The American Field Service began in World War I when it was formed to transport wounded French soldiers. In 1914, it began its operations in an auxiliary military hospital in Paris. This volunteer-run, citizen founded hospital opened in September 1914, as an extension of the nearby American Hospital of Paris.
AFS paramedics were unarmed and put their life as risk to save the lives of soldiers wounded in battles. Their mission was based on compassion, not conflict. During this war, 2,500 men served in the AFS with the French Army of which 127 AFS died while on duty.
As WWII continued, a group of American men volunteered to assist the United States and allied countries by providing non-combatant people to assist in helping with the care of the injured.
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| World War II ambulance |
AFS organized and deployed the volunteer ambulance drivers, providing essential medical evacuation and transportation services to wounded soldiers on various fronts. The volunteers in the American Field Service were American males, ages eighteen years to the forties, non-combatant, and in good standing with the governments of the U.S. and Great Britain.
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| It was the American Field Services that also helped in the liberation of the concentration camp, Bergen-Belsen. Their compassion was certainly needed there. |
George R. DeMuth
The unit in which George R. DeMuth of Sherwood, Ohio, served had been organized in New York, transported to Scotland and then to Ceylon and India. Dr. DeMuth told,
"Ours was the last AFS group assembled in the United States in World War II. It was headed for CBI or SEAC (China, Burma, India, or Southeast Asian Command, depending upon British or American orientation."
"I volunteered as an ambulance driver to support a nearby British army clinic in India. I had a relief driver. The advantage for the two of us was our having our lunch in the dining area with the hospital staff. This was a chance to learn the concerns and expectations of the British staff."
In addition to India and the experiences there, George was also able to spend time in England. These were quite memorable times and experiences for a young man not yet 20.
After the war George earned his medical degree from the University of Michigan. At Fredericksburg, Maryland, he researched antidotes to biochemical welfare. Most of his medical career, however, was in Ann Arbor where he served on the University of Michigan medical staff as a pediatric doctor and also served on the teaching staff at the hospital.
After a long, distinguished medical career, it was AFS that he asked to be put on his grave stone.
Mary Williams, Researcher
