CNJ+ May 2024

So Proudly We Heal THE ANGELS OF BATAAN By Pam Teel

When you think of the men who fought and died in World War II, you think of those who proudly fought for the freedom of their country. Espe cially of those on the front lines, risking life and limbs, clearing the way for the others to come through safe ly, knowing that they might never make it home again; but little is told about the brave women, young and old, who were right alongside them on the front lines in the mid dle of battle. This is a true story

nila port sinking navy ships and setting fire to the dock. The hospi tal soon became under siege. By December 23rd, under General MacArthur’s orders, military personnel were to be evacuated to Bataan. During the Battle of the Philippines (1941– 1942), 88 US Army nurses escaped, in the last week of December 1941, to Corregidor and Bataan. Two of the army nurses, Lt. Flo ramund A. Fellmeth and Lt. Florence Mac Donald, accompanied severely wounded pa

All 77 Army and Navy nurses reunited on way home after being freed from Japanese internment camps

that needs to be retold, of the courageous members of the United States Army Nurses Corp and the members of the United States Navy Nurses Corp, who found themselves on the front lines during the beginning of World War II, and later, as prisoners of war by the Japanese. Many of these nurses were already stationed at Sternberg General Hospital in Manilla and in other military hospitals around Manilla. They found the island to be a carefree paradise, with plenty of free time to enjoy the tropical atmosphere amongst the friendly Philippine people. When they returned to the States, they would tell other nurses of their blissful time there, causing many of them to sign up for assignments in the Philippines. There were also many military bases set up all over the island. The nurses weren’t only antic ipating an adventure on the islands, but maybe even finding some romance under the stars. During the year of 1941, war was just a distant rumor, but everything soon changed. News of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th had sent the world into a frenzy. The very next day, unexpectedly, Japanese bombers began pounding down on American bases in Luzon, the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Camp John Hay, was bombed first, fol lowed by Fort Stotsenberg, and then Clark Field, where most of the Amer ican fighter planes were. 142 in all, were destroyed save for one or two that were already in the skies. At Stotsenberg, the station hospital was overwhelmed with people, both soldiers and civilians, wounded from the attack. They were being brought in for treatment at an alarming rate. The nurses, never having trained for com bat wounds, did their best to tend to everyone as well as they could. They were all given dog tags so they could be identified if the hospital was attacked. (This was the first time in history a woman was given dog tags to wear.) Soon after these attacks, on December 10th, the warplanes attacked the Ma

tients from Sternberg aboard the improvised hospital ship Mactan that de parted Manila shortly after midnight on New Year’s Eve, 1942. they were bound for Australia. Under the command of Lt. Laura M. Cobb, the navy nurses stayed behind in Manila during the initial invasion to support the patients there. One of them, Ann A. Bernatitus, escaped from Manila to Bataan just before Manila fell. The remaining 11 navy nurses were captured by the Japanese upon the fall of Manila and taken to Santo Tomas, a university that was turned into an internment camp during the war. The army nurses, under the command of Capt. Maude Davison and 2nd Lt. Josephine Nesbit together with navy nurse Bernatitus, escaped from Ma nila and were evacuated to Bataan. It was tough for them to leave all the wounded behind and some of the nurses who remained, but they had their orders. (They went on to serve during both the Battle of Bataan and the Bat tle of Corregidor.) General McArthur, operating from Bataan at the time, promised more reinforcements and more protection, but due to the dire circumstances of the situation, he was quickly ordered off Bataan, narrowly escaping with his life. He was taken to Australia where he could set up a base command there. Sadly, with the enemy surrounding them at an alarming rate, with neither reinforcements nor more military coming, they were on their own. After Bataan was hit, the nurses and wounded retreated to the jungle and were assigned to a pair of battlefield hospitals named Hospital #1 and Hos pital #2. These hospitals included the first open-air wards in U.S. history since the Civil War. Not only did the handful of women nurses have to treat thousands of wounded soldiers, but they also had to deal with no supplies, no medicine, and the outbreak of malaria, dysentery, and other tropical

24

CNJ+ | FORMERLY THE MILLSTONE TIMES

MAY 2024