The tale of the Army’s first functional MASH unit, Council Bluffs’ Mobile 1 (aka Unit K) continues in this episode as writer/researcher Brian Mainwaring delves into the details of how the camps were set up, how they moved from battle to battle near the front lines, and some of the day-to-day challenges they endured including shortages of equipment, manpower, fuel, and safe drinking water.

If you have any questions or comments please email information@TheHistoricalSociety.org

Amelia Bloomer was born in New York but spent most of her adult life in Council Bluffs. Her name is associated with a garment worn by women and women’s rights, but there’s a lot more to the story than that. Amelia Bloomer dedicated her life to righting social wrongs, and when she arrived in Council Bluffs in 1855 she found a town that could very definitely benefit from her services. In this episode Dr. Warner talks with writer and researcher Sara Catterall about Amelia Bloomer’s very significant impact on social issues that included temperance, abolition, equal rights, and the 19th Amendment.

For more information about Sara Catterall’s book, “Amelia Bloomer: Amelia Bloomer: Journalist, Suffragist, Anti-Fashion Icon” go to https://beltpublishing.com/products/amelia-bloomer-journalist-suffragist-anti-fashion-icon

Our podcast guest, Sara, Catterall, is a writer with a Drama degree from NYU and an MLIS from Syracuse University. She was born in Ankara and grew up in South Minneapolis. She has worked as a librarian at Cornell University, as a reviewer and interviewer for Shelf Awareness, and as a professional book indexer. Her work has been published in the NEH’s Humanities magazine and The Sun magazine, and she co-authored Ottoman Dress and Design in the West: A Visual History of Cultural Exchange. She lives with her family near Ithaca, New York. The podcast was recorded via Zoom.

It was one of the deadliest conflicts of all time-- new weaponry resulted in a scale and severity of injuries that was unprecedented. And the trauma of transporting these severely wounded to base hospitals became the weak link in the treatment chain. Relief came in the form of a medical unit from over 4,500 miles away; Mobile Hospital #1, aka Unit K, the Council Bluffs Unit, commanded by a former Council Bluffs mayor. Almost as astonishing as the novel concept of bringing care to the wounded on the battlefield was, the fact this milestone of military medicine pioneered by local doctors, nurses and support staff is today virtually unknown to Council Bluffs residents is even more surprising.

This podcast is first in a series called “Invisible Excellence,” which will explore the history of this remarkable unit. Our guest is local writer and researcher, Brian Mainwaring. Comments, questions, or information about WWI medicine from your family lore are all encouraged. You can contact us at information@TheHistoricalSociety.org.

We would like to acknowledge the contributions of the following:

Historical Society of Pottawattamie County

Jim McMullen and Kandis Kole-Skank of the Pottawattamie County Genealogical Society

Dr. David Holcomb

Dr. James Knott

The reference department at the Council Bluffs Public Library

References for more information:

"Hospital No. 1 Won War Cross," Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil, July 26, 1936

"Glimpsing Modernity: Military Medicine in WWI," Chapter Five, by WIlliam Montgomery, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016

"Unit K the First MASH Unit," Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil, May 20, 2016

"Iowa Hospital Corps Moved with WWI," Omaha World Herald, July 2, 2017

"Brief Hospital of Mobile Hospital No. 1," Journal of the Iowa State Medical Association, April 1920

"One Hundred Years of Iowa Medicine," Iowa State Medical Association, 1950

"The Great War: One Medic's Diary," Bob Reilly, Creighton University Magazine, Summer, 2001

"Joseph Marshall Flint," Samuel Clark Harvey, Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine , March, 1945

In this episode podcast host Richard Warner looks at the distribution of Council Bluffs' squirrel population, why they are black, how rare they are, some of the local traditions and laws regarding them, and how the Pottawattamie County jail ended up with that name. Comments and questions are welcome! You can reach us via email at Information@TheHistoricalSociety.org.

Questions and comments are always welcome.  Here’s link: https://www.thehistoricalsociety.org/contact-us.html

This episode was recorded March 5, 2023 at Prairie Crossing Winery https://www.prairiecrossingwine.com.  The winery is located near Treynor, Iowa, just south of state highway 92.

In the episode Mr. Gray makes reference to the Grape Growers Association and its role in making southwest Iowa a strong force in in the grape industry.  You can find some photos of Prairie Crossing Winery and a brief history of the Association at https://sites.google.com/thehistoricalsociety.org/grape-growers/home.