Anna Louise Tittman Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

Anna Tittm
soldiers are doing gmrd duty. The tunnel itself was buigt in 1914
by prisoners of war, it is reported, and is quite a spl&r@d bit of
stuctural engineering. The czar's coat of arms was once Over the entry,
but Mly a bare spot,wZth a telltale outline was left to it. At
the cay the band played, a canvas was stretched in the
took place, althou@ the boys seemed very bashf'ul and di
the sport particularly well. After a while, some of
up in trench hats, ammition belts and guns proceeded ta have a drill
under the direction of a capta3n who answered to the deswtion of Wild
West Bill. The ladies then had their pkture taken in tlq~ trenches and
going over the top to the keen amusernant of the re& of the party. We departed
fkom the camp after Misses Bridge, Bethel, and I ent upon the hill
and armed ourselves with beautiful white and purple flow-, the fodmer vexy
much like our spirea.
At the tunnel we waited and wxited, then waited some mre and finally our
train cam for us about two hours late. The reason was %at Russian authorities
held the train up at Uphaya. We therefore had to eat ow7 picnic supper
indoors instead of on the lawn as planned. Af'ter swr we attended a
h w American bonfire. Several of the boys sang solos arrd the crowd joined
in the chorus. We lefi for Vl,a&ivostok lbnday mrning azJp-iving at @out 2:00
p.m. The car which we traveled in was so filthy and riden with velrmin that
we had to sit out on the platform. I had to shampoo and~&hower bef6re I was
f'it to go on duty." That's a11 we had was showers, and they were fqmny.
Q. My were they f'unny?
A. Well, they were just so, just so rudimentary , just a box sort of thing
and you had a hard t h gebting the water just right. Then it wasn't clean
or anythhg. But when I wanted a bath I went over to Russian 1s-d for a
tub bath when I could get there.
Q. Tney had tubs over at that hospital?
A. They had tubs over there. "August 30, 1919 ; Haw lpd a busy, and in
sm ways an exasperating, weekfh the office. Have be@ confronted with
s m of the mst serious problems as disdssing a nurse mrnthe se ce,
transferrhg a chief nurse and later accepthg her resiwtion.
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Q. What happened, do you remrher? !
A. No, I don't remmber the instance. I know that them was p e nurse who
was drhkirg all the tim. A doctor told me about it, a young doctor. I
went up to her lorn and found her in a sad condition. 01 come, that was
no t h to talk to her. I went to som of the authoritigs and asked what to
do, but she was obviously lik@ that before she cam in [she ARC]. f don't
know Were she got the liquor, altho* there was a group of American en@-
neers-I'm not on am I?
Q
Yes.
A. oh.
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