Unit History

A Brief History
of the
304th Station Hospital

(this page will be updated as more information becomes available)

 

 

The unit was activated at Camp Edwards, Barnstable County, Massachusetts on 15 May 1943.

The following is from "Public Relations Background Information on 304th Station Hospital" - 20 Aug 1945

Unit Designation: 304th Station Hospital

Nickname of the Unit: None

Commanding Officer: John Dubois Barnwell, Colonel, US Army

Type of work unit was equipped to do: Give medical and surgical care to sick and wounded personnel in Communications Zone.  Patients were either discharged to duty or transferred to a General Hospital for further treatment.

Length of Stay in the European Theater: Unit arrived at Gourock, Scotland 15 Sep 1943 [the unit marshalled at Camp Kilmer , New Jersey and departed for Scotland out of the New York Port of Embarkation on 5 Sep 1943 aboard the British Transport 'Orion']. Operated a hospital at the Llanerch Panna house / estate in Flintshire, Wales (0.5 miles south of Penley) until removed to Kingwood Common (APO 205) near the German prisoner of war camp in Oxfordshire, England (about 4 or five miles west of Henley-on-Thames), 1 Jun 1944.  Arrived at Le Harve, France, 3 Jun 1945, and went into a period of staging at Metz, France, until 3 Aug 1945, when the unit took over a site (APO 403) in Degerndorf, Germany which is approximately 30 kilometers south southeast of Munsing.

Statistics:  This unit was organized as a seven hundred fifity (750) bed hospital.  While operating a hospital in Llanerch  Panna, Wales, 2,502 patients were received from 19 Oct 1943 to 8 Apr 1944.  Dispositions were made in the case of 2,042 patients, 2 of these were by death.  There were 460 patients left in the hospital when the unit relieved by the 82nd General Hospital during 3-8 Apr 1944.  The unit spent two (2) inactive months in the medical staging area, Llandudno, Wales before setting up a hospital site at the German prisoner of war camp at Kingwood Common, Oxfordshire, on 1 Jun 1944.  Two weeks later the hospital was ready to operate.  From 14 Jun 1944 to 27 May 1945, 6,045 German Prisoners of War were admitted.  3,952 were discharged to Prisoner of War enclosures, 1,172 sent to the Zone of Interior via Hospital Trains and Ships, 244 repatriated through Switzerland, 29 died and approximately 648 remained when the duties for caring for the Prisoners of War were assumed by German Prisoner of War Medical officers, under the supervision of the 7449th Station Hospital (Ger Prov) on 27 May 1945.  The unit was not operated as a hospital site since leaving the United Kingdom.  The above figures are approximate as no accurate records were available at the time.

Battle experience: None

Unusual jobs:

Seven (7) Officers and fourteen (14) Enlisted Men were on Detached Service aboard LST's on D-Day.

Treatment and care of German Prisoners of War by this hospital from 14 Jun 1944 to 27 May 1945, concurrently with American troops. During this period, German Medical personnel, including doctors, nurses and corps men work in conjunction with American personnel caring for the German Prisoners of War for a short time.

Outstanding individuals: At no time were any well-known public personages assigned to or treated by this unit.

[The history of the unit's stay at Degerndorf, Germany (APO 403) will be added when it becomes available]

From an American Red Cross report dated 3 Sep 1945:

'On July 31, 1945 the newly formed Red Cross unit joined the 304th Station Hospital at their staging area in Metz, and several days later flew to Munich, and from thence on to Degerndorf where the hopital is to be set up.  The spacious caserne is located in the foothills of the Bavarian Alps and was formerly used by German ski troops.  The buildings are less than ten years old and in excellent condition.   However, the buildings were not intended for a hospital and the necessary conversion will take about three months.'

According to an American Red Cross narrative report dated 31 Dec 1945, the 304th Station Hospital (APO 403) was scheduled to be closed on 3 Jan 1946.

The D-Day LST teams:

Team 1:

Major Delou Perrin Hall
Tech 4 Joseph William Viltrakis
PFC Pete Salvatore Barone

Team 2:

Major Emmerich Schulte
Tech 4 Thomas Joseph Vodopia
PFC Harry Ernest Beavis

Team 3:

Captain Charles Di Angelo James Caliendo
Tech 4 Merle Klavonski
PFC Anthony John DiCerbo

Team 4:

Captain Jose Alphonso Torrella
Tech 4 Samuel James Trippi
PFC Caesar 'Chet' Girone

Team 5:

Captain John L Koza
Tech 4 Harvey George Hodder
PFC Ervin Fields Wynn

Team 6:

Captain Henry William Thomas
Tech 5 Tony J DeTesso
PFC Joseph S Gurria

Team 7:

Major Joseph Wolfe
Tech 4 Matthew Bradbury Kelloway
PFC Frederick C Rojan

'Orthopedic':

Captain James Henderson Cherry
Captain Constantine Lazare Jeanopoulos
2d Lt Margaret Helen Burke
2d Lt Anita Beryl Cake
Tech 4 Joseph Stanley Tyz

 

Last updated: 21 Mar 2021 (corrected typographical errors)