Interview of retired Colonel Crescentia Wellman on her career as a U.S. Air Force flight nurse Ruth Stewart: Crescentia Wellman is being interviewed today for, as a member of the Women’s Overseas Service League, uh, on April 6, 2004, in San Antonio, Texas. Ruth Stewart is doing the interview. [0:18] Cris, would you tell us a little bit now about where you were born, brought up, something about your childhood? Crescentia Wellman: Yeah. I was born in West Point, Iowa, on a farm, and I’m a child of 11 children. And I attended a parochial school 12 [inaudible 0:40] years. The whole family, all, all my sisters and brothers attended there. And, uh, uh, I always enjoyed people. We always had a wonderful time with people. And we, anyway, uh, we always, we had to walk to school 3 ½ m-, miles. And, and so I was interested in being a nurse, uh, and so right after I graduated from high school we were starting the war and I decided to be a Red Cross volunteer, so I took a little course as volunteer. And after I worked for about – and I was working in a factory to make some money ‘cause I wanted to do something to further my education. And so after 1 ½ years, I went to nursing school at Saint Francis Nursing School in Peoria, Illinois. And after 3 years in, uh, after 3 years in nursing school, I went to a small town in Keokuk, Iowa to work. And then I decided I wanted to go to Chicago to further my education and my exper-, experience. I worked in Chicago and went to school part-time at the University of Chicago and, uh, I was, I worked there for 5, total of 5 years. Then, I decided to join the air force. And so in 1953, during the Korean War, I, I joined the air force and… Ruth Stewart: [2:38] Tell us a little bit about that time during the air force and doing nursing. Crescentia Wellman: Well, I – at that time, nursing – there was always a shortage in nursing. But there was a lady, a nurse that had been in the navy that was working at the same hospital that I was and she thought that I should, she encouraged me to go in the service, and so I applied. I got an application and decided that, uh, after I dec-, I got the application, filled it out. I – within 10 days, I got my app-, got the information back. I had taken my physical and everything, and in 10 days I was sworn in. Ruth Stewart: That was fast. Crescentia Wellman: Yes. And then that was in March. And on May 23, 1953, I went to service. There my first indoctrination to the air force was at Gunter Air Force Base in Alabama. It was a 6-week course where we learned to walk and drill, to drill and, and about, you learned about the air force. And then after that I was assigned to Amarillo, Texas. In Amarillo, Texas, I worked in the obstetrical department. I was very surprised because I didn’t anticipate working because I had had experience in nursing. In maternity and delivery room they put me in charge of the department. And we used to have as many as 150 deliveries a month and not so much help. Ruth Stewart: Busy times. Crescentia Wellman: Yes. Very busy. And, uh, but I very, I enjoyed it very much. And then from there I, I went to flight school and, uh, for it was a, that was a 6-week course, uh, back to Gunter, Alabama. Ruth Stewart: [4:58] Gunter? Crescentia Wellman: Gunter Air Force Base, Alabama. It was in Maxwell – I mean, uh, Montgomery, Alabama. And after that, I was assigned to Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. Ruth Stewart: [5:10] Go back, let’s go back and tell me a little bit about flight training and how… Crescentia Wellman: Okay. Ruth Stewart: …and how that, what that was like. Crescentia Wellman: Well, uh, it is, it’s very interesting because you have a complete review of all your nursing and anatomy and physiology. You have, uh, you also have, um, you learn a lot about m-, m-, medical and psychiatric nursing as well as, uh, the difference when you would be flying than, than, than when you were on the ground. At that time, we did not, we had – uh, what’s it called – the C-47s, which was a cargo plane. And we didn’t have all the facilities we have today. And, uh, so we have, but it was, it was, uh, we had, we had to learn to, to swim if we didn’t know how to swim and also to survive if we got, if we had to ditch, and we also had to go out and pitch tents, dig hole – trench holes for bathroom facilities and so forth. So we… Ruth Stewart: [6:23] And you did all that in 6 weeks? Crescentia Wellman: Mm-hm, yeah, yes. Ruth Stewart: You had to learn fast. Crescentia Wellman: Yes. That’s right. And, uh, we, uh, but it was very interesting. It was very interesting for us. And so after I, I, I from there I was assigned to, to Alaska and, um, I was there for 2 years. And there again was, we – the facility, we lived in Quonset huts and the hospital was a Quonset hut. And we had very few nurses, so we had to work 12-hour shifts and then take call. But it was very interesting and though it wasn’t so hard, the