>> From the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. >> I'd like now to introduce Major Jennifer Petersen, who will lead a panel on women in military medicine. >> Maj. Jennifer Petersen: Thank you. >> Major Petersen. >> Maj. Jennifer Petersen: Thank you. "Girls get your uniforms on! This is the real thing." That is the urgent message a Navy nurse heard when she answered the phone on a Sunday morning December 7, 1941. She put her uniform on and raced to the hospital. Just as the attack had occurred at Pearl Harbor, the soldiers had began to arrive. The attack surprised not only the nurses stationed in Hawaii but the whole country. Caused us to join World War II. Good morning. Today I'm honored to be here to welcome all of you and our foremembers of America's greatest generation here on stage. These are four nurses that served in World War II. They represented part of over 350,000 women who served in different women's units throughout the war. Today we have with us these nurses who are going to share with you their stories. In the Army Nurse Corps alone, over 60,000 women served during World War II. And just to give you a little perspective, currently today in our Army Nurse Corps, we have 3,400 women. So nurses at that time just really tremendously answered the call to serve, caring for soldiers in combat zones throughout the European and Mediterranean theaters from D-Day in North Africa through campaigns in Italy and France to V-E Day in Germany. Two hundred and seventeen Army nurses lost their lives, 16 under enemy action. Sixteen hundred nurses were decorated for meritorious and brave services. More than 14,000 Navy nurses served stateside and overseas on hospital ships and as flight nurses. These women of the greatest generation paid their price for freedom just as all the veterans who served at that time, and today we honor our heroes, our nurses. It is my pleasure to introduce to you today the four nurses who served in different capacities. To my far left we have Captain Anna Busby, who joined the Army Nurse Corps in August of 1939. Ms. Busby eventually found her way to Hawaii, and she was present at Pearl Harbor in 1941 on that fateful day, and she would remain their to work through that day that President Roosevelt called "the day that'll live in infamy." And here next to me, I have Ms. Martha Blackman Leierer, and she was a Navy nurse. She served on the USS Solace from November of 1943 to January of 1945. During her tenure on the Solace, she cared for marines and soldiers and sailors that were being evacuated from intense areas of fighting. The 450-bed hospital that she served on the ship cared for approximately 10,000 patients, of which 7,500 were war casualties during that 16-month period. Next to her in the beautiful turquoise is Ms. Marian Sebring Elcano. She was moved by spirit -- the spirit of patriotism and joined the Army Nurse Corps in January of 1943. She served with the 45th Evacuation Hospital in the European theater. Her unit landed on the shores of Normandy shortly after the first soldiers. She went ahead and moved 20 times during her time across Northern France, the Rhineland, the Ardennes, and Central Europe. And next to me is Colonel Margaret Bailey, retired. She joined the Army Nurse Corps in June of 1944. She reported to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, where she worked in a segregated environment, caring for soldiers of the 92nd and 93rd Division prior to their deployments overseas and later caring for German prisoners of war in a German prisoner of war camp that was set up in Arizona. And I must let you know with great distinction she served, as she was our first black woman to be promoted to the rank of colonel within the Army Nurse Corps, so -- [ Applause ] Ladies, welcome. And thank you for your tremendous service, sacrifices, and contribution to our great nation. Please, I want to let you share your stories with our audience today and give them a little piece of what your life was like during World War II. We're going to begin with Captain Anna Busby. >> Capt. Anna Busby: I will tell you about the first 24 hours -- >> Maj. Jennifer Petersen: Right up close. >> Capt. Anna Busby: I will tell you about the first 24 hours after the Pearl Harbor attack. I was a patient that day. The head nurse on the ward was running down the porch at Tripler Hospital in Hawaii, and I ran after her. It was unusual for patients -- for nurses to run. Here is what we saw. There was a big fire and smoke at Hickam Field on -- at Pearl Harbor. And in a moment, while we were looking at all that, something flashed before our eyes and hit the pineapple cannery oil drum. That went up into a huge flame. Well, that frightened us more. The head nurse ran back to the office. Should I tell her name? >> Maj. Jennifer Petersen: Absolutely. >> Capt. Anna Busby: Her name was Madeline Doherty, and 50 years later, I found out what had happened to her from her brother. She picked up the phone and called a colonel friend at Hickam Field, and I heard her say, "My God, the Japanese are bombing Pearl Harbor." I was in my patient's garb, and I said, "We will all be needed on duty, and I will report to the chief nurse." This