October 16, 1945
October 16, 1945 San Francisco (Hooray!)…conclusion My dear Yvette, Since being home I have spent most of my time visiting friends and have spent some time out at the County Hospital and at Stanford Hospital trying to find out what opportunities are being offered for further study and hospital work. As yet I do not […]
October 15, 1945
October 15, 1945 San Francisco (Hooray!) continued… My dear Yvette, On Tuesday morning (October 2) we arrived at Camp Beale, which is near Sacramento, about 120 miles north of San Francisco. We soon found out that not only would we be allowed to leave the camp within 48 hours, but that we would actually be […]
October 14, 1945
October 14, 1945 San Francisco (Hooray!) My dear Yvette, At last I have a little free time and am able to sit down and do what I have been wanting to do for the past week, and that is to tell you about the trip home and how perfectly the surprise worked. It couldn’t […]
October 9, 1945
October 9, 1945 San Francisco (Hooray!) Letter to Marie-Louise (conclusion…) From Wilmington, we were told that we would be going the rest of the way by train and that we would probably get out that afternoon or evening. We had arrived at Wilmington at 3:30 A.M. (EST). After getting bunks and unpacking a bit […]
October 8, 1945
San Francisco (Hooray!) Letter to Marie-Louise continued… In Paris, we were given some dope on how we were going home, about Customs declarations and also a movie on how to conduct oneself in case the plane has to land in the water and be deserted for rubber lift-rafts. It was all most interesting. Every […]
October 7, 1945
October 7, 1945 San Francisco (Hooray!) Dear M.L. [Marie-Louise, René’s sister, who is living in Puerto Rico with her husband and two children], Have been wanting to write to you ever since arriving home, but you can well imagine how little actual time I have had to sit down at a typewriter without interruptions, […]
September 27, 1945
The following is a translation of an article written by Yvette Baumann Bernard, René’s second cousin. A clipping of the original article, which was published in a French newspaper sometime in the second half of 1945 (perhaps on September 27) is reproduced in the sidebar. The preface reads in part, “The following article, written by […]
September 20, 1945
Below is René’s handwritten accounting of the surgical statistics of the 59th Evacuation Hospital – from Casablanca in December 1942 to Epinal II in January 1945. Next letter… * About René & Dear Folksies ⇒
September 14, 1945
September 14, 1945Bad Wildungen, Germany No. 52 Dear Folksies, Everything is, as usual, a mass of confusion around here. We have now been brought up to strength as far as enlisted personnel are concerned. We received some 40 men from the 91st and then 140 from the 2nd Armored Div. We were supposed to […]
September 13, 1945
September 13, 1945Bad Wildungen, Germany No. 51 Dear Folksies, Well, today we finally moved! We are now in the buildings we should have been in two months ago. We are in the town of Bad Wildungen, which is 14 kilometers from our last spot, and is the town in which the 3rd Division Headquarters […]
September 12, 1945
September 12, 1945Near Fritzlar, Germany No. 50 (conclusion) Dear Folksies, What is Yvette doing now? She started an enterprise called “Revivre.” It is her baby and she is the boss. How many she has working for her, I have no real idea; but she is gradually taking care of more and more individuals. Her […]
September 11, 1945
September 11, 1945Near Fritzlar, Germany No. 50 (continued) Dear Folksies, Finally, one day a supposed American Officer (probably a French Liaison Officer with the American Army) arrived in search of some girl. He did not find the girl he was looking for, but agreed that there was no point in going back without anyone. […]
September 10, 1945
September 10, 1945Near Fritzlar, Germany No. 50 (continued) Dear Folksies, At Auschwitz, they tattooed a number on Yvette‘s arm. Since there are but few women who ever came out of there and returned home, Yvette’s arm is always attracting attention and many questions. She has this tattoo on her left forearm, in the upper […]
