Virtually unknown today is the story of 104 Black medical officers who volunteered to serve during World War I. They were assigned to care for the wounded and sick in the all-Black units of the 92nd and 93rd divisions. Most of these men graduated from the three Black colleges that specialized in the training of medical professions: Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN, Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, D.C. and the Leonard Medical School at Shaw University, Raleigh, N.C. To prepare for their military service, the doctors completed training at the segregated Medical Officers Training Camp at Fort Des Moines in Iowa. Training started in August of 1917. The doctors learned sanitation procedures, camp infirmary work and military medical procedures for combat zones.
This rigorous training program was attended by 118 doctors, but only 104 successfully completed the courses to the satisfaction of the Army. For military service in France, eight doctors were selected out of the 104 African American medical officers to complete additional medical training at Camp Mead, Md. They left for France in May 1918 and supported the Black troops in field hospitals and field artillery. The Leonard Medical School, produced 13 volunteer doctors who served during World War I. One was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross: First Lieutenant Urbane Francis Bass, class of 1906. Under heavy German fire, the Richmond, Va. native made the ultimate sacrifice while aiding wounded soldiers of the 93rd Division’s all-Black 372nd Infantry Regiment.
Urbane Francis Bass was a first lieutenant in the United States Army who was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions during World War I. Bass was born on April 4, 1880, in Richmond, Virginia. He graduated from Virginia Union University in 1902, and from the Leonard Medical School of Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C. in 1906. After leaving Leonard Medical, Bass began a medical practice in Richmond, but by 1909 had moved to Fredericksburg where he opened a larger practice and pharmacy. Bass became the first African American physician since the Reconstruction to reside in the city and his practice was well received by the African American community despite the lack of privileges given by the local hospital.
According to the 1900 Census, only 3% of physicians in Virginia were African Americans, who made up 36% of the state’s population. By 1916, Bass was married and father of four and was settled for some time in Hampton, Virginia. In 1916, Bass offered his services as a doctor for the armed forces. He received a commission as a first lieutenant in the Medical Reserve Corps and reported for duty at Fort Des Moines on August 14, 1916. In April 1917, when President Woodrow Wilson declared that the United States would enter the war, Bass volunteered his services despite the fact he was 37 years old. There had been a huge influx of Black volunteers during World War I, so the Army opened Fort Des Moines for training Black men after a petition was erected by the students of Howard University. However, there was still some discontent at the Fort as many soldiers found that Bass had been unfairly assessed for merely being African American.
After receiving basic medical officer training, he was transferred to Camp Funston, near Manhattan, Kansas, on November 3, 1917. On March 30, 1918, Bass departed from Newport News, Virginia for France, with the 372nd Infantry Regiment of the 93rd Infantry Division on the USS Susquehanna. Upon arriving in France, the 372nd along with the rest of the 93rd Infantry Division were assigned to the French. The French needed combat troops and were accustomed to deploying their own Black colonial troops. While the Americans warned the French not to treat the African American soldiers as equal to White troops, the French ignored this advice and welcomed them into their fighting force. By September 1918, the 372nd and 369th Infantry was responsible for the defenses of Bellenvue Signal Ridge. They assisted the French legions in trying to fend off the German assaults coming from the trenches not far from them. Most of Bass’ work was done in the front lines in the various aid stations, close to the fighting dealing with immediate injuries in the open under prolonged and intense shell fire.
In late September 1918, Bass’s unit took part in the battle that became known as the Meuse-Argonne offensive. This offensive began on September 24, with an artillery barrage followed by an attack across the lines. Dr. Bass’s experience on the front lines of the Meuse-Argonne battle was representative of the risks undertaken by medical personnel in the difficult conditions of the war. On October 6, 1918, while working at a forward aid station near Monthois, France, his unit was facing heavy artillery fire from the Germans leaving many wounded in the processes. Lt. Bass went into the line so he could provide immediate aid to the wounded when a shell blasted in the forward aid station he had been working in. He was fatally injured. Bass remained calm, guiding others at the aid station as they attempted to stop the bleeding. These efforts failed, and Dr. Bass died at the aid station due to his wounds. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross on July 9, 1918, for administering “first aid in the open under prolonged and intense shell fire until he was severely wounded and carried from the field.” Dr. Bass’s service, his death, and the recognition of his heroism illustrate the position of prominent African American physicians in a segregated society.