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US war veterans visit to celebrate Royal Melbourne's 160th anniversary and special friendship
24 April 2008
Six US World War II veterans visited The Royal Melbourne Hospital today to help celebrate the hospital’s 160th anniversary and its special link with the United States.
During World War II, the newly built hospital in Parkville (a replacement for the century-old RMH site in Lonsdale St) was “occupied” by the US 4th General Hospital for two years. Between 1942 and 1944, US medical and nursing staff treated 35,000 US soldiers wounded in fighting in the Pacific.
The veterans were welcomed by Victorian Health Minister Mr Daniel Andrews, Melbourne Health Board Chairman Robert Doyle and Melbourne Health Chief Executive Linda Sorrell. Also attending was Melbourne US Consul General, Mr Earl Irving.
As well as a display of historic photos of the 4th General Hospital prepared by RMH archivist Gabriele Haveaux, RMH Heritage Advisory Committee Chair Dr Ian “Skip” Martin talked about the hospital during World War II and also shared stories of his time as a Cleveland fellow (this fellowship came out of the relationship between the US and RMH during the war).
Dr Martin said: "The hospital was built for up to 700 patients, but at times (during the 4th General Hospital's occupation), it had 1500 and even 2000 patients." Every spare space was taken, in corridors and rooms, and the adjoining building which was to become the RMH nurses' home. An extraordinary total of 700 patients were admitted on one day after fierce battles in Guadalcanal. Tropical diseases such as malaria were the major cause of hosptialisation, he said.
The veterans' group signed the 160th anniversary commemorative book, before visiting patients on 6 South East to present friendship badges, and touring the hospital tunnels which linked it to the US base "Camp Pell" on Royal Park during World War II.
The veterans, who fought in Europe during the war, were:
- 1st Lt Clayton Nattier - United States Army Air Corps
- 1st Lt Robert Ball - United States Army Air Corps
- S.Sgt Elmer “Lucky” McGinty - United States Army Air Corps
- S.Sgt Elmo “Mitch” Mischler - United States Army Air Corps
- T.Sgt Wilber “Bill” Brunger - United States Army 75th Division
- PFC Edward Tipper - United States Army 101st Airborne
The veterans’ visit was sponsored by TGGF (The Greatest Generations Foundation), a Denver-based group headed by Australian expat Tim Davis, which enables former soldiers, sailors and airmen to visit Europe and the Pacific and bring closure to their experiences. TGGF captures their visits and stories on film for future generations.
The group visited Melbourne for several days, and participated in Anzac Day events on Friday as well as seeing the Anzac Day match between Collingwood and Essendon at the MCG.
BACKGROUND MATERIAL
The Royal Melbourne Hospital and the United States of America
On 23 January 1942, two ships carrying the Fourth General Hospital medical team and its supplies left New York with an escort of US destroyers on a 34-day journey to an undisclosed destination. Six weeks earlier, the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor.
The Medical Unit of 64 doctors and 120 nurses, mostly from Cleveland, had been mobilised in a matter of weeks. The secrecy that surrounded the entire operation indicated the team was to play a crucial role in the war effort. So secret was the operation that no one in the unit, not even the commanding officer, knew where they were being sent.
One of the nurses, Olga Benoderoff, recalled years later that she was working at Cleveland's Lakeside Hospital when the War Department called. She had six hours to contact 70 nurses and get them to New York. "We got the call at 2.15pm and we were told to get to Brooklyn. The nurses had to be contacted and we were told to be at the Terminal Tower an hour before the train was to leave at 8.15pm," she said. In a matter of hours, without knowing or questioning their orders, the nurses had left their families and friends for a journey that would change their lives irrevocably.
By the time the convoy made its way through Port Phillip Bay in March 1942, the medical team had been briefed. It was to form the United States base Hospital for the South Pacific, stationed in Melbourne.
The doctors and nurses of the Fourth General Hospital served with pride and distinction, although their surrounds were initially more humble than those to which they were accustomed.
For the first few months, the hospital was housed in tents in Melbourne's Royal Park until the new Royal Melbourne Hospital, already under construction as part of a relocation process from its existing Lonsdale Street site, was completed and became the General Hospital's base until March 1944. This is the first and only time an entire Australian hospital has been occupied by another country.
The building was officially handed over and the first ward opened on 12 May 1942, although patients had been admitted from 6 April (into space in the nurses’ home). Whilst the hospital was staffed by US clinical personnel and treated US servicemen exclusively, a small number of Victorian health professionals were also employed by the US Army, namely physiotherapists and dietitians.
As quickly as sections of the new building could be completed and equipment installed, they were taken up by the Fourth General, and within a few months the entire hospital was used at full capacity, and beyond.
In a much smaller building than the present day Royal Melbourne Hospital, up to 1500 patients at any one time were cared for in beds overflowing into lift lobbies and passages. Most were American casualties from Guadalcanal (Solomon Islands), New Guinea and elsewhere in the Pacific who arrived when the hospital ships docked at Station Pier. On occasion up to 700 patients were admitted in one day.
In 1944, after treating some 35,000 US servicemen and performing more than 7000 surgical operations, the Fourth General Hospital was moved to Papua New Guinea. As the South Pacific's combat zone had moved forward, it had become impractical to transfer the sick and injured as far as Melbourne.
The hospital buildings were reconditioned and handed over to the management and patients of The Royal Melbourne Hospital in late 1944, finally enabling the move from their old site in Lonsdale Street (later Queen Victoria Hospital). The Royal Melbourne Hospital took its first “local” patients on 10 December 1944.
Quotes from booklet ‘Fourth General Hospital 1942-1945’
‘Officers and men were sent to Royal Park, where a large military encampment was under construction. They were quartered in huts and tents and soon became fully acquainted with dust, sand fleas, icy shower baths and “Weetbix”. The nurses were scattered in various billets in the city hotels.’
‘Every Melbournian seemed to have appointed himself a member of a huge welcoming committee for every “Yank” he could find.’
‘There was a good deal of confusion about tea, trams, right drive, the first floor on the second floor, pubs, and may other things right on down to “zed”.’
‘Beautiful parks and gardens, football ovals and cricket grounds, and broad tree-lined boulevards, give the visitor an impression of space and beauty rarely seen in American cities.’
Friendship continues
The Fourth General Hospital's departure and later conclusion of the war did not mean the end of one of the many important alliances and friendships forged between the US and Australia.
The Fourth General Hospital was staffed almost entirely from the University hospitals of Cleveland, and on their return to the US in 1946, many of the officers decided to do something to thank the RMH and the people of Melbourne – they offered a Fellowship to an RMH medical officer.
The Cleveland Medical Fellowship continued until 1995 when it was replaced by the Cleveland Young Investigators Award. In its time, it had become an exchange program between the two organisations, with more than 24 RMH and 10 Cleveland doctors spending a year at each other's institutions, forging and sharing knowledge and expertise in patient care and treatment.
The current Cleveland Young Investigator is haematologist Dr Kylie Mason.
Media contact: Petrina Dakin 0439 031 894 | 
