Interview of Patricia W. Pasback on her experience
in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps in post-WWII Germany


Elsie Hornbacher:	Pat Pasback is being interviewed for the Lansing unit of WOSL for our oral history project. [0:11] Pat, where were – uh, when did you go overseas and why did you go?

Patricia Pasback:	I went overseas in December of 1945.  I had graduated from Butterworth School of Nursing in June of ’45 and, uh, was inducted in the army in July of ’45.  I l-, learned…

Elsie Hornbacher:	[0:38] Did you volunteer or were you inducted, Pat?

Patricia Pasback:	I, um, I, I volunteered.

Elsie Hornbacher:	[0:44] And then you were inducted.

Patricia Pasback:	And then I was is-, inducted, right.  In fact, I not only volunteered, I – um, tsk, uh, they had closed enlistments at the time I had graduated and although I had put in an application to join the army, um, we were told that, that no more applications were being p-, processed.  And so, I did, uh, go down and talk to the, uh, recruiting people down there, uh, in, in Chicago and, um, I s-, when I left, I not only had signed myself up but four or five of my, my classmates.  Um.  Anyway, we, we, we were about – we were the second to the last, uh, class of nurses that, uh, went through the, the orientation program, um, at, um, tsk, at the camp in, uh, La Crosse, Wisconsin.  Tsk.  I learned that, um, a very good friend of mine, uh, had orders to go overseas, uh, uh, this was in October I believe.  I immediately, uh, went to my own chief nurse.  Uh, I had then by that time been assigned to Fort, uh, to, to Fort Custer in Battle Creek, tsk, and, uh, got my own name on the, uh, transfer list to go overseas, and, um, we left, uh, Michigan early in December.  We stopped at three camps on – before we finally, uh, got on our way.  We, uh, were at, um, Camp Myles Standish in Massachusetts, a camp in Georgia, and at a, a camp, uh, in New Jersey, Camp Kilmer.  I called my mother so frequently saying goodbye to her, she finally told me she wished I would get on my way. [laughter] Um, tsk, but we did get on our way.

	We, um, uh, went – we sailed on the SS John Ericsson about the 18th of December, tsk, and it was a cold and rather rough trip on the Atlantic that time of the year.  We landed in Bremerhaven on New Year’s Eve of 1945.  There, um, were about 500 nurses onboard ship and about 2000 troops.  Um, the nurses were the only ones allowed off, uh, the ship on New Year’s Eve, and we were only allowed off to attend some New Year’s Eve parties.  Um.  I had, um, uh, been signed up to, to go to a hospital in Bremen – to be assigned to a hospital in Bremen with friends of mine.  My name happened to be the last name on that list.  Uh, as an aftermath to the, to the New Year’s Eve parties, um, several nurses were in a jeep accident and one of the nurses broke her leg; she’d been assigned to Salzburg, so my name was taken off of the list to stay with my friends, and I was then assigned to, uh, a hospital in Salzburg.  At the time, I thought this was the worst thing that had ever happened to me because here I was fairly young, never away from home before, and I was being separated from everyone I knew going to a strange place with no one I knew.  As it turned out, it was a very fortunate incident.  Um, tsk, I, uh, still c-, claim as a very good friend a, a nurse that I met on the train as we went to Salzburg.  That was just a really great experience.  

	Um.  As soon as I arrived in Salzburg, I knew I was going to really enjoy it.  Of course, it was in the middle of winter – au-, it was in Austria, it was in the mountains, a lot of snow on the ground, and it was just beautiful.  We were assigned to the 124th General Hospital, uh, which was right outside of Salzburg in a little town – a little village called, uh, called Glasenbach.  Uh, the hospital was in what had been an old SS barracks and the nurses’ quarters were, um, above the administration building.  Um.  Our showers were on the 1st floor.  We had to go through the administration building to take showers, this kind of thing, but it was really quite an experience.  Um.  I was there about three months, but it seemed to me that I must have lived a lifetime in that three months.  Um.  It, it, um, uh, it was winter, of course, when, when we were there, and we had many, um, opportunities to, to enjoy the w-, winter in, in Austria.  Uh, we had opportunities to visit places such as Berchtesgaden and, um, tsk, uh, and see Hitler’s home there.  We were at – uh, [inaudible 6:22] had a, a home somewhere that was used for R&R.  We, uh, would be able to go there on, on trips and i-, it was really a, a great place to be.

Elsie Hornbacher:	Oh.  Berchtesgadener Hof is one of the most beautiful sights I believe I have seen in the world. [6:46] Um, did you stay at the hotel there?

Patricia Pasback:	Uh, we certainly did.  We, um would have every other Saturday and Sunday off, and we would go down to the – to Berchtesgaden, uh, uh, whenever we could just so we could get a hot bath.  Uh, we, we, we really enjoyed it.  We loved, um, uh, the whole, the whole place.  It was just, you know, just beautiful.  And, um, we were there a g-, a good many times.

Elsie Hornbacher:	Yes.

