Worked until one o’clock and ate lunch. Went to have our dresses fitted and came home to work and we finished at six and cleaned up for dinner at seven. Then we went for a walk and came back and packed our trunks and got our things ready because we expected to leave on Sat. To bed at ten, up at seven, and breakfast at eight.
More Information
The following section provides historical context and is not part of the original diary entry.
Likely location: At sea / Bordeaux / Paris, France
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Margaret Sheldon departed New York in September 1917 with the first contingent of Salvation Army workers bound for France. After crossing the Atlantic in a convoy system designed to evade German U-boats, she arrived in Bordeaux and traveled to Paris before heading to the AEF training area in Lorraine.
Research Links for Further Study
- Library of Congress. (n.d.). The American Expeditionary Forces. Library of Congress Digital Collections.
- Boissoneault, L. (2017, April 12). The women who fried donuts and dodged bombs on the front lines of WWI. Smithsonian Magazine.
- Cantwell, C. (n.d.). Doughboys & doughnut girls: The Salvation Army and WWI. National WWI Museum and Memorial.
Diary of a World War I Donut Girl 