This project was supported in whole or in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian Made accessible through a grant from the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation and Photo Friends
Authorized by War Department General Order 48 on August 24 1943, Van Nuys General Hospital opened in early 1944 to serve as both a general and debarkation hospital. It was soon renamed in honor of Brigadier General Henry Patrick Birmingham (1854-1932), Medical Corps, U.S. Army. Birmingham Veterans Administration Hospital operated until 1950 and was acquired by Los Angeles City Schools a year or two later for the token price of $1.00. In 1953, Birmingham High School opened as a 7-12 grade school. Part of the high school campus was used as an air defense missile battalion headquarters from April 1956 to November 1968. Photograph caption dated June 1, 1950 reads, "These grim-faced paraplegics show no elation as they were being loaded into a bus for the move from Birmingham hospital to Long Beach. Forty large buses and 80 ambulances were utilized to transfer the patients and personnel to their new home - for Birmingham had been home for many of these men since the facility was taken over by the Veterans Administration on April 1, 1946. Many of these patients built specially equipped homes in the Valley in order to be near their center of treatment."
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;21 x 26 cm. Photographic prints
Birmingham Veterans Administration Hospital (Los Angeles, Calif.) Veterans--United States Buses--California--Los Angeles Veterans' hospitals--California--Van Nuys (Los Angeles) Hospitals--California--Van Nuys (Los Angeles) Wheelchairs--California--Los Angeles Patients--California--Los Angeles Women--California--Los Angeles Men--California--Los Angeles Group portraits Portrait photographs Valley Times Collection photographs
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