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Jerry Hayes sings "Thanks To Them" on his CD honoring Veterans so I chose to share it with you here.
After many years of thinking that USN AB3 Kay Sherill Platt, Dexter, NM, non-hostile death was a woman--I recently found out that this was a man. SORRY! If you want to check on any casualties of the Korean War I suggest you visit the Korean War Project Remembrance to verify names, dates, locations, etc. Likewise for a very long time USN SN Doris Frances Brown, Milwaukee, WI, was thought to be a female but I found information that states this was a male (HM) hospital-man died on 13 May 51 of a non-hostile death.
22 Dec 52:
26 Sep 50: USAF Air Force Nurse Corps (AFNC) CPT Vera M. Brown, died at Ashiya Air Base, Japan when the plane she was assigned to crashed during a medical evacuation flight.
19 Sep 50: These women were identified in Doris Sterner's book In and Out of Harm's Way as well as in Marty O'Brien's Casualty Book Chapter III online. They were in a military transport plane enroute to the US Naval Hospital in Yokosuka, Japan. As the plane was departing Kwajalein Island it crashed into the Pacific Ocean. I appreciate receiving this particular information from COL Pat Jernigan. USN Navy Nurse Corps (NNC) Ensign (ENS) Eleanor Beste
25
Aug 50:
5
Jul 50:
Reports say that more than 400 American military women lost their lives during World War II however I have only found a few names and dates for them so far: 24 Jul 45: USA ANC 2LT Nancy J Leo, 23, from Cumberland, MD was assigned to the 216th General Hospital. She was enroute to visit her sister, who was also in the Army, when she was killed in a jeep accident in Paris. Nancy was buried in the Luxembourg American Cemetery, where GEN Patton is buried, and is the only female buried there.
30 May 45: A C-47 transport plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Derwin Point on the coast of West Africa. WACs who had been stationed at the Army Airfield in Accra, British West Africa were onboard and enroute to their new assignments in Europe or stateside. No wreckage was ever found of the plane nor their remains. Pat Jernigan has provided the following names: USA PFC Rose Brohinsky from NY USA SGT Doris Cooper from IL
USA PFC Flossie Flannery from
Muncie, IN USA PFC Frieda Friend from NY USA PFC Mary Gollinger from CA USA CPL Velma Holden from NC USA PFC Odessa Hollingsworth
from OK USA PFC Alice King from OR USA PFC Wilma Liles from TX USA PFC Evelyn McBride from TX
USA PFC Alice
Pauline McKinney from Big Bay (Marquette County) in the Upper
Peninsula of Michigan. Her brother Bill had been killed in Europe during the war
sometime in the Fall of 1944. Special thanks to Loraine Koski, Marquette/Alger
Co. WWII Gold Star Researcher who supplied this additional information. USA PFC Rose Puchalla from MN
USA PVT Pearl Roomsburg from CA USA PFC Helen Rozzelle from
Washington, DC USA PFC Leona Seyfert from IL USA PFC Ruth Warlick from TX USA PFC Bonnie Williams from KS 15 May 45: USA SSG Laura Besley from PA was a passenger onboard a C-47A when it crashed into a mountain on 13 May in a remote area of New Guinea. She died 2 days later from her injuries. (See below) Pat Jernigan has provided this info. 14 May 45: USA PFC Eleanor Hanna from PA was a passenger onboard a C-47A when it crashed into a mountain on 13 May in a remote area of New Guinea. She died a day later from her injuries. (See below) Pat Jernigan has provided this info. 13 May 45: On this date a C-47A plane had a group of off duty soldiers on a sightseeing flight over a remote, high altitude New Guinea valley. It crashed into a mountain top as it struggled to clear the ridge while climbing out of the valley. 13 men were killed in the crash along with the following women. 2 other women died within the next 2 days (see above). It took a long time for the Army to locate the crash site and the remains were finally repatriated in the late 1950s. 18 victims were buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, St Louis, MO in a mass grave while 3 including PFC Hanna and SGT Besley were buried elsewhere. Initially 5 survived the crash--the 3 (2 men and a WAC) remaining survivor's story is now in a book titled Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff. Pat Jernigan has provided this info. USA PFC Alethia Fair from CA was a passenger. Pat Jernigan has provided this info. USA PFC Marian C Gillis from CA was a passenger. Pat Jernigan has provided this info. USA SGT Helen Kent from CA was a passenger. Pat Jernigan has provided this info. USA PFC Mary Landau from NY was a passenger. Pat Jernigan has provided this info. USA SGT Belle Naimer from NY was a passenger. Pat Jernigan has provided this info. USA T/3 Marion McMonagle from PA was a passenger. Pat Jernigan has provided this info. 12 May 45:
28 Apr 45: In the Pacific Theater a Japanese "kamikazi" (suicide plane) bombed the hospital ship USNHS Comfort off Leyte Island, between Guam and Okinawa. The bombing completely destroyed the Operating Room area on the ship. In the attack 28 personnel were killed including 6 nurses and at least 48 others were wounded including medical personnel and 4 nurses. Pat Jernigan has provided this info. USA ANC 2LT Margaret M Billings USA ANC 2LT Frances O Chelsey (or Chesley)--The Presque Isle high school that Frances graduated from in 1928 memorialized her with a plaque. USA ANC Evelyn C Eckert USA ANC 2LT Ida M Greenwood--She graduated from Deaconess Hospital in Great Falls, MT in 1939. While there she had chosen the class hymn, Fairest Lord Jesus also known as the Crusader’s Hymn. Special thanks to Karen Owen for this latest info. USA ANC 1LT Florence T Grewer USA ANC 2LT Dorothy Stanke 13 Apr 45: USA ANC 1LT Christine A Gasvoda from Michigan apparently died onboard a medevac which crashed during WW II. She was assigned to the 816th Medical Air Evacuation Squadron. She is buried in the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, Netherlands.
