Robert G. Le Conte

Robert Grier Le Conte achieved high distinction as a surgical practitioner; he was Surgeon-general of Pennsylvania at the age of forty, and identified with most of the important surgical institutions of his state. But he will probably be best remembered for his war service. This did not begin with 1917. He was surgeon in the Pennsylvania National Guard 32 years ago and assistant surgeon with the rank of ensign in the navy of the Spanish War. In 1917, the unit under his command to establish the Naval Base Hospital number 5 was the first to see action on the firing line. Captured by the Germans and released, he became naval consultant for General Pershing and emerged from the war with the French Legion of Honor, the Belgian Order of Leopold and the American Distinguished Service Medal. If it is sometimes said that we do not like to talk of the war which cast so deep a shadow over modern civilization, there are none the less outstanding individual achievements in the great conflict which will be remembered when its passions and atrocities are almost forgotten.

Alexander Dana Noyes
1925 Century Association Yearbook