Hemingway, the Red Cross, and the Great War

Maps and Images

Map of the Italian theater of war, 1918. This and facing page: Excerpt from a diary entry by Robert W. Bates, August 22, 1918 (Robert W. Bates Papers). Drivers of Red Cross Section One in Milan, December 1917 (Library of Congress). American Red Cross officers in Bassano del Grappa. From left to right: Captain George Utassy, Quartermaster General; Major Guy Lowell, Director of the Department of Military Affairs; Colonel Robert Perkins, Commissioner; and Captain Robert Bates, Director of Ambulance and Rolling Kitchen Services (Robert W. Bates Papers). Front page of Section One newspaper Avanti, January 1, 1918 (Robert W. Bates Papers). Front page of Section One newspaper Come Stà, March 10, 1918 (Robert W. Bates Papers). Presentation of Section Four to the Italian government in Milan, April 4, 1918 (Robert W. Bates Papers). Red Cross parade, New York City, May 18, 1918 (Library of Congress). Front page of Section Four newspaper, Ciao, May 1918 (Robert W. Bates Papers). Ernest Hemingway (second from left) and other war personnel during a lifeboat drill aboard the Chicago, May 1918. (Ernest Hemingway Collection, John F. Kennedy Library). Palazzo Pigatti in Vicenza, which served as headquarters for Red Cross ambulance and rolling kitchen services on the Italian front (Robert W. Bates Papers). Italian troops marching past the Red Cross Headquarters at Palazzo Pigatti in Vicenza (Robert W. Bates Papers). Red Cross ambulance and personnel at a post in the mountain region (Robert W. Bates Papers). Schio. The American flag indicates Section Four headquarters (Robert W. Bates Papers). Section Four Chef Charles Griffin and Sous Chef Edward Welch in a staff car (Robert W. Bates Papers). Section Four lodgings, Schio (Robert W. Bates Papers). Ernest Hemingway at the wheel of a Section Four ambulance (Ernest Hemingway Collection, John F. Kennedy Library). Ernest Hemingway’s Ring Lardner parody, “Al Receives Another Letter,” Ciao, June 1918, 2 (Robert W. Bates Papers). Edward M. McKey (right) next to a rolling kitchen (Library of Congress). The opening reception at “Gamble’s Kitchen,” James Gamble’s Red Cross canteen post near Monte Grappa (Robert W. Bates Papers). Italian soldiers at a Red Cross canteen in the mountain region (Robert W. Bates Papers). Edward McKey’s rolling kitchen after it was wrecked by a shell on June 17, 1918, the day after McKey was killed (Robert W. Bates Papers). Overleaf: Carbon copy of letter from Robert Bates to his family, June 27, 1918. Bates’s handwritten annotation states: “Note: This + other such comments in these letters were for the benefit of the Italian Military Censor + did not reflect my true opinion of the fighting qualities of the Italians ” (Robert W. Bates Papers). Robert Bates (fourth from left) and Captain Felice Cacciapuoti of the Italian army (second from right) along with unidentified soldiers and Red Cross personnel after the recovery of Edward McKey’s damaged rolling kitchen (Robert W. Bates Papers). From left to right: Robert Bates, Felice Cacciapuoti, and an unidentified Red Cross worker at Edward McKey’s burial (Library of Congress). Ernest Hemingway while assigned to the Red Cross emergency posti di conforto (canteen posts) near the Piave River (Ernest Hemingway Collection , John F. Kennedy Library). Italian soldier outside of a Red Cross posto di conforto, San Pietro Novello (Library of Congress). Letter from Robert Bates to Ernest Hemingway, July 11, 1918, three days after Hemingway was wounded (Ernest Hemingway Collection, John F. Kennedy Library). Ernest Hemingway seated in a wheelchair in Milan (Ernest Hemingway Collection , John F. Kennedy Library). Excerpt from Robert Bates, “Ambulance Report No. 9,” July 25, 1918, 2. Bates’s handwritten note states “Earnest [sic] Hemingway—Now a well known writer whose stuff I don’t care for” (Robert W. Bates Papers). Robert Bates (front row, far left) with drivers of Section Four in Schio. The photograph was most likely taken after Ernest Hemingway left the unit for service with the posti di conforto (Robert W. Bates Papers). Portrait of Ernest Hemingway in formal attire. In addition to the Sam Brown belt he purchased in Paris, Hemingway is wearing ribbons over his left breast pocket...