Mundth, Hilda Marie Phillips, St. Helena Parish, Louisiana File prepared by D.N. Pardue and submitted by Inez Bridges Tate. ************************************************ Submitted to the LAGenWeb Archives ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ From "St. Helena Vets Remember World War II: Personal Interviews With World War II Vets", published by St. Helena Historical Association, 1995. Compiled and edited by Inez Bridges Tate and reprinted with permission. Hilda Marie Phillips was born and grew up in the Pine Ridge Community. After graduating from Kentwood High School, she entered nursing school on January 15, 1948. She finished on January 23, 1941 from Southern Baptist Hospital in New Orleans. She entered military service on April 1, 1943. Hilda married Lyman K. Mundth on January 11, 1946 in Tucson, Arizona. They have two children and three grandchildren. Mrs. Mundth wrote the following about her military experi- ence. We are printing it in its entirety. "In the spring of 1943 most of my classmates from nursing school were in the Army or Navy and I decided it was time for me to do my duty. I went to the Navy Recruiting station and was told they would call me when they needed me. After waiting three or four weeks I went to the Army Recruiting Station and was told to report as soon as I was releaved (sic) of duty at Southern Baptist Hospital. This I did and signed my papers on April 1, 1943 and left the same day for Camp Barkley, Texas. I arrived at the nurses' quarters around five p.m. This was a barracks building, but each nurse had her own room. There was a phone in the hall by the recreation room where we could receive visitors. Some of the off duty nurses showed me the way to the mess hall. I had visions of going to my room and getting a good night's sleep. My trip from New Orleans had been by train in the coach section and I was tired. By seven p.m. girls were going up and down the hall looking for girls to go out with some officers. My next door neighbor came over and said that I might as well go out with she and another girl that night. There were three officers who shared a tent coming by later. When I began to realize that there would be no early sleeping I decided I might as well go with them. That is how I happened to meet a young officer by the name of Lyman K. Mundth. No one gave me instructions on Army life, but sent me di- rectly to a ward to go to work. I was assigned to a ward where all the patients had meningitis. My greatest concern was that I wasn't sure that I could salute properly so I stayed under roof so I would not have that problem. On July 3, 1943, I was assigned to the 30th Evacuation Hospital as a replacement. This unit had spent five months on Louisiana Manuevers. I was the "rookie" and remained that for the duration. We were kept busy doing hikes up to ten miles, climbing up and down nets in case we should have to abandon ship, crawling through obstacle courses and etc. Our white uniforms had been exchanged for olive drab fatigues and a helmet. We also had practice in using our gas masks when we were on some of the hikes. That part of Texas is very hot in the summer. We were near Abliene in the panhandle of the state. August 12, 1943, we nurses were given 8 days of leave before going overseas. That was a happy time. We were all called back one day early, because orders had come for us to depart for Camp Stoneman, California on August 17, 1943. That was a long, hot train trip. We got off to do calisthenics around eight a.m. in Tucson, Arizona. That was our only stop until we were in Camp Stoneman. This was a large base. We all had physical examinations and were put through intensive training to harden us up. There were hikes, lots of climbing up rope ladders and down the other side, etc. We nurses were given all new uniforms to replace the white duty uniforms and navy blue dress uniforms. We had brown and white seersucker uniforms that wrapped around the front for duty. We had olive drab dress uniforms and a beige dress to wear off duty. All our old uniforms had to be shipped home. It was August 27, 1943, that we marched with field equip- ment for four miles where we boarded a river boat at Pittsburg, California and sailed down the Sacramento River to Oakland where we boarded the S.S. Johnson. There were 4800 troops crowded to- gether on this ship. Five days after sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge the ship developed some sort of engine problem and had to return to San Francisco for repairs. After six days aboard ship at the dock, we were returned to Camp Stoneman to await further orders. That was September 3, 1943. Three days later we again marched to the boat, boarded the S.S. Johnson and sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge