Double Victory

by Cheryl Mullenbach

  Over a year later the navy started to permit black women to join the WAVES. But it took an order from the president of the United States to get it done. In October 1944, President Franklin Roosevelt gave the order requiring the navy to admit black women to the WAVES.

  The first two black WAVES were Harriet Pickens and Frances Wills. They were the only black candidates in the officer training school at Northampton, Massachusetts. Harriet finished the training in third place in a class of 186 students. Harriet and Frances’s white classmates described their black fellow officers as “swell,” “brilliant,” and “marvelous.” By July 1945—after the war had ended in Europe and a month before the Japanese would surrender—the navy had trained 72 black WAVES.

  Lt.(jg.) Harriet Ida Pickens and Ens. Frances Wills, the first black Navy Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) to be commissioned, were members of the final graduating class at Naval Reserve Midshipmen’s School in Northampton, Massachusetts, December 1944. National Archives, AFRO/AM in WW II List #159

  Other branches of the military were even slower in allowing black women to join. The women’s branch of the Coast Guard—Semper Paratus, Always Ready (SPAR)—admitted black women in March 1945, and only five blacks served in the SPAR during World War II. The Marine Corps had allowed white women to join and serve since 1913—but only during wartime. The women who served during World War II were discharged when the war ended. Black women were not admitted to the Marine Corps during the World War II years.

  That’s History

  When Sammie M. Rice learned she would be going overseas with the US Army, she knew it would be a milestone in her life. But she also understood what it meant for all black women. Sammie wrote a friend, “We will be the first group of Negro nurses to go overseas during war. That’s history, you know. Everybody is excited.”

  Black US Army nurses. Sammie M. Rice is the first on the right. Sammie Rice Collection WVO257, Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project; Martha Hodges Special Collections and University Archives; University Libraries, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, North Carolina

  Before shipping out Sammie spent two weeks at Camp Kilmer in New Jersey. Even this was top secret. She could write letters to family and friends, but she was not allowed to disclose her location. And she and the other nurses were forbidden to leave the camp as they prepared for their overseas assignment.

  Sammie didn’t know where she was going; but she knew she would be traveling by ship, and she knew that could be dangerous. Traveling by ship in the waters of the Atlantic meant the possibility of torpedo attack by German submarines. But Sammie was comforted by the fact that the ship would be accompanied by an American convoy all the way to their destination.

  Sammie was part of a unit of black army nurses who left America on the USS James Parker at 6 am on February 7, 1943. One of the nurses—Thelma Calloway from Montclair, New Jersey—wrote a song about the ship titled “James Parker Blues.” She sang the song in the ship’s dining salon many times during the month-long voyage. The trek across the Atlantic was accomplished without interference from the Germans. The only misfortune occurred when Ellen Robinson, Sarah Thomas, and Esther Stewart contracted the mumps. And Sammie Rice suffered from seasickness throughout the trip.

  The US Navy transport USS James Parker. Courtesy of US Naval Institute

  Black US Army nurses serving in Liberia. American Foreign Service Journal photo from US Office of War Information, AFRO/AM in WWII List #153

  The USS James Parker delivered the army nurses safely to Casablanca, French Morocco, on March 10. The nurses spent several days on “shore leave” enjoying the sites of the beautiful city. They spent time at the Red Cross club and attended a dance held in their honor by American military officers. From Casablanca the nurses set out for Dakar, French West Africa (now Senegal). After a brief stay, they journeyed on to Freetown, British West Africa (now Sierra Leone). Finally, they reached their destination—the 25th Station Hospital in Liberia on the west coast of Africa.

  One of the nurses, Alma Favors from Chicago, expected to miss her family while she was overseas. But her homesickness was lessened a little when she ran into one of her cousins thousands of miles from home. Staff Sergeant Paul Favors from Detroit, Michigan, greeted Alma as she settled into her new home. Back in the States, Paul had been a sparring partner with the famous boxer Joe Louis. But in Liberia, Paul was just one of many American soldiers who had been sent to Africa to guard a precious resource.

