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  • Before WWI, there was no experience of delivering care to large units such as divisions.

  • Preparing for conflicts of millions of men on a side and casualties in ten of thousands had been unheard of for 60 years by the time WWI started.

  • At the time WWI began, The Red Cross was an organization which provided ambulances and delivered medical care.

  • The Red Cross had provided 47 ambulance units to assist the British and French armies.

  • WWI caused 350 thousand American casualties, and over 117 thousand of them were deaths.

  • WWI represented the coming of age of American military medicine.

 

Preparing for conflicts of millions of men on a side, and casualties in ten of thousands, had been unheard of for 60 years by the time WWI started. But the system was ready to accept the major changes. Following the public outcry over the large number of soldiers that died from disease during the Spanish-American War of 1901, the Army Medical Corps had re-organized, establishing both medical, dental, veterinary and nursing corps. They also established the Army reserve corps for the medical officers, to be mobilized in case of war. With WWI looming, the National Defence Act of 1916 enacted further organizational changes. By 1917, the Medical Corps was prepared to field a number of hospitals.

At the time WWI began, The Red Cross was an organization which provided ambulances and delivered medical care. The Red Cross was also of great assistance. It had been invoked in the war ever since the year 1916, while providing 47 ambulance units in order to assist the British and French armies. All of these units were taken into the Army after the war was declared.

The war caused a total of 350 thousand American casualties, and over 117 thousand of them were deaths. Today, the best estimates would be 53 thousand combat deaths, and 64 thousand deaths from disease.

WWI represented the coming of age of American military medicine. The techniques and organisational principles of the Great War were actually very different from earlier wars, and even more advanced than them. Medical and surgical techniques represented the best available in civilian medicine at the time of the war. Many of the American medicine leaders were found on the battlefield of Europe in the years 1917 and 1918. Despite lacking polish and being far from perfect, the country was rightly proud of their medical efforts during the war.

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