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Iowa Marines with a Hospital Attendant at Naval Station Great Lakes Hospital, March 1951

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Three men seen in Great Lakes Hospital in Korea. One man sits smiling on a hospital bed while another man bandages his left foot. A third man is seen talking with the injured man. Medical equipment sits on a cart near the man who is doing the bandaging.
Courtesy of State Historical Society of Iowa, March 1951

Description

Corporal Robert Tague of Fort Dodge and Sergeant John Brandenhorst of Oskaloosa posed in this photograph with hospital attendant F.E. Hodkinson of Des Moines at Naval Station Great Lakes' hospital in March 1951. Several Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH) units operated during the Korean War. These field hospitals stabilized casualties until they could be transported to general hospitals for further treatment and recovery. During the Korean War, medical advances such as kidney dialysis and blood vessel transplants were perfected and became more widely available.

Source-Dependent Questions

  • How would the location of Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) units close to the front impact injured soldiers?
  • Not everyone in the military trains for combat jobs. What careers would the military recruit for in order to staff MASH units?