Existing comment:
Edwin Blashfield's Certificate for a Red Cross Nurse
Though Blashfield's design shows Columbia "knighting" a kneeling doughboy, this certificate honors the service of Red Cross nurse Anna Cecilia Foldesi. Shortly after arriving at Iowa's Camp Dodge, Foldesi (name misspelled as Foldese on the certificate) died of influenza and pneumonia on November 8th, days before the war ended. Millions more died from the wartime influenza pandemic of 1918–1919 than from enemy weapons. This family portrait shows, from top to bottom, Anna Cecilia with three of her sisters -- Marie, Matilda, and Rose. Both Marie and Matilda were also nurses. |