What is the history of Walson Hospital at Ft Dix NJ?

Answer 1

I received this information from Daniel W. Zimmerman:

daniel.w.zimmerman@us.army.mil

WALSON ARMY HOSPITAL

Walson Army Hospital started with a groundbreaking ceremony in 1957 and opened its doors on March 15, 1960. More than 600 people were present on March 15 as Secretary of the Army Wilber M. Brucker dedicated the $10.5 million hospital. Secretary Brucker, who had been instrumental in securing funding for medical facilities throughout the Army, assured the assembled group that he would try even harder to see that the Army received sufficient funds to enable it to replace the hastily built World War II-type wooden hospitals. Mrs. Walson, widow of Brigadier General Walson, unveiled the plaque at the ceremony.

The hospital was named in honor of Brigadier General Charles M. Walson, Surgeon General of the II Army Corps from November 1940 to July 1945. Born in Laurel, Delaware, on August 24, 1883, BG Walson was graduated from the Jefferson Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1906 and from the Army Medical School in 1912. During World War I, Walson, then a major, served with the American Expeditionary Forces in France as an assistant surgeon. At the end of the war, he served with the Army of occupation at Coblenz, Germany, until 1922. While Surgeon General of the II Army Corps, he handled the enormous task of processing 145,000 American patients and 7,000 enemy prisoner-of-war patients through the port of New York. After his retirement in 1947, with more than 35 years service, BG Walson served as administrator of the American Red Cross blood program for the greater New York area. He died on May 14, 1959.

The hospital, sitting on a 13 acre site, has a floor area of some 327,000 square feet. About half is contained in two 9-story ward wings and a 9-story service wing. The 500-bed hospital can be expanded to 1,000 beds.

Moving 233 patients into Walson Army Hospital from the Station Hospital was completed on March 21, 1960 with a minimum of inconvenience to the patients. Hospital personnel worked around the clock so that the transition would proceed smoothly. In addition

to performing their required tasks at the old hospital, they often stopped by the new hospital in the evening to clean and prepare their own sections. With the opening of Walson, the Station Hospital became an annex of Walson Army Hospital.

Scrubbing floors, cleaning windows, and general sterilization functions were necessary before the first patient could be admitted. More than 700 truckloads of equipment were moved to the new hospital. Aiding in this phase of the operation were the personnel and vehicles of the 4th Field Hospital. By mid-morning, 217 patients had been transferred by ambulatory or two litter-bus ambulances, furnished by McGuire Air Force Base and the hospital's metropolitan and field ambulances.

The ultra-modern Walson Army Hospital made use of the latest medical and recreational equipment and facilities. These were contained in a spacious sunbathed building surrounded by crescent shaped, tree-shaded parking areas at New Jersey Avenue and West Third Street. The medical staff could hear themselves being paged over individual pocket-sized transistor radios. They could dictate letters by telephone to a central dictation pool. Medicines and messages were whisked to all floors through pneumatic tubes.

Patients were entertained and informed by a closed-circuit radio station with bedside speakers, including a channel for television sound. Televisions were available in all wards, room, and lounges. Accommodations for patients included private, two, three, and four-bed rooms and 8, 16, and 24-bed wards. Steam for winter heating and cool air for summer air conditioning was piped through the building from boiler and refrigeration houses on the hospital grounds. A diesel-powered generator supplied emergency power. Surgical facilities included eight fully equipped operating rooms. X-ray, dental, eye-ear-nose-throat, childcare, neuro-psychiatric, and therapy clinics were included. An emergency operating room was located near the ambulance entrance. A central food service section in the hospital handed the preparation and serving of all food, eliminating the need for special diet kitchens.

In its first full year of operation, the hospital admitted 22,999 patients. Four Army doctors were participating in a two-year residency program -- two in general practice and two in preventive medicine. In October 1966, the expanded residency program included four Army doctors in the one-year Pre-Specialty Surgery Residency, four in the two-year General Practice Residency and three in the nine-month Preventive Medicine Residency Program.

Improvements and expansion of the hospital complex were made. The nurses' quarters were completed in 1963 and the enlisted quarters were ready for occupancy the following year. In June 1965, a $1.3 million construction program began on a two-story addition for clinics and a one-story Air Evacuation Section.

The two-story addition, which increased medical facilities by 32,000 square feet, was occupied on June 22, 1966, and contained a pediatric clinic, obstetrics and gynecology clinic, a neuro-psychiatric clinic, a dental clinic, a preventive medicine department, a physical examination section, and a pharmacy. After the clinics moved into the new addition, the builders returned to expand the areas vacated by some of the clinics and modify activities remaining on the first floor of the original hospital.

The 150-bed Air Evacuation Center was a joint operation involving Fort Dix and McGuire Air Force Base. It became operational in May 1966. The Center provided medical care to Air Evacuation patients en route to their final destination.

At the height of its operation, Walson Army Hospital provided out-patient and in-patient care for personnel stationed at Fort Dix and small units located nearby, as well as Army dependents and other authorized personnel. Air Force and Navy personnel stationed at McGuire Air Force Base and Lakehurst Naval Station provided hospital and specialized clinic services. Specialized clinics included dermatology, gastroenterology, internal medicine, obstetrics, cardiology, radiology, gynecology, orthopedics, urology, neurology, psychiatry, pediatrics, eye-ear-nose and throat, surgery, preventive medicine, anesthesiology, and veterinary medicine.

In 1992, at the recommendation of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC), Walson Army Hospital was transferred to the Air Force (McGuire Air Force Base) and was renamed Walson Air Force Hospital. On 30 April 2001, Walson Hospital closed its doors as the Air Force vacated the building. The former hospital was turned over to the BRAC Committee.

The Fort Dix Museum is undergoing a renovation and name change. It will become the Army Reserve Mobilization Museum. The exhibits are being redone and renovations to the building are set to begin. The museum is currently 17,000 square feet, but will expand to 22,000 square feet.

The Army is adding another 5,000 square feet that will be used for the storage of artifacts. We hope to open later in the year. If you would like to visit, send me an email in November and I can give you an update.

Daniel W. Zimmerman

Museum

Fort Dix, NJ 08640

609-562-6983

DSN 562-6983

daniel.w.zimmerman@us.army.mil