Interview of Margaret Kaminski Bliss on her service in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps Interviewer: [00:02] This is a tape being interv-, er, a tape interview for, uh, Women's Overseas Service League – Orange County Unit, and the person being interviewed is… Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Margaret Kaminski Bliss. I spent 4 ½ years in the Army Nurse Corps from the 21st of August 1941 to July of ’46; 2 ½ years was spent in the South Pacific. Interviewer: [00:29] Uh, what influenced your volunteer service? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: [Inaudible 00:34] Interviewer: [00:34] Oh…[laughter] Margaret Kaminski Bliss: I was stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington; Townsville, Australia; Hollandia, New Guinea (owned by the Dutch); and Manila in the Philippines. Since we missed our ship and orders home by 2 days, we spent 6 weeks at the Deposition Center in Manila. After graduating from St. Joseph Hospital School of Nursing and passing Idaho State Board, I became active in the local American Red Cross and, at that time, they were in charge of obtaining nurses on a voluntary basis for the army. I worked as a private-duty nurse for a short time before volunteering and I also did some travelling and, uh, before I entered the service. My duties in the service were nursing and administrative. At Fort Lewis, Washington, I was Ward Nurse – do you want to ask me questions? Interviewer: [1:24] Go ahead for a while. Margaret Kaminski Bliss: At Fort Lewis, Washington, I was Ward Nurse, Medical/Surgical Supervisor, Assistant Night Supervisor of Section 1, 2, 3, and 4 – the entire Fort Lewis Hospital. Interviewer: [1:37] Did this, uh, experience in any way prepare you for a, a career following nursing? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: No, because I had graduated [inaudible 1:46] hospital. I trained at the St. Joseph Hospital School of Nursing and I was well-prepared for the army. Interviewer: [1:57] Uh, can you tell me what, how much pay you got at that time? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Our pay in August, in August of ’41 was $70 per month. We received a pay hike sometime in 1943, while overseas to $150 a month. I don’t remember my pay in 1945, as First Lieutenant. Interviewer: [2:24] Um, were you given any opportunities for service during, er, for education during your time in the service? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: No. We were busy working in the hospitals with all the wounded soldiers coming from the South Pacific. Interviewer: [2:38] Were there different assignments given to women than there were to men? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: No, because all the nurses really had, um, did nursing service, except for those that were in charge at the, um, um, in the nurses’ charge office. Interviewer: [2:52] You didn’t see any segregation between men and women, except from the standpoint of your career preparation? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: No segregation whatsoever. Interviewer: [3:01] What kind of housing did you have? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Our housing in, um, the 12-station hospital, um, at Fort Lewis, Washington, our nurses lived in sections 2, 3, and 4 were single-room barracks. Section 1 was a brick building, which the chief nurse and regular army stayed in. In Townsville, Australia, our quarters and hospital were 2 blocks of homes. Homes were on stilts because of the, um, extreme heat. The army cemented the grounds under the houses and this area was also used for patients. Our bed capacity in Townsville, Australia, at times, was 800. Interviewer: [3:41] At Fort Lewis, then, you did have some segr-, er, some discrimination in that regular army was separated from the army reserve. Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Well, that was because the, um, the Section 1 was a main post and there were only those brick buildings and that was the only available area for the housing. Interviewer: [4:02] What, uh, kind of medical care were you receiving? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: I, uh, the medical care, to my knowledge, was excellent in, um, all the areas that I was in. I had strep throat twice in New Guinea and fell through the shower house floor and injured my leg, and the care was excellent. Interviewer: [4:24] And what kind of uniforms did you wear? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Um, our uniform of, in August of ’41, we were in civilian clothes and we were given blue uniforms. Uh, it was a bl-, navy blue jacket with, um, the light navy skirt. And, uh, when we went overseas to Townsville, Au-, and then during the war, after war was declared, we had to be in our, um, we were no longer able to wear civilian clothes. In Townsville, Australia, we had, um, blue seersucker dresses, um, brown and white seersucker dresses and caps later, and, um, our, um, our dress uniform was still the blues. We were issued ODs later. Interviewer: [5:16] Now, do you want to go on with your experiences while you were in the service, please? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Oh, do you wanna tell, have me tell you about our, um, quarters in Australia and in New Guinea? Interviewer: [5:25] Yes. Mm-hm. Margaret Kaminski Bliss: In Australia, our quarters and hospital were the 2 blocks of homes, I told you that. And, in New Guinea, in Hollandia and New Guinea, all hospital except surgery, was barracks with tin roofs and tar paper partially on the sides, with no closed entry ways. There were 24 of us in the barracks. Later, burlap was added to the ceiling, uh, in our night-duty sleeping quarters. In Manila, the Deposition Center was open barracks on the beach. Interviewer: [6:01] Were there any insects or animals or reptiles or anything of that sort that were particularly troublesome down there? