May 5, 1945
May 5, 1945Heidenheim, GermanyNo. 33 (continued) Dear Folksies, The trip that the Colonel, Mattie, and Wally took was apparently a most enjoyable one for all, particularly for Mattie. They visited Jena and Weimar. Mattie, you see, had gone to school there not so many years ago. He said he was dismayed when he […]
May 4, 1945
May 4, 1945Heidenheim, GermanyNo. 33 Dear Folksies, The past few days have certainly been filled with startling changes in the world. The news has been amazing at almost every turn. First comes Musso’s demise [April 29] and then the announcement of Hitler’s [April 30], followed rapidly by the capitulation in Italy [May 1] […]
May 1, 1945
Here – on May 1, 1945 – is an excerpt from the journal of Dr. Philip Westdahl … During this period, the usual rumors of the war’s end and the capture or death of Hitler were rife. The United Nations Conference was proceeding in San Francisco and Himler was supposed to have offered unconditional surrender […]
April 29, 1945
April 29, 1945Heidenheim, GermanyNo. 32 (conclusion) Dear Folksies, Finally, after getting another load of stuff (the things that we had brought down in the first echelon), the trucks made another trip down here. By that time, in fact the evening before, most of the outside vehicles had arrived so that all headed down […]
April 28, 1945
April 28, 1945Heidenheim, GermanyNo. 32 (continued) Dear Folksies, When we got into the town I found that it was darned near impossible to get over to where the main section was — the town was a wreck, and, in fact, was still smoking. Parked the vehicles in a small field by a grainary […]
April 27, 1945
April 27, 1945Heidenheim, GermanyNo. 32 Dear Folksies, Almost a week since last writing and not a chance during all that time to sit down and get even a line off to you. And strangely enough, only yesterday kept me busy in surgery. Have, on the other days, been tearing around the […]
April 26, 1945
On April 26, 1945, we hear more from Dr. Philip Westdahl about the unit’s move to Heidenheim… Most of the small villages along the route were flying white flags from a window of every house, as well as the church and city hall, and there was very little evidence of destruction. Here and there, however, […]
April 25, 1945
Today we have an excerpt from the journal of Philip Westdahl, about the 59th Evac. Unit’s journey to Heidenheim around April 25, 1945. Toward the latter part of April, it became evident that the Seventh Army was turning south into the German province of Bavaria, having gone as far east as Nuremberg and captured that […]
April 21, 1945
April 21, 1945Tiefenthal, GermanyNo. 31 (conclusion) Dear Folksies, Finally we came down off the hill and went to the “Surgical Clinic” where we were shown around sort of on a tour of inspection, by a Professor Bauer the Head of the Clinic. It is obviously a relatively new place and has more equipment […]
April 20, 1945
April 20, 1945Tiefenthal, GermanyNo. 31 (continued) Dear Folksies, Heidelberg was, as far as damage was concerned, just about the direct opposite of Mannheim. The only damage done there had been done by the Krauts themselves, and that consisted merely of blowing up of the bridges which spanned the Neckar. As papers have depicted […]
April 19, 1945
April 19, 1945Tiefenthal, GermanyNo. 31 Dear Folksies, The evening of the day that Mattie and Phil returned, Wally got up enough nerve to ask the Col. if, since the “Gang-Greene” was off duty the next day, it would be possible to visit Heidelberg. To Wally’s surprise the Old Man agreed that it would […]
April 18, 1945
April 18, 1945Tiefenthal, GermanyNo. 30 Dear Folksies, As the old saying goes, “If it hasn’t happened to the 59th, then it just couldn’t have happened.” Well, here’s one for the publicity fiends, for Hollywood, or just for Dr. Kildare Westdahl and Dr. Gillespie Mathewson. As Phil said, for him it could be entitled, […]
April 17, 1945
Here, on April 17, 1945, is Part Two of the entry from the journal of Dr. Philip Westdahl about his “good fortune to take part in one of those rare experiences of drama in every-day life.” We could find no criticism of the care the lad had received in the hands of the Germans. They […]
April 16, 1945
Here – on April 16, 1945, is Part One of an entry from the journal of Dr. Philip Westdahl about his “good fortune to take part in one of those rare experiences of drama in every-day life.” Part Two will be published on April 17. We were enjoying the sunset one evening when two small […]
