Letters Exhibit
American Red Cross Nurse Maude B. Fisher Sends Words of Comfort to the Mother of a Young Soldier Who Died at the End of World War I
Personal commentary: Women have served this country in so many ways during wartime, and I always try to include in my books as many letters as possible that emphasize their contributions. During World War I, tens of thousands of women volunteered to care for wounded troops, and I was particularly moved by the following letter because of the spirit of compassion it represents. When an American soldier named Richard Hogan died at the end of the war, an American Red Cross nurse named Maude B. Fisher sent the boy’s mother a personal message of condolence to assuage her grief. Every time I read it, I am touched by the poignancy of her words and how timeless the sentiments are. Indeed, it could have been written during any conflict, including those being fought today.
November 29th, 1918.
My dear Mrs. Hogan:
If I could talk to you I could tell you so much better about your son’s last sickness, and all the little things that mean so much to a mother far away from her boy.
Your son was brought to this hospital on the 13th of November….
He became very weak towards the last of his sickness and slept all the time. One day while I was visiting some of the other patients he woke up and seeing me with my hat on asked the orderly if I was his sister come to see him. He was always good and patient and the nurses loved him. Everything was done to make him comfortable and I think he suffered very little, if any pain.
He was laid to rest in the little cemetery of Commercy, and sleeps under a simple white wooden cross among his comrades who, like him, have died for their country….
The plot of the grave in the cemetery where your son is buried was given to the Army for our boys and the people of Commercy will always tend it with loving hands and keep it fresh and clean. I enclose here a few leaves from the grass that grows near in a pretty meadow.
A big hill overshadows the place and the sun was setting behind it just as the Chaplain said the last prayer over your boy….
The country will always honor your boy, because he gave his life for it, and it will also love and honor you for the gift of your boy, but be assured, that the sacrifice is not in vain, and the world is better today for it….
Sincerely,
Maude B. Fisher
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