The Delaware State Guard, A History

The Delaware State Guard, A History

Brig. Gen. Kennard R. Wiggins, (DE ANG Ret)

The National Guard has its roots in the pre-colonial militia when “minutemen” citizen soldiers took up arms as needed to defend their homes and farms in their communities.  It is an organization that steadily increased its breadth of capability in order to defend the state, and the nation, at home and then overseas.  It progressively became more professional with higher standards of performance and with increasingly sophisticated equipment and training. Its mission evolved from a local defense force to an organization designed for the dual role of protecting state and nation.

In peacetime the National Guard commander is the governor and the Guard is a resource for civil emergency, natural disaster relief, and other state needs.  Yet in war, the Guard could be federalized and become a national asset commanded by the President to defend the country.  The question that then arose; If the National Guard is federalized and deployed, then who would look to the traditional mission needs of the state?

During the preparedness period just prior to U.S. involvement in World War I, Congress consented to establishing home defense forces for the states in the event that the National Guard was federalized. Subsequently, state legislatures authorized defense forces. The Home Defense Act of June 1917 authorized the Secretary of War to equip these “home guards” with missions focused on security and civil defense.

Additionally, the nationally-based U.S. Guard, which came to number 26,000, was established as a facsimile of Britain’s Home Guard. By 1918, over 100,000 men were serving in 42 state guards. But rather than use the militia to build the regular army, during the war the military relied primarily on draft calls to fill the huge manpower requirement required of the “Army of the United States” formally established in July 1918. The War Department also created the “U.S. Guards”, an organization that consisted of 25,000 men culled from the ranks of those deemed unfit for overseas deployment, to oversee internal security.

The coming of the next World War was a turning point for the state militias. Both the state defense forces and the National Guard itself had declined in numbers and readiness during the interwar years.

As war clouds in Europe and Asia began to threaten, on September 16^th, 1940 the Delaware National Guard was called up for federal service by Executive Order Number 8530 for a one year term by President Roosevelt as part of the largest peacetime mobilization in the nation’s history.  The 198^th Coast Artillery was sent to New York.  Downstate, the 261^st Coast Artillery Battalion was trained at Fort DuPont and then later posted to Fort Miles.  Although they remained in state, they were now a federal asset whose focus was the defense of the Delaware Bay and river estuary.

State governors were uneasy over leaving their constituents unprotected, and thus state guards were recreated by the time of American entry into World War II. In 1940, Section 61 of the old National Defense Act of 1916 was modified to again allow the establishment of state defense forces. An amendment specified that state forces would be limited to duties as determined by their respective state governors.

Legislation was passed by the Delaware General Assembly on April 14, 1941 “to provide for the Creation, Maintenance, Discipline, Legislation and Use of the Delaware State Guard”[1] (significantly, well before war was declared).  This act enabled the State Guard to assume the state mission the Delaware National Guard had previously held. Their federalization effectively led to the disbandment of the organization until it could be re-organized post bellum. The legislation provided that the governor could establish a State Guard when the National Guard was in federal service, and could be organized and maintained as he felt necessary to defend the State. All members were to be uniformed volunteers. Although they were unpaid volunteers, if they were to be called out for an emergency, they would be granted pay and subsidence for each day’s service. 

Enlistments were for one year.  Members were not exempt from being called into federal service via the draft.  The State Guard was forbidden to serve outside state borders except with the consent of the governor, and the governor of the state to be entered.  In the case of “hot pursuit” of saboteurs, insurrectionists, and enemy forces, the guard could offer its services to a neighboring state, and reciprocity was anticipated if the reverse were true. Similarly, by Pearl Harbor, State Guards were stood up in 37 states and involved 90,000 men. By 1945, 47 states and territories had organized home guards consisting of 150,000 troops.[2]

In May 1941, Colonel J. Paul Heinel was appointed commanding officer of the Delaware State Guard by Paul R. Rinard, the Adjutant General for Delaware.  Heinel was a World War I veteran who had served with the “Fighting 69^th” and later commanded Battery D of the 198^th Regiment Coast Artillery.  He described the State Guard mission as: “The State Guard will be used as a reserve force only and then only for a short period. They will be called out only for emergency situations and then only for brief periods until relieved by other forces.”

Company A, Delaware State Guard, Wilmington Armory circa 1942

The organization began as one battalion, but over the course of the war it grew to a regiment with two battalions numbering some 450-500 men with seven line companies of soldiers. The men were ages 38-50 as well as younger men deferred because of dependents or occupations, those rejected because of slight physical disabilities, and youths of pre-induction age. The Journal Every Evening[3] described them as, “businessmen, tradesmen, professional men and workers at war plants.  During the day, they are plain Joe or Bill; Mr. Jones lawyer, or Mr. Smith architect. But on drill night, when they shed their civilian clothes and don regulation uniforms of the State Guard, they take over the responsibilities of their military ranks and become soldiers. ”

Colonel J. Paul Heinel added, “Men join the State Guard because they feel they want to be of some service to their country and their state. There is no compulsion in joining.”

Attached to Headquarters Company was a Grenadiers Platoon under Captain George H. Latham, trained to throw grenades, fire automatic weapons and operate gas and smoke dispensers. The organization included a medical detachment led by Major Raymond A. Lynch and a band under Captain J. Norris Robinson, who had been connected with Delaware National Guard Bands since 1902.

Delaware State Guard on Parade in Wilmington 1942

Ordnance and equipment were furnished by the federal government and uniforms initially by the state. The Delaware State Guard initially focused on a role as a combat unit, not as a police force. They followed training guidance from the Commanding General of the Second Service Command. The members drilled one night per week at their local armories. 

Before organizing annual summer encampments, the commissioned officers and NCOs conducted some training at St. Andrews school in Middletown, consisting of target practice, military tactics, and army regulations.

