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November 30, 1944

No letter from René on November 30, 1944. Here’s an excerpt from the journal of Dr. Philip Westdahl, as things calm down and the unit prepares to leave Epinal, France. After 7 weeks of feverish activity here in Epinal, we have finally closed our doors and are preparing to move. We are mighty proud of […]

November 28, 1944

November 28, 1944Epinal, France No. 69 Dear Folksies,             Tonight I am a bit more calm and collected and yet again with rather mixed emotions.  When I awoke at 5 P.M. this afternoon, I found awaiting me on our desk, a card from Lilice, and in it considerable news for which all of us have […]

November 27, 1944

November 27, 1944Epinal, France No. 68 Dear Folksies,             Before I begin, I must warn you that this letter is bound to be the most misspelled and probably the worst typographically written letter that I have written in a long time.  I am at the moment so bloomin’ happy, yet sad, and my eyes are […]

November 23, 1944

November 23, 1944Epinal, France No. 67 Dear Folksies,             It’s Thanksgiving and I just finished a really scrumptious meal.  While the meal is still fresh in my mind, or I should say stomach, and the gastric and duodenal juices haven’t had much of a time to get to work on it, I shall give you […]

November 19, 1944

November 19, 1944Epinal, France No. 66 Dear Folksies,             I have been going steadily today, except for a slight interlude, luckily, when George Davis showed up – much to my surprise and joy. George arrived with an MP Major friend of his and stayed around for a few hours, going over and getting Major Kay […]

November 16, 1944

November 16, 1944Epinal, France No. 65 (conclusion) Dear Folksies,             Had a visit today from a Major Kay Barber. She is a good friend of George Davis and the head nurse of a hospital that is not too far away. She had seen George a couple of weeks ago and knew that if she was […]

November 15, 1944

November 15, 1944Epinal, France No. 65 Dear Folksies,         Since my last letter, I have been kept on the go, as you might well imagine and we never seem able to know what day of the week it is. Only those that make it a practice to visit the Padre weekly are the ones who […]

November 10, 1944

November 10, 1944Epinal, France No. 64 (conclusion) Dear Folksies,             Busy today until just a little while ago. Mom, YOUR TYPING IS MARVELOUS!!!! Heck, you have many less mistakes than these letters of mine! Keep it up! I should think, however, that now you would be kicking yourself for not trying to type long ago! […]

November 9, 1944

November 9, 1944Epinal, France No. 64 (continued) Dear Folksies,           At the moment, the Old Man is wandering around sort of like a lost sheep, waiting for his time to go home — tho’ he has not any definite time of departure, nor have we any inkling who the new C.O. will be. At any […]

November 8, 1944

November 8, 1944Epinal, France No. 64 Dear Folksies,             Have been plenty busy, tho’ in the last couple of nights we have managed to catch up on much needed sleep and am now feeling well rested. Someone got a brain-storm  and decided that since some of the other hospitals seem to prefer the 8 to […]

November 2, 1944

No letter from René on November 2. Here’s an excerpt from the journal of Dr. Philip Westdahl, reflecting about their time in Epinal, France. [During October] we have been going quite steadily. About every other day, following a drive, our receiving and shock wards pile up with a backlog of 80-90 patients, requiring a bout […]