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Women Kicking Butts


cutiger83
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I am currently reading the book "On Wings to War" about WASP Teresa James. I love this story where she was ferrying an A-24 that kept having mechanical difficulties. This is her story:

 

"On the final leg of that flight, as I was approaching Aberdeen, exhaust fumes poured into the cockpit and I had to requested a straight-in approach for an emergency landing. They cleared me......and I had to land with the canopy open and the wind blowing in my face. It was hard to see the exact height above the ground. As my wheels touched the runway, the Control Tower operator said 'That was a beautiful landing.' I replied 'You ought to see me grease them in when I am not applying my lipstick'" :lol:

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1Lt June Wandrey wrote a book I'd like to read, "Bedpan Commando"

 

From wiki:

 

"June Wandrey Mann (1920–2005) was a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps from Wautoma, Wisconsin. She was the author of Bedpan Commando, an account of her military service in Africa, Sicily, Italy, France and Germany from 1942 to 1946, during which she was awarded eight battle stars...

 

She was a life member of numerous veterans' associations, including the Disabled American Veterans, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Anzio Beachhead Association, 36th Inf. Div., 3rd Inf. Div., and the 10th & 40th Combat Engineers."

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1Lt June Wandrey wrote a book I'd like to read, "Bedpan Commando"

 

I have this book. It is an EXCELLENT read! I definitely recommend this one.

 

...Kat

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  • 2 months later...

Came across this Girl Scout BRONZE CROSS medal and award for life saving today, given to a youngster here in Joplin for her valor during our tornado of 2011.

 

I found it interesting and new to me:

 

LIFE SAVING AWARD - BRONZE CROSS The Bronze Cross is a very special award that has been a part of the Girl Scout program since the start of the movement. Your Girl Scout council documents specific actions that have led to a person saving a life or attempting to save a life, with national awards determined by GSUSA.

Girl Scout Lifesaving awards, as part of the Girl Scout program, are given to registered Girl Scouts (not adults) who have saved a human life or attempted to save it under circumstances that indicate heroism or risk to their own lives and who have performed heroic acts beyond the degree of maturity and training to be expected at their age.

The Bronze Cross is given for saving a life or attempting to save a life with risk to the candidate's own life. The local Girl Scout council judges whether the act qualifies for a lifesaving award, with final approval by GSUSA.

Contact your local Girl Scout council for further information. Earned Awards are not available for purchase online.

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I just started reading "All This Hell US Nurses Imprisoned by the Japanese". Now these nurses were some women who were "kicking butts". However, in the preface to the book it says "former POW nurses were discouraged from talking about their combat and POW experiences even to their families. At redistribution centers and in reorientation programs, the POW experience was presented to them as a stigma and they were told that it was time for them to become 'ladies' again. This admonition joined with their natural reluctance to tell their stories to form a psychological alloy stronger than steel. In addition, military history and the history of war have traditionally been treated as a male domain, which is another reason these women's deeds did not make it into many history books,"

 

Even today, many people don't know the accomplishments of these "early pioneers" of women in the military.

 

...Kat

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I just tried to look at this but it says it is blocked in this country. What is up with that? :think:

Kat, just tried this, worked fine for me. But, I'm in Kentucky, not always considered part of the US :rolleyes:

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The current issue of "MHQ The Quarterly Journal of Military History" has an interesting article titled "Lady Killers - More than 320,000 women fought on the front lines in WWII". The article is about women soldiers from all countries. There was one mention about American women that I have never heard. I thought this was interesting

 

"General George C Marshall, the army's chief of staff, wanted to put women in even more critical roles. Intrigued by the British mixed gender AA units, Marshall set up a secret experiment in 1942 that introduced nearly 400 auxiliary troops to antiaircraft crews protecting Washington, DC. It was a big success; Major General John Lewis, AA commander in the military district around Washington, asked to make the assignments permanent and add even more women to his ranks. Marshall, however, concluded it wasn't worth the inevitable backlash from Congress. He closed the experiment and made sure the public didn't learn of it until after the war."

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  • 3 months later...
RustyCanteen

This is both an interesting and informative thread.

 

Let's give this one another chance, please keep contributing to it.

 

RC

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The following is quoted from the back of the book “American Nightingale – the Story of Frances Slanger. Forgotten Heroine of Normandy”.

