Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1919-03-04

Mobile Unit which left In July 1917 fer
overseas duty.
ara net going to tell you q tale,
Miss Crossword said, not at bsast
what is usually so called. A tala is,
for the most part, only a vignette, 4
portion Of the great picture Of life,
having no definite lirnit, YET eents iRtns
enc prominent objeet in whiea all the
interest is eoncentra ted. Many Hs
the things that hava exe .rienced are
toe horribie to recall. would not be
able 10 tell you about them. Yeu
haxe passed over The names In the
obituary of the day VITA the. same
strange Indifference with which you
have read the aggregate amount Of
deaths in the casualty lists. but fer
each individual soul in the vast s1ui-
titude there has been a special day Of
trial, q special :pFevidenea and guild
ance and there will be special day
Of reckoning and doom. My own ex-
perienee Is to be feund In the expert
ence Of others;1 for WAS only one Of
a personnel of one hundred which Was
comprised Of fourteen nurses and
eighty-f FIVE Yale graduates. It is Of
them I would speak, tracing their
course at the same time with nay own.
We left New Fork In July of 1917
having an uneventful voyage until our
-
terpedoed but fortunately the torpedo
struck above the waesr line and no
very serious damage was done. The
ship made port under her ow,, p.,wer,
docking at Liverpool. From Liverpool
we went to South Hampton and
| thence OH across the channel to Line
ges, formerly the home of Haviland
china but now in ruins. Here a five
hundred bed hospital was started, the
patients for the first few months be-
| ing French. The next few months
spent here were medical cases o
American boys. On March g we left
for d dressing station in Paris on
| the day that we arrived the Fig Her-
tflas were booming and shelling the
| city and we were forced to spend til.
| night in an Abri (dugoct}. We
were in Paris Good Friday, the
! day that the Church of st, Jervais'
! was shelled and Easter Sunday I and
! q few others were IN the Notre Dare
| Cathedral when one of those shells
! from the Big Berthas evidently meant
for the cathedral. fell in the Seine.
I We were stationed here for about
/ three weeks and It seems to me it was
| the worst three weeks OF the war.
| There was an air raid every night and
sometimes two or more with the Big
| Bertllas booming and sending their
missiles of death and destruction al
around US.
Il was here on Easter day that tt
! boys came down in trucks and told
Us that they had some Easter pres-
ents for US We. that is the nurses
ali expected that the Red Cross had
sent us some straw hats. But yor
can imagine our surprise when We
| discovered thu 49, - @'1ary was
in the shape Of helmets and gas
and that we weI,: =: II iT1ule-
dsately to the front, AZ that time they
were preparing fer an attack. upeF
besTnans, a small town near Chateau
THEORY, a position which the allie.
and Germans were continually f1ghtins
to control, and as troops were being
rushed up on the main line we were
forced to take q roundabout route, AZ
irving late at night at Teul where al
air raid vas in full sway. We stayed
Al the station until morning and the,
proceeded to within seven miles be
hind St MihieI
On the train from Paris to Tou
while en- route for the front ans
three other nurses met Don Martin
the New York Herald war correspond
ent. He asked Us where we we're head
ed for and when we told him We wer
fsoiug up to within seven miles of s.
Mihiel he didn't seem much please,
and said that he didn't like the idea c
American nurses being so near tn
: firing line. Then he said that '
. would like to do 4 little something 70
us girls and iranediateEY went gu
and bought us very nice dinner.
Here, seven miles baaind foul. the.
put M their first tent hospital, wFic
vas the nearest hospital to the lines
: We were with the 26th Division her
, i'll the spring Of 1913.
/ Fer q time there were no NOR
drives and we took care of all boys O
, tpatrolhng parties and all boys frof
! Sneiied towns. Our first big work wa
during the st. Efilaiel drive. a numbe
: of extra opera ting teams had bee
brought UP from the rear and We jus
did operating during that time an
90 soon as the boys were able to b
lremoved thev were sent to tho rea
Il; after the st. Mlhiel drive things fe
: Ia while were q little more quiet an
- then we were again moved on No
II. 1918, to Hudicourt, where the Brit
: isll made their big drive in the fail
u 1915. The place is now in ruins an
n here we received our first thrill IN sci
: ting foot on recaptured territory. W
: were billeted III houses formerly OF
nan officers homes and dugouts ZACH
: &c nothing in making them hemelf
!. and delightful to live in. Beautif'
= paintings adorned the walls. they ha
Is every convenience, electricity, sanital
4 plumbing, places o. amGseHlert, etc
i once remember seeing q GeTman of
d GERS summer home, built high UP
the top of a number Of large trees TIL
grew closely together. It was Il
: NEST delightful place imaginable ar
I all that one could desire. it seen
that the German officers lacked net,
ing for their own personal eeTnfort
German trickery and fendsshre
vas ever present. however. Il W;
always necessary for US to be on q
guard against boohy traps and Il
ike. On trying the kitchen door
the officers home where we were b
iqted In Hudicourt, the doctor vi
tried the door became wary and
going around the house and enteri1
by another way he discovered five p
tato Washers German hand grenade
tied to the door knob which yFou
have exploded had he tried 10 emf
that way.
/ From this time on we worked IA
IN to the dav the war ended.
we're s%ry active all that time a
there was no 1etua. Our work. ho'
} ever. did not END with the signing
, the ar1,1istive as the day 1t was sig
, cd Ave hundred boys were slnlitt
4 to our hospital. One hunt.rsd ana i
, t. OF them died.
have never seen anything in coy
age to equal that Of the Aner4c
\ boys, Miss Greenwood said I'll
would always meet every condition
circumstance with a smile and Ms
arrays cheerful. They never seer
q aad er down hearted no matted Ef
the occasion, and they would nes
4 stand Ter seeing tears IN a purs