Scenes at Thayer General Hospital Which Will Be Dedicated Tomorrow

    To Be dedicated tomorrow morning at 10 o’clock, Thayer General Hospital is already operating on a large scale after receiving its first contingent of Army patients last week. Above are some scenes of a routine day at the hospital.
   Shown at the left in the Red Cross Building are (left to right) Pvt Fred Kruse of Sheridan H Y- who must use a wheel chair until the fractured leg which he received on Middle Tennessee maneuvers heals  and 1st Sgt James F. Turner of Arkadelphia Ark, member of the 508th Parachute Infantry who got the broken right leg in a night jump last week; Corp Russell Hale of Frewsbury N Y who must lie straight on the stretcher while numerous broken bones knit beneath a cast that extends up to his chest.. In the center of the picture is Pfc Paul F Parks, native Tennessean and resident of Ellijay, Ga. is being prepared for a graft operation which was performed by Lt Monroe K. Ruch, plastic surgeon at Thayer. Private Parks received a leg injury in a truck accident, At right also shown in the Red Cross Building are three of the new patients: Pvt Gilbert B Slate who lived "just down the road from the hospital" on White Bridge Road and son of Charlie S, Slate of Fayetteville, Tenn,, Corp Lewis Watkins son of Mrs. H. E. Watkins of Knoxville and Tech Sgt Jeff G. Brown, son of Mrs. Susie Brown, 105 Twenty-third Avenue, North. Standing are: Nurse Catherine L Florence, Red Cross Field Director Ellen Wallace, Miss Amy R. Webster, Miss Ruby T, Cox of Nashville, Miss Josephine Neil librarian and daughter of Supreme Court Justice A. B. Neil and Mrs. Neil Miss Pauline Sjogren, Miss Catherine Dunlap assistant Red Cross field director and Miss Mary Wright of Fayetteville Tenn.

[Nashville Banner, Nashville, TN, 13 Oct 1943, Wed, Page 1]
 

 Errata Noted:

•  Frewsbury N, Y.  s/b Frewsburg, N.Y.

•  1st Sgt James F. Turner s/b 1st Lt James F. Turner

Grave marker for James F. Turner in  Plot A, Row 32, Grave 13, Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial, Epinal, Departement des Vosges (Lorraine), France.

James registered for the draft in Bisbee, AZ on 16 October 1940

2nd Lt Turner was transferred into Company "I" 508th PIR on 27 November 1942,

On 18 February 1943 he was appointed to the rank of 1st Lt.

As seen at left, Lt Turner suffered a broken leg in a night jump during the Tennessee Maneuvers.

The Morning Reports for Company I, show that Lt. Turner was sent to a hospital on 6 October 1943 and on 25 October 1943 he was specifically listed as "absent sick at Thayer General Hospital, Nashville, Tennessee."

On 6 November 1943, Lt Turner was transferred to The Parachute School, Fort Benning, GA.  That may indicate that he was to receive additional treatment at the Martin Army Community Hospital at that post.

He apparently was unable to re-qualify for jump status and was transferred to a regular infantry unit.

1st Lt Turner, serving with the 143rd Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division, probably as a platoon leader, was killed in action in Belgium 21 January 1945.

Lt Turner was further memorialized on this headstone placed in Rose Hill Cemetery, Arkadelphia, Arkansas. His parents and 2 siblings are also buried there.