 Of the 10,000 U.S. nurses who served with the American and British Expeditionary Forces, only three were
wounded in the line of duty. One of the three was Eva Jean Parmelee, a member of Base Hospital No. 5, who was
on duty at No. 11 General Hospital, British Expeditionary Forces. She was awarded the Distinguished Service
Cross -- one of only six women to receive the honor during the war -- for continuing to perform her duties after
being wounded in an air raid. Of the 23,00 U.S. nurses in military service from April, 1917, to November, 1919, more than 300 died -- all from disease
contracted in the line of duty. (That figure doesn't include those assigned to influenza relief ). An additional 449 others
suffered total or partial disability.
Eva described the Sept. 4, 1917, air raid at Dannes Camiers in France:
On a bright, moonlight night, Sept. 4, came our initial experience with bombs. It was 10:30 p.m. and my two
long tents were absolutely quiet. Our lights, controlled by a central switch, had no sooner winked out than the
siren of the cement factory blew its air raid warning. My orderly, Oscar Tugo, came running form his supper;
I met him in the road in front of our two tents. Suddenly above us we heard the hum of the planes, saw a
sputtering streak of sparks drop from the sky and Tugo cried out, "Why, they're here!"
After a deafening report, I found myself in the ditch. The choking, sulfurous small and the noise made me feel
as if I were being stirred up in a great bowl of reeking gunpowder. Four more reports followed and I said to
myself: "We're done for--they're wiping us out!"
Then I heard the calls of the wounded: "Sister! Sister!" I jumped up and flashlight in hand--for we clung to
our lights--ran to the tent door. A glance showed the nearest man to be bleeding badly. Doctors, nurses and
men with stretchers were arriving. ... I crossed over to the other tent and found the whole front section bad
been blown up, beds, lockers, floor and all. Not a patient was in sight. Though wounded, however, they were
all living and had been placed in other wards. In the officers' quarters and the reception tent, seven of the
command lost their lives, and several were gravely wounded. Tugo, my orderly, had been killed. I escaped
with two tiny face wounds and a black eye, though shrapnel had torn my skirt and apron and cut away my
wristwatch leaving only the strap.
Eva's father, William was a doctor and a co-founder of Springfield (Mass.) Hospital, now Bay State Medical Center. She
married Frank Dollin on Dec. 30, 1925.
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