“A visitor is impressed at once with the earnestness with which the men take the volunteer work.  The huge hall echoes with the rhythmic “hup-hup-hup” of the drill masters, the tramp of recruits learning the new infantry movements, the maneuver of the “flying wedge” wrote a newspaper reporter. One soldier, Kenneth (K.P.) Brown found it remarkable that so many fellows would turn out and demonstrate so much enthusiasm without any recompense. Brown would later retire as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Delaware National Guard after three decades of service. He recalled that the weekly training focused on mostly on basic infantry skills, marching and drill.

The Journal Every Evening described the training activity as “One unit practices wedge formations, another studies the use of machine guns, a third takes apart and replaces Thompson submachine guns.  In the balcony, a group of men pores over topographical maps. In the headquarters a small battery of clerks works against time keeping records straight.”  Weather permitting, the company takes to the fields and wooded country of nearby Brandywine for brief maneuvers.  The men would also practice marksmanship at the rifle range. The standard weapon was an O-3, Springfield bolt action rifle, later in the war replaced by the M-1.

An early surprise mobilization of the State Guard was a success when 267 of the 350 men reported for assembly from all over the state in Dover during an April 1942 exercise. It was the first time they had swung into action and state officials were impressed with the response.

The first field encampment was held at Fort DuPont in July 31^st, to August 8, 1943.  The field training supplemented the fundamentals learned at weekly drill.  Two hundred men attended the one week encampment. The men fired Tommy guns, wore gas masks, and did field exercises, learning the basics of modern warfare. The exercise was paid a high compliment by Colonel George Ruhlen, the commanding officer at Fort DuPont for their proficiency. By June 1, 1944 they had received their outfit of Army uniforms in olive drab bearing the State Guard insignia as well as a consignment of submachine guns. Ken Brown recalls a blue uniform with a round hat before they began to wear the Army fatigues.

The War Department clarified the mission and emphasized their primary function was to insure the internal security of the State during the absence of the National Guard.  They did not view the State Guard as a combat unit for anything but the most sporadic of raids by an invading enemy. This statement of emphasis shifted the focus of training away from combat to internal security.

The State Guard staff drew up plans for the protection of vital installations. Power plants, utilities, and public supply facilities were to be prioritized and protected by the State Guard in the event of an insurrection or invasion. Each company was assigned a geographic area near its own base of operations, control posts were established and plans were made to deploy in an emergency.  The training syllabus included riot and crowd control techniques.

Picture dated 1944, Unknown members of the Delaware State Guard except “my dad” who is Walter M. Deputy

The second encampment was held at Fort DuPont from July 29 to August 6, 1944. Almost 300 officers and men were in attendance. Over 100 were awarded gold service stripes for perfect attendance during the previous year and 95 were given camp stripes for attendance at the previous year’s camp.

Occasionally the State Guard was employed for a local emergency.  On June 10^th, 1945 an Army Air Force plane crashed near Newark and the State Guard guarded the site of the crash until the wreckage could be trucked away to New Castle Army Air Base. [4]

The last wartime field training camp in 1945 was changed to the Bethany Beach Training Site.  The camp was named in honor of Governor Walter W. Bacon who was Delaware’s “war governor”.  The State Guard encampment was held from August 6-12. Some 450 officers and men engaged in field training and riot control drills. The Governor’s rifle matches and officer’s pistol matches were conducted.  “Governor’s Day” was the highlight of the camp as Governor Bacon awarded some 80 medals to the winners of the competition.  Regimental flags were presented to the Guard by the Chamber of Commerce.

A 14 year old Pvt. Raymond E. Deputy, in 1944, sporting the distinctive blue diamond patch of the Delaware State Guard

Raymond Deputy, a former State Guardsman relates, “During the 1945 camp we had German Prisoners of War held at Bethany, mostly veterans of the Afrika Corps.  We made daily runs to Fort Miles to pick up supplies, and took prisoners to do the heavy lifting. I was assigned to guard the Germans.  I was 14 years old at the time, and made corporal at 15 yrs old. I carried a single shot twelve-gauge shotgun, single barrel.  The Germans asked me if I would really use that thing, (I had only one cartridge) and I replied, they better not try me. The German POW's called me "Super Nazi" because of my youth.

The Fort was high security and we were not allowed to go anyplace but the PX and the Commissary, and the base movie. We were not allowed near the bunkers or the dock; you could see the mines on the dock but you couldn't get near the place.  My brother Marty was also there.” The Guard was often a family affair, Raymond and Martin Deputy were the sons of Major Walter M. Deputy, Second Battalion Commander.[5]

The troops were entertained by bowling for duck pins at a local bowling alley, Saturday movies, and ogling the girls on the beach, or on the modest boardwalk in the quiet resort town. They were treated well by the local citizenry, and made the occasional jaunt down to Ocean City to visit the one-armed bandits at the “Gold Coin” and the “Sandbar”.

The food at camp was cooked by German POWs and was described by Ken Brown as “adequate”.  He was intrigued upon encountering for the first time a German “pepper pot” as part of the menu.  This was a concoction prepared by the Germans from leftovers, mostly cabbage and vinegar. The soldiers slept either in barracks or in squad tents erected on concrete pads.

The first and last postwar encampment was once again held at Bethany Beach and named Camp Rechek after Colonel John Rechek who had been an early and ardent supporter of the State Guard as part of the Second Service Command, U.S. Army, responsible for State Guard activities.  He helped to organize the organization and followed it with great interest through its entire existence.  The camp was held August 3-11, 1946. Various units were awarded the Delaware Blue Fighting Cock for efficiency.

With the re-activation of the Delaware National Guard the Delaware State Guard was inactivated after five years of service.  A public ceremony was held at the Wilmington Armory at 10^th and DuPont streets on January 3, 1947.  The program included a regimental formation and review of the troops by Governor Bacon. Colonel Heinel was presented a silver tray by the officers and men of the Regiment. He also received the Delaware Conspicuous Service Cross presented by Adjutant General Paul R. Rinard. The regimental colors were furled and retired and the deactivation order was read.  In part, it said:

      The record of achievement by the Delaware State Guard has been one that will be forever a standard for the military organizations of the State to emulate. The services have been voluntary and unpaid, the sacrifices in time and energy beyond calculation, and at all times this organization was ready, willing, and able to perform had the need arisen. The people of the State of Delaware recognize these facts and gratefully acknowledge them. To the officers and men who have so ably and honorably upheld the rich traditions of the citizen-soldiery of the State go the thanks of the State.”