for the third time on our way to Southwest Pacific Theatre of Operations. Our ship never caught up with the convoy and we sailed all alone. There were early morning drills, over crowding and periodic transfer of troops from one side of the ship to the other to correct the tendency to list. Neptune's Court was held when we crossed the equator and that was fun. Three days out of Australia we were met by an escort who took us through the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. After 37 days aboard ship we docked at Brisbane, Australia on October 3, 1943. The forty nurses with the 30th Evacuation Hospital were ordered to debark. We went to the Nurses Staging Area at Camp Columbia near Brisbane, Australia. This was my first experience with group showering. The water was on one hour. By the time the crowd was gone the water was off and I had missed my shower. That night I used the trunk lines (long distance) and talked to a friend who was with the 105th General Hospital. On October 18, 1943, we were moved to a Staging Area near Wacoe, Australia. It was a 10 mile ride into Birsbane. My first assignment was to get up at five a.m. and light the coal furnace. Here our cots were close together in an open barracks building. We all had to be up as if we were going on duty at seven a.m. I was in Brisbane every day I could leave the area. On one of my trips in Brisbane I saw Roy Lanier walking toward me. I was never more happy to see anyone. His ship was in har- bor and he and some of his friends had shore leave. I was with two Air Corps officers so our meeting was brief. The C.O. at this staging area decided that we nurses needed duties so he assigned us to K.P. The Sgt. in the kitchen gave me a large sack of potatoes and a large sack of onions to peel. I think our Chief Nurse got him straightened out. This was a one day thing. Officers were not supposed to do K.P. On afternoon some of our Air Corps friends flew over and dropped notes to us. That got the C.O.'s blood pressure up. On Christmas Day I was told it was 110 degrees. We had tur- key and all the trimmings and many of us got ill. This was really a fun time for all of us except for the hikes, etc. January 6, 1944, we were sent on temporary duty with the 172nd Station Hospital at Staurtholme in Brisbane. This had been a home for nuns and was filled with religious pictures. The patients thought we were student nurses because our uniforms were different and we were much younger than the nurses before. The Chief Nurse in Australia had requested only nurses over 40 years old. We were the first group of nurses in our twenties to arrive. On the 12th of February 1944, our nurses were transferred to the 105th General Hospital at Gatton, Australia. This was a Harvard Unit and their ways were different from our ways. In the mess hall the men officers sat on one side of the room and the nurses sat on the other side. We nurses from Texas and Louisiana had been taught that every bed patient got an alcohol back rub before we went off duty at seven p.m. Their Chief Nurse ordered us to stop this practice. She thought it too ex- citing to the patients. My friend from Baptist Hospital was here. To get to Brisbane you had to ride several miles in a truck to Ipswich where you could catch a train. I went in anytime I wasn't on duty. In Gatton we could go to a chicken farm, buy a dressed chicken, take it to the bakery and they would roast it after the bread was baked or you could take it to the kitchen off the recreation room and cook it yourself. We remained at the 105th General until June 5, 1944, when we were sent to another Staging Area. I was given 15 days leave June 12, 1944. Three of us took the train to Sydney, Australia. We stayed in a small hotel run by the Red Cross for nurses on leave. We were all three in the same room and had breakfast served in bed each morning. This was a first for us. One day we took a bus trip to see the water falls in the Blue Mountains. We saw many places of interest around Sydney. I was fortunate to spend a day on a sail boat in the harbor. On my return to the Staging Area I found that I was assign- ed to work in Headquarters Base Section. My job was to go through the records and count how many persons wore glasses. I ate my lunch in public tea rooms or restaurants and when I went to the cashier to pay my bill I was often told it had already been paid by an elderly Australian man or woman. The people of Australia were so thankful to have our military come to help them. On the streets older ladies and men would tell me they were on their way to church and would say a prayer for me. One afternoon as I was crossing a street in Brisbane sever- al Australian service men came beside me wanting to talk to and touch an American sister. One young