Alice Lord O’Brian was born in Buffalo on Sept. 26, 1880, to John and Elizabeth Lord O’Brian. She was the middle child and only girl of the three children that survived to adulthood. Alice attended St. Margaret’s School, but unlike her Harvard-educated brothers, she did not attend college. Instead, she took a job in Black Rock as a social worker with the Board of the Prison Gate Mission, assisting women adjusting to life after prison. 

During the First World War, while men were shipped off to fight, women too were called upon to assist in a variety of capacities. Many entered the work force for the first time, filling jobs that were once thought of as “men’s work,” while others contributed by knitting socks and sweaters to send to the soldiers, or by organizing local fundraisers. Not willing to settle for a customary woman’s role, or perhaps looking for adventure, Alice O’Brian decided to apply to the Red Cross for work overseas. 

One can only speculate as to why she volunteered with the Red Cross. Her brother, John Lord O’Brian, a successful lawyer and political figure in Buffalo, was appointed to the District Board of the Red Cross Campaign in August of 1917. Perhaps he provided a source of inspiration and motivation for her to contribute to the war efforts beyond what was expected from women of the time.

Regardless of her motivation, in September 1917, at the age of 37, Alice set sail from New York on the French liner, SS Espagne, headed for France. She was among the first to answer the call of the Red Cross for volunteers to work in canteens abroad. These canteens were strategically placed along railroad lines that transported troops across the country and were essential to providing soldiers with adequate meals, entertainment and general first aid. All told, the Red Cross Canteen Service served nearly 40 million members of the armed forces, and by the end of the war distributed 1.5 million gallons of coffee and 15 million sandwiches, along with 11 million cookies, doughnuts and pies. In France, the canteens served nearly a million men a month.

Alice had a taste for adventure. As such, she expressed dismay when she learned where the Red Cross had assigned her. “We almost wept with disappointment,” she wrote,  “when we learned that we were not going to the ‘War Zone,’ but to a small village in the central part of France…” That small village was Saint-Germain-des-Fossés, just north of Vichy. There, O’Brian was to work in Le Cantine des Deux Drapeaux, or The Canteen of Two Flags.

Despite her disappointment, she eagerly began her duties, accepting this new adventure with wide eyes and open arms. She wasn’t afraid of pushing herself to the limit by working double shifts or through the night. She describes one of her first night shifts as “…simply great, the most interesting part was the platform work – four big trains during the night – the station all sparkling with tiny red and white lights – funny little cars – long trains and many weary poilus [French soldiers] swarming out to change trains…It was most thrilling and I thoroughly enjoyed it.” 

Alice embraced her work, taking on new roles without hesitation. She was responsible for measuring out provisions for the cook, minding the books and banking, cashier work, tending to the poilus and blessés (wounded), as well as driving about the countryside in search of supplies for the 800 to 1,000 men that passed through the canteen every day. When the Red Cross supplied cigarettes, O’Brian handed them out to soldiers, keen to raise moral: “The Red Cross has sent us a lot of cigarettes so we give them out with tiny American flags,” she wrote. “[The soldiers] always try to smile, and it is something to smile when a man has two legs gone and half of his face shot off or no arms at all. We forget the daily drudgery and routine and fatigue at a time like that.”

As the conflict progressed and the front lines crept closer to St. Germain-des-Fossés, O’Brian worked through the threat of war that surrounded the canteen. It soon became eerily mundane to hear shells flying overhead and crashing into the earth nearby. The hazardous conditions meant Alice and her staff were now in harm’s way, forced to protect themselves at a moment’s notice. She invited those at home to picture the scene in one of her letters. 

Three times we had to get up and put on our helmets. Try a little imagination: on a freezing night to have to tumble out of bed, stand up with a hard cold helmet on your head while the machine guns pop all around and the shrapnel drops over the roof. It is a chilling affair…

Despite the dangerous conditions, her heart went out to the soldiers, as they were the ones to be shipped “back to the Front to eventual death.” Throughout these ordeals, Alice remained focused; providing warm meals and entertainment, while nurturing the men who passed through the canteen as best she could. Indeed, she found ways to bring excitement and joy to the soldiers beyond providing food and shelter. She often baked doughnuts, which quickly became a popular treat among the troops. She also decorated the canteen to the best of her ability during the holidays and joined in when songs were played on the canteen piano.