31 Mar 45:
4 Mar 45: Pat Jernigan sent me the following names of more females who died. These women were all members of the Army Nurse Corps working in the China-Burma-India area theater. They were killed in a fiery C-47 transport crash near Ledo, India. The official word about this accident was that the group was on a medical mission--unofficially rumor had it they were going to a party. Most importantly at this time was the accident was due to poor weather. Bill Kearney sent me some additional information. He stated the plane involved was one of the 11th Combat Cargo Squadron and that everyone onboard had perished. He also has a list of the men who were onboard the flight. I will continue to attempt to find more information about them but right now here is what Pat gave me along with some of the info I have found thus far--I've listed them by rank and last name: 2LT Julia S Barnes--was from Plymouth in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin. Their records state that she died on 13 Mar 45. 1LT Jane M Blevins--was assigned to the 20th General Hospital. She was from Scott County in Tennessee and born in 1922. According to their records she died in Feb 44, was buried in Somerset, Pulaski County, Kentucky and held the rank of 2LT. 1LT Evelyn Burton--was assigned to the 20th General Hospital. 2LT Margie A Camper-- 2LT Rita F Erard--was reportedly from Syracuse, NY and possible assigned to the 172nd General Hospital. 2LT Evelyn M Gerdrum--was assigned to the 803rd MAES. She was from Grass Range, Montana. 2LT Lyndell A Glisson--was assigned to the 172nd General Hospital, 803rd MAES. Born 6 November 1921 she is buried in the Liberty Baptist Church Cemetery in Smith County, Mississippi. 2LT Ethel L Harris--was assigned to the 803rd MAES.
1LT Catherine Marie Larkin--was assigned to the 803rd MAES. Born on 21 Jan 1915 in Salem, Massachusetts, she had a sister and three brothers. She attended St James School in Salem, Essex County Homemaking School of Hathorne and graduated from the Salem Hospital Training School for nurses. She did further training in hospitals in Salem and Providence, Rhode Island before she joined the Army Nurse Corps. She was assigned to Harding Field in Baton Rouge, Louisiana where she became Chief Nurse. She was establishing an advanced hospital base in Calcutta, India when she died. The Catherine M Larkin Memorial Practice Cottage was named in her honor at the Essex County Homemaking School on 30 September 1950 and still stands today. 1LT Kathryn "KL" Lloyd-- 2LT Kathryn Lucille McCarthy--was assigned to the 172nd General Hospital, 803rd MAES. Born 13 March 1921, she was from Syracuse, NY. She was buried 10 January 1949 in National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, HI in Section B, Site 644. Her final resting place is next to 1LT William D Hawkins, 2nd Marine Div and a hero of Tarawa. This additional info was provided by Bill Kearney. 2LT Ann L Merrill--was assigned to the 803rd MAES.