soldier followed me to my bus stop and after looking me over carefully made the comment that I must be a young one because I still had my own teeth. Perhaps that is the reason the waitresses would tell me they could get me a steak for dinner if I wanted one. In Brisband at the American Club five p.m. was the beginn- ing of the daily beer hour. Only one beer per person could be served. Since I did not dring beer I had many invitations to the daily beer call. Then it was out to dinner at a nice hotel. Once when we were on a hike and had a rest period an elderly man came out of his pasture with a pail full of warm milk and a dipper to give us a bit of refreshment. We thanked him, but de- clined the offer. At this time milk in Australia was not pas- teurized and we had been warned not to drink milk off the base. On September 5, 1944, we left the Stuartholme Staging Area and boarded the U.S.S. Comfort for Milne Bay, New Guinea. We were in another staging area on September 10, 1944. This was a stone age culture. There were no roads except those built by the military. The mountains were almost to the sea coast and the tops were usually obscured by mist or clouds. The vegeta- tion was so dense you could not see through it. By the coast there was sharp coral instead of sand. The water was clear and you could see all kinds of brightly colored fish. The natives were friendly and the men put peroxide on their hair that turned it a bright orange color. They asked all the blond nurses for peroxide. One of my most interesting experiences was a visit to an Australian Methodist Mission Station. The minister had sent his family to Australia when their safety was threatened by the Japanese, but he stayed to keep the mission going. He had a one room school, took in abandoned babies and had worship services. When visitors took a picture of the children he had a camera and took a picture of the children with the visitors. They loved seeing their own pictures. For a brief time we were assigned to the 47th General Hos- pital. On the 6th of October, 1944 we were taken by ship to Hollandia to another staging area. Then we were attached to the 54th General Hospital. It was here that I saw Dr. Gilbert who had been at Baptist Hospital. I was picking up mail for my unit and he was next door talking to the hospital C.O. and he recog- nized my voice. After having lunch at the hospital he realized our rations were a little short. He was on an LST and they had plenty of food. That night I came in with a 5lb can of spam. The nurses were in bed, but they got up and we ate it all with- out bread or crackers. The next night we ate a gallon of stuff- ed olives. As long as his ship was there we had plenty to eat. The 54th General Hospital had just arrived from the states and many of the nurses had never worked in an army hospital. We helped them set up. That first day over 1200 patients were admit- ted from the Leyete invasion. Food was in short supply so only half a slice of bread was on each tray with the lamb stew. The patients were young and wounded - not ill. When I picked up a food tray from a patient too ill to eat, the patient in the next bed asked for the food because he was hungry. I gave it to him and took his empty tray. At midnight our Chief Nurse came around the wards and told us we would have to go and get some sleep. The patiens would need us the next day. On the way from the ship I saw the first dead Japs. I find it difficult to look at a head without a body. This was the first place that we had MP's escort us to and from the latrine. We had orders not to leave the area with any officer unless he was armed for our protection. Before we arrived there had been upleasant incidents with the colored troops. November 5, 1944 found us packed and waiting at an air- strip to be taken to Aitape where the 30th Evacuation Hospital was set up. We were told that the surf was too rough for a ship to dock. The plane had benches on each side and our luggage was piled in the middle. For most it was a happy reunion, but I did not know them. Our hospital consisted of army tents, dirt floors, cots for beds, no hot water and no ice. It was in a coconut grove near the ocean. You could hear the surf most of the time. We lived in native built quarters that were enclosed with a high fence. At first our showers were in front and consisted of a five foot tarp wrapped around palm trees. Your feet and legs showed. It was here that some G.I.'s climbed the coconut palms with binoculars to watch the nurses shower. The natives finally got a shower and latrine completed inside our area. They did not like to dig holes. They called all women Mary. The Dutch missionaries had been here. The only two permanent buildings had been a church and a jail and the Japanese had