April 15, 1945
April 15, 1945Tiefenthal, GermanyNo. 29 (conclusion) Dear Folksies, On Thursday, tho’ on second call we were called to work about 10 P.M. and by the time we were finished we stayed around a bit longer to see what Chuck and Bret (with Frank assisting as the only bones involved for Bret were a […]
April 13, 1945
April 13, 1945Tiefenthal, GermanyNo. 29 Dear Folksies, After the announcement that startled us all tremendously at midnight last night, I am rather anxiously awaiting comments that I hope you will be having the time and energy to make. I will be interested in what you think may be the outcome of the passing […]
April 11, 1945
April 11, 1945Tiefenthal, GermanyNo. 28 Dear Folksies, Am on 2nd call tonight and it looks as if Bret and Chuck are going to be able to handle things, so shall probably stay over here in Surgery a little while and write a couple of letters. The last two nites the ”Gang-Greene” was on […]
April 10, 1945
On April 10, 1945 we have an entry from the journal of Dr. Philip Westdahl… As our activity died down, the other Evac. hospitals leap-frogged us and followed the front across the Rhine, leaving us to take care of the Divisions temporarily assigned to occupying and policing the Saar. Daily we witnessed the steady stream […]
April 9, 1945
René mentioned in his most recent letter that Dr. Phil Westdahl had captured a German soldier in Tiefenthal. On April 9, 1945, here is Phil’s account… I had the unique experience one morning of capturing a German soldier. I had often heard tales from our patients of how German soldiers wandered about looking for someone […]
April 8, 1945
April 8, 1945Tiefenthal, GermanyNo. 27 Dear Folksies, The last few days, instead of getting warmer daily, seemed to get colder, particularly in the early morns. The wind, too, has hardly let up at any time. Westdahl is now about in the same class as Stratte [in France]. He crossed the road today […]
April 5, 1945
April 5, 1945Tiefenthal, GermanyNo. 26 Dear Folksies, Weather has been miserable around here the last few days and one never knows if it is going to rain one minute to the next. Luckily this ground absorbs the water well so that we haven’t particularly been bothered by mud, anyway the rain hasn’t been […]
April 4, 1945
April 4, 1945Tiefenthal, GermanyNo. 25 (conclusion) Dear Folksies, An interesting P.O.W. patient the other night, who surprised us all by starting to talk in excellent English with all the high-school language trimmings. It turned out that his story was that he had lived for 15 years in Springfield, Mass. (He’s only about 20 […]
April 3, 1945
April 3, 1945Tiefenthal, GermanyNo. 25 (continued) Dear Folksies, Strangest coincidence to occur as far as anyone in the outfit is concerned, is, I think, the one that happened to my friend Davidson about two weeks ago. He’s the one, you will remember my telling you about, who used to be General Patch’s driver […]
April 2, 1945
April 2, 1945Tiefenthal, GermanyNo. 25 Dear Folksies, The day after my last letter, things slackened off for us and we knew that some of our friends must have played leap-frog with us, as we had done with them just a few days before. As x-ray was quiet as a mouse, I developed 6 […]
April 1, 1945
No letter from René on April 1, 1945. Here’s an excerpt from the journal of Dr. Philip Westdahl about the conclusion of their 75-mile journey to Tiefenthal, Germany. As we drove through the Saar toward the Rhine, we could feel the hostility in the air. The German men, women and children on the streets paused […]
March 31, 1945
No letter from René on March 31, 1945. Here’s an excerpt from the journal of Dr. Philip Westdahl about the 59th’s journey from St. Avold, France to Saarbruken, Germany. Our route from St. Avold [in French Lorraine] took us north through the town of Forbach, just south of the German border and the Saar River. […]
March 30, 1945
March 30, 1945Tiefenthal, GermanyNo. 24 (continued) Dear Folksies, Next A.M., up bright and early, and then at noontime we got word that we were going to have to take patients that night, despite the fact that the vehicles that were supposed to move us had just arrived in the area an hour before […]
March 29, 1945
