and two hundred of the latter, in charge of Dr. Dana, reported at
Fort McHenry, and when they were ready the Sisters and nurses joined
them there. Its chaplain was the Rev. Godfrey P. Hunt, O. F. M., of
Washington, D. C.

Thus completed, the unit sailed August 4 on the Umbria, which ship was
afterward lost with Italian troops in the Adriatic. The second day out
the work of the unit began, when fifteen men, who had been struggling
with the waves in a row boat for twenty-four hours, were picked up. They
belonged to the O. A. Jennings, oil tank, which had been torpedoed. They
were given treatment by the unit, which turned back with them for a
day's journey; then, given supplies, they were started toward land,
which was in sight. The gratitude of the rescued men amply rewarded the
unit for its work of mercy.

The Umbria was without convoy, and though in one night alone it received
fourteen warnings of submarines, it threaded its perilous way in safety,
and on August 18 reached Gibraltar, where a stop of three days was made.
The officers and nurses were given shore leave, and put in their time
visiting places of interest.

On August 21 the start for Genoa was made, which port was reached on the
27th. The American Ambulance Corps, with a band of music, met the unit
at the boat, and Italian officers went aboard to greet the Americans in
the name of the Italian Government. The Sisters and nurses were taken
to the Victoria Hotel, while the commanding officer, Colonel Hume of
Frankfort, Ky., and Lieutenant Colonel Dana, went to Rome to secure a
place at the front for the base hospital.

The place selected was Vicenza, about fifteen miles from the firing
line. It was located in the Rossi Industrial School, which in olden days
had been a Dominican convent.

Here for seven months the Americans carried on their work of mercy and
during that time three thousand patients were cared for, of which number
only twenty-eight were lost, and they were victims of the influenza,
which was very severe in that locality. It was a remarkable record, the
lowest loss of any of the American units. The 332d regiment of Ohio boys
was in the section. The Ambulance Corp, composed chiefly of college men,
did excellent work. The Sisters found the Italians very grateful, and
their admiration for the Americans was great. There were many gas cases,
and while hundreds had their eyes badly burned, such was the success
attending the treatment they received,