I hate to dispute anybody who calls himself an “oldfart” because I can’t type and laugh at the same time (although I can multi-task...at times.)
There was Gorgas Hospital (civilian) located in Ancon, Canal Zone. It was a huge hospital. At the time of WWII, it contained huge wards mostly filled with our wounded military.
There was a HUGE hospital being built at Fort Clayton, on the Pacific side, in preparation for our Pacific island hopping we were going to have to do. It was in preparation for receiving the wounded coming out of the Pacific.
All that became irrelevant when we dropped our atomic bombs on Japan although the hospital was ready by then.
Anybody who argues how awful we were to drop two A-bombs on Japan needs to come here to Panama and see what the U.S. built expecting the worse for our military.
Also, these same idiots forget the death at Pearl Harbor.
Were those hospitals administered by the US military or were theybeing utilized in much the same way industries were all over the country?