March 29, 1945Tiefenthal, GermanyNo. 24 Dear Folksies, Have been plenty busy the last five days. As you see by the above, we have hopped again and no sooner got a tent or two thrown up than we were up to our necks in work, and since only part of us were here at […]
March 25, 1945
This excerpt from the journal of Dr. Philip Westdahl around March 25, 1944, tells the story about the unit’s short stay at St. Avold, which René couldn’t tell his parents due to censorship rules… We worked day and night for six days before the breakthrough into Germany and our casualties became light. The casualties consisted […]
March 24, 1945
March 24, 1945St. Avold, France No. 23 Dear Folksies, I can see that this is going to be some letter. I’m trying to type this in our tent and it is 7 P.M., and it looks as if Bish, Jack & Roy are contemplating consuming most of what is left of the last […]
March 21, 1945
March 21, 1945St. Avold, France No. 22 Dear Folksies, It’s good to be working again! We’ve been plenty busy, are tenting it once again and enjoying it. Of course, we are still forced to keep our long woolens on for, even with our oil-burning stoves, things are a bit cool. The first nite […]
March 17, 1945
No letter from René on March 17, 1945. Here’s an excerpt from the journal of Dr. Philip Westdahl, describing the 59th’s move from Epinal to St. Avold, France. On March 17, we finally left Epinal and headed north to take part in the push of the 7th Army into Germany. After 2 months of inactivity […]
March 15, 1945
No letter from René on March 15, 1945. Here’s an excerpt from the journal of Dr. Philip Westdahl, describing his visit to the grave of his brother, Dick, in Normandy. Before returning to duty I had the good fortune of being able to fly to Normandy to visit my brother Dick’s grave. The flight from […]
March 14, 1945
No letter from René on March 14, 1945. Here’s an excerpt from the journal of Dr. Philip Westdahl, describing his visit to Paris earlier in the month. [In early March] I had the grand opportunity to see the famous city. Although it couldn’t actually be described as beautiful at this time of year with its […]
March 11, 1945
March 11, 1945Epinal, France No. 21 Dear Folksies, I left off yesterday’s letter just as we went off to play some volley ball. Managed to spend a good part of the afternoon – both yesterday and today – at that game. In fact, today had some pretty good games of it. The weather, […]
March 10, 1945
March 10, 1945Epinal, France No. 20 Dear Folksies, There’s so darn little doing as far as we’re concerned that ‘tis difficult to find things to write to you – don’t have any opportunities for interesting conversations as you do. They’ve GOT to put us to work soon!! We have been spending a […]
March 8, 1945
March 8, 1945Epinal, France No. 19 (conclusion) Dear Folksies, Why is it that the Army at home doesn’t seem to want to profit from the experiences of those who have been through various things over here and know what they are talking about? Strangely enough, even over here, in a lot of things, […]
March 7, 1945
March 7, 1945Epinal, France No. 19 (continued) Dear Folksies, Two days ago we had a pleasant surprise for, who walked into our quarters but “Skinny” St. Claire. Remember, he was, and still is, in the Judge Advocate’s office of Army Hdq, had some of his law training at Stanford. Anyway, the last week […]
March 6, 1945
March 6, 1945Epinal, France No. 19 Dear Folksies, A few nights ago Bob Treadwell returned home from his leave in Paris. He felt just as I had — that two days there was much too short time. He had just begun to find his way around a bit and to enjoy some of […]
March 2, 1945
March 2, 1945Epinal, France No. 18 Dear Folksies, On the day I last wrote to you, I did take a hike — with Bret, Tony Ilacqua and Helen Baker. Walked around some of the back roads and went through a few old forts that dated back some seventy years. There actually wasn’t much […]
February 28, 1945
February 28, 1945Epinal, France No. 17 Dear Folksies, Last couple of days have again been most uneventful. Weather today again beautiful, but the last couple were rather poor and not conducive to hikes or similar forms of exercise. Tooth – or rather, where the tooth was – is still feeling fine, much to my […]
February 26, 1945