is what I did. As I went down the stairway -- the maternity ward was underneath the women's ward. I said to Verla Thompson, who was preparing formulas for the babies, "Tommy, the Japanese are bombing Pearl Harbor." "Oh, Anna, you're always kidding." And on I went -- I don't know whether it's 50 feet or 100 feet -- to the nurses' quarters. When I got there, a nurse was going on a picnic with her boyfriend, and she said, "Anna, we're going on the picnic with -- and celebrating my boyfriend's birthday." I said, "No one's going anywhere. We will all be needed on duty." In the next few moments, I was in the chief nurse's office, and Edna Rockefeller said to me, "Where do you think you're going with that red face? You look like a casualty. You can't take care of those patients." I said, "Wherever you need me." I was assigned to the women's ward. After I took my radio to my room, put on another nurse's uniform, now I was returning back to the women's ward. And the corridor upstairs and downstairs, they were littered with injured patients. They were moaning, groaning. Now, I'm on the ward, taking care of the patients. I will tell you that I was terrified. I thought, "This is it." Now, because I was a patient for several weeks or days or whatever it was at the time, I did not hear any rumors of any kind of what was going on. And I dated a lot practically every night, every day, dancing. So what happened next? I'm on duty, and I'm scared. And somebody was yelling, "Nurse, run down this hallway! Somebody is -- there's a fire in a patient's room." I ran down the hallway, went into this patient's room, and there I saw this beautiful, Dresden-like patient who was -- oh, I don't know whether she was in her 70s or 80s. She was smoking a cigarette and the handkerchief caught on fire on that enamel table. I took the pitcher of water, put out the fire. I grabbed the matches and the cigarette from the patient's hand. I threw the cigarettes and the matches in the dresser drawer, and I said to the patient, "You cannot smoke unless someone stays with you, and I have no time." Now, don't forget I was scared to death. I went out to the room. I reported the incident later on that day when Dr. Young made rounds, and the patient was going to be discharged. As she was going out the door -- as she was going out the door, I said to her, "Take care, and God bless you." And she said to me, "I bet you're glad that I'm going home." I did not reply. Now, what I want to tell you is that the doctors -- the civilian doctors and the nurses in town came to help. Not only did they come to help, but the prostitutes did also. Would you like to know what they did? Well, I'll tell you. They came in, and they helped us change those rubber sheets on the beds because they were very bloody. Days later, I looked in on these wards at what was taking place. But the infection on my face was better within -- by December the 25th, and they wanted to send me back home to the mainland. I said, "Oh, please, don't send me anywhere. Let me stay here. I've been having such a good time. And I did have a very good time." So there is a lot more that I can tell you that is -- has been published, but I can also tell you that there is a lot that has not been published, and there's some things that I will not tell. Maybe I will later on. I don't know. [ Applause ] God bless you for listening, and thank you. And God bless America. [ Applause ] >> Maj. Jennifer Petersen: We're going to let Martha go next. Next, we'll hear from Ms. Martha Blackman Leierer, who was a Navy nurse. Real close like a ice cream cone. >> Martha Leierer: I served on the USS Solace hospital ship, and the medical personnel consisted of 17 doctors, two dentists, and 113 nurses and 160 hospital corpsmen. I reported aboard November 13, 1943, and I stayed on until January 1945. I boarded the ship in San Francisco on November 11, 1943, and we left soon after and headed for New Caledonia. However, our course was changed to the Gilbert Islands and Tarawa, where the marines landed and were in a serious fight with the Japanese. November 24th, we picked up 250 casualties. A large number of Navy ships, destroyers, cruisers, and troop ships were there, the patients who we brought out to the solace and brought aboard while we were underway. Wounds were mostly gunshot, burns, and broken bones. USS Relief hospital ship also arrived to pick up casualties. Over 3,000 casualties were reported. It seems as if I were walking miles giving out medicine and looking after the patients. We had to have blackout and were continually on the lookout for enemy planes and ships. The Solace got underway to Pearl Harbor to take in -- on more patients or go to the states. I lost one patient who had suffered a gunshot wound and suddenly died. He told me that his sister was a nurse. >> Maj. Jennifer Petersen: There we go. >> Martha Leierer: That was very sad. We arrived in Pearl Harbor and evacuated patients. Admiral Nimitz came aboard to award medals. Our ship 60 bags of mail. Finally, the Solace needed repairs, so we took on 500 patients and headed for San Diego, arriving there December 23, and unloaded the patients. The ship received so much needed repairs. On January 