WWII, 77th / 231st Station Hospital (U.S Army Hospital Plant 4210) Wymondham Collage, Morley St Peter.
Site photos – www.flickr.com/photos/139375961@N08/shares/223i4Mz160
The 77th / 231st Station Hospital was built on a site requisitioned by the British Ministry of Works in 1943 and selected as the location for a Military Hospital to support nearby bases of the 8th U.S Army Air Force. The site was located at Morley Hall in Norfolk (later designated U.S Army Hospital Plant 4210) The Medical Facility was built under Reverse Lend-Lease arrangements and was completed course of September 1943. The first established unit on the site was the 77th Station Hospital Unit, which was later reorganized and redesignated the 231st Station Hospital, on the 3rd of March 1944.
On the 1st of January 1944, the organization (231st Station Hospital) was in charge of the Hospital Plant installation at Redgrave Park in Suffolk. At various times in February 1944, groups of personnel were placed on DS with the 77th Station Hospital located at Morley Hall, in anticipation of a possible Unit Transfer. As of midnight on the 3rd of March 1944, the 231st Station Hospital relinquished responsibility for the Redgrave Park Hospital Plant and assumed full responsibility for the one at Morley Hall.
The 231st Station Hospital was a large complex serving 15 Heavy Bomber Bases, a Fighter Group, and affiliated service organizations, such as Engineer, Quartermaster, and Ordnance Personnel, representing an estimated force of 60,000 men. Most of the surgical services were carried out on casualties arising from the high-altitude missions that took place over occupied and enemy territory (France, Holland, Norway, and Germany).
Major statistics -
▪︎60% of all casualties received, resulted from flak
▪︎15% from cannon shell fragments
▪︎The rest from crashes and flight accidents
▪︎General age of patients was between 18 to 30 years old
▪︎Almost all injuries / wounds were classed as severe
▪︎80% of wounds involved upper and lower extremities
▪︎15% covered head wounds
▪︎Only a small number of chest and abdomen wounds (due to the wearing of effective protective flak jackets).
2,099 patients evacuated by hospital trains were treated at the hospital plant after the D-Day Landings (the first trainload being received on the 12th of July 1944) The organization functioned as a Station Hospital during its entire World War Two period. Its activity was varied - throughout the whole period, the 231st Station Hospital served as a receiving hospital for Army Air Force battle casualties rushed direct from operational missions over Europe. After the invasion of France, army ground forces casualties were also received, after they had been evacuated through more forward echelons. During the latter third part of 1944, the unit was authorized to board patients for transfer to the Zone of Interior, and from this time on it functioned simultaneously as a Station Hospital, a General Hospital, and a forward-echelon Evacuation Hospital (the hospital unit’s first patients were returned to the Zone of Interior on the 14th of Aug 1944).
The one unit receiving full medical support from the 231st Station Hospital was the 452d Bombardment Group (H), initially commanded by Lt. Colonel Herbert O. Wangeman (15th of June 1943) and later followed by Lt. Colonel Robert B. Satterwhite (8th of February 1944). The Unit’s nearest Airfield was at RAF Deopham Green, USAAF Station 142.
The World War Two USAAF Hospital closed at midnight on the 8th of June 1945, but Wymondham College has not forgotten its links with the past and there are features today which remind students and visitors of the important role that the site played. The site remained in Ministry of War ownership for a short time and became a Transit Camp for the Royal Norfolk Regiment until at least August 1946 when it was a Staging Post for Troops embarking overseas, it is also understood that Norfolk's fleet of Green Goddesses was stored there. Between 1947 and 1950 the site was taken over by the Ministry of Education for Emergency Teachers' Training.
Morley Hall was part of that establishment, but when Wymondham College came into being in 1951 the hall was used by the Norfolk authorities as a 'Borstal' (Approved School) until at least the 1960's. The rows of Nissen Huts, Surgical and Psychiatric Wards and other buildings that were constructed on the site, were after the war used as an 'Emergency Teacher Training college' for demobbed troops, many of the old Nissen Huts were used as classrooms, being replaced with modern buildings as time passes, only one Nissen Hut remains, ''The Chapel'' which is still in use, and has received recent refurbishment work.
www.edp24.co.uk/news/23289728.wymondham-college-ww2-usaaf...