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Um, yes. Um, in, um, in New Guinea, we had scorpions, centipedes, rats, python snakes, and the Anopheles mosquito was a problem. They sprayed the area every day about 4:00 and then after sundown we had to use, skel-, skin repellant on our faces, arms, and necks. Our uniform in New Guinea was long-sleeved suntan shirts, long suntan pants, and, um, high-top shoes at all times. Interviewer: [6:45] What did you wear for head cover? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: For head cover, we didn’t have to wear anything there. Um, it was, um, we had a lot of heavy rains and so forth and we just seemed to dash back and forth through the area. We weren’t ever allowed out of the area, except, uh, oh, when we had dates and went to another area. Interviewer: [7:08] Did you have any official leave time? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: No. Um, the official leave time I had was flying some psychos from Townsville, Australia to, um, Sydney, Australia and we had 5 days. That was my only vacation in all the time overseas. Interviewer: [7:27] And you spent a total of how much time overseas? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: 2 ½ years. Interviewer: [7:33] After the war ended, did you get any time, or did you go directly home from there? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Um, I went directly home. I was, um, we were 2 days late, missing our ship and orders home in Manila, so we stayed there for about 6 weeks. After being discharged in Camp Beale, we had to wait in San Francisco in order to get transportation home to Lewiston, Idaho, and, um, that was sort of a problem. But I went directly home to Lewiston, Idaho. Interviewer: [8:03] During that 6 weeks in Manila, what did you do? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Well, we just sorta rai-, waited around and prayed that we would get orders home. We were all tired and anxious to get going. Interviewer: [8:13] Uh, did you live in, uh, tents, or – did you have barracks of some sort… Margaret Kaminski Bliss: There were barracks at the Deposition Center. Um, 24 of us in the quarters, all waiting to go home. There were several quarters and, um, we did get a ride into Mila-, Manila and got to see the area a couple times. Interviewer: [8:33] Did you leave the service immediately upon your return to the United States, or did you stay in for a period of time? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: No, I left. I was discharged at Camp Beale. Interviewer: [8:42] And did your time in the service help you any in the, in the work that you were gonna do later? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Oh, I think all the experience caring for the wounded soldiers was, um, a great help. Um, I was going to, um, I was talked into working for a doctor. I didn’t, I was going to go to WSC and get my degree in nursing. Uh, I did-, think I only needed 11 points. We did get credits for being in the service and, uh, but Dr. [Hari 9:15] talked me into working for him, so I stayed there. Interviewer: [9:19] How much, uh, credit time were you granted at the Univ-, er, at the Washington State Univers-, College for your military time? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: It’s, I don’t remember but it was quite a few points for being in the service. I was delighted, I know. Interviewer: [9:34] Now, did they give you any, uh, credit for your nursing education? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Um, I don’t remember that but I’m sure they did. Interviewer: [9:45] Um, did you find any conflict between being a woman and being in the military? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: No. Not at all. Interviewer: [9:55] Did you use any of the benefits from the G.I. Bill? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: I had already applied to go to Washington State College but, as I said, Dr. [Hari 10:03] talked me into working for him and I worked for him for 12 years. Interviewer: [10:08] And, uh, tell me some of the adjustments that you had to make to going i-, when you got in the military service as compared to living a civilian life. Wearing uniforms, uh, living in the quarters you did, and so forth. Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Well, I think being in 3 years of nurses’ training sort of prepared me for all the army rules and regulations. Interviewer: [10:32] How long were you out of nursing school before you went into the army? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: About a year. I did some private duty and travelled. Interviewer: [10:41] So you really didn’t have much time to adjust to a non-structured way of life? [laughter] Margaret Kaminski Bliss: No, and I, I’m the type that adjusts pretty easily to restrictions. Interviewer: [10:53] What, to you, were the most unpopular restrictions? