Special thanks to Mary E. Burman, Jennie's granddaughter,
who contributed this entry.
“The next day we were put on duty in the Pontenasian Barracks within the walls Napoleon built. I was put in a pneumonia and flu ward. Honestly, I never saw so many very sick men in my life. It actually made tears come to one’s eyes to see them delirious and dying. But I just had to brace up and do my best. Many of them were in just a few days before they passed away. A nurse in the ward we left was a flu victim, too. Even though she was not of our unit, we felt so badly.” Jennie Enger, Diary, 1918On May 31, 1918, Jennie Enger signed the oath of the US Army and thus began her journey to France with Army Base Hospital #50 (BH#50). Jennie was born March 13, 1889 in Seattle to Stengrim and Anne Enger, both from Norway, who were married a year earlier in Seattle. She was baptized May 12, 1889 according to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. She was the oldest of 11 siblings. The family moved from Seattle to Bellingham and then to Everson where her father farmed. She and her sister Alie, who was a year younger, attended nursing school at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Bellingham and in May 1914, they submitted their applications for certificate as a registered nurse in Washington. Following the war, she lived with family in Bellingham, bought a house of her own in Wenatchee (the Warranty Deed refers to her as a “spinster”) and then married Adolph Burman in 1924 relocating to Laramie, Wyoming where he worked for the Union Pacific in a railroad tie treatment plant. Following his retirement in 1941, she returned to Everson where she lived until her death in 1967.
Jennie kept a brief diary during the year of service to the Army Nurse Corps and it provides some interesting insights into her experiences. The first page reads, “Jennie Enger BH#50 Diary of Army Life, 626 High Street.” In addition, she kept a several other documents. According to her United States of America War Department Certificate of Identify, she was authorized to accompany Base Hospital Unit #50 as a Nurse. She was 29 years old, weighed 111 ½ pounds, was 67 ¾ inches tall, and had blue eyes and yellow hair.
Jennie left June 1st for Camp Grant in Illinois to prepare for her military service. While there she was vaccinated for typhoid, paratyphoid and smallpox. She then traveled to New York City to join her sister Alie and the other nurses with BH#50. While in the city, they purchased their equipment, and did some drilling and training, including French language training, while suffering through a record hot and humid August. Fortunately, they also had fun with Red Cross taking them to some shows and sightseeing trips to the Woolworth Building, Hudson River, and Stock Exchange.
On August 24th, they boarded the LaFrance and left New York the next day. The ship was accompanied by subchasers and a submarine was spotted near the 3 ships in the convoy at one point. Shots were fired and the sub disappeared much to Jennie’s relief. On September 3 at around 5 pm they arrived at Brest France where they were taken by truck to “Camp 23”, a new facility that had never been used with “shavings around.” The ride was unforgettable as they were greeted by the French people as they drove through Brest.
About 25 of the nurses were “suffering from bad colds” and were put to bed when they arrived in France. The rest of the nurses went on to their base at Merves-Bulcy. Jennie was later diagnosed with Spanish influenza. She was kept in bed for a week and not allowed to go for a walk for 5 days after that.Upon her recovery, she (along with the other nurses who had stayed in Brest) were put on duty in the Pontenasian barracks, although 5 days later they had orders “to go to their own Base. Indeed, we were a happy bunch!” She was on duty with ABH#50 the day after her arrival. “How I watched the boys’ faces as they came in from the front to see if I knew anyone, but I never found one I knew. I can never forget how patient and grateful the boys were.”
On November 4th, Jennie was taken to the Nurses’ Ward at Base Hospital #54 as a patient unable “to get anything to eat that agreed with me”. She was off duty for two weeks and felt “it was terrible to be off duty so long.” Shortly after her recovery, she and Alie received word that their younger brother Harold had died in Washington of influenza. “It was hard at first, but we were not the only ones as one of our other girls also lost her brother.”
