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INTERVIEW OF MARY MEDCALF ARMY NURSE Mr. Cox: This is Floyd Cox. Today is December 27, 2000. We are here in San Antonio, Texas, interviewing Mary Medcalf. She was an Army Nurse during World War II. We are conducting this interview as part of the Oral History Program of the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas. We are going to talk with Mary concerning her experiences as an Army Nurse during those trying times. First of all, Mary, I would like for you to tell us a little bit about your background, when you were born, where you were born and a little bit about your schooling. Mrs. Medcalf: I was born in Cusseta, Georgia, which is just a tiny neighborhood down below Columbus, Georgia. I graduated from High School there. Then I went up to the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia and spent three years there and became a registered nurse. I got a certificate and I wanted a college degree. When I finished, I went to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. There I worked part-time and went to school part-time until I got my degree. Mr. Cox: So you got your full degree ... Mrs. Medcalf: We got some credit from the Nursing School, but I wanted a BS, so I had a BS in Nursing. I was in my last quarter of studies at the University of Michigan, and Pearl Harbor happened.
I was working part-time in the student health center at that time. Everybody in there said they were going to join up. Sure enough, a week later the campus had lost so many men to the service. When I graduated, I signed up to become an Army Nurse. I had a nurse friend that I had been working with and she said "let's go ahead and join up and stay together through the war." I said "we can't do that because I'm from Georgia and you are from Michigan." She said I could use her address, which I did. So my address was 442 Marine City Michigan. And I had never been there. When I was 1
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Mary Medcalf. Medcalf grew up in Georgia and became a registered nurse in Virginia. Then, she went to Michigan to finish her degree. After graduating, she signed up to be an Army Nurse. She was a 2nd Lieutenant. She went to a hospital transformed from the Chicago Beach Hotel into the Gardiner General Army Hospital. Many of the soldiers needed orthopedics. Later, she transferred to Fort Bragg in North Carolina. She met her husband at an Officer's Dance.
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Medcalf, Mary.Oral History Interview with Mary Medcalf, December 27, 2000,
text,
December 27, 2000;
Fredericksburg, Texas.
(https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1603416/m1/1/:
accessed July 16, 2024),
University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu;
crediting National Museum of the Pacific War/Admiral Nimitz Foundation.