Sedan, France
There we were quartered in the College Turenne. From what we could learn and observe it had been an agricultural school. There were 26 of us sleeping on the floor in the same clothing that we'd been wearing continually since the morning we left the Chateau, days before. You just pulled off your boots, pulled your blankets over you and fell into an exhausted slumber. The rooms just below ours were filled with straw and looked as though they had been used as stalls, which further increased the impression that we were living in a barn.
After a fair nights sleep ( floor boards are not as soft as Beauty Rest mattresses) we got the wonderful news that arrangements had been made for showers. Everyone made a mad scramble for soap and towel and was ready to go. Of course, we had to put on the same clothing after the shower; but at least we were clean. The rest of the day was spent getting the hospital set up in a Textile School so that it could be open the next morning. That night we were honored ??? with the first of what became nightly raids on the bridge just a block from the college. As the first bomb landed everybody woke up and reached for helmets. Unfortunately some of the girls had been taking helmet baths just before retiring and had failed to empty the water. This oversight was taken care of in a most dampening manner. It helped to break the tenseness of the raid, though.
After a fair nights sleep ( floor boards are not as soft as Beauty Rest mattresses) we got the wonderful news that arrangements had been made for showers. Everyone made a mad scramble for soap and towel and was ready to go. Of course, we had to put on the same clothing after the shower; but at least we were clean. The rest of the day was spent getting the hospital set up in a Textile School so that it could be open the next morning. That night we were honored ??? with the first of what became nightly raids on the bridge just a block from the college. As the first bomb landed everybody woke up and reached for helmets. Unfortunately some of the girls had been taking helmet baths just before retiring and had failed to empty the water. This oversight was taken care of in a most dampening manner. It helped to break the tenseness of the raid, though.