Dr. Urbane Bass' compassion in volunteering to serve his country is a story that ends in tragic irony with the violent death of the overage volunteer. It is also a story straight out of black history. The year was 1917; the military was segregated; and Dr. Bass was the first black doctor to practice in Fredericksburg since Reconstruction.

Dr. Bass, then 35, a busy physician, married and the father of four, wrote the secretary of war and offered to serve in World War I. "Realizing that patriotism and loyalty should be paramount in the breast of all American citizens at this time and feeling (that although a Negro) that loyalty for my country and the desire to serve her at this time," Dr. Bass wrote, "I am herewith offering my services for the Army Medical Corps should there be a need for a Negro physician for that branch of the service." The specificity of Dr. Bass' wording is telling of the time. One writer says the Fredericksburg doctor eventually was with the 93rd division's 372nd regiment, described as one of four all-black regiments to fight alongside welcoming French forces.

Historian Ruth Fitzgerald, author of A Different Story, describes Dr. Bass as serving with a medical detachment ministering to soldiers on the firing line when shrapnel severed his legs. Dr. Bass died Oct. 7, 1918, before reaching a hospital.

He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross posthumously. Buried originally in France, Dr. Bass was later interred here at the Fredericksburg National Cemetery.

Today the Bass family church, Shiloh Baptist Church (New Site), is enhanced by a large window showing Dr. Bass in military uniform. It is described as one of the few stained glass windows in town on a non-religious theme.