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Lawson General Hospital is on my mind as I was able to purchase a photo of a large group of soldiers at Lawson General Hospital dated 1943. There is a list of names on the back which includes several but not all of the soldiers. More on this later. Here are some memories of one local man who visited the grounds of Lawson General Hospital as a child and another person who was there after it closed.
Lawson General Hospital was a World War II hospital built in Chamblee, Georgia adjacent to Naval Air Station Atlanta. Both the hospital and NASA were built on land that was home to Camp Gordon during World War I. Lawson General Hospital was especially known for caring for patients who had lost limbs in the war.
Clint Daniel and Carlton Renfroe, who grew up nearby, shared with me what they remember about Lawson a few years ago.
Carlton Renfroe was always a great source of local history. He was happy to share his stories and tell me all he remembered about Dunwoody and Chamblee from his childhood. Sadly, he died in September of 2021 at the age of 89.
Renfroe’s family moved from downtown Atlanta to Dunwoody in 1941. His father was hired as a plumber at Lawson General Hospital. Renfroe remembers that during World War II it was difficult to find and buy candy, but his Dad was able to buy some at the PX at Lawson and bring it home to his children.
Renfroe would sometimes see Lawson General Hospital patients arriving at the Chamblee train station. They would be brought by train to Atlanta from Savannah, and then on to Chamblee. Ambulances would arrive at the train station to transport soldiers to Lawson.
Clint Daniel grew up in Chamblee also gladly shares his memories. He remembers the Lawson buildings after the war ended. There were connecting corridors between the buildings of Lawson. Daniel recalls that there were above ground walkways that were almost like tunnels. The purpose was to move patients into the concrete and brick structures in the event of an attack. Renfroe also remembered these connecting enclosures.
When Lawson closed, Renfroe said some of the buildings were purchased and moved to other locations. Daniel roamed around the abandoned buildings as a child. Sometime in the late 1950’s, his dad’s construction company, Daniel and Daniel, handled the demolition of Lawson General Hospital. Daniel and Daniel’s offices were located at W. Hospital Avenue and Carroll Avenue (today’s Chamblee Tucker Road).
There was a large gym and Olympic size swimming pool that were part of Lawson. Daniel and Renfroe both remember the pool. Renfroe rode his bicycle over to the pool. I thought perhaps adults at the pool asked him to leave, but he said that never happened.
Daniel remembers the Lawson baseball field and played on the field as a child. In addition to a baseball team, Lawson had a basketball team that played other community and college teams. In February of 1944, they played the Georgia Bulldogs. The Atlanta Constitution wrote about the game, describing it as an upset, with Georgia winning 40-36.
As I mentioned last week, there was an MP standing guard out front of the military hospital. According to Daniel, Chamblee’s long-time mayor Woodie Malone served as an MP at Lawson General Hospital.