February 26, 1945Epinal, France No. 16 (continued) Dear Folksies, Wednesday nite we had a party scheduled — this time with a band, but the band had to be called for at a place some little distance from here. As I wanted to go there, and as Carroll had heard that he could get […]
February 25, 1945
February 25, 1945Epinal, France No. 16 Dear Folksies, Am trying a little experiment and do not know how it is going to work out. The sun is shining beautifully, I have just finished lunch, there is a slight wind, and I am outside our quarters sitting on Bret’s sled with the typer […]
February 20, 1945
February 20, 1945Epinal, France No. 15 Dear Folksies, Weather yesterday again very nice, but on the crisp side. Today kind of dismal. Outdoors a good bit yesterday and in the afternoon was inveigled into a baseball game. There were only a few of us officers playing so that we did not have an […]
February 18, 1945
February 18, 1945Epinal, France No. 14 Dear Folksies Weather not particularly conducive today to hiking or other outdoor activities tho’ ‘tis still rather warm. Our big “parade” ground has been the scene of considerable activity these last few days with the good weather bringing the boys out in droves. In one corner there […]
February 17, 1945
February 17, 1945Epinal, France No. 13 (conclusion) Dear Folksies Took a hike a couple of days ago with Wally Greene, Hope Ecklund, and Dotty Merrell. Must have walked almost ten miles, walking along one of the canals, which are strange and interesting features of this part of the country. The width of the canals […]
February 16, 1945
February 16, 1945Epinal, France No. 13 Dear Folksies, Kind of let a couple of more days than I had intended slip by since last writing to you. However, the last few days have been such beautiful ones that it would have been a shame to have stayed indoors just to write, and it was […]
February 11, 1945
February 11, 1945Bacarrat, France No. 12 Dear Folksies, We haven’t been doing much of anything these last few days and in fact anticipate going back to our own gang in a couple of days. Tho’ there is little or nothing for us to do, they have been mighty nice to us and their C.O. […]
February 8, 1945
February 8, 1945Bacarrat, France No. 11 Dear Folksies, Have been kept busy working these last few days tho’ I cannot say that I’ve actually been hard at work. Worked nights for two nights and now am on days again. Worked straight thru both nights, but the way they work here they sort of take […]
February 5, 1945
February 5, 1945Bacarrat, France No. 10 Dear Folksies, Eddie and I came over here two days ago to join the boys of the Illinois University gang, the 27th Evac., who needed some help. They are a gang the same size as ours, but are carrying an extra load now and also have some of […]
February 2, 1945
February 2, 1945Epinal, France No. 9 (conclusion) Dear Folksies, Left Monique’s just in time to get back to my hotel to meet one of my boys, Harry Sharp, who had gotten tickets for the two of us to go to see the Folies Bergere. He had gone the first night we were in Paris, but […]
February 1, 1945
February 1, 1945Epinal, France No. 9 (continued) Dear Folksies, Tuesday A.M., I had planned to go on one of the American Red Cross tours around the town with some of the enlisted men, but as luck would have it, the bus we were supposed to go in was completely frozen that A.M. and so the […]
January 31, 1945
January 31, 1945Epinal, France No. 9 (continued) Dear Folksies, Later we walked to Claudine‘s apartment. Lilice and George sleep in a hotel, but eat and spend most of their time at Claudine’s, helping with the baby, cooking, etc. The apartment consists of three small rooms and a kitchen with a minimum of furniture. They […]
January 30, 1945
January 30, 1945Epinal, France No. 9 (continued) Dear Folksies, Monday A.M. I got up and had breakfast at the hotel (regular G.I. mess) and then phoned Jeanne, making arrangements to meet her at 12:30 P.M. at her place. It was fairly nice outdoors, cold but not too bad, so I started walking in search […]
January 29, 1945
January 29, 1945Epinal, France No. 9 (continued) Dear Folksies, I had supper with them all [Jeanne and David Salomons, and The Weills, whose apartment they are living in temporarily] and remained there talking until time to catch the last subway back to my hotel — the subways run only until 11 P.M. The food […]
January 28, 1945
