Florence Green Shay, 1918-1992

This series includes correspondence, a diary, enlistment and discharge forms, a certificate, photographs, and a newspaper clipping. These materials chiefly document Florence Green Shay’s service as a nurse during World War I. The diary details her life from July 1918, when she left the United States for Europe aboard a transport ship, until February 1919 while she was waiting to leave France. She was stationed at Base Hospital #42 in France but moved frequently to other base hospitals. On September 30, 1918, she notes that “The boys are coming in…condition…is dreadful.” In August, she mentions seeing General John J. Pershing as he passes by in a car. The correspondence includes a postcard Florence Green Shay sent to Mrs. William Schumacher, Jr. and two letters she received from her nephew Robert W. Callahan while he was stationed in France during World War II. This series also contains a newspaper article published in the Orlando Sentinel on May 25, 1992 that was written by Eileen Shay, granddaughter of Florence Green Shay. Eileen Shay remembers her grandmother on Memorial Day and mentions her diary. Materials are arranged chronologically.