May 14, 1943
May 14, 1943No. 30 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, It has been pretty darn hot, and as Dad’s old saying goes: “the heat was not in the houses, but intense and in-tents.” With the sides of the tents rolled up and sitting on the side of the tent away from the sun, it isn’t so […]
May 10, 1943
May 10, 1943No. 29 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, Yes, Mom, Lois gets her share of razzing, both on and off her ward. It goes on continually in one form or another, but as you have guessed, it doesn’t bother us – in fact, we get a big kick out of it – especially when […]
May 9, 1943
May 9, 1943No. 28 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, Yesterday A.M. we got the news of the fall of Tunis and Bizerte and as it was apparently “Joan of Arc Day,” there was plenty of rejoicing in town. Some of the boys said that they went into town and ordered beer at a place they […]
May 8, 1943
May 8, 1943No. 27 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, Having written #25 and #26 yesterday, I am writing this and enclosing some pictures. They include: an Arab mother and child; Lois and Sgt. Heath in ward, “working”; Gert Brazil, me and “Bonnie Blue Eyes,” our prize jeep; and Arabian drummer “boys”. Loads of love, . Next […]
May 7, 1943
May 7, 1943No. 25 & 26 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, Not having much to do at the moment and just sitting in the Receiving Tent awaiting the slow flow of patients, and there being a typer handy, I figured that this is a good time to get a little note off to you. My […]
May 5, 1943
May 5, 1943No. 24 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, Since last writing my mouth has cleared up rapidly and now I have only one little tiny patch up around the same left upper molar that has been giving me trouble from time to tome. I am feeling swell now, no longer have any gastritis and […]
April 29, 1943
April 29, 1943No. 23 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, My last letter was written 8 days ago. I would have written sooner if I hadn’t been kind of knocked under the weather for this last week. It all started with a typhoid shot. The following day I felt sort of subnormal and loafed around all […]
April 21, 1943
April 21, 1943No. 22 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, I was kept busy all afternoon today, giving a couple of spinals and helping Bert put a cast on a leg that was nicely chewed up by bullets. Have been seeing quite a few of these and all are being treated by closed casts, leaving the […]
April 19, 1943
April 19, 1943Continuation of No. 21 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, The non-coms party is coming up in two days and it ought to be pretty good. There will be about 30 of the nurses and some French nurses also, I believe. When Miss Diffley told George the other day about how many of the […]
April 18, 1943
April 18, 1943No. 21 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, You asked about malaria prophylaxis. Well, beginning in two days we start to take Atabrine, 2 tablets twice a week, i.e. Monday and Thursday – why those days were picked, I know not. We haven’t had much malaria around here, but the mosquitos are beginning to […]
April 15, 1943
April 15, 1943No. 20 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, I finished No. 19 yesterday, so there isn’t anything of note to add, but I will devote this whole epistle to a couple of things made up by Roy Cohn – a parody to “Pass the Ammunition” and a poem he wrote for George Davis’ promotion party. […]
April 14, 1943
April 14, 1943Final portion of No. 19 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, Yesterday Lois and I went down to the beach for the whole afternoon, as it was her day off and I wasn’t on call. We stayed down there, not swimmin’ as it ain’t safe, but in bathing suits getting, we hope, a tan. […]
April 13, 1943
April 13, 1943Continuation of No. 19 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, Last night ago we had quite a soiree — not quite a night at the opera, but anyway some singing at the local theater. The program began with a movie, “Three Loves has Nancy” with Janette Gaynor, Robert Montgomery, and Franchot Tone. And speaking […]
April 12, 1943
April 12, 1943Continuation of No. 19 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, I have about $180 plus $40 in Traveler’s Checks on hand, so I shall wait a little and then send some on. I am waiting to see what new stuff might have to be bought when we change into summer clothing, instead of the woolens […]
April 11, 1943
April 12, 1942 marks the one-year anniversary of René writing his first letter home (on April 11, 1942) from Ft. Lewis, Washington. Below is a photograph of all the doctors (and the chaplain) who were in the 59th Evacuation Hospital Unit at the time. Next letter… Doctors & Chaplain of the 59th Evacuation Hospital Unit […]
April 10, 1943
April 10, 1943Continuation of No. 19 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, First of all, let me assure you that both of us are feeling right in the pink again. I am not working nearly as hard on the ortho and anesthesia service as I did on Isolation, but, of course, on the latter service I had […]
April 7, 1943
April 7, 1943No. 19 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, Yes, I’m sometimes bad and sometimes good, this time having been bad and having let so many days slip by since the last letter. I have really been busy. After getting back to work on the 29th, I found we had another meningitis case and then […]
April 6, 1943
Here’s are excerpts from a letter that Lois McFarland wrote to René’s parents and his sister, Barbara (known as Bobsy). April 6, 1943 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Mommie, Dad, Bobsy and all, Today is my day off, so I’m waiting for your son to finish up his work and sign out to someone, so we […]
March 30, 1943
March 30, 1943Continuation of No. 18 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, I’m glad you enjoyed yourself at Solari’s. Naturally we are longing for the time when we will be able to saunter in there also and get a taste of their wonderful cooking. But in the meantime, we aren’t doing so bad at all. What […]
March 29, 1943
March 29, 1943No. 18 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, I am taking the afternoon off and am over in the recreation tent, rather warm, but nevertheless not too uncomfortable. Lois is here doing the same – i.e. writing an occasional letter. Reasons for the afternoons off: For about the last week Lois was running a […]
March 25, 1943
