WWII ERA NURSE'S SCRAPBOOK OF LETTERS AND PHOTOS

Diane Curtis

About this Item

10 x 13" black string-bound scrapbook with a map of the White Sulphur Springs area of West Virginia pasted to the cover. The album is filled with correspondence Diane Curtis received from soldiers that she worked with during her time as a nurse's aide at Ashford General Hospital around 1944. There are several scraps of paper with poems, Christmas cards, and clippings pasted into the album, but the main focus is given to around 41 letters, most of which are still tucked into their opened envelopes. Curtis appears to have left her position at Ashford to return to school and the majority of the letters take place after this event, given that many of the men she corresponds with discuss her dislike of school. Correspondents include Merrick H. Bigelow, Alfred W. White, PFC Mathern. Some of the men who wrote to Curtis had left Ashford to rejoin the military, while others remained at the hospital. The men tell Curtis about where they are stationed, what they are up to, school, and even Curtis' boy problems. Along with letters and poems from these men, there is also an envelope filled with magazine clippings of slogans that the men of Room 11 dedicated to their nurse's aide. A copy of The Ashford News (dated November 28, 1944) is also pasted into the scrapbook. Curtis' membership cards for the Officer's Club at Ashford General Hospital, and for Golf and Tennis at the Greenbrier Recreation Center are loose within the album. There are also around 16 black and white photos measuring between 2 x 1.5" and 5.5 x 3.5" pasted into the album, accompanied by handwritten annotations, which feature the area around Ashford and the men that Curtis nursed. One photo that is in an envelope in the beginning of the album, shows her giving a man a massage and written on the envelope is "Me rubbing Chick's back." There is also a copy of the Regulations for Nurse's Aides and a pamphlet about the Lockheed P-38 Lightning. Example of poems and letters sent to Diane Curtis: Our Nurse's Aide's Kind Words Beyond The Window, White Looked Out Into The Sun. The Dressing Cart Rumbles Past The Door. But In The Stillness Of His Room White Isn't Thinking Of The Busy World He'll Soon Be Going Back To- He's Thinking Of "The Nurse's Aide's" Pleading Eyes And how her Anxious Face Told him How Well He Was Coming Along For in Those Fevered Hours When No Money Could Have Bought For Me These Kind Words From "My Nurse's Aide" She Said Them For Me- And He's Remembering How Thankful He Felt To His "Nurse's Aide" For Having Persuaded Him To Have Confidence Letter from Joe Acer to Dee (July 21, 1944) Dear Dee: Received your card which was quite a surprise as I didn't think I rated it. Just to be specific I haven't climbed that mountain, at least yet. There is a bit more to climbing mountains than I think you realize. Besides I would not be satisfied until I had climbed the highest one of that bunch and there are three smaller ones before it. Such a expedition would require several days preparation of rest to store up the required energy to be expended not to mention a few supplies in the way of a basket lunch. Leaving at 4:30 AM, I figure steady climbing with two hours out for make and rest, one might make the top of the forth mountain by sun down. Then we could not start back but would have to camp out for the night. Did you ever sleep with the ants and glow worms and other inhabitants of the night? It is quite an experience. After a good night's sleep, I believe the journey back could be made the next day. Of course, this plan involves blazing one's own trail right up and down each mountain-none of this winding around the side of the mountain like a spiral staircase. Are you still game? Enough of mountain climbing, Dee. I worn out already. How about being drafted. Well, you certainly would be welcome back at Ashford in the same capacity in which you left. But to be drafted back in any other outfit such as WACS or Waves or similar Wacky outfits I would not approve. For awhile I t. Seller Inventory # 538

Bibliographic Details

Title: WWII ERA NURSE'S SCRAPBOOK OF LETTERS AND ...

Binding: Soft cover