Rosalie A. Ferguson: WWI Base Hospital No. 65 Nurse

By Matthew M. Peek, Military Collection Archivist, State Archives of North Carolina

Rosalie (also written as “Rosa Lee” and “Rosalee”) Aileen Ferguson was born on March 8, 1896, in the small community of Evans in the southwest corner of Chatham County, N.C., to John Thomas and Cora L. May Ferguson. By 1900, the Ferguson family was living in Chatham County, N.C., near Siler City, and John Ferguson worked as a farmer. It is unknown where Rosalie Ferguson attended schools before around 1915. As of January 1916, Rosalie Ferguson was training to be a nurse at the Training School for Nurses at the Parrott Memorial Hospital in Kinston, N.C. By July 1917, she had passed her examination to be a registered nurse, and graduated from the training school.

At that time, Ferguson had begun serving as a private nurse in Kinston. She remained working in Kinston until she entered military service in 1918, including assisting famous Kinston doctor James M. Parrott at his medical office for a while. Parrott was the namesake of the hospital where Ferguson trained. It appears that she volunteered for the U.S. Army Nurse Corps (ANC) in 1917 or early 1918.

After the United States entered World War I, Rosalie Ferguson was appointed from civilian life to join the ANC, which at the time of WWI had fewer than 420 active Army nurses in service. She was inducted on May 25, 1918, for service in WWI. She was sent for initial assignment at the Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington, D.C., through July 31, 1918. On that day, when she was attached to a mobile hospital station. Ferguson remained there until the day she left the United States.

On August 31, 1918, Ferguson was assigned to the mobilize for service in France with the newly-formed Base Hospital №65, in which unit she would serve during most of her time in Europe. On September 1, 1918, Ferguson and the rest of the Base Hospital No. 65 staff left for Europe aboard the troop transport ocean liner the RMS Baltic, one of the White Star Liner ships (the sister ship of the Lusitania).

WWI 134.F1.1: Snapshot of three U.S. Army and American Red Cross nurses, wearing white aprons, posing outside of a building believed to be part of the U.S. Army’s Base Hospital No. 65 at Kerhuon, France, during World War I. Pictured is U.S. Army Nurse Corps nurse Rosalie A. Ferguson of Siler City and Kinston, N.C. (center) [circa 1918].

When Base Hospital No. 65 was organized by Dr. John W. Long with the assistance of some others in the medical field under the direct authority of the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army, one of the requirements specified by the War Department was that the personnel be secured from North Carolina. The base hospital initially enlisted 32 medical officers, 203 enlisted men, and 100 nurses. 90% of the nurses in the unit were North Carolinians.

WWI 134.F2.1: Snapshot of the interior of a mess hall at the U.S. Army’s Base Hospital No. 65 in Kerhuon, France, during World War I. Three U.S. Army soldiers who were members of the kitchen staff apparently are pictured, wearing aprons, standing behind one of the mess hall tables [circa 1918].

WWI 134.F2.8: Snapshot of a camp lane between ward buildings at the U.S. Army’s Base Hospital No. 65 in Kerhuon, France, during World War I. Seen are the raised wooden plank walkways in-between the buildings. Several Army soldiers are seen walking around outside (undated).

WWI 134.F2.9: Snapshot of the American Red Cross Recreation Hut for Enlisted Men in the U.S. Army’s Base Hospital No. 65 in Kerhuon, France, during World War I [circa 1918].

WWI 134.F2.12: Snapshot of the American Red Cross Club for Nurses building at the U.S. Army’s Base Hospital No. 65 in Kerhuon, France, during World War I. Two other unidentified hospital camp buildings are pictured [circa 1918].

After arriving in France, Rosalie Ferguson was attached to the newly-formed Base Hospital No. 65. The hospital center at Kerhuon, France, was situated four miles southeast of Brest, and about 1.5 miles from the railroad station of Kerhuon. The center was planned to consist of eight base hospitals, with a total capacity of 8,000 beds, for embarkation purposes. However, only 4,000 beds had been provided when the armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, and further construction was abandoned. The construction of the center was to be completed by September 15, 1918. However, at that time only about 50 per cent of the buildings were under roof; few of them were entirely finished; the water and sewerage systems still were under construction; and there were no roads or walks of any kind.

WWI 134.F1.3: Snapshot of a row of wooden hospital ward buildings at the U.S. Army’s Base Hospital No. 65 in Kerhuon, France, during World War I [circa 1918].

WWI 134.F1.8: Snapshot inside of an unidentified ward room [believed to be an operating room, supply room, or staff meeting area] at the U.S. Army’s Base Hospital No. 65 in Kerhuon, France, during World War I. Piles of sheets and pillows are seen in the background behind a line of wooden chairs setup in the middle of the room (undated).

WWI 134.F1.10: Snapshot of a view [believed taken from a water tower] taken from a height looking down over the U.S. Army’s Base Hospital No. 65’s wards in France around 1918 during World War I [circa 1918].

Base Hospital No. 65 was the first unit to report at Kerhuon on September 16, 1918, and on September 20th the center was organized. Subsequently, the following additional arrived: Base Hospitals Nos. 105, 92, 120. Unlike the other hospital centers of a like capacity, the Kerhuon center always operated as one hospital, with at least 90 per cent of their activities devoted to receiving, preparing, and evacuating patients to the United States.

WWI 134.F2.10: Snapshot of a line of U.S. Army soldiers, some of which are injured and recovering, standing outside of a building believed to be a mess hall appearing to be waiting for a meal at the U.S. Army’s Base Hospital No. 65 in Kerhuon, France, during World War I. The men are holding their Army mess kits. Some of the men are seen using crutches [circa 1918].

