World War II Woman

An Army Corps nurse in Europe

Enough of rationing for now, but we shall return to it later as we discuss shoes, rubber, gasoline, fuel oil, and more. For now let us turn to some of the women who served in our military. My book, We Knew We Were at War: Women Remember World War II, contains stories from a woman in the WAC (Women’s Army Corps), a woman in the Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services) and two Army Corps nurses.

Margaret enlisted in September of 1944 as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army Nurse Corps shortly after completing a three-year nursing program in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Shortly thereafter she was assigned to the 63rd Field Hospital and was sailing out of Boston for Scotland, and then on to France and Germany.

In February of 1945, in the midst of a raging blizzard, the servicemen and women of the 63rd Field Hospital set up an emergency hospital close to where the Ruhr and the Rhine Rivers join. With buzz bombs flying overhead and casualties coming in, the medical teams jumped into action. All of them worked days without sleep as they treated the most critically injured soldiers. As the battle action moved, the medical teams continued to move also, sometimes setting up emergency hospitals in tents, abandoned barns, or wherever shelter was available. Most of the soldiers they treated suffered from head, chest, and abdominal wounds.

Margaret recalls her experiences in these emergency hospitals as both difficult – seeing these young men in great pain – and rewarding – treating them and making them as comfortable as possible.

In February of 1946, nine months after the war ended in Europe, Margaret was honorably discharged as a First Lieutenant. She made use of the GI Bill, graduating with a BSN degree in Nursing.

Tomorrow will be another account from one of our military women. Please feel free to share your own experiences.

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