The 44th General Hospital was formally approved by the Surgeon General of the Army on November 27, 1940. The SGA had sent an invitation to the University of Wisconsin Medical School with a request to form an “affiliated unit.” The medical unit would be made up of civilian doctors and nurses from Wisconsin General Hospital in Madison, WI. It was realized that to completely staff such a unit would greatly deplete the hospital personnel and faculty of the medical school. Therefore it was up to Dr. W. S. Middleton, Dean of the Medical School, Dr. J. W. Gale, Chief of Surgery, and Dr. Frank Weston, Chief of Medicine, to select the professional staff for the hospital.
The Men & Women of the 44th General Hospital
Dr. Weston took charge of organizing the medical staff. Many had already entered the Army voluntarily. Initially the doctors and nurses were commissioned as officers and reported for duty with the Army’s 6th Service Command. During the period of May 1942 to January 1943, the hospital personnel, including the nurses, served at numerous military hospital posts in capacities comparable with the positions they would hold in the 44th.
The hospital was activated as a complete unit at Ft. Sill, OK on January 19, 1943. The 44th was a fully-equipped general hospital with an accredited medical staff for surgery, medicine, radiology, dentistry, and psychiatry. These dedicated men and women of all ages, gave up their careers to support the war effort. They admirably answered the urgent need to serve and save lives. But first they had to go through several grueling weeks of basic training at Ft. Sill to learn how to be “citizen soldiers”.
Ft. Sill in the Oklahoma summer months was miserably hot, humid, and windy. With no air conditioning, many would soak their sheets in cold water before bed time, in order to gain some coolness from condensation. The long hikes with limited water were brutal. But, learning to cope with the heat and humidity would pay off in the future for the men and women of the 44th.
The hospital staff was not trained in how to shoot a rifle as part of their basic training. Instead, the high-level command was adamant that, “They’ll just need to know how to march.”
The 44th’s Roster
Colonel Henry G. Waddell, experienced in Army field operations, was the overall Commanding Officer of the 44th. Lieutenant Colonel Frank L. Weston, a doctor, was named as Chief of Medicine. Dr. Joseph W. Gale, was named Chief of Surgery. Colonel Ida Bechtold, was named Chief of the Nursing Service. The ages of the 44th’s doctors ranged from the late twenties to well into their 40s. Many were married and had children. The 44th numbered 643 total personnel, consisting of 545 men and 98 women. The breakdown of the roster included:
- 485 enlisted men, including medical corpsmen and supply staff
- 98 nurses
- 48 medical doctors and dentists
- 10 administrative officers
- 2 chaplains
The 44th’s roster included two Chaplains, Rev. Elijah G. Willis and Father James F. Hayes.
My Dad and Staff
My Dad was assigned to the 44th General Hospital as an administrative officer (Medical Administrative Corps or MAC) in charge of the enlisted men, including those responsible for securing the hospital. He and other MAC officers were in charge of training the hospital staff from Wisconsin and enlisted men from across the U.S. (I suspect the MAC officers were occasionally the object of numerous swear words). Dad’s job was to train the medical staff in Army field operations in preparation for deploying overseas. The medical staff was given a crash course in soldiering, learning how to march (all complained of the marches in the heat of the Oklahoma summer), live in tents, set up facilities, manage supplies, and operate a hospital in a hostile, wartime environment. Their training would pay off as the unit would later take part in the invasion of Leyte in the Philippines.
My Dad’s staff included a number of sergeants who were instrumental in preparing the unit for deployment overseas. Sergeant Lawrence “Swift” Ducote was a high-school teacher from Bunkie, Louisiana. He was Dad’s top sergeant and close friend during the war years. As I heard from Dad, he was a tough drill instructor.
Other sergeants on Dad’s staff included from left to right, Sgt. Zecha, Sgt. Zeumer, Sgt. Hurley, and Sgt. Bircks (Odrowski Collection).
Those Who Told Their Stories
I appreciate he 44th’s veterans who shared their stories of the War. My Dad mentioned the names of many of his fellow veterans in the stories he told me. Lt. Col. Walter A. Teague, U.S. Army Medical Administrative Corps (MAC) and Captain Eda A. Teague, U.S. Army Nurse Corps (ANC) served with the 44th General Hospital. Walter as the Mess Officer and Eda as a nurse. They married after the War and continued their careers in the Army and in nursing. After their retirement, they worked diligently to document the story of the 44th. Additionally, they spoke at schools, sharing their experience of serving in a military medical unit. The Teague’s’ archive is currently housed at the Wisconsin Veteran’s Museum in Madison, WI.
