Looking for a photo of the WWII 39th General Hospital (Army) at
Auckland, New Zealand. The hospital was created in 1942 consisting of
numerous huts on 75 acres. The hospital remained after the war as the
National Women's Hospital and then the Cornwall Geriatric Hospital.
The last remaining buildings were torn down in 1975. I prefer a
WWII-era photo of the 39th but a photo of any of these buildings from
any era will do. Thanks.

Couldn't get any images. The hospital was named Cornell Hospital after
the WW. Today, after its teardown, it is Cornell Park. Hope this helps
a researcher find an answer

Hello tab3-ga

Photos are probably available in the archives of the Auckland District
Health Board if you like to write to them.

Hello again tab3-ga,

You can find contact details for the Auckland District Health Board on
their web site at the following link:

http://www.adhb.govt.nz/

Good luck with your enquiry!

Hi tab3,

There's a pic here but not a very good one...

http://www.akhealth.co.nz/nwhealthinfo/History/historical_photos.htm

-C

Hello again tab3-ga,

Promising news for you. I have spoken to the Auckland Public Library,
Special Collections (Images). They feel confident that they will find
a number of photographs for you to choose from over the period of the
hospital's existence. They will get back to me in a few hours and I
will advise you of the result etc.

Unfortunately National Women's Hospital does not have photographs,
although they often get requests. So don't try Auckland District
Health Board at this stage.

Re aditya2k's comments: 
Thanks for the response. Everything I've seen re the WWII and later
hositals and park states it was Cornwall not Cornell. I'd be
intetested in seeing what you have that indicates it's Cornell. 
Thanks.

From the National Women's Hosp website: 
"Chronology of Events
9 June 1946
The first baby is born at Cornwall Hospital, the `original National
Women’s hospital’ situated in Cornwall Park next door to the present
Claude Road site. National Women’s was known by its present name from
1955 onwards. Prior to this, it was called the Obstetrical and
Gynaecological Hospital, situated at Green lane West. Earlier, there
was an obstetric and gynaecological unit at Cornwall Hospital."

From a Cornwall Park website:
"Cornwall Park was the vision of "The Father of Auckland" John Logan
Campbell who gave the park as a gift to the people of New Zealand. The
centre piece of the park is One Tree Hill an inactive volcano with a
cone 183.5 metres above sea level that gives panoramic views of the
park and Auckland.

During a visit by the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York in 1901
Campbell handed the deeds of the land over at a ceremony and asked for
it to be named Cornwall Park. The park was designed by Austin Strong,
a relative of the novelist Robert Louis Stevenson and was officially
opened in 1903. During World War 2 park land was used for the United
States Army 39th General Hospital. The hospital remained after the war
and it was not until 1975 that the last buildings were demolished."
 
And from another Cornwall Park website:
"Military Use in World War Two
Parts of the Park near the Olive Grove were planted in potatoes as
part of the war effort to boost food production. The Park became a
centre of military activity, starting with the Home Guard and later as
a a New Zealand army unit headquarters. A New Zealand Royal Air Force
signal base used the mountain. The bracing blocks for the radio masts
can still be seen over the cone.
The major use was the construction of a hospital in the northeast of
the Park by the US Army 39th General Hospital. This dealt with
casualties from the Pacific campaign. The hospital huts covered some
75 acres and were linked by long enclosed corridors. The Park was
closed to the public during the period of most intense military use.
The US Army began moving out in 1944 and the buildings became a New
Zealand government hospital facility with a lease imposed on the Park
by legislation.

The Hospital
Cornwall Hospital 1942 - 1975. The hospital was originally to last for
6 years but did not finally depart the site until 1975 when the land
reverted to pastoral use. In its time the Cornwall Hospital was the
site of National Womens Hospital and of the Cornwall Geriatric
Hospital."

Hello once again tab3-ga,

Still looking good at the Auckland Public Library. While there are no
images in the Special Collections, there are twenty references to
newspaper and magazine articles on Cornwall Hospital in the library's
Auckland Research Center. Library staff believe we would be most
unlucky if some did not have illustrations that would be acceptable to
you.
I am prepared to visit the library, copy any good illustrations,
convert to high quality image files and email to you ( e.g. via the
editors of Google Answers to preserve anonymity ). Please confirm if
you are interested.