work wasn’t hard, it was just long periods of time. Ruth Stewart: [7:21] What kind of, of care were you giving? Were you getting casualties at all…? Crescentia Wellman: No. Not at that time. Ruth Stewart: …or just strictly… ? Crescentia Wellman: It was just strictly, um, uh – and they were all male patients because the female patients we would see them in the clinic, but we would transport them to the other hospital in Fairbanks. And, uh, there were times when we had to go with the patients that were about to deliver that we – sometimes it was very trying because the highways were very, it was, it was very, you know, uh, treacherous. One time I had to go with a patient who we thought was just going to have a single birth and so we – it was the middle of the winter. We were in the cracker b-, box ambulance. We got this 26-mile drive and so when we got to the facility, we took her to the emergency room, she wasn’t able to go up to the baby room, and she had twins. Ruth Stewart: That does happen. [chuckle] Crescentia Wellman: Which was quite [inaudible 8:42]. But anyway, we also had to do a lot of, uh, you know, um. I’m trying to remember what I – uh, you know, when we, we had, uh, alerts and we had to go out and camp out. And th-, this was mainly, this was during the summertime, but we would pitch tents and go out and, and we – 24 hours sometimes we would be out and… Ruth Stewart: [9:10] Was that part of your duty or? Crescentia Wellman: Yes, uh-huh. Ruth Stewart: [9:14] You weren’t doing it for fun and games. Crescentia Wellman: No, no. It was, it was duty. And, uh, we would have to do this. We were with the 10th Tactical Squadron, which [inaudible 9:23] like that and we would, we would be out for a couple of days actually. Ruth Stewart: Mm-hm. Crescentia Wellman: And, uh, the facilities were very limited… Ruth Stewart: Mm-hm. Crescentia Wellman: …needless to say. And at that time, we had only, we had a few, just a few nurses, so. And also at that time, we had no, no – we just had male technicians, no female technicians at all, so all of the chaperoning and everything was done by the nurses. Uh, and from, from, from Alaska, I was assigned to the 13th Air Evac at Travis Air Force Basis on flying status. Ruth Stewart: [10:08] What year was that? Crescentia Wellman: That was in 1957. It was a wonderful experience. Our duty was strictly with air evac. We flew, uh, stateside most of the time, except we would go to Alaska twice a, twice a month, but occasionally we would have special flights to go to Japan or to Hawaii. And if you were an [inaudible 10:41] chief [inaudible 10:42] team, then you would go if they, they would call you or the burn team which I was on, and then we, they would pick us up and we would go to different places. Ruth Stewart: [10:59] So this was where your flight nursing came in. Crescentia Wellman: Yes, mm-hm. Ruth Stewart: Very much so. Crescentia Wellman: Mm-hm. Ruth Stewart: [11:05] And we left Alaska without your mentioning about the special efforts that you did in the communities there, which was a very interesting story. Crescentia Wellman: Oh, I forgot that. That’s right. Okay, um, yes, um. I had been to Fort Yukon on a, on a trip with some of my, with some of my friends, the pilot that flew there. And so I saw the de-, the desolation there and the need for medical care, so after I came back I asked our commander if we could make a project of this, that the pilot probably would be willing to fly us there. And he thought it was a good idea and so we got, got started, and so twice a month we would fly up to Fort Yukon. It took us about 1 ½ hours and we would hold clinic in an old Episcopalian Hosp-, Hospital, Episcopalian Church Hospital. Ruth Stewart: Mm-hm. Crescentia Wellman: There were still, there were still some people there, no doctors, but there were a few nurses there. And so we would go with doctors, dentists, nurses, and technicians. And we had – they had x-ray ma-, machine there. And we had laboratory work that was done, the dental work. Ruth Stewart: [12:32] The hospital was not operational at that time? Crescentia Wellman: It was, it was more like a clinic. Ruth Stewart: Mm-hm. Crescentia Wellman: At the time we’d… Ruth Stewart: So your team went in and supplemented… Crescentia Wellman: Yes. Ruth Stewart: …greatly… Crescentia Wellman: That right. Ruth Stewart: …their, their services. Crescentia Wellman: Uh-huh. So [inaudible 12:44] it was very, it was very interesting. And at times they would keep some of the people there mainly because they couldn’t get back to their villages, you know, but they were not really there as a hospital. They just would stay there because they couldn’t get back to their facility, but normally they would go back home. Ruth Stewart: [13:04] What was your relationship with your patient clients there that were native Alaskans? Crescentia Wellman: Well, there was, they could speak some, most of them could speak [inaudible 13:15]. And they were very grateful that, the help that they, they just couldn’t believe that we were doing it. And we would generally bring food as well and sometimes clothing. And after we had gone for a few times, we decided we were going to bring clothing as well and that was always very well appreciated. And uh, but all [inaudible 13:42] we started that about the 3rd or 4th month that I was there, so for about 2 years we did that and I don’t know how long they continued to do that afterward, but it was very enjoyable. Ruth Stewart: Worth-, worthwhile project [inaudible 13:57]. Crescentia Wellman: Yeah. Ruth Stewart: Thank you for including that. Crescentia Wellman: And then the, the one when I was at Travis, um, that was an – I was, was made project officer for the squadron so that we could get all of our people vaccinated for polio vaccination. Then, polio was still very prevalent at that time. Ruth Stewart: [14:29] What year was that? Crescentia Wellman: That was in 1957, ’58. I think it was ’58 actually that we did the project. And so we got, uh, we had, um, oh, uh, um, we had over 350 officers and enlisted personnel and then the rest of’m were dependents. So out of 550, we had 93% that responded and, and most of the, all, I think all of the – you were required [inaudible 15:10] to take the vaccine, vaccination and the, and then dependents was at their choice. So we, it was, we, they had to get 2 vaccinations [inaudible 15:22] within a month, 2 I think it was, and I had to do it another time. Ruth Stewart: Mm-hm. Crescentia Wellman: So, but we got that accomplished [inaudible 15:19] wonderful. Ruth Stewart: That was a major accomplishment. Crescentia Wellman: Yes. Ruth Stewart: [inaudible 15:33]. Crescentia Wellman: Yes. And from there I went to Tinker Air Force. Well, then we had – flying duty was really interesting because we got to go not only to the military bases that included the army and the navy and all, but we also would go to some civilian airports because, uh, if any of our personnel had been in an accident or on a leave or anything like that, we would come to pick’m up. Ruth Stewart: Mm-hm. Crescentia Wellman: And it was amazing how happy and excited people would be when we’d go to some of those small airports. They knew we were coming, of course. And many times they would come out with, uh, with food for us. Ruth Stewart: Really! [chuckle] Crescentia Wellman: Yes, mm-hm. And once in a while we would stay. You know, we would have to stay overnight because we, you know, those days we didn’t have jets. Ruth Stewart: Mm-hm. Crescentia Wellman: [inaudible 16:37] and so it took us longer to go, but, but that, that happened every once in a while and we always had a, we got a thrill out of that really. Ruth Stewart: So you were a hero. Crescentia Wellman: Yes. Ruth Stewart: Yeah. Crescentia Wellman: And I remember one time we went to, we had – we flew to Great Lakes and we picked up a young little boy who had a, who was going to have a, um, heart surgery. He had, he had a, uh – and, and we picked, we picked up this young boy and brought him to San Francisco. I remember that so well. Um, and we, we, one of the times, one time we had a, uh, from out of March Air Force Base we had, we had, um, a patient that was a psychiatric patient and we had aircraft problems and we had smoke in the, in the, in the aircraft. You see in those days we always would restrain them on the litter. And they told us we probably were going to have to go down the chute because, uh – and so I was debating whether or not I should take that young man out of those restraints because that would just take time, so I, I decided to do that. And he, he was more calm than the rest of us. [chuckle] [inaudible 18:12], but we all got back. We all got out safely. Ruth Stewart: And you’re living to tell the tale. Crescentia Wellman: Mm-hm. Ruth Stewart: Good, good. Yeah. Crescentia Wellman: But let’s see, and then one time I almost had to deliver a baby in the aircraft. Ruth Stewart: Well that’s exciting. Crescentia Wellman: Yes. We – she was a patient that, that we picked up and I thought we didn’t – she was a psychiatric patient and they were moving her so that she would go into, if she went into labor she wouldn’t do like she did in her last pregnancy. She had a psychiatric problem and as a – so while we got her on the aircraft, and she was apparently not supposed to be due, and as we were flying into San Francisco, uh, we actually were going b-, back to Travis, she went into labor. And so it scared us going to Travis, we went to Oakland and we put her in the – we flew there and we put her in a helicopter and I went with her. Then we went to, to, uh, San Francisco to Presidio and she delivered at, in the emergency room, so that was a close call. Ruth Stewart: That was a very close call. Crescentia Wellman: Yes. Ruth Stewart: Yeah. Crescentia Wellman: But anyway, that’s about, that was