Oral history interview with Martha P. Mitchell [electronic resource] 2002 March 13.

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Mitchell, Martha Pegram, 1917-. Oral history interview with Martha P. Mitchell [electronic resource] 2002 March 13.

Oral history interview with Martha P. Mitchell [electronic resource] 2002 March 13.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/690190331

Mrs. Mitchell describes her experiences as a United States Army nurse during World War II. She describes the origin of an army evacuation hospital staffed by Charlotte medical personnel, and the collaboration of General George Marshall and Dr. Paul Sanger to see the 38th Evacuation Hospital through to fruition. Mrs. Mitchell describes her experiences joining the evacuation staff, from physicals at Morris Field to getting acquainted meetings at Charlotte Memorial Hospital. She follows the nurses' training at Fort Bragg, from physical conditioning to military training. She admits her reasons for joining were not entirely patriotic and shares her other motivation. Mrs. Mitchell details her journey from North Carolina to her assignment in North Africa, describing a convoy of naval ships which stretched as far as the eye could see, and what happened when there was a lifeboat drill while she was taking her one allotted bath onboard ship. She recalls the disasters resulting from an inexperienced detail's setting up a tent hospital outside Oran, Algeria, and the mud and rain they had to endure. She touches on the nurses' responsibilities for setting up the army cots and preparing the nursing trays. Mrs. Mitchell remembers the soldiers as being very appreciative patients, and that initially, many were ill rather than sick. She emphasizes that the primary responsibility of evacuation hospital nurses was to stabilize the patients enough so that they were able to be transported to better medical facilities. Mrs. Mitchell continues with a account of the evacuation hospital in Italy, describing it as muddy, and without electricity except for the hospital and mess tents. She remembers a Rest-and-Relaxation visit to Ottobiano with some friends, as well as other sightseeing trips in Italy and England. She discusses the end of her tour of duty and her return to the United States early in 1944, flying into Fort Bragg and taking a bus to Charlotte. She describes her feelings when she would hear regularly scheduled sirens go off or hear planes fly overhead. She also explains that she and Jack Mitchell married at that time, when he was between assignments in Panama and England. Mrs. Mitchell shares her feelings when she learned her husband was missing, and later discovered to be a POW, after his P-51 was shot down over Auenheim, Germany and he was held for nine months. She continues that she went on the work at a POW camp in Roswell, N.M. during this time, remembering the German soldiers as usually being respectful. Lastly, Mrs. Mitchell shares her thoughts and memories of VJ-Day. She believes that her war experience changed her sense of values, learning to get by with nothing, and to draw strength from others.

University of North Carolina, Charlotte, J. Murrey Atkins Library