Thelma and Lowell's Diary: March 29, 1943

They visit an injured friend at the hospital; Montgomery breaks through Rommel's defenses

On this Monday, Thelma and Lowell went shopping, buying him a pair of brown shoes with buckles for $5.10. She also got her “stockings fixed,” which cost 20 cents. Stockings were so expensive then, and the push for conservation of silk and nylon so great, that it made sense to repair runs and rips if you could.

They also went to visit a man at Baptist Hospital on Napoleon Avenue, who “was burned when his gas heater exploded.” This vintage postcard of the hospital, found on eBay, probably dates to the 1920s or early 1930s, judging from the automobiles parked on the street. The caption on the reverse side said the hospital cost over $1 million to build and is “one of the institutions that gives New Orleans the name of medical center of the South.” Lowell worked a twelve-hour shift beginning at 7 p.m. that night. Thelma passed her evening by listening to the radio and reading.

Louisiana newspapers had blaring front-page headlines about British Field Marshall Montgomery’s breach of the Mareth Line in Tunisia. To read about it, you need to be a paid subscriber. It costs just 16 cents a day to upgrade and become a “Bootie”!

---