destroyed both of them with bombs. I almost felt happy over that. When I first arrived I was on duty in the admitting ward. There were so many wounded waiting that I was to determine who was still alive to see the doctors. Then I worked on a surgical ward. We had patiens from New Zealand and Australia as well as our own. For about two weeks I was assigned to do special duty with a native man who had meningitis. We had a tent all to our- selves. His brother stayed with him to help me. We didn't speak the same language but we got along well. Every day around 2 p.m. the young native would climb up a palm tree and cut off a coco- nut. Then with one swipe of his machete he would cut off the top and give it to me to drink. The Australians thought we (the army) were crazy to waste all that medicine on a native. As the native began to recover, he kept grabbing for my name tags. Fi- nally I realized he wanted a rosary. I had the Chaplain give him one and he was content. He did recover and no one else came down with meningitis. There was an Australian Unit located near our hospital. They had a small hospital in white tents with low ceilings and twelve Sisters (nurses). Once some of us went over to the Australian officers quarters for dinner and were amazed to be served on white tablecloths and napkins and china dishes. It was my first time to have heard of palm salad. After dinner a huge sea turtle came up on the beach. We were all invited to the coming Australian OCS dance. I was one of the twelve nurses who went. There were 200 young officers with their heavy boots on. They danced in a circle around the room and at the starting point another officer took you. Sometimes I felt that my feet never touched the floor. There was no conversation and it was an exhausting evening. Our food was dehydrated eggs, potatoes, carrots and canned pineapple. We had orange marmalade from Australia. It was around Thanksgiving that I got a package from Lyman Mundth and inside a butter container packed with cookies was an engagement ring. It was a miracle it arrived. Before he had sent White Shoulders perfume and by the time I got it the box was empty. It rained frequently in this location and one morning I went on duty and found the water had been deep enough to get every patient's cot soaked on the underside. Some time while at Aitape I bought a watch band that a G.I. had made out of a Jap zero. One day I had an opportunity to visit a small island near Aitape and was told that I was the first white woman that had been there. The natives were interested in looking at me. They lived in igloo shaped houses made from palm cuttings. Actually they stayed outside in good weather and used their houses for sleeping. The women had gardens, the children played in the sand and surf and the men decorated their bodies with tatooing of all kinds. The men wore one yard of brightly colored cloth tied around their waist and women wore skirts to their knees, but nothing above the waist. The children were in their birthday suits. All the adults chewed beetlenut and this stained their teeth red. Their life span was short. I saw one really old woman and found out she was 29 years old. They would not eat our food, but liked the cigarettes. They would do as much work for one as for a pack. They had no shoes. On Christmas Eve 1944, I was given a large box of cookies and candy that a soldier had left for me at the desk in our quarters. He said I would know who they were from. I didn't know then and still do not know. My friends and I enjoyed every one. That night many of the soldiers were shipping out for another invas- ion. A friend took me to midnight Mass to hear a native choir sing. There was a makeshift altar set up in the open, no choir robes, no music, but what beautiful voices these natives had. The Dutch msisionaries had taught them well. It was most in- spiring and I felt I had really been to church. When we first arrived some men from an Engineer Corps came over and poured a concrete slab so we could have dances. We never had a one. Then there was a young officer in charge of a bakery that came over several times with brownies and cookies for us. He had such a "B.O." that none of us would go out with him. At night a movie was shown in front of our quarters and the Australians were invited. One night our C.O. noticed that one truck load of soldiers never got out of the truck. The next day he had a truck parked like that one and saw that they could look into the nurses quarters where they were in nightgowns and less. After that everyone had to get out of their vehicle or be asked to leave. The best gift a man could bring his girl friend was a couple of boards to lay beside her cot. It was hard gett- ing dressed with water standing on the dirt floor. On the 15th