2LT Mayo C Onken--was assigned to the 803rd MAES. She was born in 1920 in Porterville, California. She graduated from the Stanford University School of Nursing in San Francisco in 1943. She was buried on 8 January 1949 in the Porterville Cemetery. She was survived by her husband and father. CIVILIAN ARC Amelia L Thomey-- 25 Jan 45:
4 Dec 44: CIVILIAN Nurse Helen Corra from West Virginia is listed as killed in action according to Pioneer Nurses of West Virginia. 15 Nov 44: CIVILIAN Nurse Beatrice Glasco
from West Virginia is also listed as dying according to Pioneer Nurses of West Virginia
but not where or why. 1 Nov 44:
22 Oct 44: USA ANC 2LT Sara B Vance from West Virginia was serving with the 33rd General Hospital when she died. She is buried in the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuno, Italy. 21 Oct 44: USA ANC 2LT Frances Slanger was with the 45th Field Hospital near Henri Chapelle, Belgium—one of four units that arrived in Normandy on 10 June 1944—just four days after D-Day. She was one of four nurses who waded ashore at the Normandy beachhead on D-Day. The 45th became the target of a German artillery barrage. She was mortally wounded when one of the shells burst nearby. Frances and three other nurses were hit by shell fragments. She died two hours later. Frances became the only Army nurse killed by enemy action in the push from Normandy to the Rhine. Frances was buried in the American military cemetery of Henri Chapelle (Belgium). Some years later, her family had her remains removed and interred in a Jewish cemetery in Roxbury, MA. In Boston, the Jewish women Veterans of World War II formed an all women chapter of the Jewish War Veterans of the USA and named it the “Lieutenant Frances Slanger Memorial Post." Pat Jernigan has provided this info. 27 Jul 44: USA PVT Marjorie (Marjory) L Babinetz from Bairdford, PA, died while onboard an A-24 "Banshee" dive bomber when it crashed in Stillwater, OK as she was stationed at Tinker Field. The Stillwater Daily reported the plane was barrel rolling and didn't come out of the second roll. Marjorie (Marjory) was a WAC recruiter at the time and was onboard with just the pilot 2LT James Howey from Parsons, KS. They were to open a recruiting station in Stillwater later in the day. Pat Jernigan and Bill Caldwell have provided this info. 24 Jul 44: ANC 2LT Catherine Price, North Liberty, IN died when the C-54 she was on crashed while filled with patients being evacuated from Europe during the Normandy campaign. 14 Jun 44: USA ANC 2LT Mary E Chubb, 31, from Doylestown, PA, died in single engine plane crash between Rugby and Coventry, England. She was buried at the Brookwood Military Cemetery in England and moved to the Cambridge American Military Cemetery in England on 18 May 1948 with full military honors. Pat Jernigan has provided this info. 18 May 44: USA Army Nurse Corps 2LT Eloise M Richardson, 24, from Marseilles, IL was on a routine flight between the western coast of Bougainville and Guadalcanal in the South Pacific. She was a flight nurse aboard a C-47 which was transporting wounded troops, but never arrived at it’s destination. No evidence of it’s whereabouts has ever been recovered. Eloise, born 18 Apr 1920, graduated from Ryburn-King School of Nursing and had worked in Chicago’s Cook County Hospital prior to joining the Army in 1942 as a nurse with the 24th Evac and trained in air evac at Bowman Field, KY Oct 43. She later transferred to the Army Air Force division of nurses in 1943. Eloise was officially declared dead on 19 May 1945; in August she was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart. Pat Jernigan has provided this info. 10 May 44:
6 Mar 44:
During the battle on Anzio, the German bombing and strafing of the tented hospital area killed six Army nurses. Four Army nurses among the survivors were awarded Silver Stars for extraordinary courage under fire. 24 Feb 44:
16 Feb 44: USA ANC LT Ellen G Ainsworth, 24, from Glenwood City, WI was on duty in a 56th Evac Hospital ward near the Anzio beachhead on 10 February 1944. She was severely wounded on 10 Feb 44 during the Battle of Anzio in Italy. During an enemy artillery bombardment, a shell hit the hospital. Despite the severe damage to the hospital, Ellen calmly moved her patients to safety. She “instilled confidence in her assistants and her patients, thereby preventing serious panic and injury. Her courage under fire and her selfless devotion to duty were an inspiration to all who witnessed her actions.” She died 6 days later and was the only Wisconsin woman to die from enemy fire during World War II. She was awarded the Silver Star, the nation’s third highest award for bravery, and the Purple Heart. In her honor, a nursing care building at the Wisconsin Veterans Home at King, WI is named Ainsworth Hall. A dispensary at Fort Hamilton, NY and a conference room in the Pentagon also are named in her honor. Pat Jernigan has provided this info. 10 Feb 44: Two nurses of the 2nd Auxiliary Surgical Group were killed while working in the 33rd Field Hospital at Anzio. Artillery fire hit a nearby generator which caught fire and ignited the hospital tents. Approximately 200 Army nurses took part in the Anzio campaign. Two of them became the first women to receive the Silver Star for meritorious duty. During the Anzio campaign they cared for 33,128 patients (10,809 battle