This is a drawing done of me by a street artist in Paris while I was in the hospital . I was in Paris in the hospital for two months recovering from a shrapnel wound in my leg. I was there from February to April in 1945. They had me exercising on a stationary bicycle to strengthen my leg after the operation, and I was supposed to keep my leg moving. Instead, I bicycled with only my good leg by pulling up on the pedal with my foot, so much that eventually my slipper wore off on the top, and I had to switch slippers. And when I went to bed, I kept my wounded leg as straight and stiff as I could. Its not something I'm proud of, but I didn't want to go back, and after all these years its probably okay to tell the truth about it.
The "Rainbow Corner" was a Red Cross center for entertainment, where I'd walk over to listen to Glen Miller's band playing there. I went a lot, and after the war I saw this band again in Seattle playing at the Armory for the Homecoming dances. I went up to one of the guys that I remembered during their break and told him I'd seen him in France, and he said he remembered me and how was I doing? he invited my and my date to meet the band at the next break in the back room, and so we went there and he told the band that he knew me, and some of the other band members sort of said that they remembered me, but I think that they were just being friendly. But I went to hear them a lot, so maybe they did.
This is a picture of a WAC soldier named Lois who visited the hospital regularly to visit the wounded soldiers there. She helped them write letters, cheered them up, and talked with them. This is a series of pictures that she had taken. A small stuffed monkey appears in each picture. I don't remember the names of the soldiers standing next to her.
These are two Russian workers in Paris who worked as stretcher bearers in the hospital.
I'm standing with three other soldiers at the hospital. Monkey on the right. The hospital was on the Place de Pical.
This was a friend of one of my friends, I didn't really know her, but I kept this picture and let people think what they wanted to.