 

She was a Jewish girl growing up in World War I – torn Poland. At age seven, she and her family immigrated to America with dreams of a brighter future. But Frances Slanger could not lay her past to rest, and she vowed to help make the world a better place – by joining the military and becoming a nurse.

 

Frances, one of the 350,000 American women in uniform during World War II, was among the first nurses to arrive at Normandy beach in June 1944. She and the other nurses of the 45th Field Hospital would soon experience the hardships of combat from a storm-whipped tent amid the anguish of wounded men and the thud of artillery shells. Months later, a letter Frances wrote to the Stars and Stripes newspaper won her heartfelt praise from war-weary GIs touched by her tribute to them. But she never got to read the scores of soldiers’ letters that poured in. She was killed by German troops the very next day. She was the first American nurse to die in Europe after the D-Day landing at Normandy.

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Here is the letter she wrote to Stars and Stripes. It is long but well worth reading.

 

It is 0200 and I have been lying awake for one hour, listening to the steady, even breathing of the other three nurses in the tent. Thinking about some of the things we had discussed during the day. The rain is beating down on the tent with a torrential force. The wind is on a mad rampage and its main objective seems to be to lift the tent off its poles and fling it about our heads.

The fire is burning low and just a few live coals are on the bottom. With the low feeding of wood, and finally coal, a roaring fire is started I couldn’t help thinking how similar to a human being a fire is; if it is allowed to run down too low and if there is a spark of life left in it, it can be nursed back…So can a human being. It is slow, it is gradual, it is done all the time in these Field Hospitals and other hospitals in the ETO.

We had read several articles in different magazines and papers sent in by grateful GIs, praising the work of the nurses around the combat areas. Praising us – for what? I climbed back into my cot. Lt Bowler was the only one I had awakened. I whispered to her. Lt Cox and Lt Powers slept on. Fine nurses and great girls to live with….of course, like in all families, an occasional quarrel, but these were quickly forgotten.

I’m writing this by flashlight. In this light, it looks something like a “dive”. In the center of the tent are two poles, one part chimney, the other a plain tent pole. Kindling wood lies in disorderly confusion on the ground. We don’t have a tarp on the ground. A French wine pitcher, filled with water, stands by. The GIs way we rough it. We in our little tent can’t see it. True, we are set up in tents, sleep on cots and are subject to the temperament of the weather.

We wade ankle deep in mud. You have to lie in it. We are restricted to our immediate area, a cow pasture or hay field, but then, who is not restricted? We have a stove and coal. We even have a laundry line in the tent. Our GI drawers are at this moment doing the dance of the pants, what with the wind howling, the tent waving precariously, the rain beating down, the guns firing, and me with a flashlight, writing. It all adds up to a feeling of unrealness.

Sure, we rough it, but in comparison to the way you men are taking it, we can’t complain, nor do we feel that bouquets are due us. But you, the men behind the guns, the men driving our tanks, flying our planes, sailing our ships, building bridges and to the men who pave the way and to the men who are left behind – it is to you we doff our helmets. To every GI wearing the American uniform, for you we have the greatest admiration and respect.

Yes, this time we are handing out the bouquets…but after taking care of some of your buddies, seeing them when they are brought in bloody, dirty, with the earth, mud and grime, and most of them so tired. Somebody’s brothers, somebody’s fathers and somebody’s sons. Seeing them gradually brought back to life, to consciousness and to see their lips separate into a grin when they first welcome you. Usually they kid, hurt as they are. It doesn’t amaze us to hear one of them say “How’ya babe,” or “Holy Mackerel, an American woman!” or most indiscreetly, “How about a kiss?”

These soldiers stay with us but a short time, from 10 days to possibly two weeks. We have learned a great deal about our American soldier, and the stuff he is made of. The wounded do not cry. Their buddies come first. The patience and determination they show, the courage and fortitude they have is sometimes awesome to behold. It is we who are proud to be here. Rough it? No. It is a privilege to be able to receive you, and a great distinction to see you open your eyes and with that swell American grin, say, “Hi-ya babe!”

