When the war came to Gatton

Commemorating 80 years since the withdrawal of the US Army's General Hospital

The tremendous cost of war has left an indelible scar on Australia. While more than 400,000 Australian troops took up arms to defend Great Britain in World War I, it wasn’t until World War II that the country felt the threat of invasion for the first time.

And by 15 March 1942, the war was knocking on the doorstep of the small town of Gatton, in Queensland’s Lockyer Valley.

The United States Army had requisitioned the Queensland Agricultural College and High School (now UQ Gatton) and established the first operational US Army General Hospital in Australia. The campus treated nearly 20,000 US soldiers and housed 3,000 medical staff over a 2-year period until July 1944, when it was the primary military hospital in the Southwest Pacific region during World War II.

Those 2 years are a significant period in the history of the campus and equally significant for Harvard University, from which the hospital drew almost its entire medical staff.

As well as treating patients, the hospital provided medical staff to support the military’s forward deployments and developed expertise in the treatment of injuries and illness in the tropics.

The US soldiers and staff also made an enormous contribution to the local community and to the development of the Gatton campus, installing sewerage systems, landscaping, roads and other infrastructure that is still used today.

UQ commemorated the 80th anniversary of the hospital’s withdrawal from Gatton at a special event at UQ’s Gatton campus on 29 August, when more than 120 attendees reflecting on the impact to the community and acknowledged the service of the medical staff who saved so many lives.

Official speeches and a tree-planting ceremony were held at the central walkway with a view to Morrison Hall, which served as the headquarters for the hospital, while archival images and videos were on display in Morrison Hall.

Ralph Epstein, who has just turned 94, and Neville Smith (99) were students at the Queensland Agricultural College and High School during the US Army occupation and shared their recollections of life on campus and their interactions with the US soldiers and medical staff in a video prepared for the 80th anniversary.

Watch the video below to hear about Ralph's and Neville's memories