in 1914, assisted the sisters and remained bravely at her
post night and day, in spite of all danger, and was busy
everywhere with a devotion truly admirable....

Mlle. Brasseur, Sister Etienne, Mother Superior of the
Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul in the Hospital at Compiègne,
from the war's beginning at the head of a staff whose
tireless devotion has deserved all praise, has given the
most intelligent and enlightened care to numerous wounded
men. During the time of the German occupation, her coolness
and energetic attitude assured the safety of the
establishment she directed. Her brave initiative allowed
several French soldiers to escape from captivity.

The modest postmistress and telegraph operator was a Frenchwoman and a
fighter, who, in the little village of Houpelines, in the north of the
country, deserved this citation in the orders of the day, of which
thousands of soldiers would be proud:

Refusing to obey the order that was given her to leave her
post, she remained in spite of the danger. On the first of
October the Germans entered her office, smashed her
apparatus and threatened her with death. Mlle. Deletete, who
had put her valuables and accounts in safe-keeping, gave
evidence of the greatest calmness. From the seventeenth on
she endured the bombardment. Her office having been damaged
severely by the enemy's fire, she took refuge in the civil
hospice, where four persons were killed at her side. She
resumed her duties on the twenty-third, since which date she
has continued to perform them in the face of frequent