Patricia Pasback:	As I said, I, I was in, [sighing] um, I was in Belin – I was in, um, tsk, uh, Salzburg for, uh, about three months.  We really enjoyed Salzburg.  We, we, uh, um, went into Salzburg frequently.  We, uh, went to Mozart’s and, and to the, um, um, [Mozarteum 7:46] there.  Um.  I, I remember they had one little bar that we used to go to frequently in the evening to dance.  It was, it was – um, they always had beautiful, um, uh, music there and, and I remember they had a weird pole right in the s-, center.  A rather disappointing thing, I went back to Salzburg a number of years l-, l-, later and went back to this to see what the same bar was like, and it really was, uh, not very good when we [laughter] went back a second time.

Elsie Hornbacher:	[laughter]

Patricia Pasback:	Um.  Tsk.  From Salzburg, we were – uh, I was transferred along with several ol-, other people to Berlin.  In fact, the hospital – the 124th hosp – uh, General Hospital was closed down, and we were transferred to Berlin and we went to the 279th g-, g-, General Hospital in Berlin.  Um.  At that hospital I worked primarily on the s-, in the psychiatric ward there.  And it was while I was in Berlin that Axis Sally, uh, came, uh, to the hospital and was an a – assigned to the ward.  She had, uh, been captured and was going through a series of psychiatric evaluations at the time before, um, uh, I believe, before she was being placed on trial.  Tsk.

Elsie Hornbacher:	[9:22] Did you get any [inaudible 9:23]?

Patricia Pasback: 	I was, uh, in Berlin about four months and again, we seemed to have had a lot of experiences at that time, met a lot of people, and did, did many things.  Uh, the – most of the patients that we had in the hospital, um, were i-, individuals that were, um – just had the usual illnesses, that kind of thing.  We, we – uh, all of the war injuries, of course, had, had been sent back to the States.  Um.  It, it – I, I, I think probably the worse kind of, of injuries that we saw were simply kinds of a-, kinds of, of, of accidents that happened.  One that I remember when I was in Berlin, probably, uh, one of the worst things, was a fire.  Some, some soldiers that were assigned to a m-, motor pool had been cleaning the motor pool and the gasoline caught fire and, and, um, they were burned pretty badly.  And at that time, tr-, there was not the kind of treatment for burns that we have now, and, uh, I think of the – I think of the about six or seven that were burned, I think probably all of them died and not from their burns necessarily but from other complications of the b-, burns.

	I, I think th-, that one of – uh, I have many impressions of Berlin.  I think one of the impressions I, I have was of all the bombed-out b-, buildings.  Of, uh, the people trying to sell any belongings that they had in order to get a l-, little of extra money.  Of course, this was a time during the black market and the marks were so under-, uh, valuated th-, um, what, uh, $10 to us would be, uh, $100 to them, uh, th-, the exchange was, uh, so out of proportion.  Um.  I remember seeing nice l-, nice-looking people, people that you could tell w-, were, were p-, probably before the war had been upper middle-class people, uh, looking through trash cans and that trying to, uh, find s-, something.  Um, the people really had a pretty rough time of it, uh, during that period of time.  While I was in Berlin, also – of course, Berlin was a divided, divided city.  There was the American sector and the English sector and, uh, the Russian s-, sector.

Elsie Hornbacher:	[12:32] Was movement, uh, free for the Germans throughout the city at this time?  This is 1946?

Patricia Pasback:	Tsk, 1946, yes.

Elsie Hornbacher:	Right.

Patricia Pasback:	Uh, yes.  The, the m-, movement, uh, for the Germans was, uh, uh, very free.  It was free for us also.

Elsie Hornbacher:	[12:49] Uh, were they allowed to go to West Germany at that time?

Patricia Pasback:	Uh, I’m, I’m really not sure whether they were allowed out of Berlin.  I would say no because, um, Berlin, of course, was in the, uh, r-, Russian part, um, of, um, Germany.  Um.  I, I f-, and I can’t remem-, member whether there were three or four sections, but I think there were four.

Elsie Hornbacher:	I’ve heard many Germans say that they were able to get out but, uh, undoubtedly through a black market of, um, an underground, uh, uh, way.

Patricia Pasback:	Well, I would think so because when we came – I can recall when we came in by train, um, th-, there were, there were always – when we went through a certain – um, th-, the certain Russian s-, sector, uh, there were always r-, Russians that came on the train and, and investigated and, and ch-, checked y-, checked you over.  And of course, there wasn’t t-, too much of a problem as long as you were in, uh, in a, a army u-, u-, uniform.  I would imagine that the civilians might have a, a pretty tough time of it, but I, I’m sure that there were ways, um, to, to, um, go from one section of the country to, to the other if you just knew how to do it.  I, I think most of the Germans in, in Berlin at that time were a little bit uneasy.  I can, um, recall one of the secretaries that we had, uh, working on our ward who, uh, was taking, uh, r-, Russian because she wanted to be sure to be able to speak that language when the r-, Russians took over.  Uh.  They actually never took over that section, but, uh, they certainly did a pretty good job in their own area.  Uh.  I remember going to the opera in, uh, Berlin, and it was, uh, really remarkable.  It was g-, great.  That’s when I really learned, I think, to, to appreciate classical music and opera, uh, when I was g-, Germany and in Berlin.

