Two Davenport Nurses in Group Sweating in So. Pacific
Headquarters South Pacific Base Command -- While Iowans kick the snow from their shoes this winter, 19 fellow citizens, including two Davenporters, will be mopping sweat from their brows at jobs vital to the Pacific war.
They're Iowa army nurses assigned to the South Pacific. Working a long way from home, in climate as ardous as any in the the world, they've established an enviable record.
Army officials say medical accomplishments in the South Pacific have been "outstanding" in the face of hardships like heat, insects and virtual isolation from civilization. Much of the credit goes to army nurses who supplied medical and technical skill available from no other source.
CALL IT PRIVILEGE
The same patriotic urging that brought the Iowans to the jungles prompted them to stay until their jobs are done. Capt. Loretta C. Carmody, 506 South Third street, Marshalltown, Ia., chief nurse at a hospital in the New Hebrides islands, expressed a typical sentiment:
"Being able to care for the wounded is a privilege for any American, and worth any encountered hardship."
Iowans serve on islands rangin from New Caledonia, just inside the tropics 1,000 miles northeast of Australia to sweltering Guadalcanal, furtherest point of Japanse advance in 1942.
Most of the 19 nurses are rounding out their first year overseas, but some have been on this side of the Pacific more than two years. The Nurses and their assignments:
New Hebrides - Second Lieut. Wylma J. Callahan, 1315 East High street Davenport; Lieut. Fern D. Coleman, 619 North street, Decorah; Second Lieut. Dorothea M. Diamond, Faulkner; Lieut. Mildred Dillon, Webster; Second Lieut. Doris L. Meyers, Nichols; Lieut Ruby La Verne Morlan, Jefferson; Capt. Loretta C. Carmody, 506 South Third street, Marshalltown; Second Lieut.Gladys Pearl Cook, Lone Tree; Lieut. Wilma S. Vander Hoek, Lynville; Second Lieut. Esther G. Sell, Gowrie; Lieut. Elaine V. Ricketts, 2025 Asbury road, Dubuque, and Second Lieut. Dorothy E. Nelson, Kingsley.
Guadalcanal - Second Lieut. Helen E. Hunter, Solon.
New Caledonia - Second Lieut. Margaret F. Young, 2809 East Pleasant street, Davenport; Second Lieut. Carolyn Scholl, Harcourt; Second Lieut. Josephine A. Johnson, Danbury; Lieut. Mildred Hanson, Bancroft; and Second Lieut Barbara J. Forrester, 1017 South Glass street, Sioux City.
Source: Quad City Times, October 22, 1944
IN UNIFORM
Barbara J. Forrester, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Forrester, 1017 S. Glass avenue, has been promoted to first lieutenant. She has two brothers in the service, James, a lieutenant in the army air forces, and John, a technician fifth grade in the army ground forces. She was graduated from East high school in 1936. She attended Morningside college and was graduated in 1939 with a B.A. degree. She was graduated from Children’s Hospital nurses training school in Denver in 1942 with a registered nurse degree. She received her commission in the army nurses corps in October, 1942. She was assigned to a general hospital and has completed 16 months of overseas duty with that unit.
Source: The Sioux City Journal, April 10, 1945