some of the exciting things that we had happen in… Ruth Stewart: Interesting. Crescentia Wellman: Yeah. Ruth Stewart: Yeah. Crescentia Wellman: Then from Travis, I went to Tinker Air Force Base and stayed there for 2 years. Ruth Stewart: [19:53] And that was when? Crescentia Wellman: That was in 1959 to ’61, yeah. And from there I went, uh – that was a usual tour. Nothing too, nothing too exciting except that for me it was. It was my first time that I got my foot, feet wet being a hospital, being the chief nurse because the chief nurse got sick and died. Ruth Stewart: Ooh. Crescentia Wellman: And so I, after I had been there only maybe about 5 or 6 months and I was probably the – well, I wasn’t the senior nurse, but they thought I was the most responsible. I was a little bit older when I went in the service and so they, and so as a result, I spent about 1 ½ years as the, you know, chief nurse with, with not very much experience. Um, I did have to do some of the work on the units because they didn’t have any, en-, enough help, but we survived it. From there, I went to England. That was in 1961 to ’64. And that was a small hospital, uh, it was an old cantonment-type hospital. And I worked in the obstetrical department part of the time, most of the time. And then the last part of my duties, I spent about 6 months in the clinic over at Alconbury which we were attached to. I had an opportunity to do a lot of traveling. And again there were times when our, we were without a chief nurse and I was put in charge for, you know, temporarily. And when I left England, I went to administration school. Ruth Stewart: [22:16] What – you were in England ’61 to ’64? Crescentia Wellman: Three, 3, 3, years. Mm-hm. Ruth Stewart: Okay. That was in between… Crescentia Wellman: From ’61. ’61 to ’64. Ruth Stewart: [22:28] In between fighting wars, wasn’t it? Crescentia Wellman: Yes. Ruth Stewart: [22:31] That was the Cold War. Crescentia Wellman: Yes. Ruth Stewart: [22:33] So your patient care during these periods, were you still doing air evac or? Crescentia Wellman: No. No, I was not. Ruth Stewart: You were doing strictly hospital care. Crescentia Wellman: Hospital, yes. Ruth Stewart: But for routine. Crescentia Wellman: Routine care. Ruth Stewart: Yeah. Okay. Crescentia Wellman: Um, uh, through, through this time there were periods when our chief nurse was gone and we had a change of, of nurses and I generally had to fill in. From there I went to Administration, Nursing Administration School in Maxwell Air Force Base for 6 months. I should say within all these times while I was in the different places, I always tried to take some college courses, uh, because I do not have a degree and, but I always – I have a lot of credits. But, uh, everywhere that I went, uh, Oklahoma and when I was in England, when I was in Germany, everywhere, I, I’ve always taken some courses. And, you know, uh, the air force always, you know, um, they encourage you to take courses in… Ruth Stewart: Mm-hm. Crescentia Wellman: …different things. Ruth Stewart: Mm-hm. Crescentia Wellman: Uh, when I was in Administration School, we had, uh, took SOS, Squadron Officer cour-, uh, course too. And, um, from there I went to Chanute Air Force Base in Illinois and I worked as a charge nurse of the medical floor. And then I became – the last year I was assistant chief nurse there, but always filling in when sometime when there was not enough help in the unit, so I did recovery room nursing quite a bit while I was at Chanute. Um, from there, my first assignment as a chief nurse at San Antonio, Texas in Goodfellow, and I spent 3 years there. It’s a very, it was a small hospital. People are very friendly [inaudible 25:06]. Ruth Stewart: [25:10] And what year was that? Crescentia Wellman: That was in ’68 to ’70, to ’70, end of ’70, yeah. And I – while there I was, I joined the American Heart Association, did some work with the Heart Association. And I have, I laugh at this, those were the days when everybody was still smoking a great deal and I tried to encourage our commander who was a heavy smoker to stop and try to get him to stop smoking, you know, in the different areas of the hospital. We did [inaudible 26:00] smoke in the nurse’s station, but I had a few problems with our doctors, but they, they complied after a while, so. Ruth Stewart: Good for you. Crescentia Wellman: Uh-huh. We did. And, uh, but I, um, from there I went to Okinawa, spent 2 years in Okinawa. Ruth Stewart: You really traveled a lot, didn’t you? Crescentia Wellman: Yeah, I did. Okinawa was a very interesting place. It was very small, you know. It’s, you know, it’s only 60 miles long. The smallest place is 2 miles wide, so. I was at Ryukyu. We had a small hospital. That was during the Vietnam War. We would get the air evac patients in, uh, and especially the, they got a lot of drug addicts. And sometimes if we – Camp Kue was not too far from us. It was an army