Re: Happy 75th Golden Gate

06/01/12 - posted by Richard

It might be possible that the uniforms your grandparents cleaned were from hospital ships that brought sick and wounded men from battlefields in the Pacific to Letterman Hospital at the Presidio in San Francisco. If a man died or was killed in a combat zone, he was undoubtedly buried in what he was wearing at the time. His clothing stayed with him.
If a man was sick or wounded, he was transferred as soon as possible to the nearest hospital ship so he could get the best care possible. On board his field clothing would be exchanged for hospital garb. Thousands of items of field clothing could be easily taken back to the states where it could be cleaned, repaired, and reissued, saving the government money.

Letterman General Hospital was the largest and busiest hospital in the country during WWII. In 1945 alone it received more than 73,000 patients. Its location made it the most important hospital for the treatment of sick and wounded soldiers from the Pacific Theatre.