"Then New Years' Eve came, and with it a lot of celebrating. There was a masked ball affair at the recreation hall, and everyone turned out, decorated in some sort of a costume. Many of the boys went to Mesves or some of the other small towns nearby and celebrated, and everyone seemed to be in the best of spirits.
New Years' Day was rather quiet, as the night before had had some effect on the men, and they did not feel quite so good as they did the day previous. There was very little work, and it was more or less of a holiday with everyone. The enlisted men had a very fine dinner in their mess hall, and after this a number of patients from the convalescent camp put on a vaudeville show, a stage having been constructed at one end of the mess hall."1
A new year, 1919, dawned with the promise of peace. The men and women of Base Hospital 50, their workload diminishing, turned their attention to filling out the myriad of military paperwork, dismantling wards and other duties in anticipation they would soon receive orders to return to the United States to be mustered out of service.
The mood of the unit was light as they went around their work, there was more time to explore the French countryside and even take in a trip to Paris. It was a heady time. The influenza epidemic that had been raging worldwide for the past six months was finally winding down and the convalescing patients at the hospital center were recovering enough to begin their own journeys home. The experience would be one the men and women would carry with them the rest of their lives and, after returning home, they continued to gather, reminisce and remember their fallen comrades for decades to come.
The mood of the unit was light as they went around their work, there was more time to explore the French countryside and even take in a trip to Paris. It was a heady time. The influenza epidemic that had been raging worldwide for the past six months was finally winding down and the convalescing patients at the hospital center were recovering enough to begin their own journeys home. The experience would be one the men and women would carry with them the rest of their lives and, after returning home, they continued to gather, reminisce and remember their fallen comrades for decades to come.
References:
- United States. Army. Base Hospital No. 50. The History of Base Hospital Fifty: A Portrayal of the Work Done by This Unit While Serving in the United States and with the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Seattle, Wash. : The Committee, 1922. Page 75.
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