This portrait of Private First Class Donald P. Myers (1898-1991) was taken at Camp Fremont in Palo Alto, California, in the spring of 1918. This image is one of several photographs pasted to an album page, featuring photographs of Myers and others from Base Hospital No. 50 in California and France. Don Myers was born in Seattle and was a clerk at Northwest Trust and Savings Bank when he enlisted in the U.S. Army on March 27, 1918. He served at Base Hospital No. 50, and was discharged from the Army on May 15, 1919.

Base Hospital No. 50 was created at the University of Washington in October 1917 as part of a mobilization of base hospitals at universities and civilian hospitals because the United States Army did not have an established medical corps when the country entered World War I in 1917. The Base Hospital unit consisted of medical staff, nursing staff, and civilian enlistees without previous medical experience. The unit was mobilized on March 27, 1918 at Fort Lawton, Washington, then transferred to Camp Fremont, California, on April 6, 1918 for further training. The unit served 7,399 sick and wounded patients in Mesves sur Loire, France from August 6, 1918 to January 20, 1919. Shortly after the war, the personnel of Base Hospital No. 50 formed a veteran’s group, and they continued to meet until around 1986.

Handwritten under image: P.F.C. Myers
Caption information source: http://basehospital50.blogspot.com/