118th General Hospital (United States Army)

What remains of the 118th General Hospital

The 118th General Hospital was a U.S. Army military hospital built in 1942 at Riverwood, New South Wales. This was the largest military hospital in Australia, during World War II.

Known as the 118 General Hospital it was planned as a hospital centre of five hospitals consisting of 490 timber barracks-type buildings, which could house a total of 4,250 beds and accommodate up to 1,250 patients and 3,500 staff.

The hospital was formed by doctors and nurses from the Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. The hospital staff arrived in Sydney during June 1942 and ran a 400-bed hospital from August 1942, with a section at the Hydro Majestic Hotel at Medlow Bath.

Mrs Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of the US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, visited the 118 General Hospital on September 8th, 1943.

The U.S. Army vacated the hospital in 1945 and the Royal Navy occupied many of the buildings in January 1945 and the Australian Army used the remainder of the other buildings.

After World War II the site passed to the New South Wales Housing Commission from March 1946 and the huts were used to ease the post-war housing shortage. [1][2]

Many streets in Riverwood remain named after U.S. places, such as Kentucky Road, Michigan Road, Roosevelt Avenue, and Washington Avenue.

## References

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1. ^ "History of Riverwood". Archived from the original on 9 October 2007. Retrieved 5 November 2007.
2. ^ Lawrence, Joan; Madden, Brian; Muir, Lesley (September 1999). Pictorial History of Canterbury Bankstown. Kingsclear Books. p. 94\. ISBN 0-908272-55-3.

## See also

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* List of former United States Army medical units

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Artillery fortifications and military bases in Sydney and surrounds

Artillery fortifications|

* Bare Island
* Ben Buckler Gun Battery
* Bradleys Head Fortification Complex
* Breakwater Battery
* Dawes Point Battery
* Drummond Battery
* Flagstaff Hill Fort
* Fort Banks
* Fort Denison
* Fort Macquarie
* Fort Philip
* Shelly Battery
* Signal Hill Battery
* Smiths Hill Fort
* Anti-motor torpedo boat defensive battery

Fortifications with tunnels|

* Bankstown Bunker
* Beehive Casemate
* Garden Island Tunnel System
* Georges Head Battery
* Henry Head Battery
* Illowra Battery (Hill 60)
* Lower Georges Heights Commanding Position
* Malabar Battery
* Middle Head Fortifications
* Steel Point Battery

Barracks, bases and hospitals|

* Fleet Base East
* Holsworthy Barracks
* Hyde Park Barracks
* Ingleburn Army Camp
* 118th General Hospital
* Sydney Harbour anti-submarine boom net
* Victoria Barracks
* Wallgrove Army Base

See also|

* Coastal defences of Australia during World War II
* Sydney Harbour defences

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