This year the world commemorates the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. We are remembering contributions of persons from our region, most of whom are no longer with us.

During WWII the women serving in the Navy WAVES, the Coast Guard SPARS, the Marine Corps Women Reserves, and the women WASP pilots were all restricted from overseas service. But the 59,000 WWII-era Army nurses had no such restrictions and 32,500 served overseas. Let’s meet an Army nurse who served overseas.

Ivanhoe’s Norma Jean Johnson was born in Ivanhoe in 1922 and attended public school, graduating with the Ivanhoe High School class of 1940.

She attended Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter for academic year 1940-41 before enrolling in a nursing program at St. Barnabus School of Nursing in Minneapolis.

She recalled there was high awareness among the nursing students of the U.S. involvement in WWII and a sense of responsibility to do their part.

“We were still fighting on two fronts and we had been at war for four years. They were going to start enlisting nurses and we had just graduated from training, so we weren’t assigned to any hospital or any work. It was just thought that it was the right thing to do. There weren’t any fellows to date. Everyone that we held dear, that we thought well of and treasured, was in the service or had even been killed. It just seemed like it was the thing to do and many of the nurses at that time that were just out of training did join the service.”

Records from the St. Barnabus School of School of Nursing confirm this commitment to supporting the war effort as 108 of 109 students at St. Barnabus in 1944 enrolled in the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps. The program, authorized by Congress in 1943, allowed nursing schools to augment their training by sending students to federal hospitals during their final six months of training. Nursing Cadets, in return, agreed to a non-binding pledge to remain in military or civilian nursing during the duration of the war.

Norma Jean went to Fort Snelling to sign up for the Army Nurse Corps and then traveled to Camp Carson, Colorado where she joined a group of 50 young women for Nurse Corps Basic Training. Upon completion of her Basic Training the Army assigned Norma Jean to the 316th General Hospital, which was being organized in Missouri.

She explained some of what was involved in creating a General Hospital unit.

“The unit was formed in Joplin, Missouri — the hospital unit that went overseas– the nurses, the doctors, the technicia ns, the carpenters, the cooks – the whole unit. Most of the girls were from the Midwest; South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas. So we were all kind of familiar to our territory. One of the girls was from Luverne and one was from Worthington.”

Once the 316th General Hospital received and organized its complement of personnel, they traveled by train to San Francisco. When they arrived in San Francisco, the unit loaded on a converted liner for deployment overseas.

Norma Jean recalled their transportation with a smile, “We went on a ship overseas as a unit, a luxury liner, and we had all their accommodations that they had in peacetime.”

They clearly understood they were headed someplace in the Pacific, but operational security meant they only learned their destination, Manila in the Philippines, once underway. Norma Jean laughed when she described another Army security measure.

“They issued us winter clothing to confuse the enemy. When we got over there it was 120 degrees and here we had all winter clothing. I don’t know who we confused!”

The soldiers of the 316th General Hospital arrived in Manila in April 1945. Norma Jean explained how their arrival was not an example of military efficiency.

“They didn’t expect us. When (we) got to Manila, it was during the rainy season. They put us on barges and they unloaded us onto the land. (There) was no one around. There weren’t any buildings and it was just a great big mud puddle. It was Manila, but it was all bombed out. There was just nothing there and no one came to get us. This is what they put us onto.”

U.S. forces were still fighting Japanese defenders in parts of the enormous, but heavily-damaged city, while the leadership of the 316th General Hospital sorted out what to do with their doctors, nurses, technicians, cooks, and carpenters.

Norma Jean recalled their unsettling arrival.

“We stood there for half a day and someone must have gone to get some help. They loaded us onto trucks and we were put into a convent — everything in Manila was riddled full of holes — just riddled. We were given rooms there. The ceiling was full of holes and (lizards) were hanging on the ceiling above our beds.”

The unit had found quarters for the nurses, such as they were, but they still faced significant problems.

“(N)o food had been arranged for us, but the Red Cross came by with beer and cigarettes. So, for two days I got to taste beer and you got to like it. Ipo dam was held by the Japanese yet and we were told not to drink the water because it might be poisoned. So that’s what we lived on,” she concluded, laughing, “We had a good time.”

Norma Jean and her fellow nurses were in their new home in the bombed out capital of the Philippine Islands.

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