The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1919-06-14
RED CROSS COLD
STARSLIKELY To
NUMBER zoo
National Service Flag Has Con-
stellation of 1S4
RECORD is NOT COMPLETE
Nearly 100 American Nurses Died Of
Influenza When Disease Was Epi-
demic in Training Camps

uettllC NJ iTdiUIHA SdinPe
A sacred constellation Of 1874 gold
stars on the service flag of the Ameri-
can Red Cross, department of nurs-
ing, at Washington is the silent token
of the supreme sacrifice made by that
number of American nurses. The rec
ord is still incomplete and when this
roll of honor is closed 1t is probable
that the names of fully 200 women |
who have laid their lives on the altar
of freedom will be inscribed upon it," |
This is the simple announcement Of |
the wars toll of American nurses |
made by the Red Cross of some of |
these who have paid for their devotion
with their lives. One hundred |
and eighty-four splendid American |
women who have gone west to join |
that more numerous but not more hon |
ored arm that lies in Flanders. field |
and in the war graves of France.-the |
fallen fighting men of the nation !
whose last memories were so often of
some white-uniformed nurse like any
one OF these who brought relief from
suffering and peace before death. Ii
I Is sad record, but noble one of
which the nation should know more.
Death came to American nurses in
many forms. Nearly 100 succumbed
to the influenza epidemic while strlv-
ing against almost hopeless odds, to
check this scourge as it swept over
the training camps of the country
last autumn. Other diseases Gained
some here at home. A few found
death on board the transports con-
veying them overseas. Many more
were victims Of maladies that ragged i,
amid the horrors of the war zone.
lSome were killed by German ruthless.
mess in airplane raids that had allied
hospitals AS their. detectives. ~ ,...
I The United States had been in the
4 war only few weeks when two gold
4 stars were placed on that Red Cross
lserYiQe flag az Washington, according
10 the New. York Herald. These were
lin memory Of Mrs Edith Ayers Of Chi
jcago and Miss Helen Burnett Wood
fof Evanston, I'LL who were killed by
Il the freakish explosion OF a.shell DUR.
ing target practice on the steamship
Mongolia en- route for Europe This
accident, which occurred on -May-20..
l1917 shocked the entire country and
'hbrought home 10 the people the grim
a realty a the conflictse - sAges
4 Anptl srrecofdso of death ednAng NTH
lpartitnlar pathose on me EVE 81 ser.
! vice eserseas is eontainedsin the story
tof Nfss% Rs}M A1storia and Viola
E. Lundholm, sisters, who succufibed
within a few days of'escf other when
stricken by pneumonia on board trans
port. Miss Viola died on the ship s0cto
Der IL, 1913 and Miss Ruth was car
ried from the ship to base hospital
No. 80, London, and there died Octo-
Der II.
Believed to have been the only
American nurse killed in an airplane
accident, Miss Marion L. 0verend met
death In the line of duty on June 16,
1918, while attached to base hospital
No. 3 France Miss Overends home
was in Peterboro, Can
Not all OF the American nurses who
made the supreme sacrifice were at
tached to the American forces. Miss
Florence Anne Hinton was one of the
noble company who saw service with
the British expeditionary forces. She
succumbed to meningitis, January %,
1918.
Miss Frances w. Moeschen of New
York, who died at American Red Cross
hospital No. 5, September Z, 1918 was
among fhnan xrhn haH t.
with the enemy before the United
States entered the war; Miss Moesc-
hen was attached 70 the nursing unit
that went to Austria, by way of Holl-
and and Germany in the early spring
of 1917.
Another true veteran was Miss
Curry Desha Breckenridge of Chicago
ILL.,, OF whom Miss Jane Adams said ::
She was a pioneer in war service
and represented the highest ideals of
the nursing profession Miss Brock.
enridge died at the Presbyterian hos
pital in Chicago, of which she was a
graduate, OF disease contracted in
, France.
After a career as nurse in many
, important capacities, public health
worker in Chicago and Red Cross re-
lief worker, during the Ohio floods of
1913, she went to Europe in 1915
with the Chicago unit of the Pres.
byterian hospital, and for six months
was attached to the 23d general hos
: pital. For 16 months she was with
} the American ambulance.
} tuberculosis which has been a
, scourge of this war as of former con.
ilicts, brought to an end the career
OF Miss Lydia Detweier Shrope, who
was stricken with the white plague
while on duty with unit No at La
Panne, Belgium in 1916.
: The passing OF Miss Amabel
, Scharff Roberts of New York at the
Presbyterian houspital schooi for nurs
. ing, on January IL, 1918. called forth
|, a tribute of respect and gratitude
from no less person than the di
l rector general of the British general
) stan, who wrote to the unit to which
3 Miss Roberts was assigned; 81 appre
: ciate the fact that she has given her
!. life for the British army"
!, Premier Clemenceau, on Memorial
! day, pledged France to cherish the
/. memories and care for the grave,
a of the Americans who had fallen IA
the torn and warridden land for which
!. they fought and died. Among thos,