  American soldiers were stationed in Liberia to protect the large rubber plantations owned by an American company that supplied the Allied military with most of its rubber. American and Allied armies used immense amounts of rubber for tires on vehicles. And with the other major world supplier of rubber under enemy control in Malaysia, the security of the Liberian rubber plantations was crucial. But the risk of contracting various diseases was quite high in Liberia in the 1940s. Clean drinking water was hard to come by, and malaria was widespread. There was a critical need for the army nurses who arrived in Liberia in 1943.

  It didn’t take long for Sammie Rice and the other army nurses to settle into a routine at their new assignment. The 25th Station Hospital staff treated soldiers with diseases and also American pilots who had been injured in battles on the Italian front. Many of the pilots suffered from burns they had sustained when their planes crashed. Lieutenant Susan E. Freeman was in charge of all the nurses. She quickly assigned nurses to key positions. Sammie Rice began her duties as charge nurse in a ward where she cared for 11 patients who were suffering from psychological problems.

  Lts. Roby Gill, Beaumont, Texas; Leola M. Green, Houston, Texas; Mattie L. Aikens, Macon, Georgia; Zola Mae Lang, Chicago, Illinois; and Ellen L. Robinson, Hackensack, New Jersey, were US Army nurses sent to Liberia. Photographs and Prints Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; The New York Public Library; Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations; US Office of War Information Army Signal Corps

  While the nurses were highly regarded for their medical expertise, the Liberian people quickly learned that the nurses had other skills to offer. Jewell Paterson and Idell Webb had brought a supply of vegetable seeds from America. They began to raise corn, tomatoes, and beans and contributed the produce to the army mess. Native Liberian boys helped cultivate the vegetables and began to enjoy the delicious results too. The boys took seeds back to their villages and started their own gardens.

  Both the army mess and the local Liberians began to eat better when Idell, fellow nurse Roby Gill, and the local Liberians teamed up to raise a flock of robust chickens that produced a steady supply of fresh eggs—and the occasional chicken dinner. The Liberians supplied the chickens, but when they arrived, the chickens were scrawny and produced small eggs. The American nurses tried to locate some corn to feed the chickens, but none could be found. Instead, the Liberians gave the nurses some native rice. Idell and Roby mixed the rice with bread soaked in water and fed it to the chickens. The chickens gobbled up the unusual concoction. Everyone—Americans and Liberians—were delighted when their rice-and-bread-fed chickens became chubbier and produced much larger eggs.

  When army nurse Eva Boggess from Waco, Texas, wasn’t tending patients in the hospital, she could be found looking for African bugs to add to her collection. Chrystalee Maxwell from Los Angeles, California, had bought a secondhand camera and became known as the official photographer. She was also selected by the soldiers as the best dressed nurse in the unit. When Chrystalee wasn’t in her nurse uniform, it wasn’t unusual to see her in plum-colored slacks and jacket, or fluffy blouses with lace trim, pleated skirts, mesh stockings, and satin shoes. Thelma Calloway, the nurse who had composed and sung “James Parker Blues” on the voyage from the United States, continued to compose and perform. She was working on another piece she called “The Liberia Blues.” It was a song about ocean steamers, sea crossings, and “a yen to be back in America.” All the nurses took pleasure in the unit’s two pet m
onkeys—until one of the mischievous little creatures found its way into a nurse’s room and ate her lipstick.

  The nurses joked about the frequency with which malaria struck in the camp. They even invented a mock African Campaign Ribbon—modeled after the authentic medals bestowed on soldiers who had shown courage in battle. The nurses conferred the African Campaign Ribbon to their colleagues who had endured at least one bout with malaria. But many of the nurses were victims of the disease, and it was not really a laughing matter.

  The nurses were able to joke about their malaria attacks, but they couldn’t find any humor in events that occurred late in 1943. After only nine months in Liberia, the first contingent of black nurses to serve overseas was ordered back to the United States. By December they had all returned home and were reassigned to new posts.

