I have returned to the subject of Lawson General Hospital again and again. It is intriguing to me that during WWII this hospital was located in Chamblee, adjacent to Naval Air Station Atlanta. Also, the people involved were sometimes from Atlanta, Chamblee or other nearby towns, but most of the people who worked, trained, or were treated at Lawson General Hospital were there for a brief time. They went home or to another hospital after being treated or they received their orders and left to serve their country using the skills received as part of the MDTS, Medical Department Training School.
Read moreWWII soldier Richard R. Smith and Thanksgiving 1944 at Lawson General Hospital
It is always an honor to learn the story of a soldier who spent time at Lawson General Hospital in Chamblee, Georgia during World War II. Stories of soldiers who were injured and of men who did medical training at Lawson have been shared with me and I will continue to share those stories through pasttensega.com.
This history comes from Doug Smith, whose father Richard Rouse Smith, Sr., was wounded in France during July of 1944 and spent the last part of 1944 at Lawson General Hospital in Chamblee, Georgia.
Read moreMcGaughey home was Serviceman's Shelter
Carroll and Effie McGaughey announced a house-warming party at their new summer home on Spruill Road in Dunwoody in 1939. The Dec. 30, 1939, Atlanta Constitution Society Events column included the announcement, using the alternate spelling of Spruell Road. The gathering was also in honor of their debutante daughter, Mary McGaughey. The couple would later make the Dunwoody home their primary home.
Carroll McGaughey was an electrical engineer and owner of McGaughey Electrical Company. Effie McGaughey operated an antique shop called Backdoor Studios out of their Atlanta home on Lombardy Way. The McGaughey’s had two sons, Carroll Jr. and Carrick, in addition to their daughter Mary.
When the United States entered World War II and Lawson General Hospital opened in nearby Chamblee, Effie McGaughey began thinking of ways to help recovering soldiers. The McGaugheys turned their home from a social gathering spot to a place for relaxation and recreation for injured soldiers, the Serviceman’s Shelter.
Ethel Spruill and Elizabeth Davis describe the McGaughey place in their book The Story of Dunwoody. “Using a rustic building on the McGaughey property and colorful festive lanterns, church groups, community clubs, and Atlanta groups took turns at entertaining the boys and furnishing food and dance partners.”
By 1944 a group of Atlanta women including Effie McGaughey had organized a committee to plan parties for convalescing soldiers at various homes around Atlanta. An article in the July 12, 1944 issue of The Atlanta Constitution titled Many Parties are Planned for Convalescent Officers describes the upcoming schedule of parties. The following Friday evening a barbeque supper would be held at the home of Carroll and Effie McGaughey. The guests would be entertained with swimming, music by the Tech band, and a movie shown on an outdoor screen.
The schedule for the next two weeks includes parties on Habersham Road and another on Tuxedo Road in Atlanta, followed by a gathering at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ryburn Clay on their Chattahoochee River country place known as Lazy River Farm. The Clay summer estate was on what is now Clay Drive off Spalding Drive.
The McGaugheys place was for the enjoyment of all recovering soldiers. One soldier from Lawson General Hospital who lost the use of his legs often got a ride to their home courtesy of the Red Cross. Upon arrival, he would enjoy swimming in the pool.
The Serviceman’s Shelter and use of the McGaughey’s swimming pool continued into 1946. In August of that year they hosted veterans of both World War I and World War II, arranged by Veterans Hospital Number 48 in Brookhaven and financed by the Elks Club. (The Atlanta Constitution, August 16, 1946, Veterans Feted by Elks Group)
Effie McGaughey also helped during World War II by donating a movable kitchen in 1942. The kitchen was operated by the Atlanta Red Cross Canteen Corps and was able to serve two thousand meals and forty thousand cups of hot coffee per day.
Lawson General Hospital Dental training, Co. G, MDTS
I’m pleased to share the history of Glenn H. Curtis, who spent time training in the MDTS (Medical Department Technicians School) at Lawson General Hospital in Chamblee, Georgia during World War II. Curtis received dental training at Lawson between December 1942 to February 1943.
MDTS began at Lawson General in 1942 and continued into 1945. MDTS started out with 50 people being trained as laboratory technicians, 50 in dental training, 125 in medical training, 125 in surgical training, 50 in x-ray training. The full name of the training program was Medical Department Enlisted Technicians School. In 1943, the numbers had increased in each area, including 106 dental trainees. The website of AMEDD includes history of the Army Medical Department and includes data of the various Medical Department Technician Schools across the US during WWII.
In addition to treating patients at Lawson General Hospital, men (and women with the Red Cross) were being trained to provide medical and dental care to injured soldiers. Lawson reported their students trained through “lectures, demonstration, and by actually performing over and over again the various procedures. Performance of the procedures, under close supervision, is the most important part of their training.”
Glenn Curtis’ son Gary Curtis shared memories and history he has gathered about his father’s WWII service. Glenn was born Jan. 28,1920. His WWII registration card shows he was 21 years old, working as a driver for Hanna Market in Rochester, New York.
As far as his time at Lawson General Hospital in Georgia, he didn’t share much about his service. He did talk a little about Georgia Tech and could sing the school fight song. He said he enjoyed his time in school in Georgia and at Jefferson Barracks, MO, where he was sent next.
