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On 6 April 1917, American Congress voted to join the war against Germany and their Allies.

President Woodrow Wilson, who had been elected in 1916, had said the country would remain neutral in the conflict, but actions such as the sinking of The Lusitania in 1915 – resulting in the loss of 129 US civilians – would see the need to become part of the Great War.

The first Red Cross Military Hospital for US Forces in Great Britain opened in 1918 in Mossley Hill in south Liverpool. It was ideally located – just 15 minutes from the docks where soldiers would be transported to and from the battlefield via boat.

The original capacity was 25 to 50, based in an old manor house, but with the amount of casualties being brought back from the front line, this increased to 500 for both American, and allied injured servicemen.

At the beginning of 1918, a flu pandemic brought further devastation, with 250,000 people losing their lives in England. Mossley Hill Hospital’s facilities were used to treat people who were suffering with the illness during this time.

Following World War One, Mossley Hill Hospital became a War Pensions Hospital before joining the NHS after World War Two.

Location: Mossley Hill Hospital, Liverpool L18 8BU
Image: Patients at Mossley Hill Hospital

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