  Officials said the return of the black nurses was “only routine” and that there were many letters “on file” commending the nurses for the “splendid” work they had performed in Liberia. Most of the nurses themselves said they didn’t know why they had been reassigned. Gertrude Ivory said she and the other nurses were brought back to the United States because they all had malaria.

  The Liberian government was enthusiastic about the services the black American nurses had performed. In April 1944 officials from Liberia asked the US government for permission to grant a medal of honor to Lieutenant Susan E. Freeman, the woman who had led the work of the nurses. The Liberians wanted to honor her for “distinguished contributions” to their country. The US War Department approved the request, and Susan was awarded the Liberian Humane Order of African Redemption—an award that recognized individuals who had performed humanitarian work in Liberia. In addition, Susan Freeman was honored as the 1944 Mary Mahoney Award recipient by the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses. This award honored nurses who had “significantly advanced opportunities in nursing for members of minority groups.”

  The black army nurses who had been the first black unit of nurses to serve overseas continued to serve in the Army Nurse Corps at various hospitals around the world. Some were assigned to hospitals in the United States. Several of the nurses who had served in Liberia went to England with a unit of army nurses. Others went to the Southwest Pacific war zone. Rosemary Vinson, Daryle Foister, Fannie Hart, Anna Landrum, and Caroline Schenck were assigned to the China-Burma-India theater of operations.

  Sammie Rice was one of the nurses who contracted malaria while in Liberia. She recovered and was with the group that went to England in 1944. Sammie continued to send part of her army paycheck back home to her family as she had while in Liberia. They knew they could count on her. And the wounded servicemen whom the nurses cared for in the hospitals around the globe felt only gratitude for the black “angels of mercy.”

  There’s a War Very Near

  Birdie Brown was six feet tall, and people looked up to her. But it wasn’t because of her height that her fellow nurses looked up to Birdie. It was because they were the first group of black army nurses in the Pacific theater of operations, and Birdie was their leader. She was the chief nurse of the 268th Station Hospital unit. Part of her duties included helping the nurses adjust to life in a war zone.

  Their adjustment started with their voyage from the United States. All but two of the nurses had suffered from seasickness. Louise Miller, Elcena Townscent, Marjorie Mayers, Prudence Burns, Claudia Mathews, Thelma Fisher, Beulah Baldwin, Dorothy Branker, Joan Hamilton, Bessie Evans, Alberta Smith, Inez Holmes, Elnora Jones, and Geneva Culpepper arrived in Australia in December 1943. The Pittsburgh Courier reported that “bedlam broke loose” among the troops at the sight of the black nurses and “the nurses received an ovation that befitted a procession of queens.”

  Lts. Prudence L. Burns, Inez Holmes, and Birdie E. Brown arrive at the 268th Station Hospital in Australia and receive their first batch of mail from home, November 1943. National Archives, AFRO/AM in WW II List #187

  The nurses would stay at a staging area for nurses until they received orders sending them to other military hospitals in the Pacific. At the military camp in Australia they learned how to live under GI combat conditions. That included exercising in helmets and combat uniforms.

  By spring 1944 the nurses felt impatient to move to their next assignment “somewhere in the southwest Pacific.” Birdie summed it up: “We are extremely anxious to get to work. We have enjoyed Australia’s hospitality and made lots of friends but we can never get out of our minds the fact that there’s a war very near us and we’re here to do a job. We shall be happy when we are working.”

  The nurses did move on to other areas of the war zone. They went to a 250-bed hospital in New Guinea, where Prudence Burns became head surgical nurse. Geneva Culpepper was assigned under her as a surgical nurse. Joan Hamilton was a dietitian. Marjorie Mayers was in charge of recreation at the hospital, which included the enlisted men’s basketball team.

