Ref: The Hearthstone Town and Country Pennsburg, Montgomery County, PA Thursday - November 6, 2003 Surnames: Kneule, Mensch LOCAL LIVES - THREE FACES OF WAR Part I - The Search By Larry Roeder The American doughboys of The War to End All Wars helped bring a swift victory to World War I once they traveled "Over There." But their job and survival would have been much more difficult without the thousands of young women who answered the call too! Many of them were nurses who provided care for the wounded and dying soldiers on foreign soil. The nurse's devotion to duty in the face of danger helped to set the standard for expanded roles for these soldiers in white uniforms. In 1917, Katherine (Katie) MENSCH was Pennsburg's only Red Cross Nurse. When the United States Expeditionary Forces entered WWI, she signed up to serve as a nurse in the Navy. The medicine cabinet was not strange ground for Katie. Her father was prominent local pharmacist and civic leader Dr. James O. MENSCH. His drug store graced the southeast corner of The Square in Pennsburg. Katie lived with her family in the home adjoining the spacious apothecary. Shortly after she enlisted, Katie boarded the transport ship U.S.S. Grant for the trip to France. She was stationed at the troop hospital in the harbor town of Brest. The port was one of the major debarking destinations for U.S. troops. The soldiers marched off the ships to a nearby waiting boxcar that would carry them to the forward areas. The Pennsburg nurse wrote home often about standing on the docks, hoping to catch a glimpse of a local boy heading off into action. Hardships were many at the troop hospital in Brest. In addition to the myriad of battle wounds, trench diseases and gas poisonings, Katie served at the Brest hospital during one of the worst outbreaks of influenza to hit Europe. The American Expeditionary Forces recorded 37,000 cases in September of 1918 and another 16,000 in the first week of October! Many died from the epidemic. Between patients, and within whatever rest time she could get, she liked to take a walk down to the docks and watch the troops unload - waiting to recognize someone from back home. One night she was told that a troop ship loaded with Pennsylvanians was docking that evening. She rushed to the docks to watch for a familiar face. Soldiers were not allowed to talk to anyone while disembarking, so what happened next startled Katie. From a parapet high above the troops marching below, she scanned the crowd. All of a sudden she heard some shout "Hello there nurse, you live in Pennsburg across the street from KNEULE's Hotel, don't you?" She could see the doughboy calling to her, but it was too dark to see who it was. He called again to her, asking the same question and this time Katie emphatically answered, "yes I do! Who are you - what's your name?" She was too late. An officer overheard the greeting. He rushed up to reprimand the soldier and move him along. Katie never did find out who it was. When the war was over and the local soldiers returned, Katie wanted to locate the friendly GI who she saw in Brest. It seemed that every week there was a welcome home party to attend. Time passed and the weeks turned into months and the months into years. Katie's search went on and on. She had taken a job at a city hospital, but her thoughts always returned to the coast of France as she wondered who the young man was that greeted her at the harbor of Brest. She wondered if the doughboy was among the missing or killed from the local area. Perhaps he just forgot about the encounter and went about his own life. Over the years, Katie worked in hospitals in New York, Philadelphia and East Stroudsburg. A heart attack forced Katie to retire from the nursing profession in 1938. By that time, she had spoken to almost all of the area's surviving veterans of WWI and still hadn't found the man who greeted her. Prior to the onset of World War II, a story was published in the Town and Country newspaper detailing what had now turned into a 23-year quest for the good nurse. Over the years her search proved fruitless, but she vowed to continue. Katie died in 1957 at the age of 84. She never forgot the soldier who said "hello" to her so many years before. She never married but who knows what could have happened if she found the friendly Pennsylvania soldier...