Finding Themselves: The Letters of an American Amy Chief Nurse in the British Hospital in FranceStimson, Julia C. (Julia Catherine)
History
Finding Themselves: The Letters of an American Amy Chief Nurse in the British Hospital in France
Stimson, Julia C. (Julia Catherine)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Hospitals; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
I suppose that long before this you have learned that our Unit was not
bombed. There seems to have been an official confusion between ours and
the Chicago names. Officially, until it can be changed, we are the “No.
12 (St. Louis U. S. A.) General Hospital.” You see Chicago was American
Base Hospital No. 12 to begin with, and it is easy to see how the
confusion arose. They are 18 General Hospital, B. E. F.
I have been sitting with Phil out in the sunshine beside his tent. He
has not had much attention paid him lately, neither from me nor the
surgeons, but he has not needed it. He is getting along slowly but well.
I saw his dressing yesterday, the first time for ten days, and I could
see a great improvement. He is not being allowed to walk more than the
few steps to his chair, and I find he has not much desire to. He is
anxious to get back to work, but he won’t be able to do much for a long
time. He is now finding out how closely his legs are hitched to his
back.
I meant to tell you about a curious little incident that happened on our
trip to C. I told you we escorted a sick Chinaman up to the British
Hospital for Chinese at N. Dr. Veeder had been given the envelope he was
to turn over to the authorities of the hospital. When we arrived just
outside the hospital compound and stopped, a British sergeant came out
to help the patient out of the ambulance and a lot of
blue-hospital-garbed Chinesers gathered around to see what was doing.
Capt. Veeder and I had gotten out to stretch our legs and were standing
by the tail of the ambulance. Dr. Veeder handed the papers to the
sergeant, who opened the envelope, read the paper twice with a puzzled
look, then burst into roars of laughter. He handed the paper back to
Capt. Veeder, and this is what we read: “6 cups, enamel, spitting.” It
was an “indent” for some necessary supplies that had been put in the
envelope and addressed to the C. O. of the hospital instead of the
transfer papers of the poor Chink. Fortunately we did not have to take
him on with us, as he was properly tagged himself. It’s a comfort to me
to know that even the British Army can sometimes make mistakes.
Next week, not this week, Thursday, I am expecting to go up to Paris to
attend the first conference of American Chief Nurses in France. There
are about sixteen of us, and Miss Russell, the representative of the
American Red Cross Nursing Service, has asked us to meet with her in
Paris. It ought to be good fun to get together and compare notes after
four months of this life, and we ought to get some really definitely
useful suggestions from our getting together.
There are to be various festivities of a heavy and enlightening sort. I
think the little change will do me good, as I find I am a bit tired. The
London trip is off, since Philip is here with me, and this Paris one is
on. I am asking for five days’ leave, but if things here continue to be
as heavy as they are now, I shall not stay the five days.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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