279th Station Hospital USAMEDD

In early 1943, the small village of Gilwern, near Abergavenny, was turned on its head when 450 soldiers and nurses of the US Army Medical Department arrived to take occupation of a newly built general purpose hospital on the edge of the village. For nearly two and a half years these strangers in a strange land carried out their duties to the best of their abilities. Some worked in isolation, but most made an effort to integrate with the local community. This is a chronicle of those times.

Wednesday, 14 April 2010

Carl F. McDaniel.

'Mac' has been a guiding light in my research of the 279th at Gilwern and without his memories and photos I would have very little knowledge of what happened there. He is alive and well at 86 years of age and resides in Williamsport, PA. His best friend durning these times was William Lacer who is also alive and well. They keep in touch often. Mac on the left, Bill on the right.
More about them later !!

Commanding Officer.

The commancing officer of the 279th Station Hospital was Colonel Raymond R. Decker from Lewisburg, PA. He was also a surgeon.

Halt !

This is the Guard Hut at the main gate.

The Yanks are Coming.

A picture of a parade in front of the motor pool building (right). Raising the Stars and Stripes! This building still remains. On the far centre you can see some new Dodge Ambulances on the vehicle yard. The building on the left is the main administration office. This is now a training centre for heavy goods vehicles.

A Big Site

With over 130 buildings housing up to 1200 patients in 44 ward buildings, and accommodation for 450 personnel, this was at the time the largest hospital of its kind in Wales.

The Start 1942

Where there were once the open fields of Aberbaiden Farm on the outskirts of Gilwern village, in late 1942 the Ministry of Works set about building a 1200 bed hospital. This was ready for occupation in early 1943.

Sunday, 11 April 2010

2010

Today, only 7 buildings remain of the

Times Gone By

When I moved back to Abergavenny in 2001 I realised that I had visited many battlefields in Europe over the years but had never once thought about the rich history of World War Two events that may have ocurred on my own doorstep. Over the past few years I have been slowly piecing together the evidence of the units, personnel and stories that make this story, and have made aquaintance with many interesting people including some of the actual veterans and civilians who were involved in those interesting times.

It is estimated that at one point there were around 100,000 military personell stationed in the Usk valley around the Abergavenny area.

Two particular US veterans, Carl McDaniel and Robert P Rivers, have given me a wealth of information, stories and photos on their unit, The 279th Station Hospital, so I will attempt here to chronicle some of the information I have in pictorial format.

Not much of the Hospital now remains, but as its only just down the road from me, what is left, holds a fascination for me and I think the story of it is worth telling.

I will try and upload pictures in a chronological order so this site is best viewed by starting from the bottom (very first thread in the archive).

Richard P