of January 1945, our hospital and personnel, except the nurses, boarded ship for Lyte, P.I. We nurses were fed by an Australian outfit who seemed delighted to have us for a week. On January 22, 1945, we boarded the Tasman. January 23, we were docked at Hollandia from six a.m. til four p.m. January 24 we docked at Biak from 4 p.m. until 7:30 a.m. January 28. While here the first night my friend from the 105th General Hospital came aboard to see me. By the second day the ship's captain would let no visitors come aboard. My friend and my air corps friend from Brisbane both showed up the second night. The two stood on the dock waving to me and I was near the side of the ship. It didn't take long to realize they were both see- ing the same person. They wrote notes to me and came each night we were there. By 2:30 p.m. we were docked at Noemfoor and sailed at 6 p.m. On January 30 at 6 a.m. we docked at Morotai. That night a Kamikaze plane hit a ship that was docked near us. We were un- harmed. February 1 at 11 a.m. we sailed form Morotai and arrived in Leyte harbor February 3, at 2:30 p.m. February 4th at 2 p.m. we were put on a landing barge and waded ashore with our equip- ment. We were loaded in open trucks and driven over rough, muddy roads to the 44th General Hospital. We arrived at 5:10 p.m. While there I worked on a hepatitis ward. One night the nurses and Red Cross workers who had been interned at Old Bilibid Prison stopped off on the first leg of their flight to freedom. One of my tent mates had a friend among the released nurses and we stayed up until after 2 a.m. listening to her talk. She said they had joined the Army looking for excitement and found more than they bargained for. She told us we were the heroes because we went in knowing there was a war. On February 14 at 6:30 a.m. we left the 44th General Hospi- tal and boarded the hospital ship Hope at 9:30 a.m. in Tacloban. We sailed at 5:30 p.m. We passed by Negros Island on February 15th and were in Subie Bay at 3:30 p.m. We were anchored here and took patients on. The wounded were laying like cord wood on the beach as far as you could see. We were told we could not land because there was too much shell fire. They said it was going over our ship and that we were safe. We all did nursing duty from then on. We sailed at 7:15 p.m. and arrived in Lingayen Gulf at 10 a.m., February 16th. We were off the ship at 11:30 a.m., and had lunch at the 37th Station Hospital. We went by truck to San Carlos where the 21st Evacuation Hospital was set up in the Catholic Church by the town square. On Sat- urday there was a dance in our honor in the city hall. Of course we went in our khaki uniforms. All the Filipino people wanted to know where our beautiful dresses were like they saw in the movies. Then they asked if it were true that in the United States there was a turkey and a ham in every refrigerator. On Sunday many of us went to a little Methodist Church with our Chaplain. The minister did the sermon in Tagalog and had it translated in English for us. When the offering was taken we had to borrow money from our Chaplain. We had gotten accustomed to no offering in the military chapels. The minister was overjoyed with his filled collection plate. Then a family invited some of us for dinner and we went. The table was set with crocheted covers over the water glasses. The guests were six army ser- geants and two nurses. One girl played the piano and another sang and the mother and father served us. After much eating at five p.m. we two nurses said we had to get back to our unit. Our hosts were disappointed because the roast pig wouldn't be ready until 6 p.m. In the hospital we had many Filipino patients. They had been poorly fed during the Japanese occupation and medical care was non-existant. There was lots of malaria, worm infestation and head lice. Many a budding romance was ended when the girl vomited tape worms. None of us had ever seen that. On February 26th at 9 p.m. our hospital unit was loaded on open trucks and left for Manila. There were benches on the sides of the truck and an armed officer in each corner. Our luggage was piled in the middle. The trucks drove in a convoy without lights all night. At daybreak they stopped at a golf course near Clark Field and we all went behind shrubs. When we went through manila many buildings were burning and the heat burned your face. Teh trucks drove through the broken wall that had been around the walled city of Manila. We arrived at New Bilibid Prison at 10:15 a.m. What a sight that was! The Japan- ese had rounded up everyone not a Filipino and put them in prison. There were people from every country and of all ages. Several babies were born daily. All the interns were half starved and many did not want to give up the