15, we headed back to Pearl Harbor, and then we headed back to Marshall Islands, where we joined a big convoy of ships. We took on many patients. I worked in the medical and neurology wards, for we had a dramatic amputation of the right arm. He died later that night. We could hear fighting on the island. February the 4th, 5th, and 6th, we had some very sick boys and had to work long days, which was very tiring but rewarding when improvements were shown. Patients refueled and headed back out to the -- out to Kwajalein and Eniwetok. Had lots of bombing and shooting. We took on many more patients, gunshot wounds, and amputations, received large number of serious wounds -- wounded. February the 22nd, 1944, on board, Dr. Drake and I worked until 3:30 AM, attending to wounds, took many more patients, seriously wounded, and one amputation requiring penicillin. We then headed back to Pearl Harbor. On our way, one of our convoy was hit by a Jap destroyer. At Pearl Harbor, we unloaded patients and headed back to combat areas to New Hebrides. Spent much time making bandages. We then headed to New Guinea, where we joined a large number of Navy ships. Took on 250 patients and took them to Brisbane, Australia. That was on April the 7th. And then we headed back to New Guinea, where we took on a few more patients. That was April 22. We then head in for the Admiralties, where two carriers, two small cruisers, destroyers, tankers, and others were anchored. On the 30th of April, we took on many patients, mostly Army. There were malaria, dengue fever, gastritis, pneumonia, and a few surgical cases. Headed back to New Guinea and picked up 560 patients. Total of 600 on board. Took patients to Brisbane, Australia. We then headed back to New Guinea and onto the Admiralty Islands, where we picked up 100 patients, headed back to New Guinea, stole a cargo ship that had been torpedoed off Hollandia, New Guinea. Took on more patients and then headed to Milne Bay. May 24, we evacuated 113 Army patients. Took on more patients from the Navy mobile hospital. Then headed for Espirito Santo, where we left May 30. We headed -- where am I? We headed to Roi-Namur in the Marshall Islands. Gained a day crossing the International Date Line. June the 6th, D-Day in Europe. We landed in France. Oh, no. D-Day in Europe, landing in France. Three sailors drowned. Recovered only one. Had a funeral service on the island. I was busy giving medicine to patients. One very sick patient had a tonsillectomy. Many more ships came in during the night -- five battleships, four heavy cruisers, six light cruisers, several destroyers, three carriers, LSDs, and others. The patient with the tonsillectomy died. He was allergic to the morphine. June 10, all ships pooled out, heading -- headed for the next major battle, which was in Saipan. A new ship captain we received was Dr. Peterson -- Captain Peterson. June 10, 1944, we evacuated patients at Roi-Namur. Headed for Eniwetok. Arrived June 13 and saw a new battleship, the USS Bountiful. June the 15th, we left and headed for the Marshall Marianas. Marines landed on Saipan June the 15th. Heavy fighting and casualties reported. We were drilled on abandoned ship stations, lifeboats, and life jackets. June the 18th, we arrived on Saipan, where we caught up with the USS Bountiful. Then we proceeded on beyond the fighting ships, took on many patients -- gunshot, shrapnel, traumatic amputations, and combat fatigue. Had to work until 2:30 AM. June the 19th, we sent 150 patients to the USS Bountiful. We filled up with 570 patients. The marines had taken over a Jap hospital and using it for first aid station. There's a big naval battle going on near the Philippines. More causalities and deaths. Very sad. We are headed for Guadalcanal to evacuate the patients. >> Maj. Jennifer Petersen: Let's give [inaudible] chance. And then we'll [inaudible]. Okay? >> Martha Leierer: Yeah. >> Maj. Jennifer Petersen: We're going to go ahead and get a little information from Mrs. Marian Elcano too, and we'll continue on. And maybe we'll have some time to do some questions also. Go ahead. >> Marian Elcano: I enlisted and joined the Army Nurse Corps. [ Applause ] >> Maj. Jennifer Petersen: You did great. [ Inaudible Response ] >> Marian Elcano: I joined the Army Nurse Corps in January of '43. My first assignment was Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania. And after that, I was assigned to Camp Gordon, Georgia, where I joined the 45th Evac Hospital. We trained to be combat ready to go to Europe and the -- we -- 40 nurses, and there were 40 nurses and about 200 enlisted men in Evacuation Hospital. So we were carrying gas [inaudible] so that we would recognize the odor in case the Germans used gas. No one quite knew what was going to happen in Europe. In November, we sailed from New York and entered -- went to Scotland, and from Scotland, we went by train to England. And we were billeted out in a little town called Wotton-under-Edge. This is in November of '43. D-Day happened in June of '44. And in this time period, we had been doing extensive training to prepare ourselves. We went on marches, where we carried the gas masks and backpacks and were really quite able to -- ready to go to Europe. So when D-Day happened, we would move to southern part of England, and we went -- ready to cross the Channel. We had to wear what they called impregnated clothing and keep our gas masks handy because of possible gas attack, and it was very uncomfortable, stiff. So we landed on the shores of Omaha on D+10. And some of our nurses were quite small, and since the ship couldn't go close to the shore, we had to wade from there in the water. And the marines, fortunately, came out and helped some of the younger nurses in because when they -- smaller nurses, I should say. When they stepped into the water, they -- water was up to their helmets. So after we got on shore, we were there possibly an hour, and they told us we had to get off the shore, that the Germans were going to come [inaudible] us. So we moved us up the bluff, and there was another evac hospital -- believe it was the 44th Evac -- already set up. And they were operating, receiving patients. So we relieved them, which they were glad to have some help because they'd been working very hard. In two days, all our hospital equipment was landed, and we set up our hospital in a French town called Cambe, C-A-M-B-E, and we started admitting patients. So from -- this was in Normandy, and we saw many patients who were evacuated very quickly back to England. Then we went into Northern France. And from Northern France, we went to the -- into Belgium, and then, of course, Ardennes, which was the Battle of the Bulge. So I'll kind of go from -- in Belgium, we finally got into buildings. We set up our hospital in a building. From January to September, we had been living in tents and wading in water and mud and tramping around and -- so it was kind of nice to get into a building. However, it had its own drawbacks because then we had to move desks and chairs and things to set up the hospital, plus blackout. We had the curtains, the windows to take care of. But then we -- this was friendly territory in Belgium because they called us the American liberators. Then we further into Belgium to a place called Eupen, which was no longer friendly. It was hostile because World War I, this section of Belgium, had been German, and then they -- on the treaty, it was given to Belgium. So the people, I think, considered themselves more German than Belgium. The hospital there was set up in a very large high school with several buildings with it. And we saw many patients. We were there one month operating, and one day we heard these strange sounds, and we didn't quite know what they were. We were used to our own long-range artillery because they shot over our heads, but this was coming from the other direction. And so we thought, "No, it can't be," but it was. It was the Germans had started their last-ditch big offensive, which we call the Battle of the Bulge. And they had started it in the Ardennes, or the Black Forest, which was approximately 5 to 10 miles from where we were. So as the day prolonged, we suddenly got more blasting and noise, so the personnel decided that we should move our patients to the basement or the air raid shelters. So we moved 175 patients down and set them up. It was quite crowded but well worth the trouble because later that evening, we were really bombed, and it was -- a lot of it was legitimate bombing because we were surrounded with the Ordnance Company and a Quartermaster Company, and they had gasoline dumps. So one of those was hit, and it lit up the sky, so then the Germans could see their targets, which didn't -- in a way helped us possibly because we had huge red crosses on all of our courtyard and on our roof of our building, which probably -- the Germans up to this point had been pretty much paying attention to. But the bomb, when it hit, the blast for the Ordnance Company went through -- the fragments went through one of the walls of one of our buildings, broke all the windows. So there -- some personnel had few cuts from flying grass -- glass, but mostly it was not too serious. So the bombing went on, and as I said, the noise is probably very disturbing. We called some of the bombs screaming meemies because they made so much noise. It was a physiological thing that the Germans used, and I must admit it worked. It really scared you to death when you heard this noise. However, we later found out, when you heard the noise, that was good because when the noise stopped, that meant the bomb is coming straight down. You didn't know where it was going to hit. So we evacuated these patients. This happened on the 16th of December. And by the -- we had evacuated the 175 patients by the 18th, and we were going to start, then, to repair our building. So some of the corpsmen, which I can't tell enough about how wonderful they were, had gone up to put boards and things on windows and sweep up the glass. Well, we got orders that we were to move, so we packed in a hurry and started to move. It took 62 1/2 trunks to move our hospital. We were considered semi-mobile, but -- so half of them had started, and we -- they could not go because the roads were so congested with American trucks and troops coming west and troops going east and, actually, Germans mixed in. So we got orders to