Governor Bacon added in his remarks, “It is too bad that the Guard must disband. I am sure the bonds of friendship developed in the guard will in time result in a civilian organization that will ever remind us of the important part the Delaware State Guard has played”

Many (perhaps most) State Guardsmen who were able, soon joined the Delaware National Guard and continued their service to their state and country.

The state guards declined again after World War II’s conclusion. Operative parts of the 1940 enabling legislation were rescinded, and the National Security Act of 1947 ignored the state guards entirely.

Indeed, a 1948 Defense Department board even suggested doing away with the National Guard as a federal reserve force and instead melding it into the Organized Reserve. This trend held until the advent of the Korean War. During the 1950s, the National Guard Bureau directed that states temporarily maintain cadres of military personnel to assist with planning. Federal legislation for the creation of state defense forces was enacted by the 84th Congress in Public Law 364 of 1955 and in the State Defense Forces Act of the United States of 1958.

Delaware no longer maintains a State Guard.  Some 23 states maintain a State Guard or a State Defense Force including neighboring Maryland and New Jersey.  In the aftermath of 9/11 in 2001, the need for homeland defense forces gained renewed debate and discussion.  Efforts to revive this force in Delaware have not generated enough interest to be successful, however.

Appendix A

Delaware State Guard Regimental Staff (as of August 6, 1945)

      Colonel J. Paul Heinel, commanding officer of the Delaware State Guard

      Lieutenant Colonel Victor Clark, executive officer

      Major Ralph E. Buckalew, plans and training.

Major Raymond Lynch, commanding officer, Medical Detachment

Captain James D. Quillen, ordnance and transportation officer

Captain Frank S. Carrow, summary court officer

Captain Leroy W. Lowe, (later Major) quartermaster and regimental supply officer

Captain William D. Munds, Chaplain

Captain C. Layton Allen, assistant adjutant and gas officer

Captain John C. Cole, assistant plans and training officer

Captain J. Norris Robinson, band director

The First Battalion was commanded by Major Joseph Holland Prettyman with Lieutenant William W. Noling as adjutant.  It consisted of:

Company B of Dover, commanded by Captain Cedric E. Cooper, assisted by Lieutenant Nelson S. Everheart.

Company C of Milford, commanded by Captain J.H. Roosa assisted by Lieutenants William D. Kimmel, and Leslie C. Greenly.

Company D of Middletown commanded by Captain (later Major) Walden Pell II, and assisted by Lieutenants Robert C. Heller and Lewis Mondes.

Second Battalion was commanded by Major Walter M. Deputy with Lieutenant Thomas C. Sullivan as adjutant. It consisted of:

Company A of Wilmington, commanded by Captain Jonathan G. Wells Jr., assisted by Lieutenants Michael F. Analfatine and A.P. Downing.

Company E of New Castle, commanded by Captain Thomas Herlihy, (Mayor of Wilmington) assisted by Lieutenants Relio Devoto, and Thomas L. Carpenter Jr.

Company F of Wilmington, commanded by Captain William R. Wilson assisted by Lieutenants Frank J. Reese, and Grant R. Weldin.

Company G of Newark, commanded by Captain William E. Donnell assisted by Lieutenants Johnson Reeves, and William a. Greenwell.

Other officers who served with the State Guard included:

            Major James Warner Bellah

            Captain William A. Leach

            Captain Lawrence Lapetina

            Lieutenant James E. Manlove

            Lieutenant Carmen Palmiotti

            Lieutenant William W. Bolen

            Lieutenant Harry L. Maier Jr.

            Lieutenant Fred D. Taylor

            Lieutenant Earl P. Schubert

            Lieutenant William D. Moore

            Lieutenant John L. Stidham

            Lieutenant Harry E. Best

            Lieutenant Wallace McKnitt

End Notes/Bibliography

The most comprehensive account of the Delaware State Guard is “Delaware’s
Role in World War II” in two volumes by William H. Conner and Leon deValinger Jr. published by the Public archives Commission State of Delaware, Dover DE 1955. The account therein of the Delaware State Guard was provided by Colonel J. Paul Heinel , regimental commander. A very significant portion of the history related above was from this book.

An excellent short history of the State Guard in States across the nation is, “America’s State Defense Forces: An Historical Component of National Defense, by Dr. Kent G. Sieg, State Defense Force Journal, Volume 1, Issue 1, Fall 2005

An early account of the progress of the nascent organization can be found at “State Guard Is Becoming Well Disciplined Infantry Unit; Strength to be Increased to 600” Wilmington DE Journal Every Evening. August 24, 1942

This short history is also based on interviews with former State Guardsmen Kenneth (K.P.) Brown and Raymond E. Deputy on July 22, 2010

The Delaware Legislation establishing the State Guard is TITLE 20, Military and Civil Defense, Military, CHAPTER 3. STATE DEFENSE FORCES § 301. Establishment and composition.  Can be found at: http://delcode.delaware.gov/title20/c003/index.shtml#TopOfPage

“The State Guard Experience and Homeland Defense”

Prepared, submitted and approved as a United States Army War College research paper on 9 May 2003. by Colonel Andre N. Coulombe (USAR). Can be found at:

http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA499045&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf

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[1] TITLE 20, Military and Civil Defense, Military, CHAPTER 3. STATE DEFENSE FORCES § 301. Establishment and composition.

[2] America’s State Defense Forces: An Historical Component of National Defense, Dr. Kent G. Sieg, State Defense Force Journal, Volume 1, Issue 1, Fall 2005

[3] “State Guard Is Becoming Well Disciplined Infantry Unit; Strength to be Increased to 600” Wilmington DE Journal Every Evening. August 24, 1942

[4] http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/default.htm  Aircraft was a C-45F #44 86972, from Pope Airfield North Carolina piloted by Douglas T. Goodale who perished in the crash.

[5] Major Walter Deputy’s grandson is the author of this history.  