	Um, you must remember that I was, uh, assigned, uh, right after the war and our principal, tsk, uh, m-, mission was to replace other, uh, n-, nursing staff that had been there for a long period of time, so, uh, they were closing down hospitals, uh, reassigning people, so we didn’t stay in one place very long and we weren’t part of, of a hospital u-, u-, unit the way people were that, uh, would – that went overseas together, set up a hospital, and stayed there, uh, you know, during the war itself.

	I was transferred then from Berlin to Bay-, r-, reuth, which is, um, in Bavaria close to n-, Nuremberg and, um, again, I was there for, uh, three or four months.  Um.  Uh, uh, in Bayreuth we were assigned to the 120th Station Hospital.  It was a, a very, uh, pleasant assignment, uh, a nice place to be.  I, uh, worked on a dependent’s ward part of the time.  Um, I also worked on the general m-, medical ward.  Uh, it was about this time that, that the – more – the dependents started coming over; I w-, talking about the dependents from the States but also some of the, um, uh, German and French, uh, wives – uh, girls who had married American soldiers, uh, were, were in, in these areas too.  And, uh, for example on the OB ward, uh, we had some, um, uh, French and German girls who had their babies there.  Uh, I think those of us that were in the hospital were sometimes a little, um, tsk, disappointed with the reaction of some of the, uh, American wives who came over.  It seemed to us that about all they did was complain about the lack of, of, um, facilities over there when it seemed to us at least that they had such – much better quarters and, and access to the PX and, and supplies and all of that than w-, we did.  Um, tsk, maybe we were just, uh, um, rather jealous that they had, uh, more than we did [laughter] and that’s why we felt that way.  I don’t know.  Uh, but this was in, in, uh, the fall of ’46 and as far as the army was concerned, things were getting a little bit back to normal again.

	Um, tsk, we, we had, we had many good times.  We worked hard, um, we were – when we, w-, when we were on nights, we worked, um, two weeks of nights and, and 12-hour n-, night duty, but when we had time off, we did many things.  We went to ski lodges, and we went to some of the r-, rest areas and, and, um, tsk, I went to plays and, and, and did a lot of sightseeing, uh, around the, uh, general areas.  Of course, we had a lot of friends there and, uh, I, I think we spent an awful lot of time, uh, dancing and going to parties and it, it was, you know, good f-, good fun.

Elsie Hornbacher:	You were right where [inaudible 19:14].

Patricia Pasback:	W-, while I was, um, i-, in Bayreuth, uh, Bayreuth, I had a chance to take a, uh, several days’ l-, leave and I couldn’t find anyone else with the time available so I went by myself, but I wanted to go to the r-, Riviera, so I, um, got transportation, got on the train.  I went to Paris.  I spent several days in Paris by myself.  I got on a train and went down to Nice and spent several days there by myself.  But, um, tsk, I think Nice was really quite a disappointment.  Uh, I guess I thought of our nice sandy beaches on Lake Michigan and the beach at Nice is – all it is is big r-, rocks; no nice sand beaches like we have at all.  Uh.  It was, tsk, interesting, we s-, I stayed at a hotel in Nice called the Hotel r-, r-, Ruhl.  R-U-H-L.  It was right across from the beach and we, of course, would put on our bathing suits and a little jacket or something and walk across the street to the beach, but the French people thought that was a little bit t-, tacky.  What they did – would go down to the beach, have a big, flowing, tsk, uh, uh, robe of some sort and change their bathing suit right there on the beach.  Now that to them was the way to do it, not, not to walk [laughter] across the hote-, the street in your bathing suit, but you change right on the beach.

	One of the little trips I remember taking while I was d-, when I – while I was in Nice was taking a little tour up to g-, Grasse, which is, uh, up in the mountains above, um, the Riviera.  And, uh, one of the reasons why that meant something to me was that, uh, I believe my grandfather’s, uh, relatives came from that area.  Um, that was his n-, n-, name, was Grasse, and I always heard that’s where he came from.

	Uh, in November of ’46, I had my – the opportunity of either signing up for another year or going home.  Tsk.  Uh, all of, um, my close friends were going home at that time and it just seemed too long to stay another year, and so I did sign up to go home and, uh, we, tsk, uh, left on – oh, uh, the SS General Ballou, which was, um, tsk, a, a not a very big ship.  It was one of the General ships, um, and we again managed to cross the Atlantic in the wintertime.  It was another rough and cold trip.  One time I almost thought I was gonna drown in the shower, our ship was rolling so.  But, um, we did get home, got back to Camp Kilmer, and I was discharged from Camp Kilmer.  Uh.

Elsie Hornbacher:	This was recorded by Pat Pasback, 4819 Gull Road, Apartment 16, Lansing, Michigan, 48917.  Her telephone number, the area code is 517, and her telephone number is 321-3206.


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