Elizabeth P. Weisner

Elizabeth Phenix went overseas with the Red Cross and was assigned to the 26th General Hospital in North Africa. Her responsibilities were many and varied; she helped soldiers fill out Red Cross request forms, helped them write letters home, helped soldiers locate family members and friends who they believed were in theater, and visited prison wards. Phenix eventually became dissatisfied with her Red Cross job, and asked her father, whose friends included Allan Dulles and General "Wild Bill" Donovan, head of the OSS, for help in located a "more exciting" job with the American forces overseas. Eventually, the Phoenix’s succeed, and Elizabeth resigned from the Red Cross and accepted a job with the OSS in Granada. Unfortunately, perhaps because Wiesner is using the letters she wrote to her parents as the basis of her memoirs, she never describes exactly what it is she is doing in her several different positions with the OSS. One gets the general impression that she functioned as a private secretary for several different military types during this time period, but she does not go into any details about her work. She spends a great deal of time describing sight seeing trips, social engagements, and her living arrangements, none of which are particularly interesting.… (mehr)