Original Members of 120th Evacuation Hospital---  1945

 

                  “As I stand on that crest I remember a passage from F. Scott Fitzgerald.  World War I, he wrote, ‘was the last love battle’; men, he said, could never ‘do that again in this generation’.  But Fitzgerald died just a year before Pearl Harbor.  Had he lived, he would have seen his countrymen united in a greater love than he had ever known.  Actually love was only a part of it. Among other things, we had to be tough, too.  To fight World War II  you had to have been tempered and strengthened in the 1930’s Depression by a struggle for survival---in l940 two out of every five draftees had been rejected, most of them victims of malnutrition.  And you had to know that your whole generation, unlike the Vietnam generation,  was in this together, that no strings  were being pulled for anybody; the four Roosevelt brothers were in uniform, and the sons of both Harry Hopkins , FDR’s closest advisor, and Leverett  Saltonstall, one of the most powerful Republicans in the Senate, served in the Marine Corps as enlisted men and were killed in action. But devotion overarched all this. It was a bond woven of many strands.  You had to remember your father’s stories about the Argonne, and saying your prayers, and Memorial Day, and scouting, and what Barbara Frietchie said to Stonewall Jackson.  And you had to have heard Lionel Barrymore as Scrooge and to have seen Gary Cooper as  Sergeant York.  And seen your how your mother bought day-old bread and cut sheets lengthwise  and re-sewed them to equalize their wear while father sold the family car, both forfeiting what would be essentials today so you could go to college.

                  You also needed nationalism, the absolute conviction that the United States was the envy of all other nations, a country that had never done anything infamous, in which nothing was insuperable, whose ingenuity could solve anything by inventing something.  You felt sure that all lands, given our democracy and our know-how, could shine as radiantly  as we did.  Esteem was personal, too; you assumed that if you came through this ordeal you would age with dignity, respected as well as adored by your children.  Wickedness was attributed to flaws in individual characters, not to society’s shortcomings. To accept unemployment compensation, had it existed, would have been considered humiliating. So would committing a senile aunt to a state mental hospital. Instead, she was kept in the back bedroom, still a member of the family.

                  Debt was ignoble.  Courage was a virtue.  Mothers were beloved, fathers  obeyed.  Marriage was a sacrament.  Divorce was disgraceful. Pregnancy meant expulsion from school or dismissal from a job.  Couples did not keep house before they were married and there could be no wedding until the girl’s father  had approved. You assumed that gentlemen always stood and removed their hats when a woman entered a room.  The suggestion that some of them might resent be called “ladies” would have confounded you.

All these and ‘God Bless America’, and Christmas or Hanukkah and the certitude that victory in the war would assure their continuance into perpetuity---all this led you into battle, and sustained you as you fought, and comforted you if you fell, and, if it came to that, justified your death to all who loved you as you had loved them”

                                                                                           (William Manchester,  Goodbye, Darkness)

 

              Catherine V. Achen                              Keith F. Chadwick                               Abraham Frank

                  Thomas L. Adams                               John E. Chapman                                 Jesse O. French

Joseph N. Addorisio                           Frank A. Chatfield                                Israel Friedman

                  Phalone R. Akin                                    Alice C. Chavez                                     John Frye

                  Lorenzy R. Aldridge                           Clarence A. Chrosniak                       John W. Galbreath

                  Joseph J. Allen                                       Donald E. Claar                                      Samuel Ganden

                  Saul D. Astor                                          Flora J. Clark                                           Hector C. Garcia

Bennie L. Austin                                   Layton E. Clark Jr.                               George R. Gardner Jr.

Helen Anderson                                     Matthew E. Clark                                 Jack H. Garwood

Millard D. Anderson                          Blaine W. Claypool Jr.                       Eli Geller

Alexis A. Andreiev                               Margaret S. Clouse                              Julius J. Gibbons

Joseph C. Andriola                              Bruce C. Cook                                        Rudolph G. Giglio

Oscar F. Avery                                      William C. Cook                                    Robert V. Gilmore

Ann B. Bakalar                                       John W. Connor                                    Paul Goeldner

Charles E. Ballard                                  Francelle Core                                         Charles E. Green Jr.

James W. Batchelor                             Morris Cousin                                        John F. Hall

Richard O. Beams                                 William H. Craft                                    Marion F. Hand

Herbert Bengelsdorf                            Howard B. Cranmer                            Orville R. Hardy

Roy L. Bennett                                      Dermit O. Dahlen                                 Martin L. Hay

Dietrich R. Bieser                                  Victor F. D’Arconte                            Francis W. Healey

Harry H. Blumenthal Jr.                   Albert W. Damon Jr.                          Karl H. Hertz

Thelma M. Blumenthal                     Joseph A. Davi                                      Leonard E. Herzmark

Lindsey R. Bobo Jr.                            Donald G. Davis                                   Stewart S. Hiday

Hannah L. Bogan                                  William H. Deierhoi Jr.                      Hence J. Hill

Beuford O. Bond                                  Anthony J. Del Bosco                       Jean W. Hill

Catherine M. Bone                              Kenneth F. Delong                               William M. Hoblick

Butch E. Bouse                                      Aaron Diamond                                     Julius E. Hoffman

Jesse M. Brady                                      Fernando C. Dias                                  Margaret M. Hollinger

Thomas M. Bray                                  Robert Dinolt                                          Jerry P. Hontas

Jesse M. Brownd                                 Salvatore J. Distefano                         Ladd E. Hoover

William S. Burt                                       Robert M. Drennan                             O. D. Hughes

James  A. Busby                                   Frances L. Duryea                                Herbert James Jr.

