In 1917, at the age of 23, Andrew Burr signed up for the draft, and set out for service in WWI. His records indicate that he served as a private for Field Hospital Co No 12. It has been a challenge to determine exactly where he was during the War, but company histories suggest that he worked with a medical unit that was eventually established at Bonvillers in Northern France. He could have performed a variety of jobs such as ambulance driver, stretcher bearer, surgical assistant, cook, or cleaning crew. No detailed records for Andrew Burr’s particular role have been found.
The term Field Hospital covers several types of medical units that were set up near the front lines of the war. These were generally the places where wounded soldiers went for triage (assessment) and stabilization of wounds before transport. After triage, they were taken by ambulance to the evacuation hospitals. The Field Hospital Co No 12 moved about to different locations during the war and served both as a triage location and an evacuation hospital.
On the 22nd of April 1918, Field Hospital No. 12 opened in a large chateau in Bonvillers. It treated the most severe and non-transportable wounded, of whom it admitted 1,220 between April and July 1918. At some point (unclear) the medical operations at Bonvillers were referred to as an American Base Hospital, where surgeries and longer term care was offered.
An internet search turned up an amazing, first-hand video of the medical support provided at Bonvilliers during WWI. Very interesting! Under the topic of WWI Field Hospitals, the description reads - Raw footage of ambulances, medical men and nurses around tents; soldiers walking past other large medical tents on large estate grounds at Bonvillers, Picardie [France].
As mentioned above, no detailed records of Andrew Burr’s type of work have been found. The University of Kansas Medical Center presents an interesting collection of articles on their website related to the establishment and daily work of American Base Hospital No 28 in Limoges, France during WWI. A few details from these articles might serve to “frame a picture” of what Andrew Burr was connected with during the war.
During stateside training non-medical enlisted men received training in treatment of shock, injuries from poison gas, limb amputation, identification and removal of shell fragments, and reconstructive surgery.
The American military set up base hospital clusters located from 50 to 200 miles from the front. The rhythm of the hospitals was largely determined by the arrival of ambulance trains from the front.
On 27 July an ambulance train with 600 wounded and sick soldiers arrived at Base Hospital #28 at 9:30 PM. In spite of the hospital station platform being dark, Dr. Hibbard and all available staff triaged patients quickly and by 3:00 AM all patients, including some with very serious wounds, were in appropriate wards in their beds. The process of "renovation" as Captain Sherman Hibbard described it, was the transformation of filthy, louse-infested, weary, sick and wounded soldiers into clean patients with warm meals in their stomachs.
To accomplish this goal the effort and dedication of a huge support staff was needed. This “unnamed” group included Andrew Burr, our ancestor.
Andrew Burr was demobilized in August of 1919. He departed from Brest in France and arrived back in the US at Hoboken New Jersey on the first of September 1919. He was discharged from service on 24 Sept 1919 at Camp Dodge, Iowa. After his war service Andrew Burr spent some time with his family in Nebraska and then removed with his older brother Edward Burr to homestead in Wyoming.
For more details on Andrew Albert Burr, visit his page at the Family Stories website.
Further Reading:
WWI Field Hospitals. 221694-07; Description: Raw footage of ambulances, medical men and nurses around tents; soldiers walking past other large medical tents on large estate grounds at Bonvillers, Picardie [France]. 10 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS6ufYuRcWo
Medicine in the First World War; Base Hospital #28; University of Kansas Medical Center.
About the Photo:
Chateau de Bonvillers (no date). United States Army Base Hospital No 12, Located at Bonvillers in Northern France. Images from the History of Medicine; The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain.
Moving back in time: Kevin Andrew Germann 1978 > Gary Germann 1958 > Elsie Josephine Burr 1930 > Andrew Albert Burr 1894.
Andrew Albert Burr is the great-grandfather of my son-in-law, Kevin Andrew Germann.