Lt. James Allison O'Daniel -First Delaware casualty WWI

O’Daniel, Lt. James Allison

Born 4 October 1895, Newark Delaware, died 27 July 1918, France

James Allison O’Daniel was born in Newark Delaware, the son of James and Nora Wilson O’Daniel. At the time of his birth, his parents lived at 315 E. Main Street with Mr. and Mrs. James Alexander Wilson, his maternal grandparents.  Much of Allison’s early childhood was spent in Chester County Pennsylvania.  After his mother’s death, in 1914, he returned to Newark to reside with his aunts, the Misses Nell and Etta Wilson.

In 1914 he entered Delaware College, now the University of Delaware, and in July of 1914 he enlisted in Company E of the Delaware National Guard.  He served on the Mexican Border for seven months as a member of that unit in 1916-1917.

Allison was back in college when the Delaware Regiment was organized.  Al O’Daniel was a member of the Delaware College Class of 1918 (now the University of Delaware) having volunteered for service before graduating.  Before going overseas, he had been living with his brother John Wilson O’Daniel and Aunts Etta J. Wilson, and Willie Nelson in their home at 313 E. Main Street in Newark.

He enlisted in the Delaware regiment, which became part of the 59^th Pioneers, and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant.  Assigned to Camp McClellan, Austin Texas, he attended the School of Military Aeronautics, graduating and reporting overseas in July 1917.  In Europe he attended two additional flying schools, and was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant, Signal Corps. After August 1, 1918 Lt. O’Daniel was scheduled to go to an active combat air unit. 

1st Lieutenant O’Daniel was attached to the 2^nd Aviation Instruction Center.  He was a camera man and observer on a reconnaissance flight.  He died when his plane went down over France before the battle of Chateau Thiery.  James Allison O’Daniel was the first Delawarean to be killed in action in World War I. 

Al O’Daniel was buried first at Camp Coetquidan in Morbihan France and the reburied at Oise-Aisne American Cemetery, Fere-en-Tardenois, Aisne France (Block C, Row 16, Grave 17) on 13 September 1922.

Lt. James Allison O’Daniel’s name is engraved on a bronze plaque in the center hall of the University of Delaware’s Memorial Hall, and his name is inscribed in the Book of Remembrance which has the names of those who died in WWI from Delaware.  This book is in a glass-covered case in the middle of the hall and currently members of the ROTC ceremoniously turn a page every day to display another name of one who died in the War.

He was the younger brother of Lieutenant General “Iron Mike” John Wilson O’Daniel.  VFW Post Number 475 and American Legion Post Number 10 of Newark are named after Lt. J. Allison O’Daniel who was called Al by most of his friends.

Since his mother and grandmother were deceased, his step-mother, Anna, made the Gold Star Pilgrimage for War Mothers and Widows in 1931 to visit his grave. She traveled to France on the SS President Roosevelt and returned home on the SS Washington. This pilgrimage was made possible by an act of Congress of 2 March 1929.

Ruth Dorsman, Army Nurse

I've been collecting stories, oral histories, and biographies of Delawareans.  This account opened my eyes to the stresses of women at war in the Army Nurse Corps.  Her bravery and the hardships she endured are the equal of the experience of many combat veterans.  - Angus

First Lieutenant Ruth M. (Haddick) Dorsman

Army Nurse Corps

Ruth M. (Haddick) Dorsman was born in 1921 in Baltimore Maryland.  After graduating from Nursing School, emulating her brother, she enlisted as an Army Nurse in 1942. In October 1943 she shipped out for overseas service in Southern England. Her military career assumed real significance as she landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day plus six, June 12, 1944.  Her unit leapfrogged across France, Belgium and Germany, survived the Battle of the Bulge and witnessed the crossing of the Rhine at Remagen.  She stopped just 60 miles short of Berlin at War’s end. Her unit had won five battle stars and a Presidential Unit Citation.  Ruth met her husband Henri Dorsman after the War.  He had served in England as well, with the Army Air Corps. They were married and settled in Newark Delaware, raising a family of three.  Their shop, Dorsman’s Hobby Toyland was established originally on Main Street in an old A&P food store. Later they moved across the street to the corner of Main and Choate Street where Happy Harry’s is located today.  Ruth Dorsman has traveled extensively, taught class, and written several books.  She gained experience as a caregiver, an entrepreneur, and a pioneer who ventured where few women of her time would go.  She refers to her World War II experience as among her greatest accomplishments.  What follows is an excerpt from her journals relating to her Army career.

            I was in my senior year of Nursing School in Baltimore Maryland when on December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.  Not long after my only sibling, my brother Harold W. Haddick joined the Army Air Corps, so that determined my course of action.  I would join the Army Nurse Corps, but first I must finish my senior year, and pass my State Board Exams. As soon as this was completed, I went to Headquarters Third Service Command in Baltimore and enlisted.

            On November 1, 1942 I reported for duty at Fort Eustis Virginia.  It was a wonderful post with a very nice General Hospital, housed in Army Barracks connected by catwalks.  We were immediately assigned to ward duty and indoctrinated into the Army way of life.  Nursing duties were not unlike those in civilian hospitals and we wore the same white uniforms. We started as Second Lieutenants and beginning pay was a $100 per month, although that included living quarters and subsistence.  Food was served in the Officer’s Mess in the Hospital. We were also taught close-order drill and we marched in “Review”.  Our first uniforms were Navy colored, trimmed in Maroon, although this was soon changed to official Army Olive Drab, and we also got a pay raise.  Our first outfits were G.I. – Government Issue.

            In July of 1943, twenty-one nurses were recruited to be shipped to Camp Livingstone, Louisiana where we joined nurses fro other camps to become the 100 nurse compliment of the 58^th General Hospital bound for overseas.  At Camp Livingstone we had no nursing duties, but we spent the month there going through rigorous overseas training. We were issued all of our combat gear including clothing which consisted of Fatigue uniforms, jackets, heavy-duty shoes, and helmets.  We were loaded down with equipment – bedrolls, duffel bags, musette bags, gas masks, mess kits, canteens etc.  On top of that we endured medical and dental exams, received numerous inoculations against everything imaginable, blood tests, and typing; we received our dog tags and were fingerprinted for our new identification cards.