January 28, 1945Epinal, France No. 9 (continued) Dear Folksies, After getting the boys settled in their hotel (a guide was furnished to show us where each hotel was) Harry drove me to mine and then took the truck and parked it for the period that we were in Paris, as you are not supposed […]
January 27, 1945
January 27, 1945Epinal, France No. 9 Dear Folksies, I did it! I made it to Paris! It all came about this-away, Serge and Ann Bryner had left for Paris (loaded with some things for the folks), three of the nurses were scheduled to have their leaves in Paris and the phone rings for […]
January 25, 1945
January 25, 1945Epinal, France No. 8 Dear Folksies, Yesterday I received your package with asparagus, artichokes, chopped olives and the wonderful pair of warm socks that Henriette made for me. Thank her just oodles for me, but shall try to drop her a note in a couple of days, anyway. Thanks, oodles, to you […]
January 22, 1945
January 22, 1945Epinal, France No. 7 Dear Folksies, Nothing much new since last writing, except that all ears are pretty well glued to the radio these days to hear the news of when the Russians reach Berlin. Boy, if they do get there first, old Patton is going to be one sore monkey, I […]
January 18, 1945
January 18, 1945Epinal, France No. 6 And still we twiddle our thumbs. Very little snowing in the last days, but our blanket of white remains except over heavily travelled road-beds. Have become fairly well acclimated when outdoors and moving around, but when the steam-heat in our quarters goes on the fritz and we have […]
January 16, 1945
January 16, 1945Epinal, France No. 5 Dear Folksies, Roosevelt’s speech of about a week ago has irked a good many. This business of making such a point about drafting nurses! Actually I don’t believe the need for nurses is that great. There’s no reason that WACs couldn’t be used in a great number of […]
January 15, 1945
January 15, 1945Epinal, France No. 4 (conclusion) Dear Folksies, The 59th continues to be “wacky” in the eyes of the newcomers. A couple of days ago a strange sight could be seen outside our officers and nurses quarters. There we were, some 25 of us (officers and nurses), almost shivering in the cold, outside, […]
January 14, 1945
January 14, 1945Epinal, France No. 4 (continued) Dear Folksies, Change in assignments slightly at the moment – Eddie Welles has come off the surgical team and gone on anesthesia and Paul has taken his place. After Eddie has had a little while in that job, then Newsom or Pete will come off their team […]
January 13, 1945
January 13, 1945Epinal, France No. 4 Dear Folksies, Sorry, did not mean to let these days slip by without writing to you, but in a minute you shall see where my good intentions yesterday went. We’re still sitting on our – you know what’s, and some have even done so rather dramatically in the […]
January 8, 1945
January 8, 1945Epinal, France No. 3 Dear Folksies, And still the snow falls! We’re really under a blanket now! In fact, I guess that most of France is pretty white right now. It’s hard to realize that actually when one considers latitudes, the whole of France is pretty far above any of the places […]
January 5, 1945
January 5, 1945Epinal, France No. 2 Dear Folksies, We are really under a mighty cold white blanket now, with several inches of that white stuff all over the ground and buildings. Our boys were out freezing their hands off this morning putting chains on all their trucks, for it looks as if they won’t […]
January 4, 1945
January 4, 1945Epinal, France No. 1 (conclusion) Dear Folksies, Had a nice cold ride in an open jeep a couple of days ago. Carroll and I went with Klemperer and Byers in their jeep while the other officers went, warm, in the closed babies that have heaters. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our ride greatly. We felt […]
January 3, 1945
January 3, 1945Epinal, France No. 1 (continued) Dear Folksies, Our party on New Years Eve was quite a party. Originally, a few days before, we had anticipated not being able to have the party, but suddenly it was O.K. and things got under way in nothing flat. We were going to have the electric […]
January 2, 1945
January 2, 1945Back in Epinal, France No. 1 Dear Folksies, Yep, ‘tis now 1945 over here! All have pretty well recuperated from a rather wild ushering in of the New Year about which I shall tell you in a few minutes. We hope that despite the fact that the news from the Western Front […]