by
Jack Duffey
Contributors:
Mary Ferguson,
Louise Duffey,
and Eleanor Lane
NB: Click on any picture that you'd like to see enlarged
09Oct2014
My mother, Louise Duffey, and aunt,
Eleanor Lane told me a number of stories about their “wicked stepmother”, Louise McCloskey Lappen. There
were few details so, as an ancestry buff, I was curious to see if I might
uncover unknown circumstances in her past that could provide a better
understanding of her life and personality. As I slowly began gathering new insights,
I received an email from Louise McClosley’s niece, Mary Ferguson. Mary added greatly to my information. Her input became the catalyst for this
story.
Part 1: War Nurse
On 14Feb1894 Louise H McCloskey was born to
Charles and Mary McCloskey. They lived in the Allston section of Boston, Massachusetts. Her dad was a Lieutenant in the Boston Police Department.
Louise had an older brother and three younger ones. The youngest, Luke, was the
father of one of our primary contributors, Mary Ferguson.
Louise graduated from the local
high school most probably in 1912; she had always been interested in nursing.
She pursued a nursing career, graduating from the Peter Bent
Brigham Hospital in 1915.
America was on the brink of
entering The First World War (WW-I) in Europe. To divert America’s attention
from the Great War, Germany even persuaded Mexico (Pancho Villa) to stir up
trouble with the US along the border. So in the fall of 1915, Louise decided to join the American Red
Cross to serve as a nurse at an Army base hospital in Brownsville TX. The base
was set up in anticipation of casualties that never materialized from
General Pershing’s expedition to chase down Pancho Villa along the Mexican
border. This was valuable experience for Louise.
When the United States finally
entered WW-I, in April 1917, President Woodrow Wilson quickly mobilized the
American Red Cross to deploy to Europe to augment Britain’s care for the
wounded.
During the War, some 10,000 Red Cross nurses served with the Army and
Navy Nurse Corps, working at these American base hospitals in France/England,
on hospital trains, and in evacuation and field units in the zone of advance.
The Red Cross provided two out of every three Navy nurses and four out of five
Army nurses, including the first African-American nurses.
At the request of the Surgeon
General of the Army and Navy, the American Red Cross, working with the Brits,
had organized 46 base hospitals in Northern France. Four additional hospitals were built in England to receive the most severely wounded troops from the US base hospitals in France. Infact, the British had
already constructed most of the US base hospitals before the Yanks arrived.
Each American Base Hospital group
was closely affiliated with a renowned US hospital/medical school. Harvard
Medical School led the organizing of Louise’s group, designated as Base
Hospital No 5 (BH#5). She joined the group on 7May1917. As a final checkout
before joining the war, BH#5 assembled the team/equipment on the Boston Common
and practiced their procedures.
Soon afterward, some 650 doctors, nurses and orderlies, caught a train from South Station bound for NYC’s Grand Central Station. After several days in New York they boarded their ship, the SS Saxonia, arriving in Falmouth, England on 22May1917. (Enroute, they were forced to alter course to avoid German U-Boats.)
Soon afterward, some 650 doctors, nurses and orderlies, caught a train from South Station bound for NYC’s Grand Central Station. After several days in New York they boarded their ship, the SS Saxonia, arriving in Falmouth, England on 22May1917. (Enroute, they were forced to alter course to avoid German U-Boats.)
Two days following their
arrival, Nurse Louise had already received her “Emergency Passport” at the US
Embassy in London and was on her way to the war front. (See her passport photo and signature
on the Oath of Allegiance.)
She was on her way to France. On 27 May1917 her unit arrived at BH#5 in Dannes-Camiers, France, two hamlets south of Boulogne sur Mer; they had arrived at their wartime posting.
Their hospital was the most northerly of a series of Allied hospitals situated on the English Channel and along the main Boulogne-Amiens Railway line.
They set up operations on the sand dunes that also provided a large training ground for British troops. (Caesar and Napoleon had trained their armies in these same dunes.)
The field hospital was really huge, serving over 1250 patients. Louise cared for Allied patients and later began assisting in the surgical ward. Attractive and outgoing, Louise was popular with staff and patients alike. She really cared for the patients and they sensed it; she had a huge heart. And she possessed a sly but subtle sense of humor.
She was on her way to France. On 27 May1917 her unit arrived at BH#5 in Dannes-Camiers, France, two hamlets south of Boulogne sur Mer; they had arrived at their wartime posting.
