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| Lt. William T. Fitzsimons |
While the
William T. Fitzsimons and Clarence A. McGuire collections at the National World
War I Museum are small, the stories they convey make them collections of special
interest and for this reason, Over There project staff have selected both
collections for future digitization. In
the Fitzsimons and McGuire collections, there are various artifacts, a couple
of photographs, and numerous newspaper articles, but the most notable item
between the two collections is a six-page account of the bombing of Base
Hospital No. 5 on September 4, 1917, handwritten by McGuire.
Dr.
William T. Fitzsimons, at 28, had already won recognition in the medical
profession. He graduated from Kansas
University in 1912 and worked as an interne at St. Mary’s Hospital and later in
the same capacity at Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. From New York, he went to England with a Red
Cross unit and served for 15 months in a hospital in South Devon, England. When he returned to Kansas City, he devoted much
of his time to lecturing on war conditions and showing slides of pictures taken
by him in war hospitals. After receiving
his commission in March 1917 as a first lieutenant in the United States Army
Medical Corps, Fitzsimons sailed for France with a Harvard University constructed
unit for Base Hospital No. 5 in Dannes-Camiers, France.
Dr. Clarence A. McGuire, also of
Kansas City, found himself on a similar timeline as Dr. Fitzsimons. McGuire was a graduate of Kansas City
Medical College and served as interne at the German Hospital. When he volunteered for service at the age of
33, he was a surgeon on staff at St. Mary’s Hospital. After receiving his
commission in June 1917, and serving one month at the United States Army School
in Washington, McGuire went overseas in July 1917, and assigned to No. 83
Dublin General Hospital in Wimereux, France.
In August 1917, McGuire joined Fitzsimons at Base Hospital No. 5. Less than a month later, on September 4,
1917, McGuire and Fitzsimons became casualties of the German bombing of Base
Hospital No. 5.
Various newspaper articles in the collections recount McGuire’s
story. McGuire reported that he and
Fitzsimons had been out for a walk in the moonlight. At approximately 11 p.m., they returned to
their tents, which were side-by-side. Upon
arrival, they noticed the lights dim suddenly, the signal that a hostile plane
was in the vicinity. This warning caused
soldiers to extinguish all the lights immediately. As quickly as the warning came, German
aircraft dropped five bombs on the hospital and explosions quickly tore through
the compound.
In his handwritten account of the bombing, McGuire tells of
the moment the bombs fell on Base Hospital No. 5. “After telling Dr. Fitzsimons good night...I
was lying there facing the west when I heard a terrific explosion and I jumped
which threw my cot on edge and which was very lucky for me as I would not be
here to tell the story. Dr. Fitzsimons
heard the hum of the plain and was standing in the door of his tent looking out
and asked one of the men what was going on when a bomb was dropped at his feet
which killed him instantly.”
In a
document dated May 16, 1940, Major General Emory S. Adams, The Adjutant General
wrote the Kansas City Liberty Memorial Association concerning the death of Dr.
William T. Fitzsimons. “Lieutenant
Fitzsimons and Privates First Class Rudolph Rubino, Jr. (New York, NY), Oscar
C. Tugo (Boston, MA), and Leslie G. Woods (Streator, IL), also of the Medical
Department, who were killed September 4, 1917, in the bombing of the United
States Army Base Hospital No. 5, were the first American soldiers to be killed
during the World War by military agents of the German Government.” Fitzsimons had earned the unlucky distinction
of being the first American officer killed in World War I.
In the bombing of Base Hospital No. 5, McGuire received shrapnel
wounds, one piece passing through his shoulder and another striking his
leg. After the
air raid, personnel transferred McGuire to No. 20 General Hospital to receive further
medical attention. He rejoined his unit
in October 1917. In January 1918, McGuire
was promoted to Captain and in February 1919 to Major. Dr. McGuire served as a
surgeon at Base Hospital No. 5 for 22 months before he returned to the United
States for discharge.
Bibliography
McGuire, Clarence
A. Collection. 2009.13. National World War I Museum, Kansas City, MO.