September 9, 1945
September 9, 1945Near Fritzlar, Germany No. 50 (continued) Dear Folksies, At Ravensbruck, the Germans seemed to have quite a nasty sense of humor or sadism, call it what you will. If a woman had to see the doctor for some internal ailment, she was sent to him completely clothed. If, on the other hand, […]
September 8, 1945
September 8, 1945Near Fritzlar, Germany No. 50 (continued) Dear Folksies, Yvette was taken in a convoy with 1,500 other people to the camp at Auschwitz in April 1944. Of that 1,500, less than ten are now alive. They rode in open flat-cars and part of the time in trucks. When they arrived there, there […]
September 7, 1945
September 7, 1945Near Fritzlar, Germany No. 50 (continued) Dear Folksies, When finally the Gestapo did catch up with Yvette and Jean Guy, they really had all the dope on them, including most of their aliases. When they were confronted with all that information, they knew the jig was up. They were both taken to […]
September 6, 1945
September 6, 1945Near Fritzlar, Germany No. 50 Dear Folksies, Tonight, I’m going to attempt to jot down a few of the things told to me by Yvette and I am not going to try to make this chronological at all. Let me preface my remarks about Yvette by saying that she is truly […]
September 5, 1945
Today we have a letter that Lilice Baumann wrote to René’s parents after his visit to Paris. Lilice is René Sr.’s first cousin. It is transcribed here exactly as Lilice wrote it in English. Dear Ones, First of all I must tell you how happy we have all been when we knew […]
September 4, 1945
September 4, 1945Near Fritzlar, Germany No. 49 (conclusion) Dear Folksies, After a couple of hours at Weill’s, Lilice and I left, Lilice going home and I going first to the hotel and then to pick up Yvette. Went with Yvette then, to her club, which is called the “18th of June.” Reason for that […]
September 3, 1945
September 3, 1945Near Fritzlar, Germany No. 49 (continued) Dear Folksies, After lunch, walked with Lilice to the Trocadero, which is a beautiful and elaborate place close to the Eiffel Tower, and then finally walked over to Marie Weill’s place. She and her family live on the fifth floor of a rather old, but nice […]
September 2, 1945
September 2, 1945Near Fritzlar, Germany No. 49 (continued) Dear Folksies, Anthony Sternberg said that the British arrived at his camp [Lubeck POW Camp] on May 2, and he was flown in a C-47 to Brussels. He was supposed to get to Paris from there by train, but the pilot wanted to get to Paris anyway, […]
September 1, 1945
September 1, 1945Near Fritzlar, Germany No. 49 (continued) Dear Folksies, The nite of August 30th, I went to the Sternberg’s for supper. I was greeted at the door by Nicole and Jean-Jacques. Jean-Jacques is 11 years old, has closely cropped red-hair, is smart as a whip and apparently quite a little devil. He is somewhat, […]
August 31, 1945
August 31, 1945Near Fritzlar, Germany No. 49 (continued) Dear Folksies, As I said, before quitting on this last nite, I had supper that nite at Lilice’s. I should qualify that, I guess, for the apartment is actually Claudine’s, but all five are living there now, i.e. Giles, Claudine, Dominique, George and Lilice. Anyway, had […]
August 30, 1945
August 30, 1945Near Fritzlar, Germany No. 49 (continued) Dear Folksies, Now I have to tell you about another unpleasant subject – about the tragic manner of Raymond’s death. [Raymond Sternberg was the son of Paulette Leon Sternberg and Anthony Sternberg.] He had been in the Army but 6 months, and had just finished a […]
August 29, 1945
August 29, 1945Near Fritzlar, Germany No. 49 (continued) Dear Folksies, The next A.M., the 29th, I was a bit undecided as to which domicile I should head for first, fearing that some if not all of the family might be away on vacation. So, I finally decided on going to Claudine’s home, feeling sure […]
August 28, 1945
