![New-Letterman](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/New-Letterman.jpg)
The Letterman Army Hospital, established around 1898 and redesignated as the Letterman Army Medical Center (LAMC) in 1969, was a
US Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
facility at the
Presidio of San Francisco
The Presidio of San Francisco (originally, El Presidio Real de San Francisco or The Royal Fortress of Saint Francis) is a park and former U.S. Army post on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, and is part o ...
in
San Francisco, California
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
, US. It was decommissioned in 1994. Some of the original 1898 buildings still exist and now house the
Thoreau Center for Sustainability
Tides' Thoreau Center for Sustainability are green nonprofit centers that house more than 70 nonprofit organizations in San Francisco and New York City. Thoreau Centers for Sustainability are operated by Tides Shared Spaces, a Tides initiative.
H ...
. The Letterman Army Medical Center built in the 1960s era was demolished to make way for Letterman Digital Arts Center.
History
The hospital, built in 1898 and named in 1911 for Major
Jonathan Letterman
Major Jonathan Letterman (December 11, 1824 – March 15, 1872) was an American surgeon credited as being the originator of the modern methods for medical organization in armies or battlefield medical management. In the United States, Letterman i ...
, MD (1824–1872) – known as the "Father of Battlefield Medicine" – was utilized in every US foreign conflict in the 20th century, and remained in service until the army base was decommissioned in 1995.
[Letterman History](_blank)
at the nps.gov Due to its location on the West Coast, the hospital often served as a key stateside point in support of American wars in the Pacific. In 1945, the hospital received more than 73,000 patients from the
Pacific Theater
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. The hospital had an
Italian Service Unit of 40 men to help at the hospital during the war. During the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, the hospital received wounded American soldiers returning to the mainland.
The building was decommissioned in 1994
[History Article](_blank)
Presidio Post, September 1998
at the rehabilitated Letterman when the base was transferred to the National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
and was demolished in 2002. In 2005, Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is a business segment of The Walt Disney Company. The studio is best known for creating and producing the ''Star Wars'' and ' ...
opened the Letterman Digital Arts Center
The Letterman Digital Arts Center (LDAC), is an institution located in the Presidio, San Francisco, that has served as the combined home of Industrial Light & Magic, LucasArts, and Lucasfilm's marketing, online, and licensing units since 2005. ...
on the site of the old hospital.
See also
*Public Health Service Hospital (San Francisco)
The Public Health Service Hospital (PHSH) is a defunct hospital located in the Presidio of San Francisco, it was in operation (in this name) from 1912 to 1981. The precursor hospital was the San Francisco Marine Hospital, established in 1853, and ...
*List of former United States Army medical units
The following is a list of former (inactivated or decommissioned) U.S. Army medical units – both fixed and deployable – with dates of inactivations, demobilizations, or redesignations.
Named hospitals Civil War era
''Note: an asterisk (*) ...
References
External links
Letterman Army Medical Center on Militarymuseum.org
Hospital buildings completed in 1898
1994 disestablishments in California
Closed installations of the United States Army
Closed medical facilities of the United States Army
History of San Francisco
Hospitals established in 1898
Hospitals in San Francisco
Defunct hospitals in California
Presidio of San Francisco
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