The field hospital was really huge, serving over 1250 patients. Louise cared for Allied patients and later began assisting in the surgical ward. Attractive and outgoing, Louise was popular with staff and patients alike. She really cared for the patients and they sensed it; she had a huge heart. And she possessed a sly but subtle sense of humor.
Given the huge male-female
disparity, it is not surprising that she turned many a head. The war created a charged
environment for all. We know that it wasn’t long before Louise was involved
in two intense friendships.
The first one was with an Australian
officer, Lt Horace, “Horrie,” Rex. He was born on 12Dec1895 at Wattle Grove,
Braidwood, New South Wales, Australia.
He was the third of seven children born to James and Ann Rex. After his education at St Bede's Catholic School, Horrie became the local hospital's secretary. He soon joined the army and sailed off to be part of the war.
He was the third of seven children born to James and Ann Rex. After his education at St Bede's Catholic School, Horrie became the local hospital's secretary. He soon joined the army and sailed off to be part of the war.
When his unit arrived at Devonport,
England. “Horrie” was transferred to the Machine Gun Corps (late Feb1917) for
additional training.
On 11May1917 his unit finally
reached France; he was billeted behind the trenches in a small French village,
not too far from BH#5. He had arrived in the area just before Louise.
Horrie’s R&R (Rest and
Relaxation) behind the lines was spent at the Chateau Segard. He rode his horse
"Worrigal" over to see his brother, Fred, who was a stretcher carrier
with the Australian 9th Field Ambulance. He must have met Louise on one of
these occasions and became good friends with her.
In mid-Aug1917, additional nurses
and medical officers arrived to augment the BH#5 staff. This included a
Lieutenant (Dr) William Fitzsimons, who was immediately appointed Group Adjutant, eg deputy to
the Commanding Officer.
Tall and blond, the youngest in his
class at Kansas University and at medical school, William was interning at
Roosevelt Hospital in New York when the war began. He volunteered for the
Red Cross and was shipped to a hospital in Belgium. His tour over, he had
gone home to Kansas City and there set up practice as a surgeon, but on 14 June
1917, a Tuesday, he locked the door of his office in the Rialto Building and
caught the 4:00pm train to Chicago and then transferred to one to Washington,
DC and finally to BH#5.
William and Louise were
attracted to each other soon after his arrival. They certainly had
opportunities to see each other daily. Likely, many of the nurses were dealing
with similar situations: two simultaneous suitors.
Since BH#5’s arrival, the camp had
been free from German air strikes. But around midnight of 4Sep that all
changed.
Earlier that day German planes had been observed flying over the area. But
then, without warning,
other than the sudden extinguishing of hospital lights, a Gotha bomber (below) swept over the
Camiers area and dropped a succession of seven bombs, five of them being direct
hits on the compound.
Upon hearing the air raid warning, Dr Fitzsimons opened his hospital tent door and stepped out, just as 2 bombs fell nearby. The one that killed him was only 2 feet from him.
Upon hearing the air raid warning, Dr Fitzsimons opened his hospital tent door and stepped out, just as 2 bombs fell nearby. The one that killed him was only 2 feet from him.
He became the first
American officer to be killed in WW I. Ironically, on that same day,
his commanding officer had submitted paperwork promoting William to Captain.
On 8Sep1917 the bodies of Lieutenant
Fitzsimons and four others were interred in the great military cemetery in the
sand dunes.
William and Louise had
known each other only several weeks, but others must have observed their
romance, as evidenced below. (See “The Fierce Lambs," by A.A. Hoeling,
1960.) She must have been crushed by what happened!
Everyone knew that war meant men
would be killed, but the AEF had not yet taken its place in the order of battle
on the Western Front when Lieutenant William T. Fitzsimons, a surgeon, became
the first American killed in action. Once in France he was assigned as adjutant
of Base Hospital No. 5 south of Boulogne. He and a nurse, Louise
McCloskey, appeared to be falling in love when he was killed at the door to his
tent by a bomb from a German airplane. He was buried in the British Military
Cemetary in the sand dunes between Dannes-Camiers and Ètaples.
His family learned of his death when his sixteen-year-old sister opened the door of his parents’ home to a reporter looking for photographs and “last letters.”
He was also honored with
a memorial in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1920, through the actions of former
President Theodore Roosevelt, who was furious at the Germans for bombing an
American hospital, re-named Base Hospital #21 to the now famous Fitzsimons Medical Center in Denver, after Louise’s good friend.
Meanwhile, we know that Horrie was
still in touch with Louise and soon after William’s death he provided an
important support that grew into another very close relationship. They would
have appeared quite a match: Louise at 5’4” and Horrie, towering over her, at
6’4.” At 23, she was two years older.