August 28, 1945Near Fritzlar, Germany No. 49 Dear Folksies, I had been moaning for a long time about wanting to get back to Paris, and even had told Col. Yarborough when I first saw him that I wanted to get there if there were any chance. Finally, with the hospital closed because of the […]
August 27, 1945
August 27, 1945Near Fritzlar, Germany No. 48 (conclusion) Dear Folksies, Today, for the first time that I can remember overseas, we had fresh bananas!!! And were they good!!! Yesterday 70 more men left us. This gang went to the 5th Armored Division for transportation with them homeward. They should be home by the […]
August 26, 1945
August 26, 1945Near Fritzlar, Germany No. 48 (continued) Dear Folksies, On the nite of August 22nd, we got another surprise – two strangers arrived!! None other than Gil Bishop and Chuck Schwartz. Chuck had heard rumors that we were moving around, that big things were in the wind, etc., and decided that it was […]
August 25, 1945
August 25, 1945Near Fritzlar, Germany No. 48 (continued) Dear Folksies, That nite we slept perfectly o.k., but when we awakened we found that there was even more water in the area — the nurses area was inundated, Johnson‘s tent was under about a foot of water, Chatley’s was under a good two feet, and […]
August 24, 1945
August 24, 1945Near Fritzlar, Germany No. 48 Dear Folksies, Gee, five days has passed now since last writing, but as seems to have been the usual course of events here everything has changed and been re-changed so rapidly that no one knows just what is the score, or if there is a score in […]
August 19, 1945
August 19, 1945Wabern, Germany No. 47 (continued) Dear Folksies, Two days ago, came the startling news that all the enlisted men with 99 points or over would leave for home on the 23rd of August. Wow!!! How many of our men does that affect? Only 105 of them! Can we still operate with the […]
August 18, 1945
August 18, 1945Wabern, Germany No. 47 Dear Folksies, Nothing more than a thousand new things in the last few days, but what all those things are, or what they mean, you-tella-me! Am at last off Receiving once again — back on the same ward I had when we first came up here, but, […]
August 15, 1945
August 15, 1945Wabern, Germany No. 46 V-J Day Dear Folksies, So it’s over!! With all the delay the last few days, with the messages going back and forth, the actual end is, as it was on V-E Day, really an anti-climax. The last two days everyone had been listening for reports hourly, but when […]
August 14, 1945
Today we have a portion of the letter that René Bine, Sr. sent to his son on August 14, 1945 – VJ Day, the end of the war in Japan and, therefore, the end of World War II. Anthony’s date with Cleopatra was some event, but at this moment, 6 P.M., it would appear that […]
August 12, 1945
August 12, 1945The Mud-Flats of Wabern, Germany No. 45 Dear Folksies, About the only thing new in the last few days is what all of you know even better — the closeness of the end of the war. Certainly none of us tho’t that things would take such a turn and that we would […]
August 7, 1945
August 7, 1945Wabern, Germany No. 44 (continued) Dear Folksies, After completing the first part of this letter yesterday, I got mighty busy and was kept busy all afternoon. Last nite just after supper, Maj. Mackee asked me if I wanted to do an appendix, so I did, but finally made him take the darn […]
August 6, 1945
August 6, 1945Wabern, Germany Still in Tents! No. 44 Dear Folksies, Beautiful day today—looks as if ‘tis going to be mighty hot, as a matter of fact. Just hope that business keeps slow enough so that I can pound this typer for a while. We anticipate having Roy and Fadley up here for […]
July 28, 1945
July 28, 1945Wabern, Germany Still in Tents No. 43 Dear Folksies, Things and rumors change so frequently around here these days that it is difficult to keep up on the latest dope. Here’s some of the most recent items: 1) Col. Yarbrough, the C.O., is leaving to go to the 129th Evac., which is […]
July 26, 1945
July 26, 1945Wabern, GermanyNo. 42 (conclusion) Dear Folksies, Stories from the other area are terrific. It seems that some of the members of the 108th now disgracing the name of the 59th, are really characters. The Exec Officer in particular! It seems he came in to see Roy one morn and told him he […]
