| Show L Tai Taif r f War Correspondents Correspondent's Notebook Pretty Overseas Nurse Faces J 3rd Winter Without New Hat 1 Editors Editor's note This Till I U is the first of three articles on the Ninth evacuation C hospital In France By Hal Boyle Bole WITH THE NINTH EVACUATION EVACUATION A T ION H HOSPITAL 0 S PIT A L IN F FRANCE RANCE Delayed Mary F. F T. T Pattie has hM not had a raise in pay in more than two years but but that does not bother her so much as the fact that in the same length of ot time she has not been able to buy or wear weara weara hat a real fussy Now with Now with her third winter I overseas coming up she up-she she still Is worrying more about the boys than about herself The boys arc w wounded 0 u n d e d American soldiers hundreds of whom Mary has t ten tended e n d e d in Africa Sicily Italy and France And they remember her this her this pretty girl who knows how to ease an aching wound with a soft sort bandage or soothe a a. hurt and troubled battle-troubled spirit with a kind word or a wry bit bitof bitof bitor of or humor Mary a second lieutenant Isone Isone is isone one of those hard working army nurses who receive their main reco recognition from the unspoken gratitude that s shines h i 1 n neB e s in the eyes of their soldier soldier- patients I first met her in In January 1943 during the Tunisian Tunisian Tunisian Tu Tu- campaign She and the theother theother theother other nurses in the Ninth evacuation evacuation evacuation hospital w we were e r e shivering shivering- in cold unheated tents and leading lead lead- in ing anything but the life liCe of of Riley but but they loved it It was all so 50 new to us then said Mary We only had three blankets and it was so cold in those Algerian hills that water froze in our helmets overnight and In the morning before we could wash our faces we had to break up the Ice Yes we had f fewer e w e r conveniences and more difficulties then then but but we didn't really mind them Mary and the other nurses still stilt live in s t to o v vel e l e s s 8 tents through which 1 leak e c a k the chill autumn winds And they are camped in a pasture turned into a deep calf-deep quagmire by churnIng churnIng churning churn- churn Ing ambulance wheels Yes we are back in the same old mud again said Mary But we are numb now We Ve do not have the same enthusiasm we did did but but we dont don't need it so much We Ve do things faster and better now because we learned how to work under these con con- From Portsmouth Va Mary used to nurse ailing in the Radio City musical hall Of her experiences overseas she says I remember most the unfailing unfailing ing h hum humor u m o 0 r of our American boys There is nothing like it anywhere You just cant can't let j them down And you cant can't help keep your our chins up around then them they they are re so darn d a r n cheerful cheerfuLl Even when you cant can't see much for tor them to be cheerful about Some of the nurses she can canover over with are back in the States State now but M Mary ry kind of want wan to stick sUck it out Most nurses do do- Only with that t third h hI i r rd d rough winter coming up Mary cant can't help thinking back a little fully of or the time when neith neither clothing nor her hours were n- n regimented What I really want is a fussy hat she said Mid I I want to walk down Fifth in a fussy hat Laughing she filled hof up a hot water bottle silly of course All AU we- we w really want to do Is get our cur our hospital out of th those these e tents Me and into buildings so we wont won't have to be picking up muddy blan blan- We Ve arc are tired of ot putting putting muddy blankets under our nice boys bos I t |