go back to Eupen to our building, so we went back. And then they said, "Well, set up," so we set up the hospital and waited. We started receiving some patients again. Fortunately, the Germans never got into Eupen, which was their objective, because our American troops, which were five miles down the road, really kept them from moving. Even though they had heavy casualties, they greatly saved our hospital and the town of Eupen. So this was the first-day objective for the Germans, to capture Eupen, because they wanted to go onto the river, where they could get supplies possibly from our -- where we had stored supplies. They were going to take ours. So by now, they're very much short of supplies, and so are we, but they finally retreated. Then we finally got orders that we should -- we're going to move back. So we moved, actually, about 40 miles back into the rear. First time we did, we retreated. And we set up again in a high school, and this time the weather was against us. All the weather got bad, and the planes couldn't fly, and we couldn't get our injured from the front lines back to the hospitals. So somebody had the idea to send to Alaska for sled dogs. So they arrived, and they went out and worked one day, and then two days they brought wounded back. And then the third day, the sun came out, the snow melted, and it got -- they could no longer work, so they had to keep them another day or two. So they had jeeps which they pulled around to give the dogs some exercise. And then they sent them back to Alaska. That was kind of fun when they were there. They were different. After that, we waited a few more days and seemed -- we went back to Eupen. We got orders to go back there, the same place. Well, by this time, most of the repairs had been done, so we opened up our hospital again. And I don't know. We were in Eupen for three months, which was the longest time we were anywhere. After that, we went into Central Europe, and actually, we were almost to Berlin by the end of the war. Our hospital also -- the doctors were responsible for going into Buchenwald and segregating the diseases. Much, much tuberculosis, as you all know, and starvation, severe malnutrition. And once it was cleaned out and the patients were all gone, I did go through it. And I was amazed at the size of the airway -- no, the air -- gas chamber, gas chamber where they had killed all these people. It's almost impossible to believe that they could do that to one another. What they did is they went in one door, and supposedly a lot of them had no idea what was going to happen, as you know. And then they were gassed and taken out the back door, and they were dumped in a big pit. Well, there were various torture things in there also, which I won't mention, but it's all a very sad thing that this had to happen in our world. After the war, we went back to Le Havre, France, and I was sent back to the United States, and I was discharged. >> Maj. Jennifer Petersen: Thank you. [ Applause ] Colonel Bailey, it's your turn. It's already on. [Inaudible] >> Col. Margaret Bailey: Very good. Thank you very much. Is that okay? >> Maj. Jennifer Petersen: Yes. >> Col. Margaret Bailey: Good. First, I would like to compliment those nurses who were there. They were there on ship, and they were there the Battle of the Bulge. They were there when the soldiers needed, and I think they deserve a great hand of applause. [ Applause ] I said that first because I wanted to be there. I spent most of my time with the army of occupation. However, I did go in June 1944, so I spent a year doing my duty, doing World War II. However, I did spend 27 years in the Army Nurse Corps, which I'm very proud of. [ Applause ] When the bomb fell in December 1941, I was on Staten Island in Seaview Hospital, and one of the patients yelled loudly. And, of course, all of us nurses dashed to see what was happening. Of course, Pearl Harbor had been bombed, and it was her hometown. And then we all felt very saddened and complimented her. I thought of going into the military then because nurses were going in. However, as most of you know, many times it was not possible. Black nurses applied, but they were told there was no regulation that permitted them to receive us, so -- but they forgot how powerful women can be. [ Applause ] Mrs. [inaudible] was an outstanding black nurse. Mrs. Roosevelt, president's wife, Mrs. Bolton, congresswoman from Ohio, made a beeline to the Surgeon General's office to say, "You're going to receive these women." Of course, he said no for a while, but they kept making a path to his office until finally he said, "I'll take 50," and I think he said, "And don't come back again." He probably -- and that number will vary. Some will say 50 or 54, but it was over 50. And some black nurses did apply. I didn't apply at that time because I was watching the politics, but I did join in 1944 June. And I think I was probably the last of the 50. Now, I think the Surgeon General forgot because 51, 52 until it was over 100 were in the Army Nurse Corps. And I thought, "Well, thank goodness he forgot." And then someone came up with the regulation that there would be no more discrimination of the nurses, that we'd apply, and