The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1919-09-04
Miss Constance Hayes of
Kenosha, Sole Member of
First Unit, Reached Home
Saturday Evening.
SIXTEEN MONTHS IN SERVICE
Took Care of the Heroes Who Were
Brought Back Prom Lines AT Chateau
Thiery-May Return To Serbia In
Early Spring for New Work.

Wearing two gold stripes of overseas
service and bringing q wonderful story
of the work Of the great auxiliary army
in France Miss Constance T. Hayes,
formerly Superintendent of Willow
brook Sanitoripm, slipped into Kenosha
on Saturday evening for few hours
visit enroute to her home in Dubuque,
Iowa. Miss Hayes saw sixteen months
of service with the Red Gross In France
and was among the last Of the Ameri-
can workers to leave France for home.
She arrived in New York on August
DIST and she will be mustered out Of the
service when she reaches her home in
vice of the American Red Cross at that
time she is not going to leave behind
her interest in great European move
ments as she is under contract to return
to Europe in the spring and rake up
the important work Of organizing the
battle against tuberculosis in Serbia.
In the past ten months much of the
work done by Miss Hayes has been IN
der the direction of the Serbian Com
mission in Paris and on account of that
work she proudly wears the white and
and blue decoration Of the kingdom
of Serbia.
81 am very happy to get home to Ke-
nosha again" Miss Hayes said when
she was seen on Saturday evening. ~
just had to come home but just the
same it was hard for me to leave as
there is still such great work to be
done ''over there" had planned to
stay abroad indefinitely but the sud-
den death of my father in May and the
illness of my mother made it impera-
tive for me to ask for my return to the
states.
In the sixteen months that Miss
Hayes was overseas she saw a vast
amount of active service. IT wouldn It
say that / went over with the first
tuberculosis unit of the Red Cross, I"
she recommended, g Twas the whole
unit"
"When the time came for the unit
to leave France was the only one WAC
was ready to go. / had two brothers
in the service and it proved difficult
for me to get through the lines on ac-
count of the rule of the government
that sisters of men in the service were
not wanted for hospital work. fin
ally managed to convince them that T
was entitled to go.
While Miss Hayes gave up much Of
her time to work in the tuberculosis
wards in the various hospitals about
Paris, she was not denied the privilege
Of serving near the front lines and she
had part in several of the glorious
pages that the Americans contributed
to the winning Of the war. In her eyac-
uation hospital she cared for thous-
ands of men who had fallen with the
white plague but once or twice she
managed to get into the very center of
the fight TO save the men who were in
the front lines.
81 was just little way from Cha
teau Thierry, said Miss Hayes. e'We
had the honor of taking care of hun
dreds of men who were brought back
from this famous battle field. These
men had been gassed and while they
remained with US for only short time
1T was a rare honor to have been able
to minister to heroes. Most Of them
were little fellows. We called them
boys and when they came in after
breaking the spirit of the Germans we
wanted to cuddle them up and make
heroes Of them all over again. They
were brave fellows and they only want
ed to stay long enough to get into cond
ton to go back 10 the active service
again One night | had real thrill
The boys who had been in action al
sBelleau Woods and Chateau Thierry
were being brought in. / stopped *
care for one of the boys who had beer
gassed and when asked him his name
he said John Miller. Where do vor
lives / asked him. 'Kenosha, Wiscon
sin was his answer and then I found
that he lived over on the North Sid,
just little way from Willowbrook
He was with US only little while ant
then he went back to tear after then
again.
In the closing months of the servic,
Miss Hayes has been in charge Of evae
uation Hospitals under the direction o.
the Serbian Commission. At one time
she was in charge of two hospitals anC
uere mile apart and it proved :