Women’s Army Corps WWII Hero Series
Mabel Jaques – WAC Nurse
Mabel’s Memoirs, part 3
MY LIFE in the SERVICE:
By Karen A. Smith
We left off the story when it was June of 1944. Mabel had boarded the Aqua Tania and was headed for an undisclosed destination with other military medical staff.
On June 29, 1944, we pulled into the Firth of Clyde and landed at L’landudno, Wales. It was a beautiful and quaint place, just like a picture book. Since the tide was out we stayed overnight on the boat and disembarked in the morning. After the tide came in, the nurses took us to our next destination. A Scottish band was there to greet us. The Red Cross was also there with coffee, donuts and cigarettes. While we were staying in private homes, if we wanted a bath, we had to tell the owner. They would then light the water heater. We were only allowed enough water to cover our bodies because water was rationed.
On the third day we boarded a train and rode to North Mims, England, arriving about 7pm. We were assigned to First General Hospital (in Paris) until our hospital train was ready. Our sleeping quarters were tents in a small field on the hospital grounds.
We had heard from others that the Germans were sending “Doodle Bugs” or “Flying Buzz Bombs” over England. These were small unmanned planes with bombs. They were programmed so that when the engine went off, they would then drop to the ground and explode. One never knew where they would land.
A few times we heard them above us and would go outside to watch for them. The tail of these planes had a huge streak of fire. The head nurse of the hospital set all of us straight on watching the bombs. When the siren sounded, everyone was to take shelter until the “All Clear!” signal. Since we were housed in tents, our shelter was under our cots. About ten days after our arrival, one of the Buzz Bombs did land on the hospital property and left a big crater. Luckily it did not hit any of the hospital buildings and no one was hurt.
After two months of waiting for orders we finally received them. Fierce fighting was going on in the front line and there was a great need to evacuate the wounded to safer areas. Our train was well equipped. The nurses and officers had rooms in front, 2 nurses to a room. We had a club car where we could go to relax when we were not on duty. The enlisted men’s quarters were separated from the officers’ quarters by a large dining car and kitchen. There were ten box cars carrying about 1,020 patients on stretchers. It was a very crude set up, but at least it was transportation.
The countryside was beautiful. However, we did see a few places where bombs had landed and left huge craters. It was an amazing sight. Outlining some of the craters were red poppies growing in the ruins. It was there to remind us that much blood had been shed during those bombing raids.
We finally found out our destination as we pulled into St. Lazar Station in Paris, France. It reminded me of Penn Station in New York. People were scurrying here and there. There was another hospital train in the station also waiting for orders. We were to bring patients from evacuation hospitals (where the medics brought patients in from the front battle lines) back to First General Hospital. This was the start of over fifty trips. We were on the go all the time sleeping or resting on our way to get more patients.
We also had prisoners of war (Germans). Very few of these men could speak any English. These men were very young, often hard looking and acting. Nurses were not allowed to go into their cars unless two medics were by our side. We didn’t trust what these men would do to one of us nurses.
Some of the soldiers had been fighting for a long time and when they saw the army nurses (women), they were very excited and a lot of times they would whistle when we entered the room. Nurses wore army fatigues which were quite baggy looking, but as one of the soldiers said, “We were looking good – we were USA women.”
Some of our trips would take two or three days depending on the destination. The medics and nurses would take time to just talk to the soldiers. We heard many sad stories.
When I was at Fort Custer, there was a soldier there who had lost both feet. He got around on crutches. The hospital was fitting him for feet. He was very optimistic. He said when he learned to walk again, he was going to take his girls out dancing. Many of the fellows had what we called battle fatigue. They would not even talk, but rather just sit and stare into space. The physiological effect on the men who were in the battle a long time was very traumatic to them.
Some days when we were traveling on the train, we would go through three or four different countries, such as France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein, to pick up patients. The farthest that we would go was into Achaean, Germany. That city appeared to be totally destroyed.
End of Part 3
