File:USNH Great Lakes Christmas 1944 Cruise Book (IA USNHGreatLakesChristmas1944CruiseBook).pdf

Cruise or Year book of the US Naval Hospital, Great Lakes, IL.

The United States Naval Hospital at Great Lakes, Illinois, was first placed in commission 2 October 1911, and had a bed capacity of 81 patients. Today almost 33-years later it is one of the largest Naval Hospitals under the cognizance of the Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.

In 1905 the location of a station for the training of recruits, and the erection of a Naval Hospital at some point in the mid-western states was under consideration. It was decided the most advantageous location for a Training Station and a Naval Hospital would be in the vicinity of Chicago, Illinois. A large tract of land was sold to the Navy, and included in the original purchase was 12 acres of land for the< original Naval Hospital. It was located on the west shore of Lake Michigan, approximately 38 miles north of Chicago. The Hospital, located on a plateau about 70 feet above sea level, is immediately south of the U. S. Naval Training Center, but separated by a deep ravine. Under direct supervision of Rear Admiral Albert Ross, U.S.N., construction was started in 1909. Medical Inspector J. G. Fields, U.S.N., was the first commanding officer. During the first world war, the Hospital was greatly expanded. Additional land was purchased, and many wards were added to the hospital.

At the height of World War 1, the hospital rated as a 3,000 bed hospital, and in the fall of 1918, 2604 patients were under treatment.

Today, in the second World War, Naval personnel, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen from every theater of war, have been patients in the newly expanded hospital.

More wards have been added. The latest equipment in modern medical science has been installed. A modern recreation building with bowling alleys, a theater, a game room, a 15,000 volume library, an arts and skills department, and a cafeteria aid the patients in supporting the motto of the Navy Doctor: "To keep as many men at as many guns, as many days as possible".