Col. Norman T. Kirk opened the Percy Jones General Hospital on Jan. 15, 1943. With a brief flag raising documented in that day's Enquirer and News, the commanding officer vowed to make it the "best army hospital in the country."
Description:Col. Norman T. Kirk, left, confers with Col. Joseph E. Bastion, who would succeed Kirk as commander. Bastion saw the hospital reach a peak bed capacity of 2,000 and the arrival of the hospital's 40,000th patient in October 1945.
Description:Amputee patients at Percy Jones General take dancing lessons to help them regain their poise and sense of balance. Civil service employees at the hospital volunteer as partners for the veterans.
Description:Amputee patients at Percy Jones General take dancing lessons to help them regain their poise and sense of balance. Civil service employees at the hospital volunteer as partners for the veterans.
Description:Amputee patients at Percy Jones General take dancing lessons to help them regain their poise and sense of balance. Civil service employees at the hospital volunteer as partners for the veterans.
Description:Amputee patients at Percy Jones General take dancing lessons to help them regain their poise and sense of balance. Civil service employees at the hospital volunteer as partners for the veterans. The couples are left to right, Mrs. H.L. Holton Jr. and Sgt. Richard E. Daugherty of Rouge River, Ore., Margaret Cleary and Cpl.john H. Weiss of South Bend, Ind., and Betty Bundy with Sgt. Henry W. Klute of Three Oaks. The photo was published in the Aug. 15, 1943, edition of the Battle Creek Enquirer and News.
Description:Miss Ann D. Kirk, who was 23 when this photo was published in the Enquirer and News on Feb. 21, 1943, plays the $25,000, four-manual organ that W.K. Kellogg donated to Percy Jones General. Kirk's father, Co. Norman T. Kirk, was the hospital commander.
Description:The chapel of Percy Jones General hospital was on the front mezzanine corridor of building No. 1, formerly the main building of the Sanitarium. The windows to the left look out on the columns at the front of the building. At the rear of the chapel is the pipe organ given to the hospital by W.K. Kellogg.
Description:Col. Norman T. Kirk, hospital commander pins a Purple Heart medal on one of 31 recipients to receive the honor Feb. 21, 1943, at Percy Jones General army hospital.