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MESVES HOSPITAL CENTER FRANCE A.E.F., WW1

MESVES HOSPITAL CENTER

General view of the Mesves Hospital Center France A.E.F., WW1

Construction of the Mesves hospital center, located between the villages of Mesves and Bulcy, in the Department of Nievre, was approved by the general staff, A. E. F., in December, 1917. This site was selected because of its location on the Paris, Lyon & Mediterranean Railroad, its rolling and slightly elevated contour and its accessibility to the Loire River for water supply.

The original plan for the center embodied 10 base hospital units, each of 1,000 beds, with space for crisis tent expansion of an additional 1,000. Each unit was to consist of 55 buildings apportioned to administration, receiving and evacuating, bathhouses, quarters for personnel, recreation hall, morgue, X-ray and operating, supply storehouses, garage, and disinfection.

In July, 1918, additional plans were approved to increase the construction of this center to 20 base hospital units. These additional units were somewhat modified; the number of ward buildings was reduced by half, and each ward building made twice the size of the earlier ones.

The construction of the center was left to a firm of contractors in Paris, on January 31, 1918, and under the terms of the contract they were to furnish all material which could be obtained in France and all labor possible. The actual construction was to be done under the direction of an engineer officer, American Expeditionary Forces. The construction work was begun on February 7, 1918, but progressed very slowly during the first three months. In fact, so slowly, that on June 15, 1918, when the commanding officer of the center arrived, the only buildings completed were 6 wooden barracks in unit No. 10, and 5 barracks in unit No. 1, partially completed.

Note: To read further click on the below link and scroll down to the "Hospital Center Mesves":

Source: CHAPTER XXI Hospital Center, A.E.F., WW1, Office of Medical History (AMEDD).

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CHAPTER XXI Hospital Center, A.E.F., WW1

General view of the Mesves Hospital Center France A.E.F., WW1

General view of the Mesves Hospital Center France A.E.F., WW1

General view of the Mesves Hospital Center France A.E.F., WW1

General view of the Mesves Hospital Center, grave yard, France A.E.F., WW1

U.S. ARMY HOSPITALS AROUND NEVERS, FRANCE WW1

BASE HOSPITALS AT MESVES HOSPITAL CENTER:
Base Hospital No 50, Mesves, Nievre, Building used Type A Unit
Base Hospital No 54, Mesves, Nievre, Building used Type A Unit And Tents
Base Hospital No 67, Mesves, Nievre, Building used Type A Unit And Tents
Base Hospital No 72, Mesves, Nievre, Building used Type A Barracks
Base Hospital No 86, Mesves, Nievre, Building used Type A Unit And Tents
Base Hospital No 89, Mesves, Nievre, Building used Type A Unit
Base Hospital No 108, Mesves, Nievre, Building used Type A Unit

Source: Great War Society http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/basehosp.htm

The following organizations constituted the Mesves Hospital Center:

MEDICAL
Sanitary Squad No. 44
Sanitary Squad No. 50
Sanitary Squad No. 78
Sanitary Squad No. 80

Hospital Train Unit No. 35

Provisional Base Hospital Unit No. 3
Provisional Base Hospital Unit No. 8

Base Hospital Unit No. 44
Base Hospital Unit No. 50
Base Hospital Unit No. 54
Base Hospital Unit No. 67
Base Hospital Unit No. 72
Base Hospital Unit No. 86
Base Hospital Unit No. 89
Base Hospital Unit No. 108

Evacuation Hospital Unit No. 24
Evacuation Hospital Unit No. 27
Evacuation Hospital Unit No. 29

ENGINEERS
Detachment 109th Engineers
Engineer Train Unit No. 109
Detachment 521st Engineers
Detachment 529th Engineers
Casual Engineers Detachment

QUARTERMASTER CORPS
Quartermaster Detachment
Detachment Bakery Company No. 2
Detachment Bakery Company No. 314
Detachment Butchery Company No. 328
Detachment Laundry Company No. 323
Detachment Laundry Company No. 324

Pack Train Company No. 329

ARMY SERVICE CORPS
Administrative Labor Company No. 2
Administrative Labor Company No. 26
Administrative Labor Company No. 28
Administrative Labor Company No. 90
Administrative Labor Company No. 91
Administrative Labor Company No. 134
Administrative Labor Company No. 182

MOTOR TRUCK COMPANY
Motor Truck Company No. 543

MILITARY POLICE
Military Police Company No. 223

Source: CHAPTER XXI Hospital Center, A.E.F., WW1, Office of Medical History (AMEDD)

U.S. BASE HOSPITAL NO. 67, A.E.F. WW1

February 13, 2015

Greg,

Can you use this story about Base Hospital No. 67.

