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Home Town Norfolk, Virginia
Last Address Ammen died February 12, 1956 in San Diego, California. He is buried at the San Francisco National Cemetery along side his wife Henrietta and his father Rear Admiral Oscar W. Farenholt.
Date of Passing Feb 12, 1956
Location of Interment San Francisco National Cemetery (VA) - San Francisco, California
Ammen C. Farenholt, RADM USN(MC), was born on December 9, 1871 in Norfolk, Virginia. He was a hereditary member of the California Commandery of the MOLLUS, Insignia Number 9999. Ammen graduated from Harvard in 1893 with an MD and entered the naval service as an assistant surgeon May 29, 1894, and was promoted to the grade of passed assistant surgeon May 29, 1897. He served with Dewey at Manila, in the Philippine Insurrection, and on the China Coast serving on many ships including the USS Baltimore, USS Oregon, USS Maryland, USS Independence, etc. He attained the rank of Lieutenant on December 26, 1900, and was a passed Assistant Surgeon in the Navy with the rank of Lieutenant. From December 26, 1900, to April 12, 1901, he was on sea duty attached to the USS Concord. From April 12, 1901, to July 27, 1901, he was on sea duty attached to the USS Oregon. In 1920, he was stationed in Vallejo, California at he Navy Yard on Mare Island. He was Commander of the Hospital Ship Mercy in 1921 and later the Commanding Officer of the U.S. Naval Hospitals on Mare Island, California, at Great Lakes, Illinois in the 1920s, and Puget Sound, Washington. He was promoted to Rear Admiral December 7, 1926, was the Medical Inspector of Naval Medical Corps activities on the East Coast in 1930, and Assistant to the Chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in Washington. He was appointed Inspector of the Medical Department activities of the West Coast August 24, 1931 and retired January 1, 1936. In addition to MOLLUS he was a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, a member of the American Medical Association, te New York Yacht Club, a contributor to the Naval Medical Bulletin and Naval Institute, received campaign awards, a special letter of commendation and a citation for services in World War I.
His father was Rear Admiral Oscar W. Farenholt.
1922-1924, 210X, Naval Hospital Mare Island, Vallejo, CA
The medical history of Mare Island dates from the day the sloop-of-war USS
Warren arrived; her medical officer, Assislant Surgeon John M. Browne, USN,
became Mare Island's pioneer medical officer in 1854.
Medical facilities of the Navy Yard consisted of the sick bay of the Warren ,
from 18 September 1854 until relieved by the frigate USS Independence on 2
October 1857 . The Independence served as station and receiving ship for the
yard until 2 November 1862 and provided its entire medieaJ facilities until 1863 .
In that year an old granary was moved to near the berth of the Independence
and converted into a temporary hospital of twenty-four beds. This makeshift
structure was used until 1870, when the first permanent hospital was completed,
with Surgeon W . E. Taylor in command.
The new hospital, on the southern part of the island, was a brick !itructure
situated part way up the slope of a hill facing the northeast. The hospital grounds
consisted of 51 acres.
The first hospital, with a capacity of eighty beds, was used until 1898, when
an earthquake so severely damaged the building that it was condemned and torn
down. Congress appropriated the sum of $1 00,000 for rebuilding, which was
completed on 3 April 1900.
By 1912 the capacity of the hospital had increased to 220 beds. During World
War I the erection of four H-typc ward buildings and five single ward buildings
increased the capacity by 1,000, in addition to which tents with wooden platforms
provided cover for 500 more beds.
In the period between World Wars I and" many of the World War I temporary
ward buildings were removed or converted to other uses. Modernization of the
hospital started in 1928 with the construction of a five-story, L-shaped , reinforced
concrete wing, extending to the northwest. By 1941 this wing was duplicated
on the southeast side. In 1943 the hospital reached a capacity of 1,167 beds,
and during World War II it reached a peak capacity of 2,281.