July 24, 1945
July 24, 1945Wabern, GermanyNo. 42 (continued) Dear Folksies, Annie Dunn dropped from the air onto us the other day. She has been at anesthesia school in Paris – but apparently most of those schools are just chances for good times in whatever city they happen to be. Her course consisted of 2 lectures a […]
July 22, 1945
July 22, 1945Wabern, GermanyNo. 42 (continued) Dear Folksies, Last nite, tho’ I had just awakened at 5:30 P.M. feeling as if the whole Russian Army had walked over my tongue barefoot, I finally decided to go with the group to a show. We had gotten a limited number of tickets for the outfit and […]
July 21, 1945
July 21, 1945Wabern, GermanyNo. 42 (continued) Dear Folksies, I was surgical O.D. the other night, and what a night that turned out to be. I didn’t get to bed until 2 P.M. the next afternoon. First we had a guy who ran his hand thru a buzz saw, and tho’ he didn’t do a […]
July 20, 1945
July 20, 1945Wabern, GermanyNo. 42 (continued) Dear Folksies, We are all really griped about the deal the 59th has gotten, because we feel it should be broken up and the 59th dissolved — rather than having a new (and I must say, lousy) gang taking over the name of the 59th. Its only salvation […]
July 19, 1945
July 19, 1945Wabern, GermanyNo. 42 Dear Folksies, In the last few days we have been mighty busy and it has been so bloomin’ hot that it has been impossible to do much work, particularly around the noon hours. At night one is pretty worn out from the heat and the work that has been […]
July 16, 1945
July 16, 1945Wabern, GermanyNo. 41 (conclusion) Dear Folksies, We’ve already sent down two trucks to bring up things that were off the records at the 59th, so that this place could be made to function better — they had the men eating sitting on the ground, even!! We sent for tables and chairs. Their […]
July 14, 1945
July 14, 1945Wabern, GermanyNo. 41 (continued) Dear Folksies, One of the funniest things we heard about was the distribution of the so-called “Buddy-badge,” the Bronze Star, amongst the members of this outfit. They gave out some 31 Bronze Stars just because they were there to be given out. What a deal! And the 59th […]
July 13, 1945
July 13, 1945Wabern, GermanyNo. 41 (continued) Dear Folksies, Yesterday afternoon I spent out hunting for buildings. Not very successful. Came home at 9:30P.M. to find a party in full swing – so celebrated my birthday that way. Pretty good party at that. [July 12, 1945 was René’s 30th birthday.] Of course all sorts of […]
July 12, 1945
July 12, 1945Wabern, GermanyNo. 41 (continued) Dear Folksies, The morning of the 7th, all of us unfortunates who were heading for the 108th piled into various vehicles — the men into the trucks and the officers and nurses (9 officers and 11 nurses) piled into my bus. Away we went! That was really a […]
July 11, 1945
July 11, 1945Wabern, GermanyNo. 41 (continued) Dear Folksies, On the nite of the 6th, when I was Receiving and Medical O.D. came the bombshell or bombshells!! I tried to get ahold of Bret Smart to see a case that was a possible appendicitis and instead I got ahold of Wally Greene on the phone, […]
July 10, 1945
July 10, 1945Wabern, GermanyNo. 41 Dear Folksies, Time certainly flitted by again in a great big hurry and here I am writing now as a member of the 108th Evac. Hospital in the town of Wabern, Germany. The closest big town is Kassel (about 30km north of here). Confusion is still raining!!! A.P.O is […]
July 9, 1945
On July 9, 1945, while in Ellwangen, Germany, as a nurse with the 59th Evacuation Hospital, First Lieutenant Louise Moon celebrated her 29th birthday. Seventy-five years later, her daughter, Jody reported that she celebrated her 104th birthday on July 9, 2020, in Skillman, New Jersey. . Next letter… Louise Moon at a party in […]
July 4, 1945
