We’re taking another brief detour from our letters after I rediscovered some documents among my collection the other day. Now that I know Babe spent a significant portion of his overseas tour — about four months — convalescing at the 64th General Hospital in Livorno, Italy, I thought I’d look a little more at the hospital and try to learn something about it.
The 64th was a unit organized by the medical school from Louisiana State University. It served in North Africa and Italy and its history is well documented on this university website and in this 2007 master’s thesis by then University of New Orleans student Victoria Barreto.
A “general hospital” is distinguished from a “field hospital,” an “evacuation hospital,” a “convalescent hospital” or a “station hospital.” A general hospital typically will receive “patients from evacuation hospitals of the combat zone, by ambulance train, motor ambulance, or even by airplane. Patients are sent to a (numbered) general hospital for additional treatment and care up to a period of usually 120 to 180 days,” according to the WW2 US Medical Research Center, a “private venture between two WW2 US medical collectors and re-enactors living in Europe.”
That sounds about right for Babe’s case. He wouldn’t have been too far from Livorno at the time of his wound, if I understand his movements at all, and his hospital stay was just about at the outside threshold of the range mentioned in this article.
This post’s title is derived from an artifact I found on this website, apparently developed by LSU, that collected documents and photographs from the 64th — including this menu for Christmas dinner in 1944, the Christmas Babe would have spent in the hospital. Dinner on that Monday afternoon was roast turkey, dressing, giblet gravy, buttered parsley potatoes, a vegetable, cranberry sauce, “yuletide salad,” hot rolls, plum pudding, coffee, nuts, fruit and candy.
In one of the more recently transcribed letters from Babe, from March 9, 1945, he mentions that there “isn’t much to write about but the usual phenomena, the weather. The weather is still fine around here, which makes it a phenomena.”
Perhaps that is a reference to the fact that the weather early in his hospital stay was apparently horrible. A December 1944 unit report from the 64th, reflecting on the month of November (when Babe must have arrived) notes: “The continuous rain created so much mud that, regardless of paths, it was practically impossible to get around the bivouac area.”
The same report says the “patient status” on Nov. 30, 1944, was 1,730. I haven’t figured out for sure what “patient status” means, but it appears to be the number of patients hospitalized there — including Babe.
Well, Happy and Safe 
My mother, 1st LT Beverly Carter was also in the 64th General Hospital. She was a close friend of T-Babe, they called her. They were in N Africa and Italy and my mother kept a diary of her war days. She was a graduate of Hotel Dieu Nursing School in New Orleans. She passed on July 22, 2016, was 96 yrs old. At that time she was the oldest living alumni of Hotel Dieu. I’m publishing her diary/book. It will be out soon. Name of book is Sent To Serve.
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Sorry, I was speaking of the nurse “T-Babe” of 64th General hospital. The nurses became very close and remained friends often for the rest of their lives. My mom, Beverly C Carter (1st Lt.) (Burga) Lindner. She continued her nursing profession after the war.
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Thank you, Joan, for your comments on my blog and the story you shared about your mother and T-Babe. Good luck with the book!
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My mother also served with the 64th. There was an annual reunion of the 64th for many years. This included nurses, doctors and enlisted. I took my mother to several reunions. The stories were always engaging from the doctors, nurses, aides and cooks. My mother also graduated from Hotel Dieu
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Thank you for your comment, Betty. Great to hear these little stories about this time in history. Thank you for stopping by and sharing.
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Would you like a free copy of the book I published about my mom Beverly Carter’s )Lindner) service in 64th General Hospital. I’m sure they knew one another probably from Hotel Dieu hospital
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I certainly would!
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How do I get Betty to contact me about her mom who served in 64th general hospital. I’d like to give her a copy of the book I published Sent To Serve by Joan Butga
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Hi Betty, would you like a free copy of the book I published about my moms service at Hotel Dieu Hospital and 64th General Hospital.
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Kurt, What is your mailing address? I will send you a copy of the book
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kurt@igreenbaum.com
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