Arthur and I got our first contact with a former patient in an e-mail:

I was a patient at this Naval Hospital at Netley, Hants from June 10th to the middle of August, 1944. My ship was sunk on D-Day off Utah Beach and I was evacuated to an army hospital near Netley, and later transferred to the U S Naval base hospital at Netley. We left in August for Liverpool to board a hospital ship for evacuation to USA. It's nice to see the hospital from the outside. The address was Navy 824. Also I remember the "buzz bombs." Quite a helpless feeling. One of the things that stick in my memory was an elderly gentleman who used to come into our room in the evening asking "Have you had your Cadbury's today?" His name was Charley. There were twelve of us, some army, but mostly US Navy in a room. We all had fractured legs and we looked like a chorus line, with most of us in traction. Just think, all this happened 57 years ago but the memory still lingers.

I asked for more and permission to place it with the SNAG 56 page. This is the reply:

Well, there isn't much more that I can write about the hospital. As I wrote before, I was transferred to Navy Base Hospital 12 about the 10th of June from an army field hospital not far from Southampton.

On June 6th, I was a crew member of LCT 777 which was sunk by a mine [See witness' account] during the Normandy invasion off Utah Beach. I was taken from my sinking ship and was loaded on to an LSY which was being used as a hospital ship. The next day, we left for Southampton, where I was off loaded and sent to an army field hospital. I think I was there for a couple of days before being transferred to Navy Base Hospital 12.

[LCT is the designator for Landing Craft Tank. I suspect "LSY" is a typo for LST, a Landing Ship, Tank. Many LSTs were prepared to carry casualties on return trips from the beaches with medical supplies and units. When one thinks of how the LST operated they are nearly ideal. Ambulances could drive aboard when the LST was beached thus allowing the casualty to be moved only twice; once from ambulance to deck and then deck to shore transport in the UK. Otherwise this would involve a transfer at sea with much greater risk. Most appear to have done medical service as an emergency function. Some, the LSTH (Landing Ship, Tank (Casualty Evacuation)) were actually modified and fully equipped for this function. I believe these were more common to the Pacific and the Normandy examples were of ordinary LSTs prepared to evacuate casualties on return trips from the beaches. NavSource, in describing LST/LSTH-464 gives details of modifications for an LSTH.]

I read the notes from the nurses re/hospital. I don't remember any gas masks, nor helmets hanging from the bed. I do remember the AA gun outside our room.

A couple of the personnel still stick in my mind: Captain Wilding, an orthopedic surgeon [Capt. A. H. Weiland (MC) USNR is listed as Chief of Orthopedics], LtCDR Hathway, another orthopedic surgeon, Chaplain Peterson, and an obnoxious corpsman named Solomon. Also, there was a Sailor from an LST that was blown up. When he arrived, he had one leg off, and during my stay he has the other leg amputated. His name was Johnson.

From the book The Story of SNAG 56

We left from Netley in August. There was a RR siding that went to the hospital, and we were loaded onto a train that took us to Liverpool where we were loaded onto an Army Hospital Ship "DOGWOOD" which set sail for Charleston S.C. A very uncomfortable voyage for me, as I was encased in a cast from my chest to my toes.

From Charleston I transferred to Chelsea Naval Hospital where I was operated on. I had an open reduction of my right femur, and I still have the plate in my leg. From there I transferred to a special navy hospital in Springfield, Mass. Chaplain Peterson and LtCDR Hathaway were both stationed there. Small world! I was discharged on December 5, 1945 from the navy. I later joined the U S Customs Service where I worked for 38 years. I have been retired since 1990. I hope this brings back a few memories.

This movement was begun in accordance with the following memorandum:

ADVANCE BASE ASSEMBLY AND TRAINING UNIT
NAVAL TRAINING CENTER
LIDO BEACH, LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK

27 January 1944

MEMORANDUM TO UNIT OFFICERS CONCERNED
Subject: NY 40 Movement - Departure of SNAG 56
1. The following schedule is hereby set up for the departure of SNAG 56:
1500 - Formation and Muster (Drill Field).
1530 - March to Long Beach Station.
--------*Nurses Muster on South Side of building A-1.
1545-Nurses leave by bus for Long Beach Station and board train on arrival.
1610 - Marching Column will arrive at Long Beach Station and Board train.
1630 -**Train Departs.

*Note 1. Nurses will fall in for muster according to the Sequence of their sailing list numbers.
**Note 2. Due to the time of departure from this station an early supper will not be served. Sandwiches and fruit will be provided on the train.

2. The train for this movement will have twelve (12) cars. These cars will be loaded as follows:

Car #1 to Car #9 inclusive: 2 officers and 85 enlisted personnel to each car.
Car #10 and #11-- 48 Nurses to each car.
Car #12 -- 13 Nurses and 30 officers.

3. All enlisted personnel shall be formed and mustered in groups of 65 and according to the sequence of their embarkation tag numbers. Each group of 65 enlisted personnel shall have two officers assigned - one officer to march at the head of the group and the other at the rear.

4. The uniform for departure shall be Undress Blues with Neckerchief and Peacoats. Helmets will be worn and Gas Masks must be carried slung over the right shoulder. Canteens shall be filled with water prior to departure.

(Signed) FRANK K EVANS, Jr.
Lieut. USNR Operations Officer

By devious routes we were carried to Jersey City and, under cover of darkness, guided from the train platform down a ladder to a ferry which then made the landing at Pier 86. The Nurses left the ferry first and as the first stepped on to the covered pier, an Army Band struck up "Oh, Lady Be Good!" and as the officers and men filed from the ferry the band played "Anchors Aweigh" and then "Here Comes the Navy." Brilliantly-lighted within, the pier resembled a gigantic warehouse. We halted in formation and the Red Cross served doughnuts and coffee, not the last but certainly the best we were to have for some months.

Officers by the forward gangway, men by the after gang way, thus boarded the N.Y. 40. Her great gray side and the battle dressed soldiers also embarking left little doubt as to the grim realities of the situation. The sight of the nurses staggering up the gangway with helmet, canteen and first aid packet secured to a belt, gas mask slung and carrying heavy personal gear will long be remembered. Perhaps it was the cargo lights, perhaps the preceding day's cocktail party, but the general impression was of pale and solemn faces and this was not limited to the women officers.

Once aboard it was learned that N.Y. 40 was H.M.S. Aquitania and that military control of U. S. personnel was by Colonel G. V. N. Lothrop, F.A., U.S.A.

[The Story of Snag 56 by Henry W. Hudson, Captain (MC) USNR]

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