VIVIAN QUINN DANIELL

My Recollections of World War II




Vivian Quinn Daniell



In December 1941, I was in my final month of nursing school in Orlando, Florida at Orange Memorial Hospital. I can still vividly remember the details of Sunday afternoon, December 7, 1941. While visiting a neighbor, who had recently had a baby, the news came on the radio that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. The attack on Pearl Harbor was the deciding factor in my enlistment in military service several months later.



I successfully completed the Florida Registered Nurse's Examination in March 1942. In September 1942 I enlisted in the United States Air Force at the rank of Second Lieutentant and was assigned to McDill Field at Tampa Florida. I worked on the wards for military personnel for a few months before being assigned to a clinic for the enlisted men's dependents. Doctor Carl Hoffman, obstetrician from Orange Memorial Hospital and Doctor Denton Kerr from Houston, Texas were the doctors in charge. I came to know many of the families and believe I was a source of encouragement to those whose husbands were being shipped overseas.



Two registered nurse (RN) friends and I signed up for Foreign Service in October 1943. Because the Air Force had a policy against women going oversees, I transferred to the Army. We were initially sent to Camp McCall, North Carolina where we met a number of 501st Paratroopers who were training for the war in Europe. We were privileged to be stationed near them again in England the following year. Tragically, some of these same paratroopers were later killed when they entered into France. Within a couple of months, we were sent to Memphis, Tennessee for assignment to the 48th General Hospital. Doctor John Bell of Dublin was in the unit, but was transferred to The Air Force after our arrival in England.



In December 1943 we were sent to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey for deployment to the Europe Theater of Operations (ETO). Eighteen thousand passengers, including the three hospital units and 48th General Hospital were set to sail from New York harbor on the ship, IL De France on Christmas Eve night. The ship's engine developed problems and we were stranded on the ice-covered Hudson River without heat or lights. The order to disembark was given at 8:00 PM. We returned to Camp Kilmer for an unforgettable Christmas meal, followed by a week with passes in New York City.



On New Year's Eve, 1943 we boarded the Queen Elizabeth and the following day, set sail for the ETO. We landed in Scotland and then traveled by train to Petsworth, England. I recall seeing countless Scots and Englishmen, all along the way, giving "V" for Victory signs.

My memories of England are especially vivid. The Canadian Air Force had camped at Petsworth before us. The Germans had bombed this area leaving mass destruction. Tragically, the Germans had bombed a school in Petworth, killing forty children. We left Petsworth after a few weeks and moved on to Swindon, England. The nurses were billeted in English homes. Although March, England was bitterly cold, the homes were inadequately heated, and the nurses had to walk two miles each day for meals in the mess hall. I have memories of the covered windows and blackouts at night to avoid air raids by the Germans. I worked in a surgical ward at an English hospital for a brief time before being assigned to the hospital in Stockbridge, England, near Winchester. Preparations for the invasion into France were intensifying. We were there on June 6, 1944, known in history as D-Day of the invasion into France. This was a critical first step in liberating France and overthrowing Hitler's Germany



The 48th General was then sent to France and landed by landing service transports (LST'S) on the beach. We set up camp near Saint Lo, France, living in "pup tents" and later, squad tents. In France, I was promoted to the rank of 1st Lieutenant. Conditions were crude at best. Imagine one hundred nurses being transported by big trucks for several miles for a group shower. It was not a time for modesty. We then moved into Paris and operated a hospital there for a few months. We acted as an evacuation hospital, sending patients back to America.



I recall many sad stories involving my patients. While still in England, hundreds of wounded GI's were brought to the 48th General Hospital. I was assigned to the officer's ward where I had a severely wounded captain as a patient. Just before his death, the Captain repeatedly said, in his delirium, "One Hour For Glory". My first patient at the Hospital Larboisser or Charity Hospital of Paris was a young officer. Although not seriously injured, he later died as a result of complications from an emergency tracheotomy. I had another young soldier as a patient. He had a chest injury and shrapnel in his heart. He begged to be sent home for surgery but was forced to have surgery there and he died. I had to prepare his effects to return to his wife, which contained a notice of his baby's birth. If he had been allowed to have surgery in the USA, perhaps he would have seen his baby. I sat and cried. This was the tragedy of war.



The nurses became very close through the experiences of war. One very personal story stands out in my memory. While in Paris, two of my roommates were sisters. Marty and Janie Taylor were from Tuscaloosa, Alabama and were devout Christian girls. During the time of the "bulge" we had a strict curfew of 11:00PM. One Sunday night, Marty and another nurse went on a date and failed to return home by curfew. Janie called down the stairs to her sister through out the night. We knew something was very wrong. I remember Chief Nurse Widmer coming into our room at 4:00 A.M. to inform us the girls had been in an automobile accident and drowned in the Seine River near the Notre Dame Cathedral.



V. E. day (Victory in Europe), announcing the end of war in Europe, was declared by Winston Churchill on May 8, 1945. That was an exciting time. A friend from the 501st Paratrooper unit was in Paris on leave. We went into downtown Paris where the streets were crowded with people celebrating the end of war.



Afterwards, with the war still active with the Japanese, several of our nurses signed up to go to the Pacific. The nurses were assigned to the 329th General Hospital . We journeyed through Marseille, France where the highlight was seeing Bob Hope perform. We embarked on the General Altman on its maiden voyage to the Pacific. As we traveled through the Panama Canal, the ship ran aground, damaging the rudder. We were two days into the Pacific Ocean when we learned Japan had surrendered to the Allied Forces.



We landed in Manila and traveled through Northern Luzon, where the ravages of war were evident, especially in the town of Baguio in the mountains. We finally reached our destination- Nagoya, Japan, where the 329th General hospital opened its hospital close to the Nagoya Palace. The peace treaty had been signed and military personnel were being sent home to the USA. In spite of the recent bombings on Japan by the Allied Forces, The Japanese people treated the nurses in a courteous manner. They invited us to share a special meal and then allowed us to visit and make purchases at a bone china factory. I was so proud of a fine china vase that I handled with care all the way back to the USA and then proceeded to break while letting down a venetian blind.



I left Tokyo and returned to the states in November 1944. The airplane, a troop transport plane with bucket seats, made stops in Guam, Marshall Island, Wake and Hawaii before arriving in San Francisco. We rode open train across the United States to Chicago and were then given Pullman accommodations to Fort Bragg, N.C. I spent my last few days as an enlisted officer at Fort Bragg being processed for discharge. I returned home in time for Christmas.



It was the realities of war that eventually led me to the Veterans Hospital in Dublin, where I spent the next 31 years working as an operating room nurse. I fulfilled my life's mission to care for the men and women that had served in active duty.



Did I have any regrets? Absolutely not. It was an honor to have served my country in time of war. God Bless America!