            Our training was almost as harsh as the men’s.  We went on many hikes; some of them were overnight so we could test our bedrolls.  Close order drill was a daily occurrence; we were even subjected to Infiltration Courses.   We had several chances to test our gas masks when they would suddenly, without warning, spray the area with tear gas.  Or better still, when we were subjected to “Lethal Gas” chambers just to prove that our gas masks worked.

            Finally, after a month of this, we were all declared “Combat Ready”.   The Post Office was kept busy, because we all had to pack up all unnecessary clothing and personal belongings, including cameras and diaries.  These were considered risky because if you were captured by the enemy, these could reveal Army secrets.  Most of us took a small camera anyway; mine was cheap, took very small black and white blurry pictures, which I am sure, could not have been any help to the enemy at all.  Likewise my diary was a small notebook, very dull reading.  I am really sorry that I didn’t record more pertinent information about our hospital – it would make writing this story now after 60 years so much easier and more accurate.

            Finally, in August, our entire 58^th Hospital came together as one unit and met on the train.  Nurses, Medical Doctors, and Personnel and enlisted en took up the entire train of day coaches.  It took a full three days to reach Camp Shanks New York, our P.O.E. (point of embarkation). But it was not to be.  There were German U-boats patrolling the Atlantic shipping lanes.  It was too dangerous to send a convoy through.  So, off we went to Fort Devons, Massachusetts for five more weeks of drill. This time, for diversification, they added “Pitching Pup Tents”, but still no nursing.

            In October we came down to Fort Dix New Jersey, another P.O.E. but this time we did ship out.  At 2 A.M. on Friday October 7, we left New York harbor in the middle of a large convoy of Navy ships.  We were on the S.S, Monterrey, a converted Cunard Line cruise ship with more than 7000 passengers on board.  Officers were eight to a room on hammocks piled four high. Food was in the Dining Room and was actually really good.  Enlisted men did not fare so well.  They all bunked below decks and in the hold and their food was from the “chow line”.  By the second day out, the seas became pretty rough, and lots of soldiers came own with seasickness.  I felt fine, so I volunteered to work in sick bay everyday from one to seven P.M.  We had three days of rain but the seas finally calmed down.  On Tuesday October 19 we docked at Liverpool England.  We finally debarked at ten P.M. (the Army always moves at night). The Red Cross, bless them, were waiting with coffee and donuts.  We marched to the train which was an all-night ride to our destination in the Cotswold Hills of Southern England.

            We lived in Quonset huts, each containing eight single beds and pot-bellied stove.  There were many such huts for living quarters, offices, mess hall, a recreation hut and several hospital wards, all on a lovely farmland surrounded by a stone fence.  It was not really a working hospital, usually just one ward was open mundane complaints as colds, upset stomachs, aching muscles etc.   So, with one hundred nurses available, we rarely had to go on duty.  So, guess what?! We had time to fall out or close-order drill ad exercises.  We spent a cold, wet winter in England.  It rained a lot, not a downpour, just a misty drizzle; not enough to keep us indoors, so we marched in the rain.

            But all was not lost.  Some of us bought bicycles.  I used mine to great advantage, riding for miles around the countryside.  Our commanding officers were quite liberal with leaves and consequently I spent many weekends in London.  There was much to see and do spite of the nightly German air raids. Sometimes there were direct bomb hits and we had to seek shelter in the underground metros.  In spite of all the devastation and destruction, the Brits carried on.  They were reserved, but quite friendly; they treated us well.  I also visited many other famous places in England such as Bath, Oxford, and Shakespeare’s Avon.  I had a week’s leave so I spent that touring Scotland.  Of course there was always a friendly pub, with drinking, singing, games and camaraderie.

            A general hospital is the last stop in the line of wartime facilities.  First was the Field Hospital, which stayed close to the front line, took in all major casualties for operation, and backed up the major battles.  Next came the Evacuation and Station Hospital, larger and not so mobile, who took evacuations from the Field Hospital and overflow surgical as well as medical emergencies.  They were the back-up for the Field Hospital.  Lastly came the General Hospital which had a ore permanent set-up and took care of everything.

            I was with the 58^th General Hospital, but I really wanted to be with a field unit, so I kept putting in for a transfer.  I became such a nuisance that in the Spring of 1944 my transfer finally came through.  In fact, in the month of May  I was sent to four different locations.   First I spent a week at Station Hospital that certainly did not need me at all; this was in Southhampton.  Nest I was with an Evacuation Hospital for a few days, but finally was sent to the 51^st Field Hospital to replace a nurse who was ill and had to be sent home. 

            The 51^st was located in cheddar, England and we were billeted in private homes with local families.  This was the first week in June; the invasion was imminent and we were scheduled to take part. Our Chief Nurse was Myrtle Evans.  Major McCafferty, who was the Chief Nurse of the entire 7^th Corps, joined us temporarily.   We were transferred to a staging area on the Southwester tip of England, called Land’s End.  We were in tents awaiting the invasion. At last on Tuesday June 6, 1944 the invasion began on the beaches of Normandy.

            On June 9, we marched to the port and boarded the British Liberty Ship “Francis Drake” with orders not to undress while we were on board.  We each received nine packages of “C” Rations, our food for the next three days.  We slept in hammocks, four high.  The ship remained in port for the next two days, then late the second night we sailed.  The English Channel was fairly calm now and about six A.M. on the morning of June 12 we anchored off the coast of Omaha Beach.  Literally hundreds of ships lay at anchor al around us, just beyond the range of German shells that frequently hit the water and exploded.  To avoid making us a tempting target the nurses were not allowed off the ship until after dark, at which time a large rope net was tossed over the side of the ship and all eighteen nurses scrambled down the side into waiting Landing Craft, followed by al the other soldiers on board.  The crafts quickly headed into shore, the font of the ship came down and we waded ashore, across the beach and climbed up the now well-worn paths to the top of the cliff, where the nurses re-grouped to await orders.

