U.S. Base Hosn 31, France
"Finio La Guerri" - Hurrah!
November 23, 1918

Dear Mother:

Now that the war is over we can tell where we are and what we have been doing. At present we are up in the mountains about 50 miles from Chaumont. While I was with the Mobile unit we were under shell fire all the time. They bombed all around us and over us. We were never allowed off the post without gas masks and helmets. The troops were stationed in the woods behind us and Fritz made life very interesting for us all; but we got used to it and did not mind it.

We were only a mile and a half for the front line German trenches, and four of us were the first women to cross what had been "no man's land" for four years. We saw a mountain off the top of which they had blown sixty feet. We made the trip in a car and had a terrible time, as the roads were all torn up and full of shell holes. The Major invited us to dinner, but before we had finished Fritz started to shell the troops behind us, so the Major put us into the car and we rushed up nearer the front and made a wide detour to get away, which we did safely. It certainly was an experience but one I would not have missed for any money.

Yes, I was up for the St. Mihiel drive. We were awake just as soon as the barrage started at 1 a.m. They kept up a steady stream until five. Then the boys went over the top at 5:30 and we operated on our first patient at 9:30 - not so bad, was it? The we moved up near Nancy and Pont-a-Mussen. The troops were back of us and Fritz kept up a steady stream of fire all the time, but the night the hospital was burned we had a bad time. He flew all around and over us, but we got all our patients out safely, but could not get to our underground shelter, so we had to stand out on our cross in plain sight of Fritz. Every base has a large cross 60X15 feet. The cross is mud, but the corners are filled in with white stones so they can see it. We looked like Belgian refugees standing there with our belongings around us. After it was over we picked up our blankets and went into a shack and slept till morning.

I enjoyed both trips to the front. We were all over the ground the Germans had occupied, saw their dug-outs, barbed wire entanglements, their camouflaged guns, machine guns, tanks, etc.

I am very glad it is over. There will be no more poor broken bodies brought to us. We had a trainload of patients yesterday who had all been prisoners, and oh, my, how they hate the Germans!

We leave here in a few days for Chaumont, a drive of sixty-five miles, then on to Paris where we expect to eat our Thanksgiving dinner. The King is to be there, so we will have a gay time for a few days. The we go to base 20 at Chatel-guyon. I don't think I will be home till early summer, as there is lots to do here yet.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a happy new year. Love to all.

May Grenville, A.N.C.
U.S. Base 20, A.E.F., France