 aiding
  materially in their restoration to health and strength. Certainly no
  nobler undertaking could be inaugurated and carried out by the women
  of our country, and none deserving of greater appreciation.

The following tribute from Major Giffen, the surgeon in command at the
Sternberg Hospital, is equally significant:

  The Red Cross Society for the Maintenance of Trained Nurses can
  truly say, _Veni, Vidi, Vici_, for without their helping hand I
  would have been unable to have stayed the dread disease that has
  been raging in our camp. Their helping hand came in the hour of
  need, and the history of the future shall record each and every
  member of the Red Cross Society as the guardian angels of the
  Sternberg Hospital. My experience of years of hospital work has
  enabled me to judge of the abilities of nurses, and I am proud to
  say that this corps of nurses, under the excellent supervision of
  Miss Maxwell, has never before been equaled.

About the first of August the arrival of the transports from Santiago,
and the opening of Camp Wikoff, at Montauk Point, afforded another great
opportunity. The call, however, was sudden, and no chance was given to
the auxiliary to provide tents specially fitted for the comfort of the
nurses, as was done at the Sternberg Hospital. By special arrangement
with the surgeon-general, the nurses ordered by him to Montauk reported
to the acting president of the auxiliary and were sent forward
immediately, or, as the occasion demanded, were cared for over night.
Much has been said in criticism of the hospital conditions at Montauk,
and too little of the fine service of the surgeons and nurses, who,
under trying conditions, worked day and night to save the lives of their
patients. Under the efficient management of Mrs. L.W. Quintard, of St.
Luke's Hospital, the nurses took up their labors with enthusiasm and
with a determination to make the best of existing circumstances. By
personal visits to the camp the acting president was enabled to
ameliorate in many ways the h