            We were met by some of our male officers.  Our enlisted men had landed tow days before and as soon as our trucks loaded with supplies arrived, they set up our tents and hospital units.  Our hospital was located atop the cliff near to St. Laurent and Vierville.  The front line was just four miles inland, with the First and Twenty-Ninth Divisions at the front.  Our hospital had already taken in patients and had started operating.  Half of the nurse went on duty that night.  The rest slept and came on duty at eight A.M.  I took the first shift, but by eight A.M. we had so many Post-Op patients and were so busy that I just stayed until noon.  And that’s the way it would be for the next five days in this location. Work your twelve hour shift and stay three or four hours overtime and sleep the hours in between.

            All the nurses just jumped right in and did whatever needed to done, all urgent stuff like give I.V.s, administer oxygen, pass stomach tubes and set up suctions, possibly change bandages, and give shots.  We were given a new drug, still in the experimental stage to use on all patients to see how well it worked,  It was called “Penicillin”.  We added 20cc distilled water to a small amount of powder in a small vial, thoroughly shook it up, withdrew the fluid inot a 20cc syringe, thus we could administer one cc to twenty patients by just changing the needle between patients.  Actually at this first location we discovered that we did not have nearly enough needles, so undaunted, we lit a match under the needle after each shot until the match burned out, thus producing a reasonably sterile needle.  Every patient received a shot of Penicillin every four hours.  We never had a reaction; Penicillin was a new drug, so no one had developed and allergy to it yet. 

            I’ll take the space here for a brief description of how a Field Hospital works.  First of all, it has the supplies and enough tents and equipment to form three separate complete hospital units.  These three units can spread out to take care of a large area.  When the front moves forward – the hospital unit in the rear can evacuate all its patients and move to the forward position.  The unit in the middle can still be operating but start to evacuate its patients then it can jump to the front. In this way we can play leap-frog and keep pace with the front line.  Each unit has ten Two and a Half ton trucks with trailers that the men can fold up, load all the equipment, and be ready to move in one or two hours.  So the units are very mobile.

            Each unit has six nurses (three day nurses, three night nurses), this means that one nurse per tent with two or three ward men is taking care of thirty or more seriously wounded patients.  Besides our won four doctors who act as assistants, we had a special attachment of surgical teams four surgeons and four surgical nurses, who do all the operations, thus we can keep two or three operating tables busy 24 hours a day.

            Each infantry battalion had its own medics and battalion aid station.  When a soldier is wounded at the front he is picked up by medics, put on a stretcher, and given first aid at the aid station.  As soon as possible he is in an ambulance on his way back to the Field Hospital where he goes into the Receiving/Shock Tent.  Minor wounds that were transportable were sent back to the larger hospitals.  Field Hospitals kept only seriously wounded patients that could not be transported.   These patients were recorded, then immediately given Shock treatment, blood, oxygen, wounds cleansed and bleeding controlled, whatever necessary to stabilize then and prepare them for surgery.   Today I guess that would be called Triage, but that was not yet a word in 1944.  There were always some patients that we were unable to save, some that never made it to surgery.  Our mortality rate among Post-Operatives was generally under ten percent which, all things considered, was very good.

            As soon as a one of the surgeons completed an operation, he went to shock tent, took whatever patient was ready, regardless of the nature of the wound.  Most operations took about three to four hours. Then the patient wsa taken to the Post-Op tent, and his stretcher was placed on the closest empty cot.  There the post-op nurse took over.  This was my domain, where I almost always worked.  The Doctors never took time to write orders – they were all routine.  Once in a while there would be a case that would require special treatment.  Te the doctor usually came over to explain it.  Ninety percent of our patients were either abdominal or chest wounds. Chest mainly required oxygen.  Abdominal required a stomach tube connected to a suction apparatus.  Of course, we had no suction apparatus, but with two empty IV bottle (which wer glass) and IV tubing it took but a few minutes to rig one up and they worked exceptionally well.  All abdominals also had a temporary colostomy which required frequent dressing changes.  And of course every patient received an IV (1000cc glucose or normal saline) twice a day.  We had no constant drip IVs back then.  In fact, nothing ws disposable back then.  We had a small gas stove under a little tank of water in which we boiled all our needles, clamps etc.  Water came from our poratable tan on wheels.  There was a central supply that sterilized al our bandages. O.R. instruments, supplies etc.  We did have a small generator that supplied electricity to the O.R. shock tent, X-ray, and whatever else absolutely needed it, but not to Post-Op – at night we worked by lantern light.

            We had very few amputations as I recall.  Perhaps these were among the patients we sent back to larger hospitals.  We had occasional head wounds and usually at least two or three burn patients.  These were Tankers, whose tank had been hit by flame throwers.  The heat inside the tank seared all exposed areas f skin, mostly face head and arms.  These were treated with Vaseline bandages and with both hands and face completely covered; they required special help with everything they did.  Besides that, they usually suffered several days of delirium.

            Every patient arrived in the Post-Op ward still on the same stretcher that brought him from the front line.  He was still fully clothed. In Shock Ward his clothes had been cut away to expose the area of his wound. That area was thoroughly cleansed and was sufficient space for the surgeon to perform the operation.  As soon as we had the time after an unconscious patient arrived from O.R. we removed all of his clothes.  The easiest way to accomplish this was to use our bandage scissors, cut through al layers of clothing, top to bottom and slip them off.  These clothes and shoes were discarded.  We always checked the pockets and saved his personal items in a cloth pouch tied to each cot. We had no sheets, pillow, pajamas etc.  Such frills were considered excess baggage and not necessary for the patient’s welfare. So each and every patient lay on a cot with “scratchy” wool Army blankets under him, covering him, and folded up as pillows under his head.  But did any of them ever complain?  NEVER!  Rarely did we hear any complaints form our patients – they were so happy to be alive and so brave!

