The July 4th parade of 1918 in Forest Park, was formed “to arouse interest and enthusiasm” at a time when 271 “Forest Park boys” were in service during World War I. Among the parade marchers was the Red Cross “Tell Her Not to Worry” float, which was built by P.J. Chalifoux (905 Circle) and featured in a hospital bed, private E.A. Brady of 34th Infantry (home on a 15-day furlough) re-enacting a wounded soldier “confined to a foreign hospital bed.” Myrtle Heilman, a Red Cross nurse, is next to him writing a letter home “to tell her not to worry.” Eighty-one local Red Cross workers followed the battle-scene float. It was reported in the day that this large turnout of volunteers “deserves special credit insomuch as many of the ladies are at the place in life where parading over miles of cobblestones has ceased to be numbered among enjoyable outdoor sports.”
Jill Wagner
