Thomas Edward Shirley (Analysis)

Thomas Edward Shirley, and other Darthmouth undergraduates, were men recruited to join the French Ambulance Corps. Which are basically men who would pick up the wounded men in war and bring then to the medical stations on war ground. However once there they were split into different assignments. Thomas E. Shirley wrote these diary entries because the letters that he had initially written to his loved ones did not make it to them. Besides being somewhat home sick like probably all other soldiers, the conditions in the war were not the best.

At the beginning of his entry on July 2nd Thomas wrote that he needed a shower because he had not bathed in 3 weeks. He was able to wash up that day, and by wash up I mean hands and face, and this was the 1st washing in 2 weeks. As you can see, it seems that the soldiers were kept on tight leash. Also that the day the men were able to go into a town and he had a slice of apricot pie, to me it seemed that when he spoke of it he felt as if it was one of very few comforts in the time he was able to get. Same goes for the meal that day which were string beans and meat which were not the best, but according to him it was the best meal so far. Even though he wasn't able to bathe that day, he was able to take a shower at night which was freezing but his exact words after was, "I nearly froze but I felt like a king afterwards." A soldiers life is not an easy one but in my opinion after reading the entry that this day was one of the best for Thomas E. Shirley. To us this day might seem like a simple day but this probably felt like luxury to other soldiers.

Citation:
Thomas E. Shirley
http://www.dartmouth.org/classes/57/tes00.htm