hospital then. And occasionally they were really shorthanded, some of us would go over there and help’m out because they would get a lot of severe patients, casualties and all, you know, so we would try to help them out once in a while. Um, and I occasionally would take a flight. I was not on flying status, but occasionally that – we had a smaller unit there. I would, I would go [inaudible 27:47] the Philippines or to Korea or somewhere, but that was not my primary duty. Ruth Stewart: [27:59] What was it like living in Okinawa? Crescentia Wellman: I lived in a Quonset hut and, uh, the people were very friendly. A lot of them spoke English, but, of course, they were [inaudible 28:13]. And, uh, unfortunately, we had a lot of demonstrations while I was there. And, uh, we, the, the, the employees at the base would have to stay on the base because there were… Ruth Stewart: [28:33] These were anti-American demonstrations? Crescentia Wellman: Yes, mm-hm. And they would flood the gates so they, they were not, they were, the people that were working for the Americans were afraid to go. It was dangerous for them to go outside the gate and so they would stay and therefore the people were used to their own food. We did have our dining, the dining halls, but it was not what they were used to eating, so. We had maids and all in our little hospital. And, uh, they would have – we would try – so one day I thought, oh, I know what I’m going to do. I went and had a pot. I had a rice, rice cooker so I brought it to them and they, and they could, they made their own rice. They really loved that. Ruth Stewart: I’ll bet. [chuckle] Crescentia Wellman: Uh-huh, ‘cause they really missed that, you know. Ruth Stewart: Sure. Crescentia Wellman: ‘Cause they eat rice… Ruth Stewart: Yeah. Crescentia Wellman: …every night of the week [inaudible 29:35]. Ruth Stewart: Yeah, [inaudible 29:37]. Crescentia Wellman: Yeah. Ruth Stewart: Mm-hm. Crescentia Wellman: But it was – then I was there during the time when they turned it over to the Japanese and then all the signs were Japanese. And somebody was – you know, they, they turned over to the U.N. and all. And they start, when they started, they started building big, big high-rises and all that I – we were all afraid that, that, that the island was going to sink. They did. They – and the prices went up, especially the food. But I still, I love the oriental food and I love the Okinawan food because it was different than Japanese or Chinese, very different. Ruth Stewart: [30:20] Can you describe what the difference is? Crescentia Wellman: Well, I think they are, they, their quality of meat is so [inaudible 30:30] seemed to be better and they, they ate a lot of, lot of vegetables. And, um, oh, I don’t know. And I don’t think theirs are, was a spicy. And I, I did attend, um, an Okinawan wedding, which was very interesting, and they had beautiful customs, you know. They really did. They – dancing and they would have parades and all. I always thought that, you know, the Okinawans, you know, most of them really loved us. They really did. They were, they were happy that the, that the Americans were there. You know, there was over 200 military facilities there at the time that I was there. Ruth Stewart: That almost covered the island, didn’t it? Crescentia Wellman: It did, it did. And we had a real nice place for R&R which was nice. Ruth Stewart: [31:26] What – tell me about that. Crescentia Wellman: Well, it is – it was up on the main part of the island, way on the tip of the island, and it had little, little, small huts that we can sleep, use to sleep in. It had a facility like an officers’ club and it had a beautiful beach and a separate – beautiful flowers and you know the flowers there are so pretty, you know. We had mostly all warm weather there. And the poinsettias and the, um, hibiscus [inaudible 32:03] beautiful but, uh – and then they had little boats that we could take out. It was a very nice facility. We – it was about, it was about 40 miles from where we were and so we could go up there without any problem. And, uh, sometimes we would just drive up there for the day, but sometimes we would stay. Of course, you had to make reservations if you wanted to stay because it was well, well used. And uh, and then from Okinawa I went to Fairchild Air Force Base, was the chief nurse there for 2 years. And, uh, at that time that is when I decided I was going to do something for the Native Indians. And, uh, they, uh – well, actually, I had a friend that was involved with it. She was a civilian that worked at the hospital so, uh, she suggested that I do – go teaching with the girls, and we, we did teach some social and religious and, and health subjects to them. Ruth Stewart: [33:29] And these were American Indians? Crescentia Wellman: Uh-huh. Ruth Stewart: [33:31] Civilians? Crescentia Wellman: Spokane, the Spokane tribe, uh-huh. And so I used to go up there, every other