Dr. Gros' fame has grown from his close association with the American volunteer pilots of WWI ---the Escadrille Lafayette and the Lafayette Flying Corps---to the point that, retrospectively, he is credited with having founded both the American Hospital of Paris and its extension, the Ambulance--- thus stealing the thunder of a much more unassuming man, Dr. A.J. Mangin. Likewise, Dr. Gros is identified as director of the Ambulance's Field Service--- of which in fact he was an early promoter and then medical advisor. Over the course of 1915, his rôle as surgeon at the American Ambulance had been eclipsed by both his colleague, Dr. Charles Winchester Du Bouchet, and by the medical units sent by various American medical schools.The Field Service---for which Dr. Gros remained the consulting physician---specialized in transportation, not medicine, and was run efficiently by A. Piatt Andrew. Thus it was that Dr. Gros took on another project: recruiting American volunteers to pilot combat aircraft for the French.
Edmund Louis Gros was the son of the "queen" of San Francisco's French Colony(1). Born in 1869, he studied medicine first at the Cooper Medical College in San Francisco (M.D. in 1891), and then at the Ecole de Médecine in Paris(2).
On June 7, 1901, he married Honora L. Patton in Curwensville, Pa. His wife was daughter of the late John Patton, founder of the local bank and twice a U.S. Congressman. The Pattons were an influential family in the area,---bankers and businessmen---and two of Honora's brothers followed their father's footsteps, serving in Congress (3) Dr. Gros' Ashes were buried in the Patton plot @ Oak Hill Cemetery - Curwensville. His wife visited daily w/flowers.
Dr. Gros pursued his medical career in Paris where he established an international practice described as "the largest in Europe". In 1910, he joined the Medical Board of the newly-opened American Hospital of Paris, conceived of four years earlier by Dr. Mangin and Harry Van Bergen, and brought into being by influential members of the American Colony.(4) His name can be found among the incorporators of the hospital as a legal entity in 1912 in Washington DC. (5) At the outbreak of war in August 1914, Dr. Gros was on the staff at the 24-bed AHP. When the American Ambulance was established, as a large extension of the AHP, he served as a surgeon ---responsibilities which included overseeing the medical dimension of ambulance evacuation.(6)
In the wake of the Battle of the Marne, in the early morning of September 8, 1914, the Ambulance surgeons, Dr. Gros and Dr. Dubouchet, accompanied chief hospital administrator, Robert Bacon, and a fleet of ambulances to Meaux, where they prepared a number of wounded for evacuation(7).
In 1916, Dr. Gros was instrumental in helping Norman Prince establish a unit of American pilots serving the French, first called the "Escadrille américaine", but later , at his suggestion, renamed the "Escadrille Lafayette."(8)
In the summer of 1916, when the Field Service left their cramped quarters at the Lycée Pasteur in Neuilly to the Hottinguer property at 21, rue Raynouard in Paris, Dr. Gros continued to serve as chief physician, now using the clinic at the Swiss Chalet. Here, not only did he conduct physical examinations, but screened potential recruits for French aviation. In fact, just as he had once facilitated incorporation of American citizens into French aviation through the intermediary of the Foreign Legion, he now used the Field Service as a means to his end. Henceforth, it was not unusual for a volunteer to come to France as an ambulance driver and then transfer almost immediately to aviation service. As well, volunteers reaching the end of their six-month enlistment term as Field Service drivers, were encouraged to "go into aviation."(9)
Soon, American volunteers were flying for a number of French aviation units of which No. 124, the "Escadrille Lafayette" was but one. Dr. Gros therefore organized all American volunteers into a hypothetical "Lafayette Flying Corps", facilitating their relationship with French authorities.(10)
After the US entered the war, Dr. Gros was appointed Lt. Col and assigned to liaison work between the French and US army aviation authorities. He helped American pilots, flying for the French, transfer over to US units.(11)
After the War, Dr. Gros was one of the founders of the Memorial to the Lafayette Escadrille, located in Marnes-la-Coquette(12). He was also a patron of the American Library Association in Paris.(13)
Between the wars, Dr. Gros continued his extensive private medical practice as well as his duties as chief surgeon at the American Hospital of Paris. After the German Army occupied Paris in the summer of 1940, he became disheartened(14). Suffering a stroke, he moved back to his wife's Pennsylvania, where he died on October 16, 1942.(1)
http://www.ourstory.info/2/c/Gros.html
Edmund Louis Gros was the son of the "queen" of San Francisco's French Colony(1). Born in 1869, he studied medicine first at the Cooper Medical College in San Francisco (M.D. in 1891), and then at the Ecole de Médecine in Paris(2).
