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September 30, 1943

September 30, 1943 No 57 Palermo, Sicily Dear Folksies,           I’ve been pretty busy on an off as usual for the last couple of weeks, but things have been running pretty smoothly.           I saw yesterday a clever article that one of the boys made up for those returning to the U.S. You know that […]

September 21, 1943

September 21, 1943 No 56 Palermo, Sicily Dear Folksies,             On Lois’ day off we went up to George’s place in the afternoon, and though we intended to do some letter writing, the cool air on the porch, the nice scenery and the quiet were more conducive to just relaxing. George and another driver came […]

September 18, 1943

No letter from René on September 18, 1943, so we will keep up on the news of the 59th thanks to some excerpts from the journal of Dr. Phil Westdahl.             We have been quite busy during these past few weeks. Our highest peak was about 1200 patients, about 3/4 of which […]

September 13, 1943

September 13, 1943 No 55 (final portion) Palermo, Sicily Dear Folksies,             Yesterday turned out to be quite a gala day. Fran, Hal (Harold Williams), Lois and I left here about 2 P.M. going in a truck with several others, to the beach. Fran and I had arranged with some of the mess men to […]

September 12, 1943

September 12, 1943 No 55 (continued) Palermo, Sicily Dear Folksies,                     Al Jolson was here a few nights ago and put on a one-man show. He was fairly good — sang a few of his old songs, made a few cracks of the Bohemian Low Jinx type. In general he was entertaining for the patients […]

September 9, 1943

September 9, 1943 No 55 Palermo, Sicily Dear Folksies,                      On September 8, Lois had her first day off, so we left here shortly after lunch and took one of my dispensary boys with us for an interpreter. His name is Syracuse and he has some relatives nearby, but strangely enough, not in the town from […]

September 8, 1943

No letter from René between September 2 & 9. Fortunately, we can get some important news – and local reactions to it – from Philip Westdahl‘s journal entry on September 8, 1943 ITALY SURRENDERS!!             What news! It came while I was on my ward and even my sickest patients shouted for […]

September 2, 1943

September 2, 1943 No 53 Palermo, Sicily Dear Folksies,                       Yesterday I was kept plenty busy all day long, doing spinals for the most part, but also some pentothals. Nothing big, but just kept doing something all day and the early evening. Did get a chance, however, to get off a couple of short letters, […]