WWI 134.F2.11: Snapshot of a group of U.S. Army soldiers sitting inside around the heating stove of a barrack or bunk building at the U.S. Army’s Base Hospital No. 65 in Kerhuon, France, during World War I. Several of the men are seen reading newspapers [circa 1918].

WWI 134.F4.1: Snapshot of a group of injured or sick U.S. Army servicemen posing inside at one end of their hospital ward, with two rows of hospital beds pictured, at the U.S. Army’s Base Hospital No. 65 in Kerhuon, France, during World War I (undated).

Base Hospital No. 65 handled over 40,000 patients during this period. The hospital eventually had a capacity of 4,000. 100 nurses and 200 enlisted men looked after a large number of sick and dying men. The hospital handled wounded men, cases of influenza, pneumonia, pleurisy, cerebro-spinal meningitis, and insanity. In October 1918, the Chief Surgeon of the American Expeditionary Forces called upon Base Hospital No. 65 for two operating teams to be sent to the front as traveling medical teams. This called for a highly trained operating room nurse for each team — two North Carolina women were chosen for these roles. They went with their teams as assigned and spent many weeks in active duty close to the front lines. Supplies, staffing, beds, and time were always short at Base Hospital No. 65.

WWI 134.F8.8: Snapshot of U.S. Army Nurse Corps nurse Rosalie A. Ferguson of Siler City and Kinston, N.C., wearing a white nurse’s apron, laughing as she is standing outside at the corner of a building at the U.S. Army’s Base Hospital No. 65 in Kerhuon, France, during World War I. Caption on back of photograph is partially missing and unreadable [circa 1918].

Rosalie Ferguson’s original American Expeditionary Forces military nurse pass for France in January 1919 [from Folder 11, Rosalie A. Ferguson Collection, WWI 134, WWI Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.].

After the Armistice, Ferguson traveled and attended various entertainments in France, including a U.S. Navy informal dance held in December 1918 in Brest. She also participated between April and May 1919 in dances at Base Hospital No. 65’s “Carolina Club” — setup to entertain North Carolinians stationed with the hospital. Little real detail is known about Ferguson’s work with the hospital before and after the Armistice.

A partial pass for Rosalie Ferguson from April 1919, given out as a mandatory pass to nurses in order to document where they were as an office at the Kerhuon Hospital Center was matching up available spaces on troop transport ships heading back to the United States. If a nurse could not be located before a ship on which they were assigned or a space on a ship suddenly became available on short notice, the ship would sail without the nurse [from Folder 10, Rosalie A. Ferguson Collection, WWI 134, WWI Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.].

Cover of the Kerhuon Hospital Center dance card for a military dance held at the Hotel Continental in Brest, France, on April 21, 1919. U.S. Army Nurse Corps nurse Rosalie Ferguson attended this dance [from Folder 12, Rosalie A. Ferguson Collection, WWI 134, WWI Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.].

The cover and one inside page with last names of those attending a military dance from Base Hospital No. 65 at their “Carolina Club” at the base in Kerhuon, France, on April 8, 1919 [from Folder 12, Rosalie A. Ferguson Collection, WWI 134, WWI Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.].

With the Allied medical facilities demobilizing from France as the occupation of Europe lengthened, Rosalie Ferguson joined a number of other nurses on the U.S. Navy transport ship USS Great Northern to leave from the port of Brest, France, on May 23, 1919. It would arrive in Hoboken, New Jersey, on May 30, 1919. Upon arrival in the U.S., Ferguson was assigned to a nurses demobilization station in New York City, in preparation for being processed out of the ANC. She was honorably discharged from the Army Nurse Corps on June 22, 1919.

After the war, Rosalie Ferguson spent a few months living with her parents at their home in Siler City, N.C. She would return to Kinston, N.C., where she worked as a trained nurse in a doctor’s office at Parrott Memorial Hospital while boarding in a room in a family’s house. By 1922, she had moved to Greensboro, N.C., where she worked as a trained nurse, where her two sisters Nellie and Lizzie Ferguson were living at the time. Ferguson appears to have moved — possibly to Washington, D.C., or Asheville, N.C. — before 1929.

It is unclear how, but Ferguson met a former U.S. Army soldier named Thomas Clarence Whiting, a Canadian-American, and the couple would marry in Washington, D.C., on May 8, 1929. In 1930, Thomas Whiting had traveled to and was staying in Asheville, N.C., while working as an insurance agent. By 1931, the Whitings came to settle in Asheville. It appears that Rosalie suffered some sort of disability from her time serving in France, as in June 1931 she filed a claim against the U.S. government for over $8,000 in disability compensation based on her war risk insurance policy. The nature of the disability is unknown.

By 1935, Thomas Whiting worked as an agent for the Acacia Mutual Life Insurance Company in Asheville. From 1931 or 1932 on, it appears that Rosalie Whiting ran the Whiting Kennels in Asheville. By 1940, Thomas Whiting was working as a salesman for Matthews Motor Sales in Asheville. By 1953, Thomas Whiting was working as a salesman for future Asheville mayor Gene Ochsenreiter’s Gene Ochsenreiter Inc., automobile dealers. Little is known about the couple’s life after the mid-1950s.

Rosalie F. Whiting died on July 23, 1975, in Hendersonville, N.C., and was buried in Chatham Memorial Park in Siler City, N.C.

To learn more about her life and WWI nursing service, check out the Rosalie A. Ferguson Collection (WWI 134) in the WWI Papers of the Military Collection at the State Archives of North Carolina. You can view most of the photographs from the Ferguson Collection online through the State Archives’ Flickr page in this album.