Roses of No Man's Land - The End of the War & Coming Home

"Today got a bunch newspapers and they think the war will end in a couple of weeks. It certainly won't end any too soon to suit me."
                                                                                                              -Helen Bulvosky, November 9, 1918 - two days before the war ended

World War I officially ended at 11:00 am, on November 11, 1918. Of course as soon as the war ended, everyone was thrilled by the thought of going home. However, that was not the case, and most people had to suffer through winter in Europe before leaving for home. There were still too many seriously wounded troops who still needed care that required more recovery before they could be transported safely. The Spanish Flu epidemic also came into play as it created more patients to care for, including nurses. Another important factor was that there was a shortage in transportation as it took ships several months to transport the soldiers and nurses and there were far too many people to transport all at once. Most units returned home in March, April, and May in the spring of 1919.

"But when I do come home, I'm just going to talk, eat, and sleep for one whole year."
-Aimee O'Keefe, December 19, 1918

Aimee O'Keefe set sail on April 13, arrived at Hoboken on April 23, was discharged and allowed to go home on April 29, and formally discharged on June 1, 1919. She married Robert Kinney a year later, and had six children together.  Aimee became the first woman commander in the State of Wisconsin of the Otis H. King American Legion Post in Hudson, Wisconsin in 1936.  

Helen Bulovsky returned to Madison on March 15, 1919. In 1922 she married her step brother, Walter Lawrence, but died nine months later of acute dilation of the heart at age 27. She and Walter were expecting their first child.

Doctors and nurses of Base Hospital 22 returned home to their practices. By the end of the war, the hospital was the largest, and ranked third in quality out of the entire American Expeditionary Force. 

Services provided by Helen Bulovsky, Aimee O'Keefe, and the staff of Base Hospital 22 were a tremendous part of the success of the war effort, and vital to the many soldiers they treated.