tin cans they were carrying around. I was assigned to a clinic set up in the prison chapel. Doctors that had been interned and could only work two hours a day and could not speak English staffed the clinic. I had one corpsman to help me. Sixty priests were interned and they were all taking turns saying Mass at the stations of the cross and my clinic was at the back. If I could apply a band- age I did, but if they were ill they waited for the doctor. The patients and the doctors thought I was using too much medicine and supplies. One day some nuns came in and I put them behind curtains to be examined. The next day my corpsman asked if I would do him a favor. He wanted to bring his girl friend in for me to check over and see if it was safe for him to go out with her. In a couple of weeks I was put on a surgical ward with 50 bed patients, one army corpsman, one Filipino corpsman and two young Filipino girls to help bathe the patients. I was so busy with medication that it was about a week before I realized that the patients were only getting their faces and hands washed. Then they used the same wash cloth, but told me they washed it out between patients. Clean linens and water was in short supply, but not that short. The second week a Filipino barber came around to shave the patients. Most of them were too young to need a daily shave. We had a 1200 bed hospital and at one time we had over 2300 patients. My ward had two locked cells where Japanese patients were kept. When the Filipino men would bring in a Jap prisoner they would make a hissing sound and drop the litter if I didn't meet them at the door. We also had many older Filipino patients. One night as I was making rounds giving penicillin shots this poor old Filipino man with a greatly distended stomach and a short nightgown would come crawling off his cot and grab me around my knees. He had a 104 degree fever and was quite ill. He did this several times and I had already given him all the mor- phine I could so I put in a call for the O.D. doctor. He came and ordered more sedation. The next day I learned that he told my ward surgeon that the nurse needed the shot more than the patient. I also found out the Filipino man thought he was dying, but believed that if he stayed by the nurse she would keep him alive. Somewhere in this tour of duty I was the only nurse to get lice in my head. The treatment was kerosene and mineral oil on my hair for 24 hours. I had to go on duty with my head tied up. I cried buckets of tears and the rest of the unit laughed. The Filipino girls told me that now I was one of them and the lice would keep my scalp clean. The Filipinos spent hours combing and brushing each other's hair and getting out lice. When we first arrived at Bilibid we were awakened by gun fire and the cement floor actually shaking. There were six Filipino nurses who lived in our quarters. They showered with all their underwear on. Their expressions never changed when they gave the report at shift changes. If a patient had died they said the time and nothing else. They did not notice color changes in patients. After the first month at Bilibid our diet took a turn for the better. The 21st Evacuation Hospital had good cooks. We all paid a little extra for the cooks to buy fresh fruit and veg- etables when available. We nurses were transferred to the 21st Evacuation Hospital on February 16, 1945. This unit had never had nurses and were happy to have us. Since we entered Manila on the morning of February 27 with the unit, our corpsmen never missed an opportunity to praise us to other soldiers. This was the same day that General McArthur waded ashore. The welcome in Manila was tremendous! The San Miguel Brewer had free beer for the troops for a week. In about one week after the arrival of U.S. troops into Manila many of the young girls had blue dress- es made from our hospital pajamas. Many Japanese snipers hid in the buildings in Manila. Our troops destroyed their buildings one by one and often found only one or two snipers in each building. I discovered that a taken city only meant that both sides were in there. There were many partially sunken ships in the harbor and dead Japanese were hang- ing on parts of the ships. On shore the dead bodies were buried in a common grave. Every night when I went on duty I would have a lei of frangipani around my neck or a beautiful orchid on my cotton shirt. My Filipino girls would bring them to me. Our chief nurse let us work eight hour shifts and we stayed well. Many other units did twelve hour shifts and their nurses became ill. While I was doing duty among the civilians in Bilibid I talked to a young U.S. Navy Nurse who had been there all during the war. There were either 12 or 15 of the navy nurses, but I only saw this one. When