Extract From a Letter Written to the Author by a Former Pupil — Mrs. Clyde M. Myers
Reconstruction Aide, Director of the Red Cross Work Shop for Patients at Neurological Base Hospital 117, la Fauche, Haute Marne, France
“The hospital was new and its needs were many. We began work the day after our arrival and by the time our small equipment was unpacked (Mrs. Myers refers here to her own personal equipment of tools which was necessarily a small one as it was brought from America. The hospital shops were not equipped with tools until after the Aides had established the work and decided on the necessary tools needed), requests were coming in from all quarters of the hospital for us to make everything from tables and dishes to doughnut cutters. There was such a lack of material that the problem of making them could have been solved by nothing less than ingenuity of the American soldier and the ever present tin can pile.
“Some old French hospital beds found on the salvage heap were quickly converted into work benches. It was then that the tin can ceased to be a thing to be burned and buried and came into its own.
“Our first need was a charcoal furnace to heat our soldering coppers. This was made from two large square tins with an interlining of brick. A bit of an old grate completed this perfectly good furnace which served us well for many months.
“The wants of the kitchen were next considered. For washing dishes we made three huge wooden tubs 2 by 2½ by 6 feet. The lining and drain pipes for these were made from several large tin cans. As the size of the hospital increased there was a constant demand for such things as biscuit pans, doughnut cutters, funnels, potato graters, vegetable strainers, soap dishes and other small necessities.
“For the officers’ wards, barracks, and recreation hut, we made tin candlesticks, flower holders, ash trays, electric light shades, tea trays, desk sets, and filing boxes. All of which were not only useful but quite ornamental, as they were attractively painted and decorated by the patients. The soldiers took great interest in the making of mechanical toys, especially war-like ones, such as tanks, aeroplanes, cannon and army trucks.
“The reflectors for the foot lights of the stage in the Red Cross Recreation Hut were made of tin cans. The end-men in the minstrel show were quite gay in tin can hats—what could have been more simple—a tin brim with an inverted butter can for a crown, gaudily painted and beribboned!
“The princess in the Christmas play was in need of shining armor. Half circles of tin overlapping each other not only served the purpose but were glitteringly gorgeous. The Three Kings in the play were badly in need of crowns; three oatmeal tins were beautifully fashioned into kingly headdresses for them.
“The Christmas tree was brilliant with hundreds of stars, diamonds, and crescents, and candle holders, which was the final contribution of our much sought and never failing friend, the tin can pile, as the hospital was evacuated soon afterwards.
“I have had entire charge of the work and have taught the other Aides the tin can work, as it was a most necessary thing for them to know. Many of these Aides were sent to other hospital workshops and introduced the work there.”
Mrs. Clyde M. Myers, R.A.