March 25, 1943Continuation of No. 17 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, I have been kept darn busy during the last week or 10 days. Yes, I’ve got many more patients than I had in Ward 16 at the County. Mostly mumps and Victory Measles; a few true measles, a couple of meningococcemias (without meningitis), a […]
March 24, 1943
March 24, 1943No. 17 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, Since my last letter, I have been kept awfully busy and consequently have ended up in the evening pretty tired and unable to sit down and pound out any letters to you. The one day when I did have some time and could have written a […]
March 13, 1943
March 13, 1943Continuation of No. 16 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, Last Sunday, Fran Trembley, Pat Barry, two friends of theirs and Lois and I went out for the afternoon. We went to a place where, by golly, there was a waterfall and a cave very much like the Oregon Caves, only smaller and not […]
March 12, 1943
March 12, 1943No. 16 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, Tonight has been finally set aside for letter writing and I hope that it will actually turn into a letter writing night, instead of all good intentions going to h____ as they have in the past. I’m thrilled that the mail gets through as well […]
March 5, 1943
March 5, 1943No. 15 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, Things have been pretty busy for me the last few days, as my second ward got filled up in a hurry and I was temporarily swamped. Have had a few interesting cases, including a meningococcus meningitis, a couple of peptic ulcers, some bronchopneumonias, a true lobar […]
March 2, 1943
March 2, 1943No. 14 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, In a few days I will undoubtedly be sending you another money order for $100. Money seems to collect around here, as there isn’t a great deal of use for it. About $75 comes in cash each month, and I can’t possibly spend it all, even […]
February 27, 1943
February 27, 1943 No. 11 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, There is nothing particularly new today except that Lois got all the mail in the family for today, receiving three from her mother and one from you, Mom. The latter was the one in which you tell all about meeting the nurse whom we knew […]
February 24, 1943
February 24, 1943Continuation of No. 10 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, The hospital gets larger day by day, with medical patients being in the majority. For a week I worked on a surgical ward and was on call for anesthesia, but the medical service got swamped and consequently Paul Stratte and I were shifted over […]
February 23, 1943
February 23, 1943No. 10 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, In the last couple of days I received several most welcome letters, and I feel more and more ashamed that I have not been nearly as faithful in writing as you have been. There are plenty of olfactory impressions to be had around here, and […]
February 15, 1943
February 15, 1943 No. 9 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, We are still in the same place and enlarging our hospital again, not because of any particular increase in patients, but to lighten the load on another hospital that is a bit crowded. As a consequence, I am going to be an M.D. again instead […]
February 10, 1943
February 10, 1943 No. 8 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, Somehow, despite all my good intentions, the time between letters seems to slip by fast and furiously. Have kept pretty busy again the last week in much the same way as we were the first week. We’ve been throwing boxes around, getting on the ships, […]
February 1, 1943
February 1, 1943 Continuation of No. 7 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, Last week I had as strange an experience as I ever want to have. Bill Reilly, Bill Drew and I went to visit the Communicable Disease Hospital for Arabs. The hospital is run by the French, their being one male and one female […]
January 31, 1943
January 31, 1943 No. 7 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, For all of us here it was Xmas four days ago. Mail and packages came in by the droves that day and it took the boys hours to separate it. They got to the 1st class mail separated pretty well by about 6 P.M. and […]
January 30, 1943
Here’s are excerpts from a letter that Lois wrote, on January 30, 1943, to René’s parents and his sister, Barbara (known as Bobsy). January 30, 1943 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Mommie, Dad & Bobsy, Here we are, out in tents. It’s not a bit bad. There are 5 of us in each one, and best […]
January 28, 1943
Here’s are excerpts from a letter that Lois McFarland wrote, on January 28, 1943, to René’s parents and his sister, Barbara (known as Bobsy). January 28, 1943 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Mommie, Dad & Bobsy, Last night was just like Xmas for us – oh golly – it was so exciting! I want to thank […]
January 21, 1943
January 21, 1943 No. 6 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, Yesterday, I received Dad’s V-mail of December 27. Glad to hear that you were all together on Xmas and Mom’s birthday. Golly, Pop, when you talk of Solari’s roast beef you make our mouths water. On the boat we had some swell roast beef alright, […]
January 17, 1943
January 17, 1943 No. 5 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, Here it is a not so beautiful Sunday in North Africa, but nevertheless we are relaxing a bit this afternoon, and so I have another opportunity to tickle the typewriter keys and get another letter off to you. We are still in the same […]
January 13, 1943
January 13, 1943 No. 4 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, My last letter was written, I see, 6 days ago. I shall try to write more often in the future, but as you can well realize it’s pretty difficult to write without fear of saying something censorable. However, knowing how I like to receive mail, […]
January 7, 1943
January 7, 1942 No. 3 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Folksies, I received Dad’s letter of December 12th a couple of days ago, and it sure feels good to be getting such mail way over her – even if it is a couple of weeks old. So, keep it up, and we’ll get it and be […]
January 2, 1943
January 2, 1943 Casablanca, Morocco Dear Gram, Here we are, set up in our tents, functioning as a hospital for the last few days. Right now it isn’t bad at all despite the mud and slush that we have to slide through to get anywhere around here. However, we are lucky enough to be […]