June 30, 1944
June 30, 1944Conclusion of No. 33Anzio, Italy Dear Folksies, Have been pretty busy the last few days with the V.D.s, as we had a bunch dumped on us from elsewhere. The rest of the hospital, however, is busy being a hospital for the beat-up civilians, it seems. The majority of our surgery cases have […]
June 29, 1944
June 29, 1944No. 33Anzio, Italy Dear Folksies, A few days ago I had an opportunity to travel to Rome for a visit as Don Vallar had to go up there to pick up some things and the Old Man O.K.’d someone else going along. Morduant went also sort of half and half on business […]
June 24, 1944
June 24, 1944Conclusion of No. 32Anzio, Italy Dear Folksies, Yesterday Mattie came back from his visit to the General Hospitals in the rear and gave us a most interesting talk on what is going on there. They are truly doing some amazing things – things that would not have been dared nor thought possible […]
June 23, 1944
June 23, 1944No. 32Anzio, Italy Dear Folksies, In reading your last letter, I was rather amazed at what you quoted as having appeared in the paper regarding Nan Drew expecting Bill home in July. But was even more surprised when I told Kuzell about it, to find that Bill (who died on May 23) […]
June 21, 1944
June 21, 1944No. 31Anzio, Italy Dear Folksies, Enjoyed the clippings, Dad, particularly the one about the Stanford guy operating on the Cal man. Posted that one up on the bulletin board and all got a big kick out of it. I never have understood why the physical requirements for an officer are higher […]
June 17, 1944
June 17, 1944No. 30 (conclusion)Anzio, Italy Dear Folksies, Our “friends” have bothered us several nights since we have been here — not quite like Morocco and Sicily, when they paid the 59th one visit and that was finis for the 59th’s stay in those places. Why they bother us here when they are being chased […]
June 16, 1944
June 16, 1944No. 30 continuedAnzio, Italy Dear Folksies, The hospital had a new “first” yesterday — the first WAC [Women’s Army Corps] as a patient — in fact the first one any had seen except for those who were lucky enough to get into Naples. And appropriately enough, this one was a bit “wacky” […]
June 15, 1944
June 15, 1944No. 30Anzio, Italy Dear Folksies, Have not been busy these last few days — have been running the V.D. ward besides a medical ward. Surgery wards have calmed down considerably, but it certainly looks as if these poor civilians in Italy are going to be having a bad time of it for […]
June 14, 1944
No letter from René on June 14, 1944, so here’s an excerpt from the journal of Dr. Philip Westdahl about the difference between the air raids in Anzio and those they experienced in Sicily. Our reaction to air raids has noticeably changed since our arrival in Anzio. We have far greater respect for shelter […]
June 13, 1944
June 13, 1944No. 29Anzio, Italy Dear Folksies, We are all very surprised at the rapidity with which the War Dept. notified Bill Drew’s family about his death. As you know, no casualties can be mentioned in letters for 90 days, unless word has definitely been received from the U.S. that the person’s family has […]
June 12, 1944
June 12, 1944End of No. 28 Anzio, Italy Dear Folksies, The next day we heard the Invasion [D-Day Invasion of Normandy] had started and were sort of griped to be sitting here and being attached to another bloomin’ Base Section again. We are supposedly a part of another Army in another section, but so […]
June 11, 1944
June 11, 1944No. 28 Anzio, Italy Dear Folksies, No mail in over two weeks now, so none to answer. That, of course, is all screwed up again and if we get all our mail up to date within the next month it will be a miracle. What with two moves in as many weeks, the […]
June 9, 1944
No letter from René on June 9, 1944, so here’s an excerpt from the journal of Dr. Philip Westdahl about their early days at Anzio – June 8 and June 9. On June 8, we started receiving patients by the carload figuratively, the majority of which were battle casualties being evacuated from forward hospitals. […]
June 6, 1944
No letter from René today, so here’s an excerpt from the journal of Dr. Philip Westdahl about their journey to and arrival at Anzio on June 6, 1944 — the same day as the Allied Invasion of Normandy — D-Day. On June 6, we headed for Anzio by truck convoy. Traveling along Route #7, […]
June 5, 1944
June 5, 1944No. 27 Somewhere in Italy Dear Folksies, Today is your birthday, Dad, and my thoughts are with you. Wish I could be there to celebrate with all the rest. I didn’t realize until today, when I got ahold of my carbons, that it had been a full two weeks since my #26. […]
June 3, 1944
No letter from René today, so here’s an excerpt from the journal of Dr. Philip Westdahl about one morning during their stay in Sessa – perhaps June 3, 1944. One morning during our stay in Sessa, we became aware of a continuous and gradually increasing drone approaching overhead from the direction of Naples and […]