with you on this mighty errand of National Service. The
Providence of God has chosen you, however, for the work, and not them.
As of old, on the shores of Galilee, the God of Mercy commissioned His
chosen followers to carry into the broad world His blessing, even so
from these shores of the Atlantic He is sending you forth on your
mission of love.

"From yonder tabernacle, He stoops to each one of you and sweetly
whispers: 'My daughter of the crimson Cross, of the faithful soul, of
the clean heart, and skillful hand, I am sending you over there as My
own representative. I know you will not fail Me, and that even unto
death you will be true to the Cross and Flag that go before you!' The
Nation is proud of you and you are the holiest and best offering of our
Country to the cause.

"And thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and wild war's desolation.
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that has made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, since our cause it is just,
And this be our motto, 'In God is our Trust!'
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and home of the brave."

As Base Hospital 102 is vested with the proud distinction of comprising
on its roster the only Sisters accompanying the American Expeditionary
Forces, it may be here permitted to anticipate and insert a brief
account of its heroic personnel and their splendid service.

Its Chief Nurse was Sister Chrysostom Moynahan of Mullanphy Hospital,
Saint Louis, Missouri; Sister Agatha Muldoon, Sister Angela Drendel,
Sister Catherine Coleman, and Sister Florence Means were from the
Sisters of Charity Hospital, New Orleans. Sister De Sales Loftus and
Sister David Ingram were from the City Hospital, Mobile, Ala. Sister
Lucia Dolan, St. Mary's Hospital, Evansville, Ind. Sister Mariana Flynn,
St. Joseph Hospital, St. Joseph, Mo., and Sister Valeria Dorn, St.
Vincent Hospital, Sherman, Mo. The ninety nurses were graduates of the
various nurses' schools connected with the hospitals in charge of the
Sisters of Charity.

They took the oath of allegiance July 2, 1918, and reported at New York
on July 4. There they were equipped by the Red Cross with uniforms for
overseas duty and were given the necessary military training by an army
officer.

The officers and enlisted men, of whom there were thirty-six of the
former