F. Arrived No. 16 General Hospital, B.E.F., Le Tréport, France, Sept. 7 1917

Outerbridge spent the majority of his time with Pennsylvania Hospital Unit 10 stationed at Base Hospital 16, a British Expeditionary Forces station in Le Tréport, France. Base Hospital 16 was grouped with other Hospitals including No. 2 Canadian, No. 47 General and No. 3 General and “Lady Murray’s," permanent hospitals in the region, for a total of about 9,000 beds. Pennsylvania Hospital Unit 10 assumed command of the base in late 1917.

"Men rarely stay here more than a month, which means there is little operative work being done. The emergency operating is done at the stations closer to the line and is considered “terminal surgery." Surgery not related to saving life, but to fix wounds is done in England. It takes about 24 hours to get there from the line so only less serious cases that can stand the transportation are sent and more serious cases are kept at the “casualty clearing station," which is 5-10 miles behind the lines. A majority of our cases are those who are not too sick to travel, but need anywhere from four or five weeks of hospital treatment before returning to England or returning to service . . . This is not really a base hospital at all-i.e. one where patients are kept until they are well, but an evaluation hospital through which cases are passed on their way to England if at all serious or likely to be of long duration."

From June 13, 1917 to December 31, 1918, roughly the time when the base was run by Unit 10, 47,811 patients were admitted, 22,431 wounded and 24,222 sick, of which 398 wounded and 140 sick died. 3,736 surgical procedures were performed, the great majority of which were for shrapnel removal, with many amputations as well. The patients were chiefly part of the British Expeditionary Forces (including British, Scottish, Irish, Australian, New Zealanders, South Africans and Canadians), with the number of American soldiers admitted being 3,012, 44 of whom died. During this period, 5,852 patients were given x-rays as well and no less than 18,878 pathological and bacteriological examinations were made.