Captain Walter Teague. 
Captain Eda Teague.
The Teague’s also collected memories from other 44th General Hospital veterans, including Drs. Chet Gjertson, Ray LaFauci, Jackman Pyre, Edward Birge, James Bingham, and Herb Pohle. The 44th’s nurses who told their stories included Eda Teague, Ida Bechtold and Emily LaDuke Hastings.
Captain Chet Gjertson. 
Captain Chet Gjertson and other doctors.
Chet Gjertson and Walter and Eda Teague also left recorded interviews at the Library of Congress Veterans History Project. It’s awesome to hear their voices and listen to their colorful stories. Also, special thanks to Colleen Janes, writing about her Dad, Richard C. Janes, who was a supply sergeant with the 44th. She shared her Dad’s stories on a blog site.
The Lighter Side of the War
In spite of being at war with a very determined enemy, the members of the 44th could still manage to smile and share many memorable moments. The following photos show some of the best times while overseas in Australia, New Guinea and the Philippines. BTW, the first photo on the top left is of the men lining up for their weekly beer rations on Leyte! My Dad’s note on the back: “12 cans per man”.
The members of this dedicated unit formed a unique bond with each other. Walter Teague was passionate about remembering his time with the 44th. In particular, he took great pride in their unique contribution to the War:
It is with the 44th that we share common memories about a group of very uncommon people. It was an honor to be with such splendid men and women during the most memorable part of our service. We are sure it was a never-to-be-forgotten time to all who served with us. Fearing the truth of Caesar’s law that, “the evil that men do lives after them, the good is often interred with their bones,” we hope that an accurate and official record of the 44th’s service in the Pacific will be preserved. In this, we are all challenged by these lines from the Iliad, “Now, though numberless fates of death beset us which no mortal can escape or avoid, let us go forward together, and either we shall give honor to one another, or another to us.
Walter Teague, reminiscing about his and his wife Eda’s service with the 44th General Hospital.
Contact Info
Maybe you’ve recognized someone in these photos? If you have any information on other veteran’s who served with the 44th General Hospital I would be very interested in sharing that on this website. Please contact me below, via email or through the contact page. I think that it’s very important to share the story of this courageous group of veterans and ensure that their families and others may know of the contribution that they made. In preserving their memory, we will honor their service.
6 Comments
My grandfather was a baker and cook who served with the 44th General Hospital. I have never been able to find much of his service. Luckily I do have his DD 214 and Army job sheet. My grandfather’s name is Wendlin Rohrich.
Wendlin, It’s great to hear from you. Your grandfather and the members of the 44th were an amazing group of veterans. I hope that you can learn more about his service through this site. I’m sure that he was well acquainted with Walter Teague, the 44th’s mess officer. Besides feeding the 500 or so members of the medical unit, they also had to feed up to 1,500 sick and wounded – every day! And in a war zone. Truly amazing! Did he leave any memories of his service or photos? Please stay in touch, Jim
You are right this generation of men and women were very amazing people. The things they managed to do where amazing given they were in a war zone and far from home. Unfortunately my grandfather passed away a year before I was born so I didn’t get to hear any of his stories from him. My family said he didn’t speak of the war much but the little he did my father then told me. My grandfather would talk about the 44th and the great group of people they were. Of course not knowing much made me curious and when I started researching my family and putting together our family history there was a blank around my grandfather’s time in the service even though I have copies of his military discharge paper work there didn’t seem to be much on the 44th when I was searching about 7 or so years ago. I did have a starting point as I knew he was stationed with the 44th while oversees and he had been to New Guinea and the Philippines. I was super excited to find your page and book. I have purchased one of your books and I am reading it now. It is great to finally hear what my grandfather would have seen and went through.
Thank you Wendlin! So great to hear about your grandfather and that you’re learning more about the 44th.
My grandmother is Marion Joos, she just died on Jan 14 at 101. She’s one of the nurses on the roster. Thank you for this piece of her history.
Josef, thank you! So great to hear from you. Sorry for the loss of your grandmother. She certainly lived a long life. I greatly appreciate and admire her service. The hard work and sacrifices of the WWII nurses were truly amazing. Did she ever talk about her time during the War? I provided some of the nurse’s memoirs and other books on the post https://buffalowallow.com/army-nurses-in-world-war-ii/.