Interview of Genevieve Manning Voelker on her service in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps during WWII

View Item Record

Description:

Genevieve Manning Voelker talks about her service in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps during World War Two, her youth in South Dakota and her nurse's training in Minnesota. Voelker says that she joined the Nurse Corps in 1942, after Pearl Harbor and was shipped out in March 1943 to serve in the South West Pacific, first in Hollandia, New Guinea and later in Manila. She talks about being an officer, working as a staff nurse, living in tents, foxholes, and native huts, the dangers that came with everyday life in the tropics, a typical day of duty, the scarcity of fresh water, needing to wear leggings and men's trousers and shoes to ward off mosquitoes and the native population and village life. Voelker says she did not take advantage of the G.I. Bill after the war because she married, that her biggest adjustment to military life was dealing with the sexist doctors, that the regular soldiers were admirable and endured terrible hardships and that it was difficult for her to adjust to life back home after two years in the living in the jungle. Voelker is interviewed by Virginia Cornett.

Date Issued:

1983-03-13T00:00:00Z

Data Provider:

Michigan State University. Libraries

Collection:

Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project

Place:

Minnesota and Pacific Area

Subject Topic:

Childhood and youth, Military life, Uniforms, Nurses, World War, 1939-1945, Veterans, Women veterans, World War, 1939-1945, World War, 1939-1945, Participation, Female, Nurses, Training of, World War, 1939-1945, and Adjustment (Psychology)

Subject Name:

Voelker, Genevieve Manning, Voelker, Genevieve Manning, United States, Army Nurse Corps, United States, Army, 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/m5wh86