Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-11-21
ADMIRAL'SNIECE
NURSES SOLDIERS
Miss Jennie V. Melville
Descendant of Family of
Fighters
In LAKEWOOD HOSPITAL
Modesty Marks Girl Who Has
Had Many Thrilling Ex-
periences Overseas
IN LAKEWOOD HOSPITAL

Not one in a dozen of the hundreds of
wounded Pershing heroes surrounding
her at General Army Hospital No. 3,
Lakewood. n. J., know that Miss Jennie
Vernon Melville, night nurse in Ward D.
and niece OF the late Rear Admiral
Melville. this city, has seen overseas
duty.
Neither do they know that she has
heen in active service since the very be-
ginning of the war. when she bought,
equipped and operated an ambulance for
six months in Paris, or that she has
stored away somewhere among her
treasures badges of honor awarded her
by England's Queen and by French army
leaders who recognized her wonderful
service.
Doesn't Mention Experiences
They don't know about these things
because Miss Melville doesn't mention
them. Her immaculate white costume,
including the perky white cap atop her
smooth black hair. is devoid of decora-
ton save for the insignia of the Amer
lean Red Cross. which pins together the
V neck of her blouse.
Her CHEEKY smile and sparkling brown
eyes have won every patient in the ward
and there are more than nifty under
her supervision. They accept her as "a
perfect brick of a nurse without know
ing that she was one of the few nurses
who did convoy duty in England till after
two boats were torpedoed il was con-
sldered too dangerous; that she was in
charge of the huts at the Royal Her
bert Hospital. Woolwich, during those
last air raids in England which de-
stroyed the garrison church and other
important buildings; that she was one
Of Americas shining stars in the first
reconstruction hospitals in rance.
Family OF Fighters
Perhaps 1t is because of her fighting
ancestors that she Is SO reticent con-
oerning her own work Her father. Can
tain John Stewart Melville. was killed in
the South African War. and her mother
came of family of navy men.
a.. happened TO be in Paris visiting
friends when the war broke" explained
Miss Melville. II had just completed
my course at the Post Graduate Hos
pital in New York and, like other Amer
lean and Canadian nurses in France at
the time felt that I should help. Those
of us who could bought ambulances and
ran them till our money gave out. then
we turned them over to the French Red
Cross l came back to New York and
signed up with the American Red Cross,
but was told IT would be at least year
before I would be needed 1t was then
I went hack to England and enlisted in
the Queen Alexandra Imperial Nursing
Service. with the understanding that I
would be transferred to the American
division when called There was a group
Of American nurses known as the Over
seas Twenty-Five.
AT first the English doctors and
nurses were rather 'offish'. and they
looked askance at the foreign women
who had joined their force. But when
they recognized our spirit of do and
dare, our determination to help In every
way possible. their confidence grew, and
soon We were being placed in the most
responsible positions.
On Convoy Boats
"A few OF us were given convoy duty
on the two boats which carried the
soldiers from Folkstone and South
Hampton. Both boats we're torpedoed."
Miss Melville hesitated with characteris-
tic modesty when questioned concern
Ing any danger in which she might
have been.
II was on the first boat when it went
down. But" she fastened to add,
you remember only two were lost A
sprained ankle kept me from going on
the second boat the last trip it made.
had gone back at the last minute
to get some candy for the girls and in
my hurry I fell. turning my ankle. A
supply nurse was sent In my place and
she had the experience Of being rescued
from the last convoy that carried
women nurses. The Government de-
cided it was too dangerous for US when
that second boat went down."
As Miss Melville talked she sat at
a small table in one corner of the long
ward. overlooking the cots where some
Of the more seriously wounded men
lay quietly watching the people about
them or puzzled over the intricacies Of
Int
then there would be a shout of laughter
from the porch where some of the
nurses and patients were playing cards
or working together.
, You know there Is vast difference
between war nursing and civilian nurs-
Ing" the American nurse veered for a
moment from the talk of overseas ex-
periences. as looking at the wounded
men before her she remembered the
great reconstruction problem now to be
solved.
'In civilian hospitals you have people
in all phases of i'll health. In war,
your patients are naturally healthy men
whose wounds heal comparatively
quickly and there is a long period Of
convaIescence when the task is to keep
the men busy and contenred till their
systems are entirely built up again.
Contrast for Men
"You can't dream what n contrast
1t is for these boys to come from fight
ing in the trenches to a home hospital.
This reconstruction period Is absolutely
essential and l wish that relatives and
friends could be made to realize its
Importance. In their eagerness to see
their boys again, they don't stop to con-
slider physical condition. / don't think
It Is possible for home folks to under
stand 1T all. But they should know
that experts are carefully studying out
the matter and whatever decision the
Government makes in regard to the re-
turned soldier is the best for every one
concerned.
ut Is necessary that the wounded
man have this period TO readjust his
nerves and build up his bone tissues
And. OF course. during this period he
must not be petted as home folks prob
ably would pet him. He must be given
something to do and he must be given
an interest in the future"
Because of her experiences in English
and French reconstruction hospitals
Miss Melville is considered a valuable
addition to the Lakewood institution
which Is one of the largest reconstruc.
'tion centers in America.
She was watching q laughing hero
minus legs. who was making a. board
walk of the long hospital corridor anc
giving himself Joy ride in his whee
chair.
"FIc reminds me-" she smiled, of my
first convoy case in France. That was
after l had been transferred to thu
American Red Cross There were 1b'