The dental training he received would eventually be used to identify victims in aircraft training crashes in the U.S. I can only imagine that this would be difficult and stressful work, with a lot of sadness and emotions.
Loren Brown, a childhood friend of Glenn Curtis from Rochester, New York was also in the MDTS program at Lawson. Brown’s fiance Lois Howell and Curtis’ girlfriend and later wife, Mildred, and Curtis’ sister Joyce Curtis visited the two men in Chamblee. They stayed in a cottage at the nearby W. O. Pierce Dairy. Visitors to patients and staff of Lawson General Hospital and trainees of MDTS usually stayed in nearby homes. There were no hotels in Chamblee at the time.
Glenn Curtis and Mildred became engaged during her visit and they went to a jeweler on Peachtree Street in Atlanta for a ring.
While at Jefferson Barracks, MO, Glenn Curtis was injured playing baseball. Baseball teams were popular at bases across the country. Curtis is documented as being at O’Reilly Hospital during the last part of 1943 and his son believes this may have been a result of the injury.
Glenn Curtis and his brother Robert registered on the same day in Rochester, New York in January 1942. Robert Curtis served with the Army in France. Glenn would like to have served overseas, but either due to his injury or the timing of his training, he remained in the U.S. Every person who served either in the states or overseas was crucial to the cause.
After the war, Curtis opened an Amoco gasoline station near his home in Rochester. He later worked for the post office, retiring after 17 years. He also operated an antique store with his wife.
Below is the timeline of Glenn Curtis’ service:
Army Air Forces Technical Training Command St. Petersburg, Florida, Nov. through Dec. 1942
Lawson General Hospital, Chamblee, GA, Co. G, MDTS, dental, Dec. 42 to Feb. 1943
Army Air Forces Station Hospital Chicago, IL, March to June 1943
25th Training Group Squad C, Jefferson Barracks, MO, July to Oct. 1943
O’Reilly Hospital, Springfield, MO, end of 1943
Return to 25th Training Group, Jefferson Barracks
18th Replacement Wing, Salt Lake City, Utah, Feb. 1944
Walker Army Air Force base in Victoria Kansas, where his wife may have joined him until he moved on.
Worked at Pressed Steel Car Company, McKees Rocks, PA, a rail car manufacturing company that produced tanks during WW2.
3706 Army Air Forces Squad H. Sheppard Field TX, July 1945 to Sept. 1945
1060 Army Air Forces Squad E Sept thru Jan or Feb 1946
Thank you to Gary Curtis, who reached out and shared this history and amazing photos of his Dad and his time at Lawson General Hospital.
Some memories and thoughts on Thanksgiving
With Thanksgiving just a couple of days away, I enjoy thinking back to the holiday during my childhood years. Since I grew up in Atlanta, we had a southern traditional meal with turkey, sweet potatoes, dressing, other side dishes and of course pie. My mom sometimes baked a cream cheese pound cake, two kinds of pie, and some chocolate chip cookies when she became a grandmother.
Read moreAbe Koppel WWII experience includes X-ray school at Lawson General Hospital
Thanks to a reader of pasttensega.com, I can now share the journey of Abraham (Abe) Koppel during World War II. Koppel wrote down a narrative of his experiences when his granddaughter was working on a school project. The family also shared a photograph of Koppel and the X-ray section he trained with at Lawson General Hospital, along with an image of the back of the photograph with messages from several men.
Read moreChristmas 1944 at Naval Air station Atlanta and Lawson General Hospital
In 1944, the land that is now DeKalb Peachtree Airport in Chamblee was home to Naval Air Station Atlanta. Men came from all over the U. S. to train at Naval Air Station Atlanta beginning in 1941 and women began to arrive in 1942 to work as link instrument trainers.
Lawson General Hospital sat adjacent to Naval Air Station Atlanta, where the IRS and CDC Chamblee offices are located today. The hospital opened in April of 1941.
Read moreCompany G MDTS Lawson General Hospital January 1943
The website of AMEDD presents history of the Army Medical Department and includes data of the various Medical Department Technician Schools across the US during WWII. In addition to treating patients at Lawson General Hospital, which was in Chamblee on the outskirts of Atlanta Georgia, men (and women with the Red Cross) were being trained to provide medical care to injured soldiers. This training began in July of 1942 for Lawson General Hospital
Read moreLawson General Hospital Used for Georgia Tech Housing Post WWII
After World War II ended, there was a serious shortage of housing for returning veterans across the United States. In the Atlanta area, solutions included families living in military tents on rented land or in trailer parks set up for the purpose of housing veterans with families.
Read moreChamblee's Lawson General Hospital
The classic movie The Best Years of Our Lives tells the story of three World War II soldiers returning to their hometown after the war ends. One of the soldiers was played by Harold Russell, a World War II veteran who lost both hands in a training accident and ended up at Lawson General Hospital in Chamblee, Georgia. There he received treatment, which included prosthetic hands and training on how to use them in his daily life.
Read moreLawson General Hospital Surgeon Turns 100
Dr. Moore arrived at Lawson General Hospital in January of 1945. “I was reamputating soldiers coming from the Battle of the Bulge and the European Theatre,” recalls Dr. Moore. “I had a ward of thirty-four beds kept full. We had five or six surgeons at Lawson.” He performed surgeries ever day of the week, usually with only Saturday and Sunday off.
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