we first went into Manila we had to wear our helmets. The stores were destroyed, but merchants set up their wares for sale on the sidewalks in front of their store. My purchases were rather strange - baby clothes, fancy handker- chiefs and embroidered linen placemats and napkins. One day I had lunch in the home of a wealthy Filipino law- yer. His wife was in her twenties and from Florida. They had met while he was in school in Florida and married there. They had a three year old little girl that did not speak or under- stand English. She had a Chinese amah to care for her. This woman sent her wages to China to pay for her own children's care. This home had a high wall with broken glass embedded in the top that went all around the grounds. A guard was at a locked gate to let people in or keep them out. The lady said if the Japanese had heard English being spoken she would have been thrown in prison. Once I spent the night in a Filipino home and there was a five year old girl who was fluent in Spanish, Tagalog and English. This lady said once during the occupation a Japanese soldier wanted to take her dress off in the street so he could send it to his wife. She talked him into coming to her home and gave him the dress. We nurses were transferred to a place called Sulfur Fprings on May 29, 1945. It was here that the native population could get near us. When we went to the garbage can after meals to scrape our mess kits not a single scrap of food went in the can. There was a child's hand holding a tin can, a cup or something to catch any food that fell. We nurses began asking for double servings so we could feed the children. Then the officer in charge of the kitchen put an end to that. The people were hungry. We were still in Manila. It was here that I was sur- prised to find the visitor waiting to see me was Dalton Bridges. I do not know how he located me. He had been in Europe and his unit was sent to the Pacific after the war ended over there. We had a swimming pool and he came to see me several times. I believe he was a sergeant. Near this area there was a large cave that had been used by the Japanese troops. I went in to see what it looked like - - just damp and dark and kind of spooky. When news came of the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima I was with all the other troops in the area at an outdoor movie when somewhere in Manila big guns were fired in celebration. Many of the soldiers thought the Japanese had returned and they injured themselves trying to get over the walls with broken glass embedded in the top. It took lots of loudspeaker messages to calm everyone down. We found it hard to believe. We had just been issued our combat boots and special clothing for Okinawa. We could see no end to the war and wondered if we would ever go home. On September 4, 1945, the 21st Evacuation Hospital moved to a place called Walk Walk. I believe this was near Clark Field, but after 45 years my memory is hazy on some areas. I do have my 201 file with all my orders so my dates of moving around are correct. September 25, 1945 found the nurses of the 21st Evacuation Hospital transferred to the Women's Disposition Center at Los Pinar. Our location was beautiful - right beside Manila harbor. We lived crowded together in tents with dirt floors, got our drinking water from large lister bags and ate in a large mess hall (tent). Our latrine was something to see. There were 10 or 12 commodes in two rows back to back just as close together as they could be. Every half hour or maybe every hour they all flushed at once. It was better than the outside ones, but not very much. It was while I was here that an older doctor from Baptist Hospital in New Orleans came to see me. I went out once with him, but no more even though he came daily. Then I was surprised one day to find a friend from home to see me. It was Leslie McKinnon. His ship was in harbor for several days and he came each night to see me. I believe he was in the Merchant Marines. He looked nice in his uniform and it was so good to see someone from home. We boarded the Marine Cardinal on October 22, 1945, and sailed from Manila Harbor at six p.m. This was a new ship built by defense workers after the U.S. entered WWII. We were in a room with rows of bunks that were three deep. Everyone was so happy to be going home that there was no griping about any- thing. After several days at sea we ran into violent storms. The captain forbade anyone to go on deck. Then entire front of the ship would go under water when the huge waves hit. Needless to say almost all the passengers and many of the crew were very sea sick. I wasn't the least bit ill. I spent my time caring for my sick roommates. The sailors had rumors going around that ships like the one we were on had