William Robiner letter to Dr. Henry Milton Whelpley - November 22, 1918
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[November 22, 1918] Hospital Unit 14 Barrack E Old Detention Great Lakes, [Illinois] My Dear [Henry Milton] Whelpley. Undoubtedly you are under the impression that I am somewhere on the high seas by this time, but my luck was not great enough to go there so far. However I expect to be gone in a very short time, as my six months are about up on the station now, and accordingly we can only stay 6 months on the station, and then go on board of ship. Dr. Whelpley, I promised to write up a little history for you in regards to the pharmacists in the Navy. Well, I have fulfilled my promis once, but I am sorry to say that it did not reach you. I had a nice little history written up for you and was ready to mail it the next morning,
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[page 2] but a corpsman happened to find it accidentally, while looking for some official papers, and turned it in to the regimental commender with the other papers, since he did not know any better. The Commender nosily read the few pages and called me on the carpet. I told him that I thought it fully righteous and thats why I wrote it. I also told him that if he were in the pharmacists position, he too would think so. After giving him all the reasons why I thought so, he gave me a good talk on the subject and told me not to do it again, because I may fall in trouble. However, he admitted that I was right and he let me go at that, while waisting the papers at the same time. Of cours that will not by any means keep me from informing you of the pharmacists life in the Navy. I shall send you a little
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[page 3] write up in a short time. I would have done it a long time ago, but for the last three months I had no time to do anything at all. I owe about 2 dozen letters still, while I answered quite a few, within the last two weeks. The Epidemic known as the Spanish Influenza, which has sat in here in the very first days of September has caused all of us plenty of work. We had about 500 cases of that sickness during the spell. The largest number we had at one time was about 150 patients. We all had our hans full. I took care of 65 patients for afew nights without any help, but the cases were gradually starting to reduce and constantly kept on, until we have checked it all. This was only at our unit that I am describing now, and at that it is about the smallest unit on the station. We rang second in saving these men. We only
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[page 4] lost about 19 men of all these cases. The station consisted then of about fourty five thousand men, and about ten thousand men suffered of this sickness of which about a thousand sailors fell as victims. After The station was cleared from the Epidemic, a call for volunteers came in, asking for medical help in the near by towns, as they could not secure enough civilian aid. Another fellow and I volunteered for the cause. We we sent to Barrington Illinois, a near by little town of about fifteen hundred people, and is situated about 35 miles North West of Chicago. There we spent over three weeks where we nursed civilian sick patients. The people in that town were so pleased with our work that they used to send
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[page 5] cakes, pies, candies, and fruits of all kinds and each package was sent to the hospital and each specifying “For the Sailors”. Besides that the young people of that town used to come out to the hospital with their machines, every night and taking one of us out riding, of cours both of us could not go at the same time since one had to be on duty always. I even lost track on my clasmates, Mr. Arthur Grosse, and Frank Curran. Frank smith, left on a draft to Norfolk Virginia last week. Hall, is on the station doing messenger duty at the commendants office. I accidently met him at the main Gallery (Kitchen) when he ate his noon chow. Hall got very stout, he looks bigger that he was and much fatter. There are no other news on the station so I will make the storyshort.
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[page 6] You will hear from me again shortly, unless something out of ordinary happens. I have not received the Meyer Brothers Druggist for a few monts but I do not know the reason, I persume that they were lost, because I had lot of mail lost lately. Kindly give my best of regards to the [St. Louis College of Pharmacy], faculty. Sincerely Yours, [William] Robiner.
Details
| Title | William Robiner letter to Dr. Henry Milton Whelpley - November 22, 1918 |
| Creator | Robiner, William |
| Source | Robiner, William. Letter to Dr. Henry Milton Whelpley. 22 November 1918. Dr. Henry Milton Whelpley Collection, 1826-1929. A1737. Missouri History Museum, St. Louis, Missouri. |
| Description | William Robiner sent this letter to Dr. Henry Milton Whelpley. Dr. Whelpley was the dean of the St. Louis College of Pharmacy and editor of the Meyer Brothers Druggist magazine. Robiner described the effects of the Spanish Influenza on his camp and the surrounding towns. He also explained his role in the treatment of those who were suffering from the illness. |
| Subject LCSH | World War, 1914-1918; Great Lakes Naval Training Center (Great Lakes, Ill.); Influenza |
| Subject Local | WWI; World War I |
| Site Accession Number | A1737 |
| Contributing Institution | Missouri History Museum |
| Copy Request | Transmission or reproduction of items on these pages beyond those allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the Missouri History Museum: 314-746-4510 |
| Rights | The text and images contained in this collection are intended for research and educational use only. Duplication of any of these images for commercial use without express written consent is expressly prohibited. Contact the Missouri History Museum's Permissions Office at 314-746-4511 to obtain written consent. |
| Date Original | November 22, 1918 |
| Language | English |