The Angels of Bataan: The Brave Nurses Who Served Our Soldiers in One of WWII's Worst Campaigns

On this episode of Our American Stories, Anne Clare tells the story of a nurse who served in the Philippines during World War II, and shares the experience that she and others went through after the Japanese takeover of the island.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
The show where America is the Star, the show where
the American people are the star. One of our favorite
topics to talk about on this show is history. The
Angels of Batan were Navy and Army Nurse Corps members
who were stationed in the Philippines during the outbreak of

(00:31):
World War II. These nurses faced some of the most
grueling conditions of the war, some even being captured and
held as POWs by the Japanese. Here's our regular contributor
and Claire with the story of one of them.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Nursing was not a career for a nice, unmarried girl
in the nineteen thirties. After all, it was dirty, physical work,
and it required learning far too much information about the
opposite sex. However, it was also one of the few
opportunities for a young woman who couldn't afford college to

(01:10):
continue her education in the depression era United States. The
sixteen cents an hour a hospital paid wasn't bad either.
Georgia born Francis Nash was one of the many young
women who ignored social stigma and joined the Army Nurse Corps.
Nash was given the relative rank of lieutenant, meaning she

(01:32):
didn't undergo military training and didn't rank a salute or
full pay. She didn't even have an official uniform, just
insignia to wear on the collar of her white civilian
nurses dress. However, she did have the opportunity to volunteer
for service overseas. In nineteen forty, Nash volunteered for a

(01:53):
two year tour in the Philippines. Stirrings of war on
the Horai then concerned her family and friends was now
really a good time to go abroad? Nash responded to
the effect that if war were coming, the Philippines would
be where nurses were needed. She wasn't the only one

(02:14):
who thought so. The United States preparations for war were
slow and incomplete, but they had already begun increasing the
medical staff of the six Philippine military hospitals, five Army
and one Navy, doubling the complement of nursing staff. On Monday,
December eighth, nineteen forty one, which would be December seventh,

(02:36):
back in the United States on the other side of
the International date Line, Nash and her fellow nurses awoke
to news of the attacks on Pearl Harbor three hours later.
The first Japanese planes struck the Philippines. Within two weeks,
Japanese forces landed, General MacArthur removed to Corgador, and the
evacuation of US and Filipino forces to the Batan Peninsula began.

(03:03):
On Christmas Eve, Lieutenant Nash's evacuation preparations were interrupted. Her
commanding officer, Colonel J. W. Duckworth, called her in. He
told her that she would be expected to remain behind
in Manila until all of the staff and supplies were
evacuated from the hospital. She was also told to prepare

(03:23):
herself to be taken prisoner. She spent her Christmas Day
working in surgery and burning documents. That night, she was
evacuated by boat, the waters lit by blazing buildings on
the land and ships in the harbor. Eventually, after some
time spent in foxholes and fleeing through the jungle, Nash

(03:45):
arrived to serve in Hospital Number one on the Batan Peninsula,
the most forward of the hospitals. She and the other
medical staff worked through the long, disheartening struggle to hold Batan,
struggling to save lives. Not all of her patients were
American or Filipino. At times, medics would bring wounded Japanese

(04:07):
into the surgery. Many of them wore items they'd taken
from American troops as spoils of war. The Japanese had
not signed the Geneva Convention, which declared medical facilities off
limits as military targets, and Nash's hospital suffered for it.
After an attack on the sixth of April, of one thousand,

(04:29):
six hundred beds, only sixty five were left standing. Three
days later, the remaining defenders of Batan surrendered. A month later,
General Wainwright surrendered Corgodor, along with the thousands of US
and Filipino troops who surrendered. More than sixty nurses, including Nash,

(04:52):
were taken as prisoners of war for years of captivity,
and the other nurses would continue to care for the
wounded and for the sick. Nursing may not have been
considered a nice profession in polite society, but as the

(05:12):
monument on Corgodor, which commemorates the service of Nash and
her fellow nurses shows, in the eyes of some, they
were far more than nice. They were angelic. The inscription
reads in honor of the valiant American military women who
gave so much of themselves. In the early days of

(05:34):
World War II, they provided care and comfort to the
gallant defenders of Batan and Corgodor. They lived on a
starvation diet, shared the bombing, strafing, sniping, sickness and disease
while working endless hours of heartbreaking duty. These nurses always
had a smile, a tender touch, and a kind word

(05:55):
for their patients. They truly earned the name the Angel
of Batan and Cargador. Dedicated on this sixth day of
May two thousand.

Speaker 1 (06:14):
And A great job on the production by Monte Montgomery,
and a special thanks to Anne Clair for sharing with
us the story of Francis Nash. She volunteered for service overseas,
a two year tour of duty in the Philippines starting
in nineteen forty There's probably no tougher place to be
in the world than the place she ended up being in.

(06:36):
And by December of nineteen forty one, just hours after
Pearl Harbor was attacked in came the Japanese into Manila
and into the Philippines, and from there became a pow.
And this is the work and the duty and the
service that so many of our women showed during World

(06:57):
War two. We showcased those stories, Francis Snash's story The
Angels of Batan. Here on Our American Stories, Liehabib here,

(07:32):
the host of Our American Stories. Every day on this show,
we're bringing inspiring stories from across this great country, stories
from our big cities and small towns. But we truly
can't do the show without you. Our stories are free
to listen to, but they're not free to make. If
you love what you hear, go to Auramericanstories dot com
and click the donate button. Give a little, Give a lot.

(07:55):
Go to Alamericanstories dot com and give