Skip to main content.

C.B. Francisco, M.D: World War I Orthopedic Surgeon, Officer and Gentleman

Nancy Hulston, MA
Adjunct Associate Professor of the History of Medicine and Archivist
Kansas University School of Medicine

Born to William and Frances Francisco in Unionville, Missouri, on January 9, 1880, Clarence Benjamin (C.B.) Francisco was the first of three sons. In 1886, the family relocated to Gray County, Kansas, where Clarence attended the local schools and worked as a cowboy on the plains of western Kansas. The family moved to Lawrence, Kansas, in 1903, and he matriculated at the University of Kansas in 1904. He completed the clinical years towards a medical degree at the university’s Rosedale campus in Kansas City, graduating MD in 1907.

Francisco served an internship in orthopedic surgery at the New York Hospital for Ruptured and Crippled Children in New York City. In 1909, he returned to Kansas City, opened a private practice, and accepted a position as attending surgeon at Mercy Hospital (now Children’s Mercy Hospital). He was the first physician with formal orthopedic training to practice in the Kansas City area.

In 1909 Francisco was appointed instructor in orthopedic surgery at the University of Kansas Hospital, and his private practice was successful enough that he was able to tour orthopedic surgical centers in England, France, Germany and Austria. He returned to Kansas in August of 1914, shortly before the beginning of the First World War.

When the United States entered the war in April 1917, Francisco promptly volunteered to serve as a military surgeon. On May 10, 1917, he noted in his diary, “Wired acceptance to orders for the Orthopedic Unit after receiving notice . . . .” The following day he traveled to Fort Leavenworth to obtain uniforms and equipment. His mother and a cousin took him to Union Station in Kansas City on May 12 to board a train to Chicago and he wrote in his diary, “Really felt sad. Hated to cause Mother such anxiety.”

Portrait of C.B. Francisco taken after the War
Portrait of C.B. Francisco taken after the War

Finally, arriving in New York on May 18, Francisco boarded the ship St. Paul the next day. “All on board seemed solemn but not weepy,” he noted. As the ship made its way towards England he observed, “Sea is quite rough and many are sick.” But a few days later his diary entry was, “The food is fairly good and if it was not for the fear of the submarine we would be having a great trip.” May 30, 1917, after nine days at sea, they docked at Mersey Port near Liverpool, sadly the city seemed gloomier and grayer than when he had been there in 1914.

While in Liverpool, he visited Roehampton Hospital and related, “All soldiers needing limbs are sent there when ready and fitted. {They} are making very useful arms {with} many attachments for playing golf, etc.” Many soldiers he saw suffered severe trench foot, a medical condition caused by cold, wet, and unsanitary conditions. If untreated, trench foot could lead to secondary fungal infection and gangrene. Francisco prescribed, successfully, larger boots allowing room for extra socks and proper support for the feet. He was ordered to Aberdeen, Scotland, in June of 1917.

In Aberdeen, Francisco visited other orthopedic facilities to observe surgical colleagues and their techniques. On the new and novel procedure of using electrical stimulation he commented: “Epicritic, protopathic and deep sensibility {Captain W.R.Bristow} knows his stuff very well.” On August 3 he described the condition of a patient operated on four days earlier: “Saw some bubbles coming out of the wound. Opened it up after breakfast. It looked better but by 11:00am it was a definite case of gas gangrene with distinct odor and blackleg crepitation under the fingers with {a} distinct line of demarcation.” Francisco performed a “disarticulation at the shoulder joint” and noted that the patient was “badly shocked.” He used “full-strength peroxide” in the wound, and reported the following day the patient was out of shock and improved. On August 21 Francisco was promoted to Captain.

Recreation time, at least for the officers, involved golf, tennis, concerts, dinners, dances, bowling, theater, playing bridge and poker, and hobnobbing with local Scottish gentry. During his extended stay in Aberdeen, Francisco met his future wife, Ethel Brydon Duke, who had received Red Cross training in Brechin, Angus County, Scotland, in 1913. Working at The Scottish Women’s Hospital in the Balkans during early World War I, she was taken prisoner when the area was occupied by German soldiers, and was held captive from 1915 to 1916. At Aberdeen, she worked as an “X-Ray girl,” and often played tennis with Francisco. (Subsequently, they were married in Scotland, April 16, 1919. Ethel wore her American Red Cross uniform at her wedding ceremony in Brechin and then left Scotland with her husband to live in America).

Painting of C.B. Francisco in the Francisco Lounge, KUMC Student Center
Painting of C.B. Francisco in the Francisco Lounge, KUMC Student Center

Francisco left Aberdeen for France on November 22, 1917. He stated, “I felt very lonely and sad last night in my little compartment on the train and did not sleep very well.” Arriving in Le Havre, France, on a ship from London, he took a train to Paris on November 25. That evening he attended a show at the Folies Bergère and observed, “Saw a dandy good show . . . . Believe me they were wild women.”

In Paris, Francisco was appoionted Acting Chief of Orthopedics for the American Expeditionary Forces. He was assigned a brand-new Ford and a chauffeur and traveled to regional hospitals, for example Chaumont, Bourmont and Gondrecourt, presenting lectures, giving medical advice to infantry units, and inspecting feet. On December 16 he noted, “Inspected 1000 men’s feet.”

Francisco supervised hospitals near Meuse, France, with a total of 35,000 beds. These facilities prepared patients for evacuation by hospital ship to the United States.

One evening Francisco wrote in his diary, “Sat around and was very lonesome and sick of the whole war.” The final entry on New Year’s Eve, 1917, read: “{We} had a little game and a supper . . . . It was a very solemn occasion with us as the clock struck 12. Shall never forget the evening. So here it is to you – 1918. May I see you out under different conditions.”

Upon his return to the Kansas University Hospital in 1919, Francisco resumed his duties as Associate Professor of Clinical Orthopedics. Known nationally for his contributions to orthopedics, he was promoted to Clinical Professor of Orthopedics – a position he held until his death on February 23, 1944.

Source materials are from Dr. Francisco’s diary held by the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorialin Kansas City, Missouri, and Dr. Leonard Peltier’s paper, “The Division of Orthopaedic Surgery in the A.F.F.” in the journal, Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, November 1985.

School of Medicine

History and Philosophy of Medicine
Mail Stop 1025
3901 Rainbow Blvd.
Kansas City, KS 66160
Tel: 913-588-7098 | Fax: 913-588-7060