Loyola Nurses Meet History
Ethel Henderson and friends in Paris
From being the first General Hospital unit to enter Paris on the heels of the fleeing Germans to VE Day, the nurses of the 108th frequently had front row seats to historical events. The Beaujon Hospital became the showpiece of the U.S. Army and the hospital headquarters of General Eisenhower, who often visited with the patients. There were frequent visits from other colonels, generals, and celebrities as well.
On 8 May 1945 the peace treaty for the European war was signed in Reims, France. Eisenhower's chief of staff, Brig. General Walter Bedell Smith signed it on behalf of the Allies. Loyola graduate Cecelia Fennessy recalled that later that evening "...he was admitted as a patient into the 108th. He had ulcers...Abrams appointed two private duty nurses. And I was one of them." Suddenly she was required to sit in the Brig. General's room as a private nurse. A difficult transition for a nurse used to working on a busy ward!
Fennessy also recalled when one of Brig. General Smith's friends, General George S. Patton, came to visit him. "One day we got word that Patton was coming to visit. All of the GIs gathered around the stairs in the lobby to see him. Patton always carried a riding crop with him. He came in, and the boys were clapping and cheering and yelling and saluting him from the landing."