There were times when the canteen remained crowded day and night and the work felt as if it wouldn’t end. Alice described many nights where she worked to the point of exhaustion, allowing herself only a moment’s rest. Yet, despite working double shifts, she pushed on because she knew what her work meant to the soldiers.

I have received orders… to do everything possible for the men… regardless of expense. They are going to certain death and their spirits are broken. We do what we can but it is all very futile, for I am sure I don’t know what it is all about, or why they should be cheered on to death.

O’Brian’s dedication quickly impressed her superiors. She was appointed Directrice [Director] of the Le Cantine des Deux Drapeaux after only three months of service. She accepted the job with hesitancy due to her lack of fluency in French, but understood that she had been recommended due to her hard work and dedication, rather than her language skills. The canteen staff was overjoyed at the news of O’Brian’s appointment. Upon receiving her Directrice uniform, complete with blue epaulets and a blue crepe de chine veil, they celebrated with a rare luxury: champagne.

Before long, Alice could sense that she was being changed by her experiences in France. Her daily encounters with wounded men and boys began to shape her feelings towards war.

I do not feel that I can ever be the same after this experience… watching men tramp day and night in rain and mud, only to come back a few days later shot to pieces, patched up temporarily…I cannot understand what it is all about or what has been accomplished by all this waste of youth.

And yet, O’Brian’s commitment never faltered. Her compassion for the soldiers, along with their steadfast optimism regardless of injury or peril, strengthened her assiduity and integrity.

After ten months at Le Cantine des Deux Drapeaux, O’Brian was given the opportunity of serving as Directrice at a new Red Cross canteen in the mountains near Puy-de-Dome, west of Clermont-Ferrand. This change of venue came as the result of her success in St. Germain-des-Fossés.  The size of the canteen had tripled, while she had also established an efficient, well-developed organization that could withstand the transition to new management. Although the idea of uprooting herself from her current post came with some apprehension, she accepted the challenge as “it was a marvelous compliment and the biggest opportunity in France.” Upon departure, Alice wrote of her time at Le Cantine des Deux Drapeaux with fondness; remaining grateful to those around her and the adventures she experienced.

How I shall miss all this. These people have grown very close to my heart and their daily life and cares mean much to me. It has been so easy for us to do what little we have done and we have been repaid a thousand fold.

When the Armistice was declared on Nov. 11, 1918, most were eager to head home, but not O’Brian. The Red Cross deemed her invaluable, so she applied to work at a canteen near a port with the intention of continuing her service as men were shipped home. However, still on the mend from a broken arm sustained in a car accident nearly a year prior, Alice decided it would be best not to take on another large canteen, or, as the Red Cross suggested, sign up for an additional four months to work in Germany.

While Alice’s injury to her arm may have kept her from seeking another canteen position, it did not slow her down. Instead, she accepted a post assisting in a hotel for enlisted men. When she arrived at the hotel, however, she found they were feeding fewer than 300 men a day and that the place was nearly uninhabitable. She insisted on new paint from top to bottom, a polished kitchen and plenty of cots and blankets for each room. She steadily improved the hotels conditions, achieving efficiency and order, while continuing to provide meals to the soldiers. As a result, the hotel gained popularity, increasing its outreach to more than 1,000 soldiers a day. By March 1919, the Red Cross declared it a ‘model hotel.’

A month prior to this assessment, however, Alice had come to the conclusion that it was time to head home and to give other volunteers a chance to prove themselves. Upon hearing of her plans to depart in April 1919, the Red Cross urged her to stay until June, desperate to keep her onboard. Despite their urgings, O’Brian declined their offer, got her paperwork in order, and sailed to America. 

Back in Buffalo, Alice actively participated in local organizations, often pursing leadership roles. The same year as she returned to Western New York, she served as an alumnae officer in St. Margaret’s Alumnae Association, and, in 1920, she was named director of the Public Lecture Bureau of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences. 