           

            Nurse duties consisted of strictly important nursing procedures.  Thirty to fifty seriously ill patients were cared for by one nurse and two r three ward men.  These young men had only a minimal basic medical training, but they were terrific and such a big help to us. There was no time for basic ward duties – we did not take routine temperatures, did not give daily baths, there were no linens to change etc.  Best of all, there was no charting.  In that “Ditty Bag” on each soldier’s cot was one sheet of paper with only pertinent information. About the only thing we had to record was the time a narcotic was administered.  The office took care of his personal record that went with him on evacuation. We held to sanitary conditions as nearly as possible and rarely had infections beyond occasional respiratory problems.  The new sulpha drugs and Penicillin were the miracle drugs- they kept infections to a minimum, promoting healing and saved lives.

            After five extremely busy days of duty at our first set-up on the hill above Omaha Beach, we caught a break.  Our other two units had set up ahead of us, so we stopped receiving and began to evacuate all of our patients.  Since there were still no hospitals to back us up on Omaha, our patients were taken by ambulance to the /beach, put on now empty landing craft and taken back to England.  Also by now, there was a landing strip eight miles away at Utah Beach, where fighting and German resistance had been much less severe.  Planes with Air Corps Nurses made several flights a day to evacuate up to fifteen patients each trip back to England.  This early evacuation was out of necessity – eventually we set a routine that Chest cases were not to be transported back before seven days, abdominal cases not before ten days.

            Statistics:  During that first five day period, the 1^st unit alone handled:

Total Admissions                  636

Total Operations                   356

Died before Operation         15

Died Post Operation            11

Mortality Rate                        less than 5%

The rest of the patients were evacuated unoperated.

With only two days rest, our unit packed up ad moved to Cartigny Epinay near St. Lo, backing the 29^th Division.  This was a very busy set-up.  The Germans put up a very stubborn resistance to hold St. Lo; actually six weeks of heavy fighting, which means we had many casualties.  On July 25^th the Allies got really mad and they flew a steady bombardment with 3000 planes over St. Lo.  The sky over our hospital was black with planes and just kept coming.  This so demolished St. Lo that the Germans gave up and retreated. The Allies took St. Lo.

On July 30 we moved to a new location just a few miles past St.Lo, another busy set-up.  We were in a field right next to an Artillery Battalion.  On August 5, one of my ward men, Sergeant Eugene Trestor was killed.  He had grabbed a stretcher and ran to the next field to rescue a wounded soldier.   While carrying him out, Trestor stepped on bouncing “S” mine that went through his head and killed him instantly.  This really touched all of us.  We had a church service for him and Trestor was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal.

We really worked hard and steady, exceptionally busy when there were battles just ahead of us.  Sometimes, when there was a great number of patients, an extra Post-Op tent could be set up to take care of the overflow.  When there was a heavy concentration of fighting, two or even all three of our units could be set up together to cover the battle area.  Our supplies came in regularly by ship and were usually no problem.  At one point near St. Lo we were experiencing and extreme shortage of Blood, but this was largely overcome by  volunteers donors from nearby troops.

Many times shells and bombs landed dangerously close to our hospital, but fortunately, there were no direct hits.  We had no lights or heat in our living areas and some nights could be pretty cold.  Our water tank was kept full of drinkable water.  We bathed in a helmet-full of cold water.  Our toilets were slit trenches, or a hole in the ground.  Most of the time we had a seat, and we were afforded privacy by a tarp around all four sides, but no roof.  Our constant attire was Army Fatigues and men’s high top shoes, and we usually had to wear our heavy jackets to keep warm on duty.  General duty was twelve hour shifts, 8 to 8, either day or night.  There were times when there was a lull in the fighting.  When there were no battles, there were no casualties, se we spent days sometimes doing nothing., just sitting in a field in bivouac.  But we did keep moving, field to field, to keep up with our troops.

Still, even with all the work, we had time to play.  The officers from nearby were happy to visit with us or take us to a party at their headquarters (nurses being the only available women).  As soon as they captured a town, the fighting units took domain over any brewery, distillery, or wine cellar they could find, so there was no shortage of refreshments.  The nurses had nothing else to do with their spare time and we really enjoyed their company also…

During all this time of German occupation of France, a growing “underground army” called the Free French kept forming.  In essence, they were spies, getting information per radio back to England.  Of course many had been apprehended tortured and killed. As the Allies liberated towns and areas the Free French came out of hiding to join our forces.  By the time we reached Paris, 30,000 French troops had been added to our numbers.  Paris was liberated on August 25, without a fight.  The First Army held back and allowed the Free French under command of General Le Clerc to march in and accept the surrender from German General Von Chalitz.  Von Chalitz had orders from Hitler to burn Paris to the ground, but he just did not have the heart to do it.  General Charles de Gaulle who had been commander of all French Armies when Hitler invaded escaped to Great Britain and had lived in exile since 1940.  At five P.M. August 25 General de Gaulle arrived in Paris amid wild enthusiasm from the crowds and was declared the Leader of Free France.  Six days later we were camped near Paris, so several of us got a pass to visit the great city.  We toured lots of great cathedrals, museums, and the Eiffel Tower.  What a THRILL!  Me, this little farm girl, was actually in Paris.

On September 1, the 51^st Field Hospital made a giant leap forward of more than 100 miles to St. Erme, as small town just past Reims. We were so far ahead of everyone that we had to take all the casualties.  The retreating German Army had just left their wounded and their dead, so it was up to us to pick them up.  Our tents were full to overflowing.  It’s a good thing the weather was nice, because we had rows and rows of wounded on stretchers, lined up just on the ground outside the tents.  Doctors made their rounds, giving first aid, and separating out the seriously wounded.  The surgeons worked 24 hours a day, barely taking time out to rest.  We gathered together all the ambulances, trucks and other vehicles to evacuate all minor wounds to the nearest hospital more than 100 miles away.   This went on for more than a week.  Other Field Hospitals in other sectors faced the same dilemma.  Finally a larger Station Hospital moved in to relieve us.  We stayed one more night to help them, then we moved on into Belgium, becoming the first hospital across the Seine, the Marne, and the Aisne Rivers and the first to enter Belgium.