casualties; 18,074 sick; 4,245 other injuries). Pat Jernigan has provided this info. USA ANC 2LT LaVerne Farquar USA ANC LT Gertrude Spelboug (or Glenda S Spelhaug)--Dave Brewer military historian and archivest from Crossville, TN wrote to me saying that he located this information on the American Battlefields Monument Commission website: "1st Lt. Glenda S. Spelhaug was KIA on Thursday February 10, 1944 while assigned to the 33rd Field Hospital. Her Army serial number was N 736140. She is buried at the Rome-American Cemetery in Nettuno, Italy. Plot I, Row 12, Grave 8. She was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart." 7 Feb 44: Three nurses died when the 95th Evac Hospital was hit by bombs from a German plane as it was fleeing a British fighter over Nettuno during the Battle of Anzio (Italy). The bombs fell on the admin, receiving and operating tents killing 27 and wounding 68. Pat Jernigan has provided this info. USA ANC 2LT Marjorie G Morrow--I recently heard from Clive Mason whose father Dr James Mason III, who was an Army major at the time, had been a surgeon with the 2nd Auxiliary Surgical Group at Anzio. Clive has James' operating ledger which showed that he had operated on Marjorie as well as on Ruth D Buckley. The ledger has the date, name, serial number, outfit, wound, agent, time, lag, operation and result of each person he took care of during part (15 Jul 43-28 May 44) of his tour of duty 18 Feb 43-17 Feb 45. What an amazing document that must be. I'm glad Clive chose to share part of it with me--thanks Clive! USA ANC 2LT Carrie T Sheetz USA ANC LT Blanche F Sigman--A hospital ship was named in her honor during the war.
1 Oct 43: Civilian Nurses Martha Thurmond and Virginia L Link, both from West Virginia, are listed as killed in action according to Pioneer Nurses of West Virginia. Virginia died in North Africa, perhaps Martha did also. 30 Sep 43: USA Tech5 Edith Ballinger, Hartford City, IN was killed in a plane crash at Maxton Field near Laurinburg, NC
27 Jul 43:
22 May 43: ANC 2LT Mafaida Arney, Terre Haute, IN died in a plane crash at Peterson Army Airfield, Colorado Springs, CO 11 Apr 43: USA PFC Rita McCarthy, Gary, IN died of unknown causes NNC Julia Antic of New Castle, IN died from unknown causes though the exact date and location are unknown.
A lesser-known fact is that thirty-eight members of the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS), Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) Trainees and WASPs lost their lives during WW II and yet those who served as WASPs were not given full military status until many years later: Though they died in 1943 and 1944 I decided to keep them all together here. 9 Dec 44: WASP Class
44-W-8 Mary Louise Webster
It is reported that at least 111 Army nurses died overseas and around 186 died stateside during WW I. The Navy had at least 22 Yeoman (F) die while at least 27 members of the Navy Nurse Corps died along with those serving as Dieticians, telephone operators, YMCA volunteers, Red Cross and Salvation Army women as well as those in the military intelligence field. Naturally this is all very hard to track so many years later. Thus far I’ve only been able to come up with the following names: 18 Dec 1918: ANC Crystal McCord, Washington, IN had served in France 29 Nov 1918: ANC Sister M Camilla, Lafayette, IN died of influenza at St Elizabeth Hospital in Lafayette 31 Oct 1918: ANC Grace Copland, Lebanon, IN had served in France 26 Oct 1918: ANC Hannah L Burden, Inwood, IN died of pneumonia at Camp Sherman, OH 21 Oct 1918: ANC Flossie E Brownlee, Farmersburg, IN died in New York City 8 Oct 1918: ANC Grace Buell, Roanoke, IN had been at Base Hospital #32 in France ANC Florence Leclare, Indianapolis, IN died of pneumonia at Camp Devens, MA 4 Oct 1918: ANC Rose Rapp, Jeffersonville, IN had served in France 2 Oct 1918: ANC Flora Ruth, Indianapolis, IN died at Camp Pike, AR 1 Oct 1918: ANC Ethel Leach, Fairmont, IN died at Edgewood Arsenal, MD 28 Mar 1918: ANC Patricia Byron, Fort Wayne, IN died at Camp MacArthur, TX Mar 1918: CIVILIAN YMCA Volunteer Marion G. Crandall,
Alameda, CA during shelling at Ste. Menehould, France 30 Dec 1917: ANC Lettie M Berry, Franklin, IN had been at Base Hospital #32 in France 20 May 1917: Six base hospitals that included more than 400 Army nurses sailed on five ships headed to France for service with the British forces. At least two women, nurses with Base Hospital 12 from Chicago, died aboard the USS Mongolia as it headed for France. According to an article dated 22 May 1917 in the "Chicago Tribune" many of the nurses were from Evanston Hospital and associated with Northwestern University Medical School. These two women were on the deck of the Mongolia observing the firing of various weapons. They were struck by fragments of the 6-inch gun's propellant caps which had ricocheted off a stanchion. USA Army Nurse Corps Edith Ayers,
Attica, OH 22 Oct 1915: ANC Margaret Hamilton, Minevah, IN had been at General Hospital #23 near Etaples, France
Twenty-two women died as a result of service in Puerto Rico. All but one were Army Contract Nurses (some were nuns) who died from Typhoid Fever unless otherwise noted below:
9 Dec 1898--Ellen May Tower, of Byron, MI was the first US Army Contract Nurse to die on foreign soil of Typhoid Fever and was the first woman to receive a military funeral in Michigan.
