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- Description:
- Katie Kerr talks about her service in the American Red Cross during World War Two. Kerr describes becoming a medical technician, volunteering for the Red Cross in March 1944 and serving as a hospital recreation worker. She talks about her initial duties and training at American University in Washington D.C. and later being shipped to England. She talks about her time in England, how complicated relationships could become, recreation activities the Red Cross organized to entertain the troops, and some of her patients and their injuries. She remembers V-E Day, anticipating being sent to the Pacific Theater, coming back to the States in July 1945, taking a job at Lansing, Michigan's Sparrow Hospital, and meeting her husband, a Michigan State Police Trooper. Kerr talks about how she felt when the atomic bomb was dropped and signs off the interview by reciting her serial number. Kerr is interviewed by Elsie Hornbacher.
- Date Issued:
- 1984-08-14T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project
- Description:
- Josephine Boecker discusses her service in the American Red Cross in the Pacific Theater from September 1943 to September 1946. Boecker describes being contacted by the Red Cross and later being called for war service, going through the required background checks, taking a leave of absence from her job, and enduring a grueling three month training regimen. Boecker says that she believed she was headed to North Africa and was surprised when she found herself aboard a train bound for the west coast and duty in the Pacific. She describes the four week trip to New Guinea, being stationed at the 47th General Hospital near Milne Bay, the camp conditions, sanitation, the food, the steps taken to prevent malaria, the perpetual rain, camp social events, and her job of setting up entertainment and recreation facilities for the troops. She says that she spent her leave in Australia and later moved forward with the troops to the Philippines. She recalls her reaction to the news of the dropping of the atomic bomb, being sent to Japan to staff a hospital in Tokyo, the destruction she saw, and the effects U.S. occupation had on Japanese society. Sound quality deteriorates near the conclusion of the recording.
- Date Issued:
- 1985-02-15T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project
- Description:
- In a wide-ranging oral history interview, Josephine Boecker discusses her service in the American Red Cross in the South Pacific from September 1943 to September 1946. Boecker says she was contacted by the Red Cross and later called for war service and recalls anticipating being sent to North Africa and being surprised when she found herself on a train bound for the west coast. Boecker talks about activities on board ship during the four week trip to New Guinea, the reception the nurses received from the soldiers when they came ashore and being assigned to the 47th General Hospital near Milne Bay where Red Cross workers staffed recreation programs. She describes camp conditions, sanitation, food, the malaria epidemics, finding activities to keep the troops occupied, and spending her leave in Australia and later following the Army to the Philippines. Boecker says that she was overjoyed when she heard the news of the dropping of the atomic bomb and that the war was over. She says she was later and shipped to Japan to staff a hospital in Tokyo and discusses the destruction she saw and the effects that the U.S. occupation had on Japanese society. Boecker is recorded for the Radcliffe College Library.
- Date Issued:
- 1989-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project