July 4, 1945Ellwangen, GermanyNo. 40 (conclusion) Dear Folksies, Returned here to find another bomb-shell had dropped! All members of the 59th, including officers and nurses, who have over 85 points are being transferred out to the 108th Evac. Hospital, and all personnel from that outfit who have under 85 points are being transferred to […]
July 3, 1945
July 3, 1945Ellwangen, GermanyNo. 40 (continued) Dear Folksies, Some of the men – the high pointers – have already started home. Have had about 12 go already. Losing our key personnel rapidly! The boys that have left so far all had over 110 points. Some of the officers are in Paris, Rheims, and […]
July 1, 1945
July 1, 1945Ellwangen, GermanyNo. 40 (continued) Dear Folksies, Had an interesting talk with General Wilson for a short while before supper and then again after supper. I knew that he had known Lois’ father some years ago, but did not know that he had been at U.C. with him, that he had known Lois […]
June 30, 1945
June 30, 1945Ellwangen, GermanyNo. 40 Dear Folksies, Golly, an awful lot seems to happen in a few days around here every so often. I got back from Strasbourg night before last already to find some amazing things going on – but again let me annoy you by going at this a little systematically… […]
June 28, 1945
June 28, 1945Ellwangen, GermanyNo. 39 (continued) Dear Folksies, The Advance Party consisted of Gil, Gerbode, Chatley (Mess Officer), Eddie Welles, Nelson Bell and myself. Chatley, of course, was in charge of setting up the mess and running the men, Eddie was put in charge of the insides of all the buildings, Bell had charge […]
June 27, 1945
June 27, 1945Ellwangen, GermanyNo. 39 Dear Folksies, Clint Green, Arnold Klopec and I had quite an adventure down near Salzberg, scouting for and finally locating a bus for transporting members of the 59th. The bus we found is much like a “Greyhound” with a long hood and capable of holding 34 people in it. […]
June 23, 1945
June 23, 1945Dachau Concentration Camp, GermanyNo. 38 (conclusion) Dear Folksies, If one takes the time, as one frequently does, one can hear any number of stories about Dachau and other similar places throughout Germany and Poland. Even with the small amount of German that I know, I’ve listened to tales from Poles, Russians and […]
June 19, 1945
June 19, 1945Dachau Concentration Camp, GermanyNo. 38 (continued) Dear Folksies, The day after we evacuated Allach, the Col. wanted me to go down to Salzburg to pick up some wheels for his car. Sooo, with Bill Gratopp driving, with Ben Romine, Wy, Heinzerling, and Klopek in the rear, we took off with the weapons-carrier […]
June 15, 1945
June 15, 1945Dachau Concentration Camp, GermanyNo. 38 (continued) Dear Folksies, On June 8th, as Brown, Bell and Chuck Schwartz took off in the Mercedes for a tour around the country, Roy gave me the job of seeing that the hospital run by Capt. Sugranes was evacuated to the other hospitals, so that Sugranes’ hospital […]
June 11, 1945
June 11, 1945Dachau Concentration Camp, GermanyNo. 38 Dear Folksies, We’re still the “Dachau Bosses” but are, for the most part, relinquishing our control today and tomorrow. The two Bills [Newsom and Kuzell] are turning over their hospital to the new men today, and Pete and I this morning took a couple of officers around […]
June 10, 1945
The telegram that René sent to his parents on June 10, 1945… He dispatched the telegram as soon as he received the following note from Jeanne Salomons, Yvette‘s aunt, dated May 30: “Dearest René, Just two words to tell you that Yvette just arrived and she is in good condition. We are so, so happy! […]
June 7, 1945
June 7, 1945Dachau Concentration Camp, GermanyNo. 37 (conclusion) Dear Folksies, Our home, incidentally, consists of two floors. The men live on the ground floor and the officers on the top floor. The kitchen is on the ground floor and the men have a classy dining room right there, while we have a similar one […]
June 6, 1945
June 6, 1945Dachau Concentration Camp, GermanyNo. 37 (continued) Dear Folksies, ‘Twould be rather difficult to try to describe this place to you or to try and give you an accurate picture of what has been done and what we are now doing. The camp itself takes in something like 15 square miles, i.e. with […]