They must have found time for each
other, because their relationship intensified. Her head nurse once reprimanded Louise for
walking out with Horace.
While most of the time he
was away with his unit, during parts of that summer he frequently found a way
to see her. It was obvious that Louise was drawing very close to Horrie. Just
before he went off to battle, she asked him, "How will I find you?"
and he answered, "I'll find you."
Their visits evaporated
during late Sep1917, as his unit began fighting in the bitter Battle of
Polygon Wood.
He was serving with his
unit fighting in their most intense battle to date.
Since his arrival in France, he had
written many letters home to his mother and kept a personal diary. In his last
letter home he told his mother of the Battle of Polygon Wood in Sep1917; he
writes:
“I enjoyed the Push
very much; in fact I find war not so frightful. After all, I was prepared for
much worse.
Going back tonight for a few days. Then we have a good rest for a few days until we return to give him more worry.
Going back tonight for a few days. Then we have a good rest for a few days until we return to give him more worry.
There are millions of
things I would love to tell you but if they got to the Huns hands they would be
valuable so you must be satisfied with what little I have told you.
One thing I really
want to impress on you is how silly it is to worry. I don't think a Hun could
hit me if he threw a dish of wheat from 10 yards.”
Several days later, Horrie wrote in
his Diary: 07Oct1917
“Received
orders to be ready to support a forthcoming attack by bringing machine gun fire
to bear on targets in E19 A & B. … From 0700 to 1100, enemy aeroplanes flew
low, in one case, only 300 feet from the ground. A large number of our machines
were in the air but there was no fighting. Shortly after 1100, enemy shelled
rear area with heavy high explosives and did considerable damage to roads, pack
trains etc. Wintertime was approaching as clocks were put back one hour. At
1600 enemy again shelled roads in rear heavily. Weather very cold and wet
towards evening. S.O.S. shown all along the front at 1800 but there was no
attack on our front.“
During the shelling of the
Molenaarelsthoek front line trenches late in the day, Horrie tried to rescue
his injured sergeant. Being a man of 6'4" in height and weighing about 16
stone (224 pounds), these machine gun post trenches were never high enough for him. A German
sniper shot and killed Horrie. Further shellfire was directed onto the post.
His body was never recovered. Life expectancy in the machine gun corps in Flanders
was around three weeks.
We assume that Horrie’s brother,
Fred (below), told Louise of the tragic incident.
The news must have been absolutely devastating to her. Louise and Horrie actually became engaged during their brief encounter. Louise would never forget Horrie.
The news must have been absolutely devastating to her. Louise and Horrie actually became engaged during their brief encounter. Louise would never forget Horrie.
Horrie is commemorated at the Menin
Gate Memorial (Panel 31), Ypres, Belgium. (See below) After the war, his
‘rescued’ sergeant visited the Rex family in Braidwood and related the details
of Horrie's dreadful death.
Later, in 2001, Louise’s niece, Mary, also visited
the area. His
name is on the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium, as a member of of the Australian
56th Battalion. Mary found it very moving to visit the site. (There is a letter from the Imperial War Graves Commission, dated 10Aug1938, informing Louise that it has never been possible to identify the grave of Lt. Rex and explaining that his name has been engraved on Panel 31 of the Memorial to Missing Soldiers erected at the Menin Gate at Ypres.)
Upon her return, Mary said, “There are so many names on the memorial--such a waste, and we haven't learned anything yet!”
Upon her return, Mary said, “There are so many names on the memorial--such a waste, and we haven't learned anything yet!”
Horrie’s relationship had abruptly
ended just as the previous one with William had. Louise had now lost two
suitors in less than two months!
She must have been grief stricken.
The war continued unabated. In early
Nov1917, Headquarters transferred BH#5 to a new facility. The group moved
everything to the famous Casino at Boulogne sur Mer (see below), some ten miles
north of their current location.
They were in a real city with many
more things to see and do. The hospital had far fewer beds, but had better
logistics and facilities.
I’m sure most of the staff was very pleased with their new location; they were now working in a converted resort. Louise must have found the move a welcome change from her sad memories associated with the first hospital.
During her posting here, she met a senior Colonel
of the French Foreign Legion convalescing in the Casino Hospital. His name was Col.
George de Teute, below.
He was an older man and both he and his wife
would become lifelong friends of Louise.