Tab3,

Hi. I've spent a great deal of time trying to find pics for you, and
I've had no luck either. But I did find this interesting tidbit today.
Perhaps it will help you or another researcher.

Please scroll about half-way down the following web page.

Chapter IX Pacific Ocean Areas
http://www.armymedicine.army.mil/history/booksdocs/wwii/orgadmin/org_admin_wwii_chpt9.htm

Here's a quote from that page: "In mid-1943, Colonel Maxwell obtained
the release of a medical officer from the 39th General Hospital, an
affiliated unit from Yale University stationed in New Zealand ..."

Does it sound right to you that Yale University had an affiliation
with the 39th General Hospital? Perhaps that's an avenue for further
research.

Here's another link with a pic of some medical staff but not of the
hospital per se. The caption reaffirms a Yale connection.

Medicine at Yale, 1901-1951
http://info.med.yale.edu/library/exhibits/yalemed2/1941-1951.html

Here's a close-up of the same picture:
http://info.med.yale.edu/library/exhibits/yalemed2/worldwar2web.jpg

But I'm not finding much from Yale's online resources to help you
further.

I did find this page of resources. Perhaps your local librarian can
get anything that looks promising from inter-library loan for you.

Military Medicine History Sources
http://www.usuhs.mil/meh/hissrc.html

Good luck finding your photos :)
fsw

To west-ga:  yes, very interested, please proceed. Thanks.

To west-ga: what you descibed (visiting the Auckland Public Library's
research center, etc.) sounds like it may be productive and it
certainly requires an additional effort on your part and as such is
worth more than $25 to me. If you can get me the images you described
within one week (I'm trying to assemble a photo collection for a July
5 birthday) I'll pay an additional $25 either by increasing the value
of this question from $25 to $50 (I'm not certain I can do that) or by
posting another $25 question to which you can reply. Thanks.

Hello once more tab3-ga,

At last! I have copies of three photographs from 'The Auckland Star'
newspaper as follows:
1. Aerial photo taken in 1973. Most of the original buildings were
still there at that time.
2.Exterior view of one of the wards taken in 1945. A nursing sister
and some of her staff are standing in front of the ward which
accommodated private patients.
3. Interior view of one of the first geriatric wards.

I am currently arranging for these to be posted to a site. Will advise
URL in a separate posting.

No payment is necessary. My father is a former New Zealand soldier who
fought alongside Americans in the Solomon Islands during WWII. He was
wounded and spent some time in the US 20th Station Hospital on
Guadalcanal. He was mistaken for a US serviceman in the hospital and
offered a Purple Heart. Naturally he respectfully declined being not
entitled by nationality. Unfortunately Dad has no photos of that
hospital.

Yours sincerely,  west-ga

Dear tab3-ga,

You can find the photographs at the following link:

http://home.ps.gen.nz/~wills

I sincerely hope they are suitable for your needs. Please let me know
if you have any queries or problems. I will watch for postings until
your question expires.

Best regards,  west-ga

to west-ga:  the scans of the 3 photos came through very clearly. They
are quite impressive but what is even more impressive is the effort
you made to get them for me. It is sincerely appreciated. I am very
glad to finally obtain photos to commemorate my father's short stay in
New Zealand, especially photos from the WWII era. He spent about a
month at the 39th recovering in July 1943 but his letters mentioned
the couple of weeks he spent in NZ in Oct. 1942 before he left for the
Solomons. His letters mentioned bivouaced at Mangere, trips to Mission
Bay, Southland and the comment that if there was a more beautiful
place on earth he hasn't seen it. He brought home a few souvenirs
which I still have. He also mentioned going to the Peter Pan Cub in
Auckland several times. Have you ever heard of it? With the exception
of a photo of the 20th Station Hospital on Guadalcanal, I now have
photos of every place he was stationed and lived during his war years
(2/41-8/45)which will be assembled with a transcription of his diary
and letters and given to my mother on her 85th birthday soon. Thank
you again for your great assistance.