Chapter 26. 819th Hospital Center

Although we sometimes were extremely tired, our sense of worth was ample compensation.  And a sense of progress soon arrived when we learned of the Third Army’s building up of Bar-le-Duc into a large hospital center.  Near the border of France and Germany, WE were joined by two additional 1000-bed general hospitals.  The three hospitals became the 819^th Hospital Center, with a superior general and his staff over each of our three head offices.

One of the first persons needed by the 95^th when it arrived was an interpreter.  Upon ousting the Germans, Patton’s Army while in Bar-le-Duc immediately acquired the able linguist, Andre’ Testard, as their English-speaking interpreter.  Left behind when the 3^rd Army moved on, Testard became the interpreter for the three hospital staffs of the 819^th.  His office was with the 819^th staff which took over the beautiful old limestone mansion with its elegant antique French furniture which had been the German Army headquarters.

I became acquainted with Testard.  He was a former Picasso student in Paris when captured by Hitler’s troops. When the Americans arrived they discovered him teaching art in the schools as forced by the Germans.  Housed with our 819^th staff, his office was in the former Bar-le-Duc City Mayor’s mansion.  It was a beautiful old limestone mansion in the town itself, with its elegant antique French furniture which had been the German Army headquarters, and in 1944 became American hospital headquarters.

Sometimes it was my turn among us Red Cross workers to go into town to try to do personal shopping for our patients.  They typically had collected a good deal of cash since they couldn’t easily spend it.  Grounded at the 95^th they asked us to buy items they might send home to their loved ones, or personal items for themselves.  As fall turned toward winter the Bar-le-Duc store shelves grew more and more bare, however.  Soon not many consumer items were left.  I do remember seeing plenty of smoking pipes (no pipe tobacco).

While in town I learned about the historic old Romanesque cathedral up on the Bar.  Inside it, near the altar was a glass-topped casket with the body of a man who had been dead, as I recall, about 200 years at that time.  The man, possibly a priest, had requested that this be done and the Catholic hierarchy had complied.

Inside the casket, the man’s torso was naked.  It was incredible how little degeneration had occurred in so many years.  Cremation techniques current at the time of his death proved quite effective.

The Bar-le-Duc Cathedral, the regional head of the church, stood at the crossing of its main street and at right angles to the street to the duke’s castle.  The Cathedral was the entrance to its large nunnery, gardens and sizable school buildings.  The several times that I was up there throughout my year in Bar-le-Duc, I always saw at least one nun in full black and white dress walking either toward or away from the Cathedral.  Enchanted by the scene I was delighted before I left the Alsace to be able to buy from Testard his oil painting of the scene.

As our winter weather descended―it was an unusually cold winter and spring in that area of Europe―happy French chatter and laughter could be heard from the ice skaters on the canal with its willow-treed borders.  Writing home, I regretted not having ice skates.  However, charming as the village was, it was no place to visit.  There was nothing to DO!

Unlike in England, if I had a day off, unless I learned of a 95^th Jeep I could join for a day trip over to Reims, to nearby villages or even over to Nancy, what could I do?  Just spend the day at the Officer’s Club on our hospital post. That I did a few times.  It was warm, had a few books and a comfortable place to sit.  Otherwise we Red Cross gals seldom enjoyed relaxation in the Officer’s Club.

Before we knew it Thanksgiving had arrived.  And the 95^th mess halls went all out to have a bountiful Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings.  All the great vittles were appreciated until—about two hours after each seating—it became apparent that the turkey dressing must have been tainted.  Plenty of stomach aches in a 1000 bed hospital with at least 700 attending personnel!  You can imagine the waiting lines.