He had married a younger
English woman. We know little of her or their lives but believe Louise’s
relationship with the colonel to be less of a romantic involvement than one of
an older- confidante. Louise likely met George’s wife when she visited her
husband. Mme. de Teute was an integral part of the friendship, as we shall
see. The Colonel referred to
Louise as his “Little Louise.” The three would remain good friends for years.
The last year of the war
also saw the largest number of casualties. Additionally, following the outbreak
of the Spanish Flu on the battlefields in 1918, BH#5 established an excellent
reputation in treating infected soldiers. During the war, their group treated
almost 50,000 wounded.
The Armistice came on
11Nov1918. But, the
BH#5 didn’t leave France until 06April1919. Their final group photo is below:
The Unit embarked on the SS Graf
Waldersee (below) from Brest, France, landing in New York Harbor on Easter
Sunday, 20April1919.
(The ship had just been surrendered
to the US as part of Germany’s reparations following the Great War.) The unit had spent almost two years in
France. They trained onto Camp Merritt for six days, and finally to Camp
Devens, Massachusetts, where the officers/nurses were discharged. It was
02May1919. The war was finally over for Louise.
Before breaking up and scattering,
the Unit wrote its own history and short citations for the staff; here’s
Louise’s:
LOUISE H. McCLOSKEY
… A fixture in the operating room for the last few months of our sojourn abroad. An accomplished person in the art of repartee, especially with the M. D.'s in their daily rounds. An authority on the most pleasant routes for evening strolls in the Boulogne sector. She was one of the most popular of the American Nurse Corps.
McCLOSKEY, Louise H. Graduate: Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston, Mass. Joined Unit May 7, 1917. Returned with Unit.
In 1919 Louise received the Royal Red Cross award in the mail, and there is also a letter from the (U.S.) War Department, Office of the Surgeon General, authorizing her to wear this British decoration. This award was established by Queen Victoria in 1883 to honor exceptional service in military nursing.
Back home, Louise returned to live
with her family on Ridgemont St. She probably found a job helping with the final
stages of the Spanish Flu out-break that seized the Boston area. From the 1920
census, we learned that she worked for a private medical company in Boston.
Part 2: Marriage, Motherhood and Travel
My great grandmother,
Emma Lappen, and her two adult daughters, lived diagonally across the street
from Louise’s family. Emma, the family matriarch, is shown on the left below (summer 1919); her sister is next, and her two adult daughters, Anna and Peg, are next. Note the three young Lappen girls.
The Emma Lappens had also lived in the neighborhood for some years, but in the spring of 1919, my grandfather, John A Lappen (grandpa), and two of his three young daughters had moved in. Earlier that year, John Lappen, a traveling salesman, lost his wife, Florence, (my grandmother), to the Spanish Flu. She died within days of giving birth to their youngest daughter, my aunt Eleanor (Ellie).
The Emma Lappens had also lived in the neighborhood for some years, but in the spring of 1919, my grandfather, John A Lappen (grandpa), and two of his three young daughters had moved in. Earlier that year, John Lappen, a traveling salesman, lost his wife, Florence, (my grandmother), to the Spanish Flu. She died within days of giving birth to their youngest daughter, my aunt Eleanor (Ellie).
During this hectic period, Grandpa met Louise Helena McCloskey. Louise’s family claimed that John Lappen's sisters had "set it up!" They would invite Louise over to play cards. Mr Lappen would be there too. Obviously one reason that Grandpa was drawn to Louise was that she was a nurse, and he believed she might prove to be just the right person for the three young girls. His two sisters did nothing to dissuade Grandpa. They married in 1925 at St. AIdans in Brighton, Mass. Louise was five years younger than Grandpa. The McCloskey family never seemed pleased with Louise’s marriage.
The newly-weds set up a single
household for the three young girls, ages 6-12. The new family of five
moved to Belmont (just outside Boston) after the wedding. First they
rented the top story of a two-story house on Selwyn Road. Soon Grandpa contracted the
building of a new home several blocks away.
The family moved into the attractive, new two-story house at 141 Washington Street shown at the right.
Louise suffered two
stillbirths in the early years of their marriage. My mother and aunt recall seeing
Louise at the gravesite in tears.
From the outset, grandpa’s three
daughters had considerable difficulty getting along with their new
stepmother. My mother told me that Ellie, the youngest, in particular
suffered several beatings. The girls were told to call their
stepmother "Mrs. Lappen," not Mom. At the end of each day, each
girl had to formally walk up to Louise seated on her chair and say: "Good
night Mrs. Lappen." It appeared that Louise had become mentally
unstable.