  Army nurses waiting for assignments to hospitals in the Southwest Pacific stretch their muscles in an early-morning workout at a training camp in Australia, February 1944. National Archives, AFRO/AM in WWII List #183

  Left to right: 2nd Lt. Prudence Burns, 2nd Lt. Elcena Townscent, and an unidentified nurse care for Sgt. Lawrence McKreever at the 268th Station Hospital in New Guinea, June 1944. National Archives, AFRO/AM in WW II List #142

  At one point during the 268th’s time in the Pacific, a US newspaper reported that Birdie and some of her nurses had been captured by the enemy. The report was inaccurate. But when a journalist found Birdie at work in New Guinea and told her about the published article, Birdie had a good laugh. She wanted to assure readers back home that she was very much “uncaptured” and was looking forward to returning to America at the end of the war.

  But it wasn’t quite time for the nurses of the 268th to leave the Pacific theater of operations for home. The American armed forces had liberated the Philippines from the Japanese in the summer of 1945. The nurses of 268th were needed there. So off they went for one last assignment. While they were in the Philippines the war ended with the bombing of Japan by the United States in August 1945. By October 1945 the nurses’ bags were packed, and they were waiting for orders to return home to the United States. But before leaving the Philippines, one of the nurses had one more duty to perform.

  Prudence Burns wanted to marry her fiancé, Sgt. Lowell Burrell, who was stationed in the Philippines too. So just before leaving for the United States, Prudence and Lowell were married. Prudence wore a wedding dress designed by one of her friends. It was fashioned from the most luxurious fabric they could find in the war-torn islands—silk from a military parachute.

  The America We Live In

  Louise Miller had trained with the 268th Station Hospital nurses at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, and she had been with them in Australia and New Guinea. She didn’t go to the Philippines with the rest of her unit. In the spring of 1945, Louise received word that her father was sick back home in Atlanta, Georgia. The army sent her back to the United States so she could spend some time with him.

  Louise wore her Army Nurse Corps uniform on her long flights home. She passed through Tucson, Arizona, and then went on to her next stop—Dallas, Texas. Louise was tired and worried about her father. She was also hungry. As soon as she arrived in Dallas, she headed to the nearest coffee shop for a bite to eat. She had plenty of time—there was a three-hour layover. She approached the counter, where she was told she could eat—but only in the back of the shop.

  Louise’s Army Nurse Corps uniform had not impressed the coffee shop worker, and it didn’t mean anything to a passenger on the plane she boarded for her flight to Atlanta. She had just settled into her seat on the plane when the flight attendant asked her to move to another seat—the white passenger Louise had sat next to didn’t want to sit next to her. Louise was saddened by this harsh welcome back to the United States after her years of service to the country. She predicted, “Our boys will not be willing to come back to the America w
e live in when victory is won.” She felt other returning black veterans would be disappointed that their service to the country in time of need was not appreciated.

  Black Nurses in Europe

  The first contingent of black army nurses assigned to Europe arrived in August 1944. Captain Mary L. Petty led her unit of 63 nurses as they walked down the gangplank of the ship that had brought them to England. The women knew they had a critical role to play in Europe. Because they were nurses they were committed to caring for the wounded soldiers. But they had another important task ahead. In a ceremony as they disembarked the ship, Captain Petty spoke about the nurses’ roles. She said the contingent of black nurses had “come to foreign soil to render the greatest possible service in this theater and to do everything within its power to improve race relations.”

  Some of the nurses who had served in Liberia—including Thelma Calloway, Idell Webb, Sammie Rice, and Roby Gill—were with the unit that arrived in England. The nurses expected to serve in hospitals in Great Britain and France. And they knew they would treat both black and white soldiers. Black nurses touching wounded white soldiers had been a problem in some American hospitals.

  Black army nurses line the rail of their vessel as it pulls into port, and wait to disembark as the gangplank is lowered to the dock in Greenock, Scotland, August 1944. National Archives, AFRO/AM in WW II List #141

  “When we first entered service in Camp Livingston, Louisiana, we were forbidden to touch white soldiers,” Dorcas Taylor remarked. “But before we embarked for Britain, they needed us so badly, we touched everybody.”