The subject of the newspaper article was my step-grandmother, Aline Desaix Lacock. The article was in a Pittsburgh, PA newspaper around 1933. The author of the article was Ruth Ayers. I've been going through all the family papers and I thought that this was interesting enough to type up and share. This is the only pre-war picture of my step-grandmother. The dentist Lacock actually died in the thirties in a car accident and then she married my grandfather. And the prequel she was married and widowed in France before she met the dentist probably a young Frenchman who died early in the war. I have the name, but I'm just making up the latter story. This photo was probably taken c.1912. She was born in 1893. I have later photos, but I think that this corresponds with her pre-war life in France.

Thanks,

Nancy Shrader

This photo was probably taken c.1912. She was born in 1893. I have later photos, but I think that this corresponds with her pre-war life in France.

WAR BRIDE "TRIMS" AMERICAN FRIENDS

But It's All in Fun, for Mrs. Lacock, Wife of Dentist, a Friendly Rival on Shannopin Country Club's Golf Course; Met Mate in Hospital in France during WW1.

Adapting herself to the ways of her new home and her new country, a French war bride won the hearts of her American friends - and won golf tournaments from them, too.

She is Aline Desaix Lacock, 2141 Perrysville Ave.

Mrs. Lacock holds the women's golf championship at the Shannopin Country Club. She is a member of the Western Pennsylvania Women's Golf Association - and one of its most promising champion players.

In addition to her achievements on the green, she is a talented violinist and a member of the Tuesday Musical Club. She is a concert player and one of the first women musicians to broadcast over KDKA.

As Mademoiselle Desaix, Mrs. Lacock was the only daughter of a distinguished French family living in Nevers, 125 miles south of Paris.

Here in the days before the World War, she led a tranquil life - studying music and enjoying frequent visits to Paris, where she visited her aunt.

These visits to Paris were cut off abruptly in 1914, when France went to war.

And the tranquility of life in Nevers changed, too, although the town was not near the front.

When one of Mme. Desaix's friends turned her chateau into a hospital, the young violinist helped plan the building. She helped, too, in knitting socks and sweaters and in rolling bandages. She played at benefit concerts to raise funds for French orphans.

Then, after America entered the World War, Nevers was chosen as the site for a base hospital.

American officers leased the ground for erecting the hospital. Mrs. Lacock's father, Antoine Desaix, was a government official in Nevers, and as such, was in charge of the negotiations.

Springing up like a mushroom overnight, Base Hospital No. 67 was soon ready to receive injured American soldiers.

But Antoine Desaix was still called upon by the American officials for help and assistance in many ways.

It was through her father's connection that Mme. Desaix met Dr. William Lacock, a young Pittsburgh dentist who was attached to the hospital staff.

A friendship grew between the two.

"The base hospital had beds for 35,000 patients," Mrs. Lacock said. "Towards the end of the war the medical corps was planning to enlarge it to accommodate 50,000."

There is a vivid picture in my memory of the wounded American soldiers coming into Nevers by train.

Some hobbled along on crutches. Some were on stretchers. Some groped their way in the darkness - temporarily or permanently, blinded.

It seemed like a continuous procession - with the slow-moving trains bringing these human cargoes day and night.

Today the spot where the hospital stood is a green field again, without a trace of the white barracks which once covered it.

But those who lived in Nevers and who saw the lame and the halt and the blind enter the hospital - some never to leave it alive - will not forget Base Hospital No. 67.

Mrs. Lacock was married in January, 1919, in France, and came to America in October of the same year.

The End.

February 16, 2015 - email from Nancy:

Re: Aline Desaix,

1st husband: Robert Migneau
Married in Mesvres, Saon-et-Loire, Bourgogne, France, near his family house (Riousse Livry, near St Pierre le Moutier)
14 Sep 1915

2nd husband: William Johnston Lacock
Married in Mesvres, Saone-et-Loire, Bourgogne, France
22 Jan 1919

3rd husband: Percy Dwight Siverd (my maternal grandfather)
Married in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
19 Jul 1943

- Nancy

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