Sunday I’d go up there unless I absolutely couldn’t, but otherwise. And, uh, they had a little facility. They had a church there. But the girls would come and they would teach’m a little bit about – in fact, some of them even taught, tried to teach them how to read a little bit and so forth, so it was, it was very interesting. That was a good project too. Ruth Stewart: [34:06] Did you have other contact with the local American Indians? Crescentia Wellman: Oh yes, I did. Uh, we had – there were several other tribes in that area. I can’t recall what the names of the tribes are. But we did, we went to this one place where we would bring, we did some work with the, occasionally to help build, uh, repair the school and then we brought clothing to them and food, so. I forgot to mention that – it just dawned on me. When I was in Okinawa, I went to a leper town a couple of times. Ruth Stewart: [34:51] Tell me about that. Crescentia Wellman: Oh, it was our church and then we had other churches too from the base. We’d go up there and we would bring food, not – yes, some food, but mostly supplies. You know, some, I think some, um, medications as well as some – and clothing. And we – it was really amazing. Those people, you know, they, they live at the hospital, but they lived right there, the whole little village, you know. And it was very, um, I would say kind of crude. Uh, they had just the bare necessities. And I can recall how they, they used a therapy with wax that they put their hands in warm wax to help them relieve the pain. Ruth Stewart: Hm. Crescentia Wellman: Uh, they also had, um, um, you know, they had – a lot of them had some of their limbs – they didn’t, they didn’t have their arms or legs and all, you know. But as a whole, the people were receptive to us and they were always smiling, you know. It was, it was, uh, we – I went up there 3 different times in the 2 years that I was there. And, uh, the first time I was reluctant, I don’t know if I want to see that or not. But they were all ages, very small people, but most of the people were, you know, oh, oh, I would say 40 or 50 or 60 years old. I don’t remember too real old people, so. But they would help themselves, you know, as far as they could. And they had, they had doctors there and nurses and, uh, but they were all of, were, you know, [inaudible 37:04]. Ruth Stewart: Mm-hm. Crescentia Wellman: But most of the doctors and nurses speak enough English that we could communicate, so. Ruth Stewart: [37:15] When you went to the leprosarium, did you volunteer any activities or was this more observation? Crescentia Wellman: More, more observation, yeah. That’s what it was. It was not really – we didn’t really do, we didn’t do any, anything, uh. Ruth Stewart: But you took… Crescentia Wellman: We took, we took supplies. Ruth Stewart: Things that they needed. Crescentia Wellman: Yes, uh-huh. Ruth Stewart: Yeah. Crescentia Wellman: Yeah. Ruth Stewart: Good. Crescentia Wellman: And let’s see, getting back to where we were. I, uh – in Spokane, from Spokane, I went to Germany. I had requested a tour to Germany when I first came in the service and I finally got my choice. I am of, of German nationality. Both my mother and father are of German descent and they speak, they spoke some German at home but not, not very much, but they, you know, they would speak. I knew a few, a little bit of German, but I did take courses in German, college courses, and then when I was over there I took some, uh, conversational German so I could speak better. And I have relatives over there which I found, which was wonderful. I have about 50 families there. Ruth Stewart: [38:40] What kind of experience did you have [inaudible 38:42]? Crescentia Wellman: Well, I was really – we had a little bit of contact with this one cousin of my father who kept in contact during World War II. And, uh, we did, we just would write once in a while, my aunt did. And so we did have her address and so I decided – shortly after I had gotten there, my niece came to visit me and we decided to take a, to go up to see if we could find them. And as – it was about 200 miles from, from Wiesbaden up in the northern part of Germany and when we got there she had, uh, she wasn’t home. The neighbor saw my license plate and we had our little book with us and we’d communicate. She said “Oh, she teaches. She’s a schoolteacher, but she’ll be back at 6 o’clock.” So we went and came back there. When we came back, she had an interpreter and everything. It was just beautiful. And then she, uh, she got us in contact with some more of the relatives from both my mo-, my dad’s mother’s side and father’s side. And so it was – and after that I found even some family right in Wiesbaden and they have come back to, they have come, they have been to the United States and they also had been, I’ve been over there since I left too. And it’s been, it’s a real friendly situation and they’ve been to my home