By 1930 Louise and her old wartime
friend, Col de Teute, were exchanging letters periodically. A photo of the
Colonel appeared on Louise’s dresser. The Colonel probably was detecting that
his “Little Louise” was a very troubled woman. Grandpa Lappen recognized the same. It was
time to do something. With encouragement between the de Teutes and Grandpa,
Louise would be allowed to travel alone to France to see her old confidantes.
Louise made the voyage to France in 1930. She returned on the French
passenger ship, Ile de France, to New York City in Dec1930 and took a train back to
Boston.
But things still did not get
better following her return. My mother recalled an incident in which she was
called into the schools principal’s office. The secretary told her that
she had to go home right away because, “…your mother needs you.” After a
ten-minute walk, she arrived home only to learn that she hadn’t swept all the
dust out from under the radiator. She completed the task and hurried back
to school. My mother was embarrassed to tell anyone the real reason; she
made up a story. Here are the three Lappen girls during their final years with Louise McCloskey.
The family became very concerned
with Louise’s continued erratic behavior, explosive temper directed at the
girls. The now teenage girls referred to her condition as "her
illness." Grandpa began taking her locally for a series of therapy
sessions. After several, she was committed to a mental facility
at the Mt. Greylock Asylum (below) in Brattleboro, Vermont.
Louise was suffering a severe, but
delayed reaction (psychological trauma), to the traumatic events of her life.
Louise and Grandpa finally
separated and she returned to live with her parents. They divorced in the mid
1930s. In 1935 she, her mother, and two brothers were living together in
their home. No one was employed full time. The Great Depression was still taking its toll.
The de Teutes lived in Pau (Southwestern France), and had always supported the activities at the nearby Lourdes Shrine. They must have discussed their interest with Louise on several occasions. Louise became very interested in helping, too. Then in 1937 there was an exchange of letters discussing Louise's interest in volunteering at Lourdes. Louise agreed to coming to France and helping out with the many lame and crippled pilgrims. Mme de Teute probably facilitated the trip and activity. So Louise voyaged to northern France in 1937 aboard the SS Lafayette. She took a train from there to their home in Pau. Louise spent several months assisting the pilgrims to get to/from their wheel chairs and the "pool," with its curative waters (below) of Lourdes .
Upon her return home she again
lived at the family home with her mother.
The McCloskey family has three letters
from Col de Teute to Louise from the 1930s and early 1940s. He obviously was
fond of Louise and refers to her as "Little Louise" several times.
In one he relates that in first year of World War II, while Mme de Teute was visiting her family in England, she became trapped there because Germany had just invaded France (May 1940). She could not return to France for some time, and sadly, when she finally arrived home, Mme de Teute became ill and soon passed away.
In one he relates that in first year of World War II, while Mme de Teute was visiting her family in England, she became trapped there because Germany had just invaded France (May 1940). She could not return to France for some time, and sadly, when she finally arrived home, Mme de Teute became ill and soon passed away.
The letters continued.
Recall that Col. de Teute had had a leg-amputated and used an artificial limb.
Not surprisingly, with the deprivations of WWII, he was unable to maintain the
necessary care. His priest wrote a letter to Louise saying, “George de Teute
died alone and in pain." George donated his home to an order of nuns.
Louise went on to have a
successful career as an administrator at the Brigham Hospital in
Boston, directing and overseeing personnel. Perhaps the “outgoing, and attractive” Louise so well known
to her WW-I soldiers as the one who had “such a huge heart”, the one who really
“cared for her patients so much that they sensed it”, had at last found a time
and place where she could be that Louise again.
She probably retired in the late 1950s at age 65.
She also moved to a new home, in suburban Newton, MA. Here's is a photo of Louise and her older brother, George, at her home during Christmas of 1959.
However, once again in 1964, Louise felt compelled to return to her France to visit the gravesite of Col George de Teute and his wife in their hometown of Pau (see map).
She probably retired in the late 1950s at age 65.
However, once again in 1964, Louise felt compelled to return to her France to visit the gravesite of Col George de Teute and his wife in their hometown of Pau (see map).
Louise never changed her name back to
McCloskey and lived out her years in her parents’ home on Ridgemont
Street. Following a stroke, Louise lived at the VA hospital in Bedford, Massachusetts; she passed away in 1976, just one year
prior to her only husband John Lappen’s death in nearby Lexington.
If anyone has additional insights or corrections to
this story, please let me know….
Jack Duffey
jduffey@wesleyprints.com
References:
http://kuhistory.com/articles/a-death-in-france/
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY3hcmfNi_E
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