Like many others who had served abroad during the war, Alice had written to her family at home about her experiences in France. In 1936, she published her letters to her brothers, John and Roland, in a book titled No Glory: Letters from France, 1917-1919.  It had not been her intention to publicize these family letters when she wrote them, and she now felt some apprehension in doing so. In the end, however, she went ahead with her decision to publish the letters so that the coming generations would see that there was no glory in war. In her forward, she wrote,

…a new generation has grown up, apparently inclined to experiment with the same futility into which we all plunged a score of years ago, and it seemed to me that perhaps a few might find a deterring influence in this simple account of daily happenings in a background of grave events and profound tragedy, and I only hope that these apparently uneventful letters may help to keep some of us from glorifying war.

By publishing No Glory, O’Brian was able to use her unique perspective as a woman with first-hand experience of the war to voice her anti-war sentiments. Perhaps she could dissuade others from engaging in war by sharing the tragedies she had witnessed.

The 1940’s found Alice having moved to New York City, where she continued to devote herself to aiding the troops. During World War II, she managed the only Officers’ Club of New York City, a recreation clubhouse fit for junior officers. With her past experience, she was able to run the facility with ease. In a 1943 Buffalo Courier Express article, O’Brian refers to her work at the Officers’ Club as “just my old canteen work.” 

Alice Lord O’Brian passed away on December 30, 1972, at the age of 92 and was buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery alongside her family. Her uniform is owned by The Buffalo History Museum. 

This unique and courageous Western New York woman should be remembered for her bravery. Not only did she choose to put herself in danger by leaving her safe and comfortable life behind to serve the troops abroad, but she continued to follow her convictions once back at home, expressing the anti-war sentiments generated by her experience through the publication of her thoughts and letters. 

There is no glamour here. Its waiting and waiting, with only discouragement…To see the men as we see them, discouraged and downhearted, is the saddest part of it all, but I must say we do cheer them. They come in freezing and cold and we give them hot food, a warm place to sit and sleep and a cheerful atmosphere, and like children they are happy for the time at least.

In 1919, the French government recognized O’Brian for her service, awarding her La Médaille d’honneur des Epidémies [The Military Health Service Medal] in recognition of her first aid work, and La Médaille de la Reconnaissance Française [The Medal of French Recognition], which was rarely awarded to women. The Red Cross was delighted for O’Brian, saying, “it was the first reward to be given for actual good work...”

Médaille D'honneur des Epidémies Citation

Mme O'Brian, Fondatrice de la Cantine Américaine de St. Germain-de-Fossés. A fait preuve d'un inlassable dévouement et d'une génreuse sollicitude envers les blessés les malades Français. Mar 18, 1919.

Mademoiselle O'Brian est autorisée à porter cette médaille suspendue à la boutonnière par un ruban tricolore également divisé. Ce diplôme lui a été délivré afin de perpetuer dans sa famille et au milieu de ses concitoyens le souvenir de sa honorable et courageuse conduite.

[Miss O’Brian, founder of the American Canteen at St. Germain-de-Fossés, has demonstrated tireless dedication and generosity to the wounded and ill French people. 18 March 1919.

Miss O’Brian is authorized to wear this medallion with tri-colored ribbon. This certificate is issued to her to support her family and as a symbol for her fellow citizens of her honorable and courageous conduct.]

Médaille de la Reconnaissance Française Citation

Le Président de la République par Dêcret a conféré a Mme. Alice O'Brian le médaille de la Reconnaisance Française, de Nationalité Américaine Directrice de la Cantine Franco-Américaine de St. Germain-des-Fossés. S'est acquiteé de sa Mission avec une autorité qui lui a valuer maintes circonstances les félicitations et les éloges des plus hautes autorités Militaires et Civiles de la Région; a apporté dans sa tâche une assiduité qui a été pour nos soldats et la population civile un magnifique exemple de dévoument.

[The President of the Republic by Decree confers on Miss Alice O’Brian the medal of French Recognition, as director of the Franco-American Canteen at St. Germain-des-Fossés. She has completed her mission with an authority that commends the congratulations and praise from the highest military and civilian authorities of the region; and has borne her task with an assiduity that is a magnificent example of devotion for our soldiers and the population as a whole.]