City of Baths

Our retreat was orderly as we moved back to "previously prepared positions". On February 21st, we found a site a few miles east of Ain-Beida, about 40 miles northwest of Tebessa. As usual, we set up the hospital in the rain and mud. During this time, LIFE Magazine photographers took our pictures and subsequently in their April 26 issue published an article titled "Mud", featuring our unit. It rained for the three days it took us to set up the hospital and at the end of that time, an Allied communiqué announced that the Germans were stopped. On February 24th, just after we completed setting up the hospital, we packed and moved out, having handled slightly more than 100 patients during our short stay in "muddy hollow".

The Allied forces were reputed to be counter-attacking when we set up on February 25th at Souk-Ahras, the most beautiful spot we had seen in Africa up to that time. Situated between two mountains, a large tract of newly planted wheat fields ahead of us and a freshly-cut stretch of grassland to our rear, a high series of rocky mountains in the distance, and forestland all around, our hospital area reminded us of the exclusive hotels and country clubs back home. The rainy season was just about ending and with the end, large rainbows could be observed daily after each rain. This area was aptly named "Rainbow Valley" and "Pool's Paradise" in honor of the officer who first picked the site for the hospital area. The German breakthrough definitely was stopped and the Allies again were attacking, so after a brief spell of two weeks, during which we serviced the British First and Eighth Armies, we packed on March 11th and were off to the next area to handle the majority of the casualties resulting from the final offensive of the Allies to capture North Africa.

This time, bombed-out Youks les Bains was selected for our hospital and we set up quickly. 5,400 patients in five weeks came through our hospital, most of whom needed surgical treatment. As the front moved forward, our hospital was further away from the scene of operations and it was not uncommon for casualties to be transported over 200 miles before they were given secondary surgical treatment. The operating room was the hub of the hospital activity. The patients arrived in the operating room very soon after their arrival at the hospital and very often, they would be operated on and the very next day evacuated to another hospital in the rear. This was necessary because of the large amount of casualties arriving from the front.

The various links in the chain of medical units through which a soldier passed during the North Africa campaign were as follows: If he was wounded on the battlefield, he was first treated by a company aid man, a non-combatant medical soldier who went with the troops into battle unarmed. A clear bandage or perhaps some sulphanilimide was applied to the wound and litter bearers took him to a battalion aid station where the wound was cleaned or a splint applied if there were any broken bones. The wounded soldier then was transported to a clearing station where further treatment was given or, if the wound was not serious, sent back to duty. The various clearing stations evacuated their serious patients to a collecting station where the patient's condition was checked and he was then sent to an evacuation hospital, the last medical unit within the theater of operations and the first which actually performed surgery, such as operations, bone-setting, casts, amputations, etc. All of these movements took time. It was not uncommon for soldiers to ride twelve hours before they arrived at an evacuation hospital, tired, hungry, fatigued and weak. On arrival, the patient was taken into the Receiving Tent where we was examined by the Receiving Officer and his records checked. If the injury was serious, another team of surgical officers was called in on the case, he was x-rayed and taken to the operating room. It was not uncommon for a patient to be on the operating table within fifteen minutes after his arrival at the hospital. In addition to surgery, the evacuation hospital offered such facilities as dental care, eye, ear, nose and throat dispensary, a pharmacy, an elaborate x-ray section, medical consultations and an elastic system of expansion and contraction of the capacity of the beds depending on the type of cases handled. The evacuation hospital was expected to set up or tear down in eight hours, a remarkable time record in view of the many problems out in the field.

Its wide variety of services coupled with its closeness to front line action made the evacuation hospital the ideal medical unit for a fast moving army. Depending on the condition of the patient and the total amount of casualties, the patients who were expected to recover within 30 days were evacuated to a station or general hospital in the rear, where they could be given recuperative treatment and then sent back to duty. The seriously wounded and those not expected to recover within 90 days were eventually sent back to hospitals in the states.

The rains had ceased, the roads had been improved and the American Army began to move. The British Eighth Army began to move and broke through the Mareth Line as the American II Corps captured Gafsa. All of this made wonderful headlines but many American boys got hurt in the attempt. Over five thousand of them came through the Ninth Evacuation Hospital during that five-week period. Serious shrapnel, gun shot and shell fragment wounds, amputations and mine wounds represented most of the cases. The morale of the boys was on the decline although they were told that they were to be relieved shortly. This combined with the promise that the end was near was just a temporary change and when casualties began to mount late in March and early in April, they really were down in the dumps. Never before or since was their morale so low. However, the change of atmosphere in a quiet hospital helped them tremendously and the change in their physical appearance changed their mental makeup by that amount.

One of the main causes of the low morale of the American troops at this time was due to the many promises by their officers that the next hill would be the last before being relieved. This especially was true during and after the battle for the famous Hill 609. The boys who were fighting to capture that hill were promised that they would be relieved after taking it, but no sooner had they captured it after a long series of struggles, they were off to attack another series of hills. This repetition of false promises did a lot to lower the morale of the men and the respect of the men for their officers.

The personnel of the hospital were hard put to it to keep pace with the amount of patients who were being received. It was not an uncommon occurrence for the men attached to the operating room staff to work 36 hours without being relieved. But they did their chores cheerfully as they felt that the boys who were doing the fighting were at that time looking to them for help. The fine impressions which the medical department personnel made on the combat troops more than made up for the general impression that the medical soldier was a "goldbricker" and the boys of the Ninth Evac did a great deal to help change that impression. For many months thereafter, we received letters from former patients telling us of the wonderful work we did and thanking us for the help we gave them in returning them to health and duty.

Youks was an old Arab village, the site of the ancient Roman city famous for its baths. We took advantage of these modern conveniences as often as we could. In fact, soldiers for as much as fifty miles around came to Youks to clean up after living in mud and dirt for many months. However, the Americans seemed to be the only people to use the place. The natives didn't believe in washing. They knew that they would get dirty again.