WWII, 77th / 231st Station Hospital (U.S Army Hospital Plant 4210) Wymondham Collage, Morley St Peter.
Site photos – www.flickr.com/photos/139375961@N08/shares/223i4Mz160
The 77th / 231st Station Hospital was built on a site requisitioned by the British Ministry of Works in 1943 and selected as the location for a Military Hospital to support nearby bases of the 8th U.S Army Air Force. The site was located at Morley Hall in Norfolk (later designated U.S Army Hospital Plant 4210) The Medical Facility was built under Reverse Lend-Lease arrangements and was completed course of September 1943. The first established unit on the site was the 77th Station Hospital Unit, which was later reorganized and redesignated the 231st Station Hospital, on the 3rd of March 1944.
On the 1st of January 1944, the organization (231st Station Hospital) was in charge of the Hospital Plant installation at Redgrave Park in Suffolk. At various times in February 1944, groups of personnel were placed on DS with the 77th Station Hospital located at Morley Hall, in anticipation of a possible Unit Transfer. As of midnight on the 3rd of March 1944, the 231st Station Hospital relinquished responsibility for the Redgrave Park Hospital Plant and assumed full responsibility for the one at Morley Hall.
The 231st Station Hospital was a large complex serving 15 Heavy Bomber Bases, a Fighter Group, and affiliated service organizations, such as Engineer, Quartermaster, and Ordnance Personnel, representing an estimated force of 60,000 men. Most of the surgical services were carried out on casualties arising from the high-altitude missions that took place over occupied and enemy territory (France, Holland, Norway, and Germany).
Major statistics -
▪︎60% of all casualties received, resulted from flak
▪︎15% from cannon shell fragments
▪︎The rest from crashes and flight accidents
▪︎General age of patients was between 18 to 30 years old
▪︎Almost all injuries / wounds were classed as severe
▪︎80% of wounds involved upper and lower extremities
▪︎15% covered head wounds
▪︎Only a small number of chest and abdomen wounds (due to the wearing of effective protective flak jackets).
2,099 patients evacuated by hospital trains were treated at the hospital plant after the D-Day Landings (the first trainload being received on the 12th of July 1944) The organization functioned as a Station Hospital during its entire World War Two period. Its activity was varied - throughout the whole period, the 231st Station Hospital served as a receiving hospital for Army Air Force battle casualties rushed direct from operational missions over Europe. After the invasion of France, army ground forces casualties were also received, after they had been evacuated through more forward echelons. During the latter third part of 1944, the unit was authorized to board patients for transfer to the Zone of Interior, and from this time on it functioned simultaneously as a Station Hospital, a General Hospital, and a forward-echelon Evacuation Hospital (the hospital unit’s first patients were returned to the Zone of Interior on the 14th of Aug 1944).
The one unit receiving full medical support from the 231st Station Hospital was the 452d Bombardment Group (H), initially commanded by Lt. Colonel Herbert O. Wangeman (15th of June 1943) and later followed by Lt. Colonel Robert B. Satterwhite (8th of February 1944). The Unit’s nearest Airfield was at RAF Deopham Green, USAAF Station 142.
The World War Two USAAF Hospital closed at midnight on the 8th of June 1945, but Wymondham College has not forgotten its links with the past and there are features today which remind students and visitors of the important role that the site played. The site remained in Ministry of War ownership for a short time and became a Transit Camp for the Royal Norfolk Regiment until at least August 1946 when it was a Staging Post for Troops embarking overseas, it is also understood that Norfolk's fleet of Green Goddesses was stored there. Between 1947 and 1950 the site was taken over by the Ministry of Education for Emergency Teachers' Training.
Morley Hall was part of that establishment, but when Wymondham College came into being in 1951 the hall was used by the Norfolk authorities as a 'Borstal' (Approved School) until at least the 1960's. The rows of Nissen Huts, Surgical and Psychiatric Wards and other buildings that were constructed on the site, were after the war used as an 'Emergency Teacher Training college' for demobbed troops, many of the old Nissen Huts were used as classrooms, being replaced with modern buildings as time passes, only one Nissen Hut remains, ''The Chapel'' which is still in use, and has received recent refurbishment work.
www.edp24.co.uk/news/23289728.wymondham-college-ww2-usaaf...