Since leaving Normandy, at every stop that our convoy made swarms of French came running to greet us – offering food, drinks, hugs and kisses.  The Belgians were even more enthusiastic.  “Les Americains” had liberated them and they were expressing the thanks with love!!

Our three units set up separately in three different areas of Belgium.  My unit number one was at Verviers.  All through central France and Belgium the Germans had been retreating so fast that there had been little or no fighting, so people were still living there and carrying on as usual. At Verviers, many of the townspeople came right to our hospital area (but not inside the tents) to watch us work.  They invited us into their homes.  I actually made some close friends with whom I corresponded for some time after the war.

The Germans had stopped at their borders and made a fighting stand, determined to keep out the advancing Allied Armies.  Our hospital had been backing yhr entire VII Corps sector of the 1^st Army se had lots of patients and some of them were German.  All along, we had taken in German patients and they were sincerely grateful for our help.  They are after all, just young men who have been drafted and pushed into the war, and now they were glad to be out of it.  Occasionally we got an SS (Storm Trooper) or a fanatic Nazi and can be really NASTY – but fortunately, that did not happen too often.  We just ignored their insults and went about our duties.

On Sunday September 17, 1944 we moved to Roetgen, a little town just inside the German border.  It had been raining for days and the weather had turned very cold.  Even though the Army found it necessary to issue ys long underwear (khaki color) , it didn’t help much.  The field had become very muddy and it was so slippery inside the tent that we were actually falling down.  We had so many patients that we had to put up an extra tent. It was so cold that urine was actually freezing in the drainage bottle on the muddy floor.  Our Supply Officer scouted around and found a vacant school house, so we moved indoors for the first time.  WOW!  We had electric lights, steam heat, and wood floors.  Class rooms make excellent wards and we even had desks and cupboards.  Our mess hall was in the school cafeteria.  An empty house right next door became nurse’s quarters with real beds, kitchen, bathrooms and real showers.  WOW!  This was heaven.  Another pleasant surprise – on September 7 all of the 51^st Field Nurses received “Battlefield Promotions” to First Lieutenant and a party to celebrate.

Aachen, an important industrial city just ten miles north of us was captured on October 10.  At our location in Roetgen, we were sitting right in the path of German V-2 rockets, Germany’s “Secret Weapon”.  Before the invasion, Germany launched thousands of V-1 “Buzz Bombs” from the Baltic coast onto London.  These caused extensive damage and ki8lled more than 6000 people before their launch sites were discovered and destroyed.  Now they had introduced the V-2 “Screaming Mimis” and every night we could see the streaking light and hear the shrill sound as they passed overhead. These flew higher and faster and inflicted even more damage.  It was several more months before we found and destroyed the new launch sites. 

Come November, we were experiencing much snow – so glad we were no longer in tents.  However, snowball fights are a welcome diversion.  Our unit had been working steadily in this one location in Roetgen since ‘September 17.  Casualties from Hurtgen Forest had been very heavy at times and usually we wer very busy.  November 15-18 we were rewarded with a welcome break.  All five nurses were given a pass to Malmedy – a First Army rest area. The other nurses covered for us on duty.  We spent three days in a beautiful resort home in the mountains of Malmedy Belgium.  Several officers from Corps Headquarters that we already knew, were there also.  It was a real party weekend. Then back to Roetgen ti resume our duties.  By December 1 we were winding down , cleaning up the wards preparatory to handing it over to another hospital.  Roetgen was our longest stay in one place – 75 days.  We had over 700 admissions, 578 operations and 158 deaths, almost 20% mortality rate – due possibly to the fact that we were much further from the battle fields, also to the severe weather.

By December 4, 1944, our entire group – all three units – moved on bivouac to Eschweiler Germany.  All eighteen nurses lived togethe4r in a large private home, plenty of room for all.  Our officers lived in another home.  All the enlisted men lived in a castle in Aachen.  We had no work to do.

On December 16, Hitler made one last big strike- the Battle of the Bulge.  We had to retreat back to Huy Belgium where we opened our hospital in a large barracks type building, all three units working together.  Fierce snow storms had left us knee deep in snow ad was bitter cold.  We handled many casualties from the northern sector of the Bulge, but one area was not being covered, so the 1^st unit moved to Lierneu Belgium and opened using the facilities of a former mental hospital. Here we took care o many patients, including several Germans.  By the end of the year, we caught a break in the weather and our planes were back in the air, our infantry advanced and by the end of January the Allies had completely repulsed the Battle of the Bulge.  But it was at great cost; more than 20,000 dead and Germany lost 120,000 soldiers from which she never recovered.

This was the beginning of the end.  We finally crossed the Ruhr River, but he Germans held steadfast at the Rhine River.  They had destroyed most of the bridges.  On March 7, 1945 came the famous crossing of the Rhine at Remagen. A sergeant of the 9^th Armored Division happened upon a partly destroyed railroad bridge at Remagen, unguarded and open, so he led his platoon across.  When the bridge finally fell nine days later, we had a pontoon bridge in place. This is where our hospital crossed.  After this we had no memorable set-ups, one briefly in Cologne, and another in Berleburg, where we had but a few patients.  While I was on duty in Berleburg on April 12 we heard the news that our President Franklin D. Roosevelt had died at age 63.

My last move was more than 200 miles to Halle into a Luftwaffe Airfield just sixty miles short of Berlin.  While riding in a Jeep the next night we ran into a bomb crater. It was pitch dark, the crater encompassed the entire road about ten feet deep and was unmarked and all vehicles in a war zone must run with no headlights.  Half of my right knee cap had to be removed and I was evacuated to Paris where I celebrated VE (Victory in Europe) Day on May 8.  Eventually I was set back to the United States and after recovery I elected to stay in the Army.  After a few months duty at Fort Warren Wyoming, I was discharged on 4 March 1946.  The war was over and the Army had too many nurses. 

The 51^st Field Hospital received a “Presidential Citation”, and earned five battle stars:

            Normandy

            Northern France

            Rhineland

            Ardennes/Alsace

            Central Europe

I would not change those days in the Army for anything.  I was just proud to serve my country and “I’m proud to be an American”.

Ruth Dorsman