United States. A Distinguished Service Medal Group To Brigadier General F. Weed, Creator Of Medical Quarantine Camps, 1917

United States. Distinguished Service Medal with Oak Leaf Device, bronze and navy blue enamels, 38.2 mm, unmarked, on original ribbon with brooch pinback, ribbon faded and ripped along pinbar, near very fine condition, in original case of issue, interior lid and base ripped, exterior very worn, fine condition; World War I Victory Medal with FRANCE clasp, bronze, 36mm, on original ribbon with brooch pinback, surface contact and edge bruising evident, ribbon tattered, near very fine condition; Philippines Insurrection Medal, bronze, 33mm, impressed "No. 18431" on the edge, original ribbon with brooch pinback, dark patina, light contact, better than very fine. Army Medical Corps Insignia Lapel Pin, bronze, 25mm (w) x 21mm (h), vertical pinback, extremely fine condition; Army Rank Insignia, bronze, 18mm (w) x 19mm (h), vertical pinback, extremely fine condition.

Footnote: Frank Watkins Weed was born in Baltimore on April 12, 1881.  He graduated with a degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of Maryland in 1903, and entered the army as a surgeon the following year, on May 19. Weed was first stationed at Fort McHenry, Maryland before travelling to the Philippine Islands with the 6th infantry. By 1907 he was stationed at the Philippine Divisional hospital in Manila, but was back in the United States, specifically at Pine Camp, New York, in 1908. This was also the year he received his promotion to captain and was formally commissioned in the Medical Corp. Weed returned to the Philippines in 1912 and was stationed at the Pettit Barracks as a District Health Officer, but later found himself back at the Philippines Divisional Hospital until July of 1914, when he was transferred to Tientsin, China alongside American troops.

When the United States entered the First World War, Weed was stationed at Camp Funston, Kansas with the 89th Division. It was here that he established and perfected the Army Quarantine Camp, which became the model implemented all over the country. For this service, he received a Distinguished Service Medal. His Citation reads: “In August, 1917, as sanitary inspector at Camp Funston, Kans., he initiated and perfected the organization and establishment of a standardized type of detention and quarantine camp, the successful operation of which resulted in the installation of similar camps in all large cantonments throughout the United States during the war. This original and constructive work of his had a marked influence in controlling epidemic diseases, then prevalent, and greatly facilitated the rapid mobilization and training of urgently needed man power. From January until August, 1918, as general sanitary inspector, Surgeon General’s Office, he rendered services of the highest order. Later, while on duty in the hospital division of the chief surgeon’s office, American Expeditionary Forces, a transportation officer in charge of hospital trains, ambulances and the movement of sick and wounded within the American Expeditionary Forces to the United States during the period from January to July 1919, he directed the evacuation of over 100,000 sick and wounded to the United States.”

In the first half of 1918, Weed was stationed in Washington, D.C, at the Office of the Surgeon General, prior to being transferred to France to serve with the Hospitalization Division. Following the war, he was assigned to the El Paso, Texas District, as the District Surgeon. He was also promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on March 8, 1919. The next year, he was positioned as the Surgeon at Fort Bliss, also located in Texas. From 1921 until 1928, Weed was the assistant editor, then editor in chief of the Army School’s Medical Department’s fifteen-volume official history entitled “The Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War.” He then finished the Army War College in 1929, and upon graduation he was employed as an instructor with the 94th Division, Organized Reserves at Boston, Massachusetts. In May of 1930, he was promoted to Colonel. By February of 1932, Weed was stationed back in the Philippine Islands, serving as the Harbour Defense Surgeon at Fort Mills. The following year he assumed command of the Sternberg General Hospital. In 1935 he was back in the United States, serving as a surgeon at the Military Academy at Westpoint, New York and was also employed as a professor in the department of Military Hygiene. In 1939, he was transferred to Governor’s Island, serving as a surgeon for the Second Corps Area.

During the Second World War, Weed became a surgeon of the First Army at Governor’s Island (1940). In July, 1942, Weed was temporarily promoted to Brigadier General and began commanding the Letterman General Hospital, located in San Francisco. For his excellent organization skills, Weed was awarded a Bronze Oak Leaf for his Distinguished Service Medal. His citation reads: “For exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service in positions of great responsibility. As surgeons of the First Army, Eastern Theater of Operations and First Army, and Eastern Defense Command and First Army, from November 2 1940 to June 1, 1942, Colonel Weed planned, organized, developed and directed the medical services of these commands. The diverse and exacting duties pertaining to these functions were performed with exceptional skill. Under his direction, every opportunity that developed during the expansion of these commands was utilized in perfecting medical installations and services and raining the personnel thereof for actual field service. His conferences with other echelons and with State and local public officials, often on vexations and difficult matters, were conducted with unfailing courtesy, rare wisdom and admirable skill.”

He retired on April 30, 1945. Weed died on September 29, 1945, at Letterman General Hospital in San Francisco. On April 24, 1968, the Weed Army Hospital at Fort Irwin, California, a twenty-four bed clinic, with outpatient facility and six chair dental clinic was dedicated in his name.