Ren's did you know? Navel Hospital in Corona (in Norco)

US Naval Hospital Corona (in Norco) - Most folks don't know that Norco was once home to the fourth largest WWII Naval Hospital in the Nation. It was established on December 9, 1941, its first patients were from Pearl Harbor, grew to a complex of three standalone hospitals and became the Navy's designated West Coast Tuberculosis, Paraplegia, Polio and and National Rheumatic Fever Center. At it's peak in 1945, there were over 5000 patients at any given time and 2500 staff. The hospital operated between 1942 and 1957. What should never be forgotten are the medical folks who fought to save lives of men and women maimed by war, sick from Tropical diseases and suffered terrible mental trauma. Thousands died in that facility and thousands more lived because of the pioneering breakthroughs of the physicians, nurses, WAVES, Corpsmen and the hundreds of Norco and Corona residents who volunteered to help. While others who should be ashamed of themselves seek to bury this history, Norco seeks to never forget and has placed an anchor at the George Ingalls Memorial as a reminder of the homefront Navy heroism that took place in Norco California.