Excerpt from Old Glory and Verdun: And Other Stories It was my first morning at the hospital. The clock in the vestiaire stood at five minutes to eight. At eight I was to begin work. "Report for duty" was the way the formal summons ran. I was to report to Ward Eighty-three, the biggest, the heaviest and the most interesting ward in the hospital. Mrs. Monroe, who had charge of the untrained and unpaid volunteer nurses - or auxiliaires, as they are termed - had told me to await her in the vestiaire. Accordingly I waited, feeling awkward and strange and timid, like a Freshman on his first day at college.

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