On June 7, 1901, he married Honora L. Patton in Curwensville, Pa. His wife was daughter of the late John Patton, founder of the local bank and twice a U.S. Congressman. The Pattons were an influential family in the area,---bankers and businessmen---and two of Honora's brothers followed their father's footsteps, serving in Congress (3) Dr. Gros' Ashes were buried in the Patton plot @ Oak Hill Cemetery - Curwensville. His wife visited daily w/flowers.
Dr. Gros pursued his medical career in Paris where he established an international practice described as "the largest in Europe". In 1910, he joined the Medical Board of the newly-opened American Hospital of Paris, conceived of four years earlier by Dr. Mangin and Harry Van Bergen, and brought into being by influential members of the American Colony.(4) His name can be found among the incorporators of the hospital as a legal entity in 1912 in Washington DC. (5) At the outbreak of war in August 1914, Dr. Gros was on the staff at the 24-bed AHP. When the American Ambulance was established, as a large extension of the AHP, he served as a surgeon ---responsibilities which included overseeing the medical dimension of ambulance evacuation.(6)
In the wake of the Battle of the Marne, in the early morning of September 8, 1914, the Ambulance surgeons, Dr. Gros and Dr. Dubouchet, accompanied chief hospital administrator, Robert Bacon, and a fleet of ambulances to Meaux, where they prepared a number of wounded for evacuation(7).
In 1916, Dr. Gros was instrumental in helping Norman Prince establish a unit of American pilots serving the French, first called the "Escadrille américaine", but later , at his suggestion, renamed the "Escadrille Lafayette."(8)
In the summer of 1916, when the Field Service left their cramped quarters at the Lycée Pasteur in Neuilly to the Hottinguer property at 21, rue Raynouard in Paris, Dr. Gros continued to serve as chief physician, now using the clinic at the Swiss Chalet. Here, not only did he conduct physical examinations, but screened potential recruits for French aviation. In fact, just as he had once facilitated incorporation of American citizens into French aviation through the intermediary of the Foreign Legion, he now used the Field Service as a means to his end. Henceforth, it was not unusual for a volunteer to come to France as an ambulance driver and then transfer almost immediately to aviation service. As well, volunteers reaching the end of their six-month enlistment term as Field Service drivers, were encouraged to "go into aviation."(9)
Soon, American volunteers were flying for a number of French aviation units of which No. 124, the "Escadrille Lafayette" was but one. Dr. Gros therefore organized all American volunteers into a hypothetical "Lafayette Flying Corps", facilitating their relationship with French authorities.(10)
After the US entered the war, Dr. Gros was appointed Lt. Col and assigned to liaison work between the French and US army aviation authorities. He helped American pilots, flying for the French, transfer over to US units.(11)
After the War, Dr. Gros was one of the founders of the Memorial to the Lafayette Escadrille, located in Marnes-la-Coquette(12). He was also a patron of the American Library Association in Paris.(13)
Between the wars, Dr. Gros continued his extensive private medical practice as well as his duties as chief surgeon at the American Hospital of Paris. After the German Army occupied Paris in the summer of 1940, he became disheartened(14). Suffering a stroke, he moved back to his wife's Pennsylvania, where he died on October 16, 1942.(1)
http://www.ourstory.info/2/c/Gros.html
Dr. Gros' fame has grown from his close association with the American volunteer pilots of WWI ---the Escadrille Lafayette and the Lafayette Flying Corps---to the point that, retrospectively, he is credited with having founded both the American Hospital of Paris and its extension, the Ambulance--- thus stealing the thunder of a much more unassuming man, Dr. A.J. Mangin. Likewise, Dr. Gros is identified as director of the Ambulance's Field Service--- of which in fact he was an early promoter and then medical advisor. Over the course of 1915, his rôle as surgeon at the American Ambulance had been eclipsed by both his colleague, Dr. Charles Winchester Du Bouchet, and by the medical units sent by various American medical schools.The Field Service---for which Dr. Gros remained the consulting physician---specialized in transportation, not medicine, and was run efficiently by A. Piatt Andrew. Thus it was that Dr. Gros took on another project: recruiting American volunteers to pilot combat aircraft for the French.
