Interview of Lillian Kivela on her service in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps during WWII

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Description:

Lillian Kivela talks about her service in the United States Army Nurse Corps during World War Two including, why she enlisted in June 1943, nurse's training, basic Army training, housing, uniforms, and her duties at the Schick General Hospital in Clinton, Iowa. She says that she was sent to New Jersey in preparation for being shipped to Europe and describes shipboard conditions and being seasick throughout the entire ten-day voyage. She talks about being housed in an unheated Welsh resort hotel, marching, walking a mile to the mess hall for meals, serving in the orthopedic ward at a hospital in Headington, a suburd of Oxford and experiencing an influx of patients following D-Day and the subsequent fighting, and the early use of penicillin to control infection. In her off-time, Kivela says that she often visited London for the theater, rode her bicycle around Oxford, became acquainted with British families and even met the Queen Mother and boxer Joe Louis when they visited the hospital. Back in the States, after the war, she says that she had a difficult time adjusting to civilian life and finally came to Michigan State College to finish her degree in microbiology. Kivela is interviewed by Elsie Hornbacher.

Date Issued:

1986-01-22T00:00:00Z

Data Provider:

Michigan State University. Libraries

Collection:

Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project

Place:

Iowa, Clinton, England, Oxford, England, Oxford, Michigan, and East Lansing

Subject Topic:

Knowledge, Microbiology, Military life, Nurses, World War, 1939-1945, Veterans, Women veterans, World War, 1939-1945, World War, 1939-1945, Participation, Female, Military education, Military nursing, Military nursing, World War, 1939-1945, Medical care, Adjustment (Psychology), Microbiology, and Study and teaching

Subject Name:

Kivela, Lillian, 1920-2013, Kivela, Lillian, 1920-2013, United States, Army Nurse Corps, United States, and Army

Subject Genre:

Interviews, Interviews, Interviews, Interviews, Interviews, and Personal narratives, American

Language:

English

Rights:

In Copyright

URL:

https://n2t.net/ark:/85335/m5fm6f