in Iowa and everything, so. Ruth Stewart: Okay. Crescentia Wellman: Really great. But they, you know, we – I had anticipated that they would be rather, rather poor, but they were very conservative but had beautiful things that they, uh, they had beautiful furniture and crystal and all that. Of course, they love [inaudible 40:47]. And it, it was always joyful to go there [inaudible 40:52]. Then I went to the place where my, the house where my grandmother was born and raised and there’s still somebody in our, in the family that has the home, so. And from Germany – I spent 4 years there. While I was in Germany, I did also – I was an [inaudible 41:13] chief for the command nurse. He was stationed in Ramstein. Ruth Stewart: [41:19] Now what’s an [inaudible 41:20] chief? Crescentia Wellman: [inaudible 41:41]. In other words, when she can’t, couldn’t go on trips to different places for inspection, I would go. I was, I was the [inaudible 41:32] chief for her. Ruth Stewart: You were the substitute. Crescentia Wellman: Yeah, mm-hm. And then as a result, I traveled quite, you know, I – all over the – Turkey, Greece, Spain, you know, Italy, Belgium, Holland, everywhere, and all over Germany, you know. Different times I was able to go just for a couple of days or, you know, so. Ruth Stewart: Hm. Crescentia Wellman: That was interesting. It was very par-, particularly interesting when I was able to go to a celebration in, in a, at a, at a British, uh, base, air base in Germany that they had invited the commander and myself. We went up there and it was just beautiful. They treated us like so well. You know, the British people they’re very, their protocol is so precise and so beautiful and it was very, it was very interesting. And as a result, they came down to visit us. Of course, we were able to give them a good welcome too, so. And at Wiesbaden we also always held, uh, seminars for the whole command because it was the largest hospital there. And so all the different people from the different areas of the, of, of the European command would come to Wiesbaden for seminars so that the nurses could keep up their, their license accreditation ‘cause they had to have so many credits every year, so. Ruth Stewart: [43:20] That was an air force requirement, was it? Crescentia Wellman: Yes, mm-hm. And, uh, and, uh, you had to have so many credits and, and you, of course, you had to keep your license up in, in one state. Ruth Stewart: Hm. Crescentia Wellman: So. And it was, it was, it was very interesting as well as, you know, we would get, we would get guest speakers from the States that would come over to, uh, to help with our seminars and [inaudible 43:52], you know, people from [inaudible 43:56] University of Kentucky and I, I forget where all [inaudible 44:00]. We had one from Florida. I forget a lot. [inaudible 44:08] they had quite a few of them, so. And from Germany, I went to Eglin Air Force Base in Florida where I was chief nurse there till I retired in ’81. And while I was there is when we’d had the Cuban refugees arrive. They called, they notified us 2 days, oh, I’d say maybe 2 or maybe a week before that we were going to have, they were going to come to Fort Walton Beach, Florida and we were going to have to be taking care of them. And so we – fairgrounds was not too far from our hos-, from our hospital as well as one of the old, old, uh, uh, where they put the airplanes [inaudible 45:06]. Ruth Stewart: Hangar. Crescentia Wellman: Hangar. And so anyway, we, we had set up a hospital and they let us use 2 of the permanent buildings on the fairgrounds. And 10,000 Cuban refugees came with them about 2, 3 weeks and this was the, the patients. Ruth Stewart: Yeah. Crescentia Wellman: Yeah, mm-hm. Ruth Stewart: [45:32] And were they sick or was this a screening? Crescentia Wellman: No, they were screening, but there were a lot of them that were sick. We put up tents for them to live out on the, out on the, on the fairgrounds, but those that were ill they would go into the hospital unit. And those that were severely ill, then they would come to our hospital. But it took, oh, about 10 days, 10 days to 2 weeks before we got any, any extra help from, we got a few med-, medical technicians, but we really had to stretch our help during that time but we survived it. And, uh, then they, they had. there was in September 12 there was, [inaudible 46:25]. They were leaving, they, they tried to get, they were moving some of’m out. They had to get’m out because there was forecast for a hurricane, so therefore on the 12th we, we did have a hurricane. On the 12th of February we had a hurricane there and – the 12th of September, so we had gotten all these people out. Ruth Stewart: [46:46] And that was what year? Crescentia Wellman: That was 1979. Ruth Stewart: ’79. Crescentia Wellman: And I retired in July of ‘81, July 1 of ’81. Ruth Stewart: You certainly had an interesting career [inaudible 47:02]. Crescentia