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Mary Louise Roberts Army nurse 56th Evacuation Unit– the first woman to receive the Silver Star in WWII

 

The other two nurses in her unit to receive the Silver Star for the same action were Elaine A Roe and Rita Virginia Rourke

 

The following are excerpts from the book “The Greatest Generation” by Tom Brokaw

 

The nurses were not immune to death, of course. All of the nurses were traumatized by the death of one of their own, Ellen Ainsworth, killed by a German artillery shell – one of six nurses to die at Anzio. Mary Louise said they were all tempted to begin to think “’It could be me,’ but then in the heat of battle you don’t really have time to mull things over.” On February 10, 1944, the heat of battle was very hot.

 

As Mary Louise Roberts supervised several operations under way, German shrapnel started ripping through their surgical tent. She says, “We had patients on the table and we wanted to at least get them off. I said something like, ‘Maybe we can keep going before this gets too bad’. It went on for thirty minutes or so. We just kept on working.” Her superiors were so impressed with her coolness and inspirational personal conduct they recommended her for the coveted Silver Star.

 

Mary Louise and two other nurses were awarded the medal, but because she had senior rank she went forward first and thus became the first woman to win the Silver Star. It was, she says, not an auspicious occasion. “We went to the ceremony in our operating clothes. It took twenty minutes. It was a quickie because we were needed back at work. Certainly I am proud of it, but others deserve credit too. Everybody in our group deserved the medal.”

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RustyCanteen

That is very interesting!

 

The work done by the nurses is too often forgotten in favor of the airborne and infantry divisions even though it was just as vital. I sometimes wonder if people just assume the nurses (as non-combatants) were never in danger, even though that was not the case. Nurses often shared the same dangers as the infantrymen, mortars, bullets, and shells didn't distinguish between combatants and non-combatants. The roll of honor will show that nurses also gave their lives in the service of the country, let's not forget them.

 

RC

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Nurses often shared the same dangers as the infantrymen, mortars, bullets, and shells didn't distinguish between combatants and non-combatants. The roll of honor will show that nurses also gave their lives in the service of the country, let's not forget them.

 

RC

 

 

Thanks for saying this. I agree!

 

I am so glad you are finding this interesting....Kat

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The following is quoted from the wikipedia website:

 

Mary Edwards Walker (November 26, 1832 – February 21, 1919) is currently the only woman ever to receive the Medal of Honor.

 

Prior to the American Civil War she earned her medical degree, married and started a medical practice. The practice didn't do well and she volunteered with the Union Army at the outbreak of the Civil War and served as a surgeon. She was captured by Confederate forces after crossing enemy lines to treat wounded civilians and arrested as a spy. She was sent as a prisoner of war to Richmond, Virginia until released in a prisoner exchange.

 

After the war she was approved for the highest United States Armed Forces decoration for bravery, the Medal of Honor, for her efforts during the Civil War. She is the only woman to receive the medal and one of only eight civilians to receive it. Her medal was later rescinded based on a U.S. Army determination and then restored in 1977. After the war she was a writer and lecturer supporting the women’s suffrage movement until her death in 1919.

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uniformcollector

The following is quoted from the wikipedia website:

 

Mary Edwards Walker (November 26, 1832 – February 21, 1919) is currently the only woman ever to receive the Medal of Honor.

 

Prior to the American Civil War she earned her medical degree, married and started a medical practice. The practice didn't do well and she volunteered with the Union Army at the outbreak of the Civil War and served as a surgeon. She was captured by Confederate forces after crossing enemy lines to treat wounded civilians and arrested as a spy. She was sent as a prisoner of war to Richmond, Virginia until released in a prisoner exchange.

 

After the war she was approved for the highest United States Armed Forces decoration for bravery, the Medal of Honor, for her efforts during the Civil War. She is the only woman to receive the medal and one of only eight civilians to receive it. Her medal was later rescinded based on a U.S. Army determination and then restored in 1977. After the war she was a writer and lecturer supporting the women’s suffrage movement until her death in 1919.

 

Here is a photo of her via H.O.H. for reference:post-104949-0-71213000-1372192155.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Some of the forgotten heroines of WW2..........

 

U.S. Army Nurses from Bataan and Corregidor, freed after three years imprisonment in Santo Tomas Interment Compound, climb into trucks as they leave Manila, Luzon, P.I., on their way home to the U.S. The nurses are wearing new uniforms given to them to replace their worn out clothes. [12 February 1945]

 

740px-Army_nurses_rescued_from_Santo_Tom

 

cheers,

 

-John

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