Earl C. Caddock  Jr.                             Seymour S. Ellman                               Fred J. Jarrett

Edward J. Cahill                                     Ottolina M. Faber                                Benjamin Jimboy

Charles C. Cali                                        Nellie V. Fallstrom                               Leonard B. Johnson

Gerald J. Campbell                               Rupert S. Farmer                                   Eric N. Jordan

Catherine W. Camper                         Madeline E. Feehan                             David E. Jung

Virginia Cangelosi                                  Rex O. Fleetwood                                 Theodore A. Kaar

Louis Carbonaro                                    Michael J. Fontanetta                         Philip R. Kasamir

June  B. Carpenter                                James F. Fox Jr.                                     Eleanor Kasprzak

 William F. Kearns                                Scotty H. Miller                                    Harry R. Rowles

Harold M. Kehoe                                 Robert G. Mitcheltree                        Kermit W. Russell

Joseph Kershenblatt                           James M. Moore                                  John C. Ryan III

Frank Kitch                                              Americo Mongiello                              Elmer J. Sallie

Charles Krinsky                                    Edward F. Moran                                 William R. Schmeltzer

John O. Lafferty                                    David E. Morrison                               Pauline Schmickley

Otis R. Lambert                                     John B. Morton                                     John V. Schneider

Arsene J. Landry                                   Edward W. Moshofsky                    Norman J. Schwartz

Oram R. Lawry                                     John A. Mottai                                      Walter R. Shamel

Robert C. Lawson                                Clive P. Murdoch                                 Woodard  Shaw, Jr.

Carl A. Lee                                               William Murphy                                   Ralph L. Shearer, Jr.

Carl A. Lein                                              Richard A. Myers                                Francis F. Sheppard

Joseph J. Lella                                        Aldean E. Nelson                                  Mildred Sheppard

Harry F. Leslie, Jr.                                McCall Nelson                                       Stirling H. Shirk

Kenneth R. Lester                                Stanley Novack                                      Hyman Shor

Edmund E. Lewis                                 Lorraine Odbierzychleb                     Milton R. Silva

Frank T. Lewis, Jr.                               John N. Orr                                              Chris H. Simon

Leon J. Lichtman                                   Donal F. O’Sullivan                             Maurice Singer

Roland J. Lohuis                                    Allen J. Pacensa                                     Peter F. Smiles

Harold W. Long                                     Victor P. Pasca                                       Vincent J. Smorto

Seth H. Low                                            Elmer E. Peterson                                 Theodore R. Spaugy        

Wayne M. Lowry                                Glenn E. Peterson                                 Walter O. Spence

John L. MacAvoy, Jr.                        Joseph T. Persing                                 Gerald  J. Stater

May C. MacDonald                           Chester F. Pinkowski                         Hugh D. Steffy

James H. Mahoney                             Robert J. Postel                                      Curtis E. Stermer

Roy J. Mann                                           Clyde A. Pratt                                        Kenneth M. M. Stewart

Rollin  C. Mansfield                            Warren E. Priest                                     Sheldon H. Stewart

Arthur Marbelstein                              Lowell J. Proud                                      Bernard Schwartz

Willie S. Marchant                                Helen Putnick                                         Robert H. Symons

Joan A. Marta                                        Robert L. Rager                                      Anthony P. Tadin

Wayne N. Mashburn                         Harry C. Raihle                                      Charles Tandit

Walter C. Mason, Jr.                           Ellen M. Respini                                   Norman Tannenbaum

Richard  M. Mattern                          Effie M. Riley                                         Oscar Teitlebaum

Adolf  I. Mayer                                     Florence V. Riley                                  Ellis E. Thomas

Ruth E. McCarty                                 James L. Ritter                                       Louis E. Thompson

Mildred E. McDaniel                         James T. Roach                                      Robert C. Thompson

Leon E. McMain                                  Bruce Robinson                                     Hazel M. Toll

Charlotte M. McNamara                 John D. Rogers, Jr.                               Allan  Traub

Dale E. McPherson                             Wilfrid Rosen                                          Robert E. Traynor

Virgil S. Meadows                                Julian W. Rosenberg                            Vaso  Trbovich

Fred  Meppelink Jr.                            Norman Rosenblum                            James G. Tucei

Eric A. Minden                                      James H. Ross                                        Artie M. Ussery

Frances E. Miner                                   John R. Ross, Jr.                                   Olin C. Van Lare 

 Peter E. Verdicchio                              John Vincek                                             Joseph  Vleck     

              Alex W. Vogel                              August T. Voltz                            John Vrazo

             Gerald W. Wagner                         Linus F. Walter                              Samuel Weinstock

              William H. J. Weis                         John E. Welch                              William V. Whalen

Robert W. Wiedman                     Jesse  L. Wilkins                           Frederick D. Williams

              William E. Williams                              Rosella V. Willits                                 Louise J. Woodruff

              Carolyn  Wollenhaupt                   Ralph Wolpaw                             Vernon W. Worden

Richard C. Wright                         Joseph M. Wygal                          Charles D. Yates

Maurice Yoachim                          Earle W. Young                           Viola F. Zahl

This roster of personnel is taken from one drawn up in Cham and lists those who were overseas with the 120th Evacuation Hospital.  We have made no changes except to correct spelling and add a few names missing from the Cham roster completed in l945.