June 5, 1945
June 5, 1945Somewhere in GermanyNo. 37 (continued) Dear Folksies, On the 29th, we arranged all the PX stuff for sale the next day and also did a few odds and ends. May 30th – sold all our goods. May 31st got all the PX goods together to be sold to the gang at our […]
June 4, 1945
June 4, 1945Somewhere in GermanyNo. 37 Dear Folksies, Since last writing, numerous things have occurred. I shall attempt to give at least some of these in chronological order. Let’s see, my last was written on the nite of May 25th. Fooled around on the 26th, rounding up a few items needed, trying to find […]
May 30, 1945
René doesn’t know it yet, but on May 30, 1945, his second cousin Yvette Baumann Bernard returned to Paris. Sixteen months earlier (on January 28, 1944) she and her husband Jean Guy Bernard, ranking members of the French Resistance, had been arrested by the Gestapo at their apartment in Paris. Yvette spent 3 months in […]
May 25, 1945
May 25, 1945Heidenheim, GermanyNo. 36 (conclusion) Dear Folksies, Here we are getting bogged down in this swamp and are looking for a better spot, buildings preferred, in this general locale. Last nite the gang had a party, but I did not feel like going – saw “Gaslight” instead, and enjoyed […]
May 24, 1945
May 24, 1945Heidenheim, GermanyNo. 36 Dear Folksies, Again feel terribly ashamed for having let so many days slip by between letters. I hope that my laxity hasn’t been any cause for worry for you. Guess I just haven’t felt like writing at the times that I have had the opportunity and vice-versa. Have […]
May 18, 1945
May 18, 1945Heidenheim, GermanyNo. 35 (conclusion) Dear Folksies, You probably wonder why Bish and the Colonel are both away. Well, they’ve really got a job on their hands! They’re not the only ones away — their staff at the moment includes Cohn, Sewell Brown, Nelson Bell, Kuzell, Malone and Schwartz. They are the bosses […]
May 17, 1945
May 17, 1945Heidenheim, GermanyNo. 35 (continued) Dear Folksies, A couple of days ago had to go back up Heidelberg way for PX rations and then the last two days was busy with selling of the rations. Quite a little business, it is. That was also quite a ride back after those rations. We […]
May 16, 1945
May 16, 1945Heidenheim, GermanyNo. 35 Dear Folksies, Feel very much ashamed for not having written these last 7 days – gosh, I really slipped, more than I had realized! Have, however, been kept busy despite the fact that we have been closed. They made me procurement officer, though on paper Bish has […]
May 10, 1945
Here are some reflections from Dr. Philip Westdahl on May 9, 1945, about the end of the War in Europe. This is from the last entry in my copy of his journal. On Tuesday, May 8, 1945 the “Stars and Stripes” was published with headlines two inches high covering half a page: “ETOWARENDS” So there […]
May 9, 1945
May 9, 1945Heidenheim, GermanyNo. 34 (conclusion) Dear Folksies, Frank and Roy were in Munich a few days ago and reported that we ain’t seen nothing yet when it comes to wrecked cities. It’s hard to believe that any city could be more wrecked than some of the large ones we’ve already seen, but […]
May 8, 1945
May 8, 1945Heidenheim, GermanyNo. 34V-E Day Dear Folksies, So today is the day which we have all been waiting for so long, and actually now that it has come it sort of is nothing more than an anti-climax and everyone is just sweating out the next few months — the question of whether […]
May 7, 1945
Here – on May 7, 1945 – are some reflections from Dr. Philip Westdahl about awaiting the formal end to the War in Europe. The BBC told of the plans being made in London to celebrate the great announcement — the ringing of bells, the blaring of sirens and the gleam of searchlights. Such celebrations […]
May 6, 1945
May 6, 1945Heidenheim, GermanyNo. 33 (conclusion) Dear Folksies, One wonders just where all this is going to end — I don’t see where there can ever be anything but a vicious circle. This war was partly a result of the feeling in Germany that they had been given a raw deal in the […]