sentences:  A medical facility was originally opened on the site in 1943 as the U.S. Army's Port of Embarkation Hospital, which was a receiving point for the wounded returned from the Pacific theater during World War II.Situated on a tract of , it had an administration building and a large number of barracks wards arranged under the cottage system.In February 1946, the county purchased the facility from the Federal Government in order to decentralize the activities of the Los Angeles County General Hospital, one of the largest institutions of its kind in the world, and founded a branch hospital to serve the Harbor and Long Beach.