been built by old women and that when they were hit by a storm they would break right in the middle into two pieces. I celebrated my 26th birthday aboard this ship. By this time the sea was more calm and some of the nurses I had met on the ship gave me a surprise party with small gifts and much singing but no birthday cake. They said I was the only one who worked on her way home. On November 7, 1945, this ship docked in the harbor of Los Angeles. We were allowed to debark at nine p.m. We went by train to Camp Anza Arrwing at one a.m. We were told that we could go to the mess hall for a steak dinner. I declined the offer and went to bed. What I wanted was a chocolate milk shake and a sandwich with mayonnaise on it. We left Camp Anza on November 10, 1945 and arrived at Fort Sam Houston at 11:30 a.m. Here we were housed in two story bar- racks with enlisted black women. This was our first experience with intergration. In the mess hall the food was served by German prisoners of war. They were very young, blonde, and most handsome men. We turned in equipment, had all kinds of physical exams and etc. to get relieved of active duty. It was here that I got four gold stripes - one for each six months of overseas service - to wear on the left sleeve of my dress uniform. I was awarded the Asiatic-Pacific Theater ribbon with three battle stars, the Philippine Liberation ribbon with one star and the Victory Medal. On November 14, 1945, I left Ft. Sam Houston by train at 7:15 p.m. and arrived in New Orleans at 10:30 a.m. It was heaven to be home again. This is written many years afterwards and I have forgotten many details. I do have my 201 file with all my orders, but due to the rigid censorship the name of where you were going was just a PO number. My 24th birthday was celebrated in Brisbane, Australia. My friends went to a bakery to buy a birthday cake for me. they asked to have it decorated with frosting. When they returned to pick it up they were surprised at how heavy it felt. When it was cut everyone was amazed to see that it was some kind of fruit cake. My 25th birthday was celebrated two weeks late in Aitape, New Guinea, with General Wing and his officers. The General's birthday was in the middle of November. Some time that month I had a letter from my youngest sister telling me that the Red Cross would marry people by proxy. She wished that I would look into it and maybe marry that young man from Wisconsin because she found it an embarrassment to have an old maid sister. In Australia I had a black patient tell me he had come over on the same ship that I was on and how to get along in the army. He said to just put yourself in neutral and let them shove you around. It did not take me too long to realize that I had made my last decision when I joined the Army. I did what ever I was ordered to do. I was most fortunate, because I was never sick a day and I never had a patient die while I was on duty. Our patients were transferred to general hospitals as soon as trans- portation was available. I feel sure some never made it home. In Aitape, New Guinea, there was a story going round that if you wanted a live Jap prisoner for interrogation you had to offer a case of beer as a reward and then you would give out of beer. At Ft. Sam Houston we nurses were offered a promotion to Major if we would sign up for three years of duty. No one in my unit accepted the offer. Until the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan none of us could see an end to the war. I felt lucky to have seen so much of the world while I was in the service. I admit that I was very tempted to stay in, but my father was ill and I wanted to get on with the normal way of living. That meant getting married and having a family. My time in the Army Nurse Corps was April 1, 1943 until January 17, 1946, twenty-six months were spent over- seas. -------- Newspaper clippings: 12 Mar 1943 Miss Hilda Phillips, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R.E. Phillips of St. Helena parish has received her commission as lieutenant in the Nursing Corps at Camp Barkley, Abiline, Texas. Lt. Phillips was graduated from the Baptist Hos- pital, New Orleans, and from Mar- garet Hague Memorial Hospital, Jersey City, New Jersey. 9 Apr 1943 Miss Hilda Phillips, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R.E. Phillips of St. Helena parish has been commis- sioned a second lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps, and assigned to Camp Barkley, station hospital near Abilene, Texas. A graduate of the Baptist Hospital in New Or- leans, she is also enrolled in the Red Cross Nursing Service. 29 Sept. 1944 Lt. Hilda M. Phillips is a new subscriber to The Echo and we hope she will enjoy news from home. Lt. Phillips is somewhere in Australia. * * *