American Committee for Devastated France

American Committee for Devastated France (1919–1924), also known as CARD (Comité Américain pour les Régions Dévastées de France), was a small group of American women who volunteered to help the French Third Republic recover from the destruction of The Great War[2] (later known as World War I)[3] The volunteer civilian relief organization was founded by philanthropist Anne Morgan (1873–1952) and her friend Anne Murray Dike (1879–1929).

Committee applicants had to speak French, hold a driver's license, and most had to pay their own expenses — $1,500 for a typical six-month tour of volunteer duty.

[5] Breckinridge gained key experience in post-war Europe that helped inspire her to create the non-profit Kentucky Committee for Mothers and Babies, later known as the Frontier Nursing Service.

[7] Another volunteer was future diplomat Lucile Atcherson Curtis, who was eventually transferred to Paris to become director of personnel there for the American Committee for Devastated France, and in December 1919 was given the Medaille de la Reconnaissance Francaise for her work.

[8] Established landscape architect Mary Rutherfurd Jay would also join the ranks of Morgan's Committee, commanding an agricultural unit of women who trained wounded soldiers to raise crops by seed.

[10] Lily Morehead Mebane was an American public servant and heiress who joined the committee in 1918, and was later awarded the Cross of Mercy by Peter I of Serbia and the Legion of Honour by the French government for her work with the organization.

Thus, in order for the nurses and doctors to be able to continue with their work in the region, the American Committee founds the Association d´Hygiène Sociale de l´Aisne (AHSA), which would be presided by Anne Murray Dike.