfits provided good entertainment and exercise. |  |
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An occasional U.S.O. show visited our area, including Les Brown and his "Band of Renown". |
| In May 1943, the 51st Evac. received orders to move to the Desert Training Center Headquarters in Banning, CA, and begin operating as a 1,000 bed "Provisional General Hospital". For 4 weeks the unit was split, with Lt. Col. Cook assuming command of the Goffs unit until a replacement hospital could be moved in. Meanwhile, to set up the new 1,000 bed hospital, an advance group went by truck convoy to Banning, passing through the Joshua Tree National Monument on the way. |  |
