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- Description:
- Clare Rounsevell Ellinwood talks about her service in the U.S. Army Medical Corps during World War One as a civilian secretary and says that she volunteered because her fiance had joined the French Army Ambulance Corp. She talks about working in a hospital in Philadelphia, being shipped to Brest, France on the USS Leviathan, traveling by train to the front, and finally being sent to a base near Vichy. She describes how the hospitals were set up, the constant shortage of food, and the utter devastation of the European battlefields. Ellinwood also recalls Armistice Day and the great celebration, and returning to the U.S. in 1919 to marry the man she had followed to France. Ellinwood says that in spite of the many hardships, her service overseas gave her a chance to do things she otherwise would not have gotten an opportunity to do. Ellinwood is interviewed by Margaret E. Duncan.
- Date Issued:
- 1985-05-09T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project
- Description:
- Alta May Andrews Sharp talks about her service in the American Red Cross and the U.S. Army Nurse Corps during World War One. Sharp says that she served in the Red Cross for two years at "Military Hospital No. 1" as chief nurse in ward 83, before finally volunteering for the Army. She talks about her basic training, learning to salute, the voyage to England in a convoy escorted by sub-chasers and battle ships, sleeping in her life jacket, and having lifeboat drills daily. She says that she was stationed in France and discusses her duties, her pay, her quarters, her gray chambray uniform with the "butchers apron," and being shelled by the huge German artillery gun known as "Big Bertha." Sharp says that the nurses were treated well but were prohibited from dating enlisted men and that the officers were only interested in French girls. When they learned of the Armistice she says that she and her friends traveled to Paris to celebrate "all day and night." Ends abruptly. Sharp is interviewed by Margaret E. Duncan.
- Date Issued:
- 1985-04-16T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project