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627

WW2 Named US Army Field Footlocker Trunk

Currency:USD Category:American Indian Art Start Price:10.00 USD Estimated At:50.00 - 75.00 USD
WW2 Named US Army Field Footlocker Trunk
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Named to a Major Owen B Royce of Milwaukee Wisconsin. 12" by 16" by 30". Royce, who completed his residency at Oklahoma University Hospital, became one of the original doctors in the U.S. Army's 21st Evacuation Hospital. "As the clouds of WWII gathered in Europe and the Pacific, 28 OU physicians and dentists formed an elite medical field unit that would serve with distinction until the last battle was won," read an article in the University of Oklahoma Foundation's Sooner Magazine. A native of Greenville, Miss., Royce graduated from medical school at Tulane University before serving his residency at Oklahoma University Hospital. That was also where he met the former Olive Ludwig, a dietician from the Milwaukee area. They married in 1939. Then came plans for the medical unit. "Their story begins on May 3, 1940, when a group of College of Medicine faculty members and residents on the staff at University Hospital quietly resolved to form the 21st Evacuation Hospital of the U.S. Army," according to the 2006 article in the Sooner Magazine. "This act was in response to a nationwide call by the Surgeon General for universities with related hospitals to form medical units that would serve if the United States entered the war raging in Europe and the Pacific," the article continued. "Although America was officially neutral at the time, and the attack on Pearl Harbor still 19 months away, the physicians and dentists who signed up were well aware of world events and knew that eventually they would be in the thick of battle." Royce and the rest of the 21st Evac were called to active duty in July 1942. They first worked - and waited - for 14 months at the Desert Training Center at Needles, Calif. With other Army-assigned personnel, they shipped out for the Pacific theater, first serving in Guadalcanal, then Bougainville in the Solomon Islands and then in the Philippines. "He was a wonderful fellow," said Daniel B. Pearson, 94, in an interview Wednesday. "He was in the medical service and I was in the surgical service. We stayed busy, but when we weren't busy, we played. We threw horseshoes and shot baskets and played baseball and softball. "The worst thing was you were 8,000 miles away from your family," he said. Pearson, of Dallas, returned to general practice and later became a psychiatrist, retiring only last year. Back in the states, Royce and his wife settled in her home state. He long practiced in the old Goldsmith Building, across from the Hotel Pfister, and later on Mayfair Road and at a clinic in Mequon. With his wartime experience, he became known as something of a Milwaukee expert on tropical diseases. In routine practice, Royce also made house calls when that was needed. He practiced a total of 59 years.
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