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- Description:
- In an oral history interview, Alice Nordly talks about her nearly four years of service as an officer in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps during World War Two and being stationed in the Asian Theater of Operations. Nordly explains why she enlisted in Army and discusses her induction and basic training and says that she was recruited from a local California hospital. Nordly talks about her stateside assignments and duties in various surgical wards and says that she finally shipped out to India on an troop ship which had no naval escort and which took forty-five days to cross the Pacific. Nordly describes stops in New Zealand and Australia before landing in India and taking a train to Ledo, India to support the troops trying to recapture the Ledo Road from the Japanese. She describes the scenery, the poverty, her gear and quarters, the torrential rains and intense heat and treating various battlefield wounds and injuries. After her discharge in 1946, Nordly says that she did face a period of adjustment to civilian life and that what she most disliked about the Army was the regimentation and the lack of privacy. Nordly is interviewed by Neola A. Spackman.
- Date Issued:
- 1985-01-29T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project
- Description:
- Marion Kern Kennedy talks about her service in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps during World War Two. Kennedy says that she did basic training and advanced military training between May 1942 and January 1943, was first sent to Bombay, India and later north to the Himalayas where her unit took over a muddy hospital cut from the jungle in Assam, India. She describes life in the camp, which was set up to support troops who were trying to open the Burma Road, the food, her quarters, the bugs, tropical diseases, her social life, and using slit trenches. Kennedy says that she was sent home in 1945 and was discharged from the military on new years day, 1946. In 1953, she says that she returned to the service and remained on active duty for the next 18 years. Kennedy is interviewed by Ruth F. Stewart assisted by Carol A. Habgood.
- Date Issued:
- 2003-10-21T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project
- Description:
- Marion Steinhilber talks about her 27 year career in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps, including her service overseas in World War II. Steinhiber says that she went on active duty in April 1944 and was sent to Atlantic City for basic training and that her first duty station was at Halloran General Hospital on Staten Island. Steinhilber says that she first thought that she would be stationed in Europe, but soon found herself bound for India, by way of Newfoundland, Casablanca, Cairo, and Abadan Island. After landing in Calcutta, she says that she joined the 142nd General Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan and then later the 20th General Hospital in Ledo, India. She talks about life in Ledo, including surviving monsoons, her quarters, the food, the pests, the quality of life for nurses and treating American and Chinese troops. Steinhilber says she returned to the States soon after V-J Day and was "separated" from the Army in May 1946, but was never "discharged". Steinhilber also says that she later found out that she was considered to be on "inactive reserve" and was called up for active duty in 1951 as the Korean War heated up. Steinhilber is interviewed by Ruth Stewart assisted by Carol Habgood.
- Date Issued:
- 2003-10-21T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project
- Description:
- Eighty-four year old retired Army Colonel Esther Jane McNeil discusses her long career in the U.S. Army. McNeil says that she grew up in rural Pennsylvania, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in 1940, enlisted in the Nurse Corps in 1943 and was first stationed at Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona. She says that despite some health problems, she was finally sent overseas to India and was made head of the operating room at the 20th General Hospital in Ledo, India. McNeil was on leave in Darjeeling when she received orders to prepare for the invasion of Japan, but says that the war ended before her unit had even made it to the Philippines. After the war, McNeil says that she joined the Army Reserves and then went back to active duty during the Korean War. She also discusses the various positions she held until her retirement in 1971. McNeil is interviewed by Doris Cobb.
- Date Issued:
- 2003-10-22T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project