PAAF Gray Ladies (Vol II No. 22, 15 Jul. 1944)
The Gray Ladies of the American Red Cross is an organization well known and loved by all GIs who have been hospitalized at one time or another, but such a modest and self-effacing one that very few men except those whom the ladies serve know they exist.
They are a volunteer group (named because of gray veils and costumes, rather than hair) whose mission is to render personal services to hospital patients. The ladies (of whom there are twenty in the vicinity of this base) have all taken a 20-hour course in preparation for their duties, and all have pledged to devote fifty hours a year to hospital work, although most of them put in more time.
There is practically no limit to the variety of services these ladies perform for the GIs . Not only do they take care of the men's own wants, such as cigarettes and magazines, but if a man wants flowers wired for an anniversary, a money order sent, or a bank account opened, the Gray Ladies handle these chores cheerfully.
Then too, there is the matter of providing companionship for the men. The convalescent training program keeps the men's minds occupied along constructive lines, but it is the Gray Ladies who chat with the men, play checkers and cards with them, and provide the home-like companionship that mean so much to the boys.
Gray Ladies 2
Gray Ladies 2