Edmund Louis Gros was the son of the "queen" of San Francisco's French Colony(1). Born in 1869, he studied medicine first at the Cooper Medical College in San Francisco (M.D. in 1891), and then at the Ecole de Médecine in Paris(2).
On June 7, 1901, he married Honora L. Patton in Curwensville, Pa. His wife was daughter of the late John Patton, founder of the local bank and twice a U.S. Congressman. The Pattons were an influential family in the area,---bankers and businessmen---and two of Honora's brothers followed their father's footsteps, serving in Congress (3) Dr. Gros' Ashes were buried in the Patton plot @ Oak Hill Cemetery - Curwensville. His wife visited daily w/flowers.
Dr. Gros pursued his medical career in Paris where he established an international practice described as "the largest in Europe". In 1910, he joined the Medical Board of the newly-opened American Hospital of Paris, conceived of four years earlier by Dr. Mangin and Harry Van Bergen, and brought into being by influential members of the American Colony.(4) His name can be found among the incorporators of the hospital as a legal entity in 1912 in Washington DC. (5) At the outbreak of war in August 1914, Dr. Gros was on the staff at the 24-bed AHP. When the American Ambulance was established, as a large extension of the AHP, he served as a surgeon ---responsibilities which included overseeing the medical dimension of ambulance evacuation.(6)
In the wake of the Battle of the Marne, in the early morning of September 8, 1914, the Ambulance surgeons, Dr. Gros and Dr. Dubouchet, accompanied chief hospital administrator, Robert Bacon, and a fleet of ambulances to Meaux, where they prepared a number of wounded for evacuation(7).
In 1916, Dr. Gros was instrumental in helping Norman Prince establish a unit of American pilots serving the French, first called the "Escadrille américaine", but later , at his suggestion, renamed the "Escadrille Lafayette."(8)
In the summer of 1916, when the Field Service left their cramped quarters at the Lycée Pasteur in Neuilly to the Hottinguer property at 21, rue Raynouard in Paris, Dr. Gros continued to serve as chief physician, now using the clinic at the Swiss Chalet. Here, not only did he conduct physical examinations, but screened potential recruits for French aviation. In fact, just as he had once facilitated incorporation of American citizens into French aviation through the intermediary of the Foreign Legion, he now used the Field Service as a means to his end. Henceforth, it was not unusual for a volunteer to come to France as an ambulance driver and then transfer almost immediately to aviation service. As well, volunteers reaching the end of their six-month enlistment term as Field Service drivers, were encouraged to "go into aviation."(9)
Soon, American volunteers were flying for a number of French aviation units of which No. 124, the "Escadrille Lafayette" was but one. Dr. Gros therefore organized all American volunteers into a hypothetical "Lafayette Flying Corps", facilitating their relationship with French authorities.(10)
After the US entered the war, Dr. Gros was appointed Lt. Col and assigned to liaison work between the French and US army aviation authorities. He helped American pilots, flying for the French, transfer over to US units.(11)
After the War, Dr. Gros was one of the founders of the Memorial to the Lafayette Escadrille, located in Marnes-la-Coquette(12). He was also a patron of the American Library Association in Paris.(13)
Between the wars, Dr. Gros continued his extensive private medical practice as well as his duties as chief surgeon at the American Hospital of Paris. After the German Army occupied Paris in the summer of 1940, he became disheartened(14). Suffering a stroke, he moved back to his wife's Pennsylvania, where he died on October 16, 1942.(1)
http://www.ourstory.info/2/c/Gros.html
Edmund Louis Gros was the son of the "queen" of San Francisco's French Colony(1). Born in 1869, he studied medicine first at the Cooper Medical College in San Francisco (M.D. in 1891), and then at the Ecole de Médecine in Paris(2).