then we could go in any hospital. And we could go overseas. Well, with that -- if anyone should look in that file, I think you have many requests for me to go overseas, but there were nurses who were there first. And they have the chance to go first, so we almost just had to wait. Therefore, I didn't get overseas, you know, during the occupation. But discrimination was still very rampant at that time, and you know that. Well, they said we could come in but only take care of black soldiers. Well, you had the 97th and the 93rd Division at Fort Huachuca, and they needed care, and we gave them good care. And when the 92nd and the 93rd Division were shipped out for overseas, they had all of these black nurses. Now, what are we going to do with them? The prisoner of war camp was at Florence, Arizona, so someone had to take care of them. So not all of us, but I was one of the ones who were assigned to the prisoner of war camp at Florence, Arizona. And the only thing there was the state prison, I believe, and a very good sunset. We walked across a field to go to the theater, and you had to stop for a moment because the sunset was so nice. So I always said those were the only two nice things there. While at Florence, Arizona, we had to tell them that we didn't like being segregated. I came in the army to take care of American soldiers, but we had to do our duty. However, they decided one day to segregate the white nurse -- the white doctors and nurses and the black nurses in one room and one in another. And they posted a German soldier at the door to direct us, and I walked up, and I said -- well, I was going to the right. I was going to eat. He said, "No, I'm sure you can't go there." I stopped for a moment, and finally it hit me what was being done, that we had to go to the other room. And to be told by a German soldier that we were fighting to direct an officer, I was pretty mad, and you know -- and so we -- all of us went back to our rooms, and we just sat. And I think maybe we might've shed a tear or two because this was very humiliating. But at dinner time, we decided something had to be done. We all went back, and the dear soldier was standing at the door, and he said, "No." And I said, "You move over," and I walked right past him, and we all waked in and ate. [ Applause ] I believe -- no, he said -- he [inaudible] commanding officer. The commanding officer came and said to our chief nurse, "Tell them to go to that room." She said, "Yes, sir, put it in writing." He didn't put it in writing, and we didn't move. I believe about -- I think about three of the white doctors came in to eat with us. I should've had their names because they were very brave. I must say to you, after that incident, of course the papers had it. Naturally, it was all over the newspapers, and that was good. Within a month, the walls came tumbling down, and we could eat together. And within the next month, we could go to the officers' club, where we had not been permitted to go, and that was good. I have a feeling that that was the beginning of saying, "Look, we don't like it. Please do something about it." And from that -- I believe I -- we stayed about six months at the prisoner of war camp. From there I went to Camp Beale, California, where I was happy to take care of integrated soldiers. That was very good. We black nurses still lived separately, but we took care of integrated soldiers. That was a move. And from that time on, I believe we went to Halloran Hospital. You received the soldiers who were coming from overseas, and we felt now I'm beginning to do something that I like doing. I went to Fort Dix and then to Percy Jones General Hospital. While I was at Percy Jones, someone decided that black nurses should all live -- the nurses should all live together. Black nurses lived below white nurses on the lower floor, and someone said, "We're not going to have this anymore." My good friend, Emma [inaudible] came to me, who was from the chief nurses' office and said, "Margaret, I would like for you to help me integrate this group." I said, "I'd be delighted, Emma," and so we decided how shall we do it. Well, I said, "Emma perhaps -- there's an empty room on the second floor across from me. Why don't you come up?" And that was the beginning of integration. And then I went to a school in Fort Sam, took a course in psychiatric nursing. The supervisor there was beginning to know that integration should be working. She put -- there were three of us. She put one at one end of the building, one at the other, and me in a separate building. And therefore we worked together, studied together, and I believe, for me, that was the end of segregation. It was a very good, good thing. From there, I went on to work in hospitals, taking care of patients as everyone did. I was promoted. People began to know that black nurses can perform well. I was promoted in proper time, promoted second lieutenant to a colonel, which was the highest rank in the army at that time. In the meantime, I'll speak for women. We got -- we had a woman general, which the nurses had never had before, and that was a very great day for us. I believe it was General Anna Mae Hays. And the Women's Army Corps got a