Wellman: I thought it was. I haven’t done anything really tremendous, but it was interesting. Ruth Stewart: Very interesting. [47:08] What are your main memories overall, general feelings about your time in the air force? Crescentia Wellman: Well, it was a very rewarding experience. It was, uh, uh, we had wonderful experiences. I had, it was, and it was very rewarding. Uh, it probably wasn’t anything that I really thought it was going to be like, you know. I thought it was, you know, I thought it was – I don’t know what I thought it was going to be like. But I – it was – made wonderful, wonderful friends. And I got to have plenty, so many opportunities to do things I never would’ve been able to do. And, uh, I, I can tell you that I, I never, you know, I always, I was very fortunate to have good, good, uh, supervisors and chief nurses and [inaudible 48:01]. Ruth Stewart: It makes such a difference. Crescentia Wellman: Mm-hm. It really does, you know. And, and, and commanders, commanders were good and the, the doctors. You know, the thing is, you always work with youth. You know, you always – and then that was one of the things I thought it was so interesting that, you know, that the young people they come to you and they were, they had very little experience or had never probably maybe been away from home for very long and how they developed into such good people. We had a, we had a few that were, we had problems, you know, sometimes. But as a result, most of the people were, were very, very dedicated and I think that’s what – and we put in lots of long hours, but we had lots of fun, so. I got to travel a lot. Ruth Stewart: Mm-hm. Crescentia Wellman: So. Ruth Stewart: Mm-hm. [49:00] And since your retirement then, did you retire here to San Antonio? Crescentia Wellman: No. I retired, I retired at Eglin in 1981 and I left there in ’85. I enjoyed it there. I liked it. I liked Fort Walton Beach and I have lots of friends there, but it’s a very small place. And, uh, it is – and if you love water sports and all, you know, it’s just wonderful, but there’s, and there’s not a whole lot [inaudible 49:39]. You have to go away to get somewhere. And I just always enjoyed going to San Antonio because I used to come down here for seminars and for, and for – I sometimes had to be on the board, promotion boards, and so that’s why I enjoyed coming here. And I had a lot of friends, some friends here, but I made more, lots of, lots of friends here when I’d been here. Ruth Stewart: [50:07] So that was in ’85 that you came here? Crescentia Wellman: Mm-hm. And I built, I built a home and… Ruth Stewart: [50:14] And have you been involved in veterans’ activities since you came here? Crescentia Wellman: Oh yes. Well, I joined the WOSL right after I came here. And I have been going to Veterans Hospital once a month ever since ’85 – I think, ’86 I think I started going over there. And I used to, uh, for a while, uh, we had a, um, a courtesy booth when we were at Lackland for the newcomers, uh, every Saturday and I used to go out there one of my first couple years that I was here. I would go out there once a month. And, um, I went to the USO. I helped them down in the USO some number of times, you know. When I first came I did a lot more of that. Ruth Stewart: Mm-hm. Crescentia Wellman: And then I got involved more in my church activity. And, and I was an ombudsman for a nursing home for 8 years till I [inaudible 51:23] too much walking, so. Ruth Stewart: Hm. Crescentia Wellman: But I still do a lot of volunteer work. Um, I have, I, I work about 3 or 4 days a week. I work over at Santa Rosa. I do the information desk and I also give communion there. And I, but I, I visit at our Church of Saint Matthew so we, I, we visit new parishioners and the sick, things like that. We have a meeting every week. I do at least 2 to 3 hours a week of work. Ruth Stewart: So the basic interest that got you into nursing is liking people and liking to work with people and help people has carried through not only your nursing, active nursing career, but it’s – you are still nursing in many, many ways, aren’t you? Crescentia Wellman: Yeah. Ruth Stewart: Yeah, so. Very, very interesting career and very interesting story and certainly appreciate all the special activities and directions that you took during that time and took advantage of. Crescentia Wellman: I really, I really enjoyed my career. I really did. You know, uh, it was really [inaudible 52:38] and I still get calls from a lot of people. Ruth Stewart: Yeah. Crescentia Wellman: But I bet you, your, your career is very interesting too. I know it is. Ruth Stewart: [chuckle] Well, thank you very much. We’ll close out Cris’ career at this point. Crescentia Wellman: Okay. Ruth Stewart: And do appreciate the time and effort that you spent in getting this recorded… Crescentia Wellman: Okay. Ruth Stewart: …for our Library of Congress. Crescentia Wellman: Okay. /mlc