The following women also died during this time frame but so far I have been unable to come up with their dates of death:
Lurecia Bailey,
Typhoid Fever I'd like to thank Marianne Hughes and Donna Brizendine for providing some of the info about these women of the Spanish American War!
Some historical records verify the fact that over 60 women were either wounded or killed at various battles during the Civil War. Perhaps one of the most poignant stories about women in the Civil War is told in Women in War 1866, by Frank Moore: In 1863, at age 19, a woman known only as Emily, ran away from home and joined the drum corps of a Michigan Regiment. The regiment was sent to Tennessee and during the struggle for Chattanooga a mini-ball pierced the side of the young soldier. Her wound was fatal and her sex was disclosed. At first she refused to disclose her real name but as she lay dying she consented to dictate a telegram to her father in Brooklyn. “Forgive your dying daughter. I have but a few moments to live. My native soil drinks my blood. I expected to deliver my country but the fates would not have it so. I am content to die. Pray forgive me......Emily.” Hannah A Ropes, 54, died on 20 January 1863 of Typhoid Pneumonia after contracting it at the Union Hotel Hospital in Washington, DC where she volunteered to work as a nurse along with Louisa May Alcott. Hannah was originally from New Gloucester, ME and that is where she is buried. After the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1863, the bodies of two Confederate women, in uniform, were found. A Union flag bearer, also a woman in uniform, was killed on the hill near Picketts Charge. Another young woman named Frances Day was mortally wounded while serving as SGT Frank Mayne in the Western Theater.
There have been many other women who have died while serving our country. At this point I have chosen to not list those who didn't die in an actual war zone. Other websites have their names available. The best site which lists most of the women who have died while serving regardless of where they were is The Women Who Gave Their Lives run by Barbara Wilson, CPT, USAF (Ret). Use the buttons below to go to another page.
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USAF AN Virginia May McClure, Springfield, SD, non-hostile
air crash in Korea
USN NNC ENS Marie Boatman
USN NNC Lieutenant (LT) (junior grade) (jg) Jeanne E. Clarke
USN NNC LT (jg) Jane L. Eldridge
USN NNC ENS Constance R. Esposito
USN NNC LT (jg) Alice S. Giroux
USN NNC LT (jg) Calla C. Goodwin
USN NNC LT (jg) Constance A. Heege
USN NNC LT (jg) Margaret Grace Kennedy
USN NNC Ensign Mary E. Liljegreen
USA ANC 1LT Aleda E. Lutz, 29, from
Freeland, MI is one of the most celebrated war heroes of World War II. As an
Army Flight Nurse, she flew 196 missions evacuating over 3500 patients. Aleda
logged more flight hours than any other nurse at that time and had earned six
battle stars before her death. Assigned to the 802nd Medical Air Evacuation
Squadron, she was in a C47 air ambulance, losing her own
life in an evacuation effort over Lyon, Italy. Her flight crashed into a
mountain near Marseilles in bad weather. Supposedly she was the first US
military woman to die in a combat zone during World War II but as you can see
there were others who died before she did. Posthumously she received the
Distinguished Flying Cross becoming the first woman to do so. A hospital ship was
named for her as was a C47 plane and in 1990 a Veteran's Medical facility in
Saginaw, MI. Pat Jernigan has provided some of this info.
ANC
2LT Elizabeth J Howren,
On
this same day American Red Cross hospital field worker
CIVILIAN Esther Richards from San Francisco, CA died somewhere on the
beach at Anzio. This photo might be of her--it was posted on the American Red
Cross Museum site that honors women in war. Esther had been an Army nurse
during WW I but was considered too old to serve during WW II so she joined the
ARC.