On June 7, 1901, he married Honora L. Patton in Curwensville, Pa. His wife was daughter of the late John Patton, founder of the local bank and twice a U.S. Congressman. The Pattons were an influential family in the area,---bankers and businessmen---and two of Honora's brothers followed their father's footsteps, serving in Congress (3) Dr. Gros' Ashes were buried in the Patton plot @ Oak Hill Cemetery - Curwensville. His wife visited daily w/flowers.
Dr. Gros pursued his medical career in Paris where he established an international practice described as "the largest in Europe". In 1910, he joined the Medical Board of the newly-opened American Hospital of Paris, conceived of four years earlier by Dr. Mangin and Harry Van Bergen, and brought into being by influential members of the American Colony.(4) His name can be found among the incorporators of the hospital as a legal entity in 1912 in Washington DC. (5) At the outbreak of war in August 1914, Dr. Gros was on the staff at the 24-bed AHP. When the American Ambulance was established, as a large extension of the AHP, he served as a surgeon ---responsibilities which included overseeing the medical dimension of ambulance evacuation.(6)
In the wake of the Battle of the Marne, in the early morning of September 8, 1914, the Ambulance surgeons, Dr. Gros and Dr. Dubouchet, accompanied chief hospital administrator, Robert Bacon, and a fleet of ambulances to Meaux, where they prepared a number of wounded for evacuation(7).
In 1916, Dr. Gros was instrumental in helping Norman Prince establish a unit of American pilots serving the French, first called the "Escadrille américaine", but later , at his suggestion, renamed the "Escadrille Lafayette."(8)
In the summer of 1916, when the Field Service left their cramped quarters at the Lycée Pasteur in Neuilly to the Hottinguer property at 21, rue Raynouard in Paris, Dr. Gros continued to serve as chief physician, now using the clinic at the Swiss Chalet. Here, not only did he conduct physical examinations, but screened potential recruits for French aviation. In fact, just as he had once facilitated incorporation of American citizens into French aviation through the intermediary of the Foreign Legion, he now used the Field Service as a means to his end. Henceforth, it was not unusual for a volunteer to come to France as an ambulance driver and then transfer almost immediately to aviation service. As well, volunteers reaching the end of their six-month enlistment term as Field Service drivers, were encouraged to "go into aviation."(9)
Soon, American volunteers were flying for a number of French aviation units of which No. 124, the "Escadrille Lafayette" was but one. Dr. Gros therefore organized all American volunteers into a hypothetical "Lafayette Flying Corps", facilitating their relationship with French authorities.(10)
After the US entered the war, Dr. Gros was appointed Lt. Col and assigned to liaison work between the French and US army aviation authorities. He helped American pilots, flying for the French, transfer over to US units.(11)
After the War, Dr. Gros was one of the founders of the Memorial to the Lafayette Escadrille, located in Marnes-la-Coquette(12). He was also a patron of the American Library Association in Paris.(13)
Between the wars, Dr. Gros continued his extensive private medical practice as well as his duties as chief surgeon at the American Hospital of Paris. After the German Army occupied Paris in the summer of 1940, he became disheartened(14). Suffering a stroke, he moved back to his wife's Pennsylvania, where he died on October 16, 1942.(1)
http://www.ourstory.info/2/c/Gros.html
Gravesite Details
Dr. Gros' Ashes were buried in the PATTON plot @ Oak Hill Cemetery - Curwensville. His wife visited daily w/flowers.