general also. Those were the two first female generals, and we were very proud of that. I spent -- okay. >> Maj. Jennifer Petersen: Go ahead. >> Col. Margaret Bailey: I -- spending 27 years in the military. I spent about eight years out of the country, and I covered 27 countries in travel. The military was a great place to be, and I want to say, in terms of integration, the military was the first, and they did the best. You people in civilian life didn't do so good, but I give -- I take my hat -- I take my hat off to the military because they did a fine job. And I was sitting -- >> Maj. Jennifer Petersen: Thank you. Colonel Bailey, we're going to have to continue on because we're getting short on time. We just have a few minutes left, and I thought we could just really briefly -- if I could have the panel participants tell me just a little bit about why they decided to join the Army Nurse Corps at that key moment in our history. And we'll start with Ms. Busby, and we just have a few minutes, Ms. Busby. If you could just tell me what inspired you to join the Army Nurse Corps. >> Capt. Anna Busby: What inspired me to join the Army Nurse Corps? I had met the nurses at For Jay, Governors Island, where I was first assigned. And later on I was a ship's nurse twice to the Panama Canal Zone. And what I was learning is the many places where these nurses had served and how much they had enjoyed it, so I decided I wanted to join the Army Nurse Corps. The -- I enjoyed it very much, but I told you before that the -- I will tell you what happened in the first 24 hours, which I did not finish telling you for some reason why. But here is what -- let me go back and tell you what had happened in those first 24 hours. >> Maj. Jennifer Petersen: I think, Anna, we're going to be a little bit short of time right now because we only have about five minutes left on our panel. So we're going to have to save that, and hopefully, you can talk with some of the audience afterwards. Okay? >> Capt. Anna Busby: Oh, that would be fine. >> Maj. Jennifer Petersen: Yes. Okay? >> Capt. Anna Busby: Fine. Thank you. >> Maj. Jennifer Petersen: All right. And if you could tell us what inspired you to join the Navy Nurse Corps. >> Martha Leierer: Well, my brother joined the US Marine Corps, and I thought, "Well, why don't I join the Navy?" And I did. >> Maj. Jennifer Petersen: Wonderful. And Ms. Elcano. >> Marian Elcano: I had just graduated in '39 from high school and in '42 from training. So the war was starting in Europe, so I just -- really motivated by -- to help and do my share. >> Maj. Jennifer Petersen: Mm-hmm. And Colonel Bailey. We heard a little bit, but just share with us really what the reasons were that you decided to push the limits. >> Col. Margaret Bailey: When I came into the Army Nurse Corps, I thought, "Should I go into this segregated army?" Then I thought -- you know, I'm very ambitious. I do challenge, and I said, "If I go in, they're going to put me out soon." But I thought maybe I'd better go so I can say, "I did my part. I paid my debts. So now may I have what I'm entitled to?" >> Maj. Jennifer Petersen: Right on. [ Applause ] I have many questions after listening to their stories and having the opportunities to read their oral histories, which are available if anybody's interested. Fabulously interesting stories. But at this moment, I'd like to just take a moment to present each of our panel guests with Army Nurse Corps Chief Coin in recognition of their service to our nation during World War II, and this is just -- this coin is given to soldiers who give duty above and beyond the necessary. And I think each of our women who served in their various capacities in World War II did just this. [ Applause ] Colonel Bailey. [Inaudible] That's yours, and there's yours and yours. Please -- I hope at the conclusion of our panel you have the opportunity to speak with these women. They're fascinating to listen to and to talk to. And I'd just like to share with you a brief wrap-up. The superintendent of the Army Nurse Corps, Colonel Florence Blanchfield, at that time in World War II expressed the feelings of commitment of US Army nurses and Navy nurses alike well when she wrote to the mother of Lieutenant Ellen Ainsworth, who was killed by enemy action in Italy in February 1944. Colonel Blanchfield states, "She typifies the very finest in American womanhood. Had she not known that this was going to be -- that this would occur, that she would die, she still would've said, 'I must go. It is my duty.' The nurses are like that in this war. They fear nothing. They beg to go forward as far possible because they feel they are so urgently needed." Thank you, all of you, for sharing with us today this time. And have an outstanding day in our nation's great capital. And please -- again, thank you to all the veterans who served with us today and are here with us today. And Godspeed to the nurses that continue to serve throughout he world today, serving our country, and taking care of those soldiers who are serving our country also. And Army nurses always ready, caring, and proud. Thank you. [ Applause ] >> This has been a presentation of the Library of Congress. Visit us at loc.gov.