After working on a flu and pneumonia ward again for about four weeks, Jennie “was not sorry to go to a surgical ward with Miss McConaghy in charge.” She stayed there until the ward was closed when the nurses were given the option of staying longer in France or going home. “Alie wished to stay and I would have preferred to go home. However, when orders came for fifty girls to go to Nantes, I was put on as a substitute, and I was glad.”
They left Mesves Sunday January 26th. The trip to Nantes took about two days with a 24 hour stopover in Saumur where Jennie wrote they “had a wonderful time. An aviator lieutenant we met on the way was a regular hero, and we do not know what we would have done had it not been for him. He helped us with our baggage and saw that we all got seats. The next day we met him on the way to an old castle, and afterwards we all had dinner together. He stayed over at Saumur especially to help us”.
At Nantes, Jennie worked on a surgical ward with Miss Cramer and Miss Cooke. Then she moved to a Fracture ward with Miss Walker in charge. “Most of the time the work was quite heavy and because it was “too much” for her, she was put on a pneumonia ward where the “boys were so sick.” She was put in charge of diets which she really enjoyed. Fortunately, she and the other nurses had time to enjoy the area. They saw “a big heart-shaped case where the heart of Ann of Brittany is kept” and visited the castle where Bluebeard was imprisoned. On February 3, General Pershing visited their camp.
Eventually, Jennie received her orders to head back to the US. She was transferred to Savenay by ambulance and “when we were about halfway there, Miss McConaghy and I discovered we were being sent as patients! Alie went with us, and we were made fun of when we had to be examined after we got there because we had no field cards. I was a little nervous, but the doctor made up something and put it down.” (picture of fake card).“We arrived at Kerhoun about 3:15 pm Monday and were driven up to Base Hospital 65. Of course, we were put on the nurses’ wards. We went to bed early that night and had a nice long sleep.” Then Jennie and the others waited. “March 19—we are still awaiting orders to go home”. “March 25—At last orders are for us to pack and be ready at a moment’s notice.”
She and Miss McConaghy traveled together on the Leviathan, staying in a stateroom. The trip home was very pleasant with good food, calm waters and movies every night. They landed in Hoboken, NJ on April 2, a “beautiful sunshiny day. We were escorted in by a committee which came quite a way out to meet us. A band played, and it did sound good.” They were taken to a hospital for examination and ordered to bed, although Jennie “was OK next day”.
“Some wealthy ladies of the city sent their limousines up to the hospital to take us for rides through Central Park. A stop was made at St. John the Divine Cathedral which we went through… It really is beautiful, something like the cathedrals in France, but much newer and it does not smell musky”. They were then taken to the home of Mrs. Hurd where they were served a “wonderful luncheon. We actually sat and looked in amazement at the pretty table, decorated with a large bouquet of pink rosebuds in the center with four pink candles in silver candlesticks…. I had two helpings of the best chicken salad and very good hot sandwiches, four or five different kinds of cakes, three or four kinds of cookies and candies, plus olives and celery in ice, and tea and coffee with real fresh cream. Some of the girls had just landed that day after being in France for over twenty months. It actually seemed more like a dream or a fairy tale after seeing and going through what most of us had in France. The ladies were perfectly lovely to us and seemed to enjoy it almost as much as we did. I do not think they can realize how much it meant to us.” While in New York, Jennie was also thrilled to meet the mother and sister-in-law of one of the patients she’d care for in France.
“April 6 – At last the day has come to start homeward”. She took a train home accompanied by some of the other nurses along the way. Jennie arrived in Bellingham at 4:20 am on April 11. “staid [sic] on sleeper until 6 am. Called a taxi and went home.”
After Jennie married Adolph in 1924, they had a son Robert, who was my father. While my grandmother died when I was very young, I know my father was always very proud that she had served in World War I with BH#50, and her war papers and diary have been kept in the family and handed down. I recently visited the cemetery in Nooksack where she is buried and listed as a veteran of World War I.
-- Mary E. Burman