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Oh, I think after war was declared at Fort Lewis, always looking at your watch to be sure you got in through the gate on time and having to identify yourself. Curfews. Mm-hm. Interviewer: [11:13] Curfew hours. Um, did you have time for, um, either in the United States or overseas, for any romantic interests or [inaudible 11:25]… Margaret Kaminski Bliss: I, um, I fell in love, I think at first sight with [Crawford 11:31] [inaudible 11:31] [McCoy 11:32] and married him in, um, March the 5th, 1943, and on April 1st of ’43, he had an untimely death caused by an accidental gunshot wound, and that was very [traumatic 11:48]. Interviewer: [11:48] Yes, it was. Margaret Kaminski Bliss: He was… Interviewer: [11:50] At that time, were they still discharging nurses if they were married or were they permitted to stay in the service? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Uh, we tried to keep it a secret but, as I went through the main building, Major [Berguson 12:02], Chief Nurse, said, “I heard you were married last night,” and they had stopped doing that at that, just shortly after that. Interviewer: [12:12] Now what, uh, what other, uh, particularly interesting incidents happened to you while you were overseas or while you were in the service? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Uh, I think, um, being in New Guinea, uh, was a lot of the, um, memorable times. The natives in the native villages, like, near Lake Sentani and MacArthur’s headquarters went on a, was on a hill several miles away. The jungle – it’s rains, floods, and dusty roads and we had to be escorted to the outhouse, 16 [whole are 12:49] privy, by a guard, um, after dark at night in New Guinea. And then an occasional submarine would be sighted in the bay and we’d have occasional blackouts; even after the war ended, there was a sub-, Japanese submarine there and then we had blackout. Interviewer: [13:05] Did you have an opportunity to meet any of the, um, star-ranked individuals that were stationed in New Guinea when they came through there? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Well, when I was, um, in New Guinea and in charge of medical and surgical groups and also the skin wards, um, um, we had General [Kirk 13:27], who was in Washington, D.C., and headed the, um, United States Medical Corps. Um, I was able to meet him on our rounds at the hospital and that was interesting. [inaudible 13:37] [laughter] Margaret Kaminski Bliss: And then, Gen-, General Johnson was, when I was in charge of the, um, uh, Officer’s Ward, was a patient there. He’d been in charge of the black division at the time in New Guinea. Interviewer: [13:53] They still had segregation when the bl-, between the blacks and the whites at that time? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Yes, there was a black division. Interviewer: [14:00] Did they, um, integrate those at any time while you were there or did it remain segregated the entire time? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Um, after our war, uh, after our hospital left and 8 of us with the highest points were left behind, I was sent to 334th Wisconsin Unit to do temporary duty until our orders came for home. And, most of the people left, or the soldiers left at that time, were the black division on the, uh, on the bay. Interviewer: [14:35] Did the, uh, among the nurses that you were stationed with, were your relationships very cordial? Did you remain close friends with any of them afterward? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Yes. I used to correspond with quite a few of the girls at, um, Pittsburgh University, and our 12th Station Hospital still has reunions every 2 years in different parts of the cities in the United States, which is interesting. Interviewer: [15:03] How many, uh, people come to these reunions… [inaudible 15:06] Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Uh, sometimes there are 60, uh, quite a few of the doctors have died and some of the nurses have also left us. Interviewer: [15:14] Do the enlisted personnel come to the reunions, too? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: No. No… Interviewer: [15:18] It has not included them or – was it a deliberate exclusion or is it just that they haven’t come? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: It’s, it was, I think probably just the officers and I think it’s such a chore to get people together anyway. They thought it was too big of a, um, problem. Interviewer: [15:41] Uh, is there, uh – how many years did you continue to work in nursing after you left the service? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: After I left the service, um, after years resting, I worked for Dr. [Hari 15:56] for 12 years – er, 11 years. Um, then, I, um, then I lived at home with my mother and father. I married Fred Bliss in 1957, and in November of ’59, he died suddenly of a heart attack. So, I sort of dashed around and visited friends and families for a while. In 1964, I, um, went to Hawaii for 2 years – I mean for 2 months – before coming to work at Leisure World, September 1st of 1964. I was a nurs-, nurse hired in this [era 16:34]. Interviewer: [16:35] Uh, did you, um, go back to school at any time? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: No, but we did have education… Interviewer: [16:41] …other than continuing education. I cont-, um, and then in 197-, I worked for a certified cardiologist here at Laguna Hills Leisure World Clinic. In 1973, I had a car accident neck injury and that’s when I retired. Interviewer: [16:59] Did you ever draw any benefits from the military – er, from the VA, or just, just when you got out of the service, that was the end of your military connections. [laughter] Margaret Kaminski Bliss: That was it. That was it. That was it. Interviewer: [17:13] Do you have anything further you want to add? Um… Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Well, I think the, one of the most memorable days was the day that war was declared, and the war ended. It still a, quite a memory, a vivid memory in my mind. Interviewer: [17:28] Did you have almost immediate blackouts at Fort Lewis when war was declared, or was it kind of a panic situation, or was it taken very calmly? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: It was taken very calmly. We had to, uh, nurses were smoking in closets. We had to have all our areas blacked out. I happened to be later on, on night duty in Section 1. That was a big brick building. We had as high as 100, uh, surgical patients and a lot of it, the less ill, were out in a closed-in glass area, porches, and that was really a kind of a problem, to nurse with, um, flashlights with red… Interviewer: [18:09] You had no provisions for blackouts to begin with at all? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: No, and all of the Japanese at that time we noticed had left the wards. Our Japanese ward people were no longer there. Interviewer: [18:20] Did you, uh, did they provide blackout panels for the windows at a later date, or… Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Yes… Interviewer: [18:30] …or did they just continue to nail blankets…[laughter] Margaret Kaminski Bliss: No, no. They, we had blackout areas. Interviewer: [18:40] What, what was your feeling about the, uh, Japanese incarceration? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: I, I didn’t have any hard feelings against them, but I can understand, after, um, being in the Philippines after the war and knowing what went on in Hawaii, I could understand why, that , uh, they weren’t able to trust all of them – many, most of them probably were innocent. But, even in the army, in Townsville, Australia, they used to call me and say, “Uh, G2 wants to see you,” and I think, “What have I done now?” and they would be asking me if I remembered the officer such-and-such, he sort of acted and he was listed as psycho. He said that, um, a coconut has fell on his head and he was being observed as one of the spies for the Japanese. And all the nurses had to be careful of, um, well, they didn’t try to get information, but we had a Rec Hall where a lot of the flyers came and ate soup and drank coffee, and, uh, they were very cautious. So, um, everyone, some nurses’, um, uniforms were used by some of the Australian girls when trying to get information. Interviewer: [20:03] Was there any, uh, provision for entertainment or recreation when you in overseas assignments? Did you have USO shows? Did you have movies? Did you have… Margaret Kaminski Bliss: We had wonderful USO shows. Bob Hope was one that I remember, and we had, um, Oklahoma came, but we usually had pouring down rains and they’d have been cancelled. Torrential rains in the jungle were really something. Interviewer: [20:29] You had no, uh, building in which, or, uh…a big club that it could be held in? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: No, it was all out of doors. Interviewer: [20:35] And did, uh were they, uh, did they show movies at all, or…? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: We had movies at night and they were pretty good. Interviewer: [20:42] And they were shown outdoors, too? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Yes. We had to be sure and, there was a big can of skin repellant there, we had to be sure and cover our hands and face and neck. Interviewer: [20:56] Now, I would like to know if you have any additional information you would like to share with us. Margaret Kaminski Bliss: I believe I’ve covered everything. I just was um, I was proud of all our American soldiers and all the personnel in the service. They were, um, proud to serve their country and that was, um… Interviewer: [21:17] Did you lose any nurses because of illness or death while you were overseas? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Um, yes. We had a disease caused from [atagren 21:27] that was an exfoliated dermatitis, and we had one nurse, uh, that was flown right to the Hamilton Field and she was, um, she died when she arrived. And then we had a couple patients that were, uh, not nurses but patients that had leprosy, um, a tropical disease. Our 27th general hospital was a main quarters for, um, uh, the blood bank for the American Red Cross to serve the South Pacific. And then we also had a, uh, a group of scientists who were doing research on all tropical diseases. That was very interesting. So, it was an interesting life. We worked hard and had a lot of trials and tribulations, but you really didn’t think of them because you thought of the hardships the soldiers were going through. Interviewer: [22:20] Today, we hear so much about the nurses coming back from Vietnam and the men coming back from Vietnam and flashbacks and psychi-, psychosis and so forth afterward. Did you have any trouble adjusting to, uh, forgetting some of the terrible things that you saw and that happened to you? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: No, because you were very busy, and you had a job to do. And we had very, we had some nurses that went home psychotic, and quite a few of the psycho patients, uh, were some that had problems at home and the stress and strain was just too much for them. Interviewer: [23:00] And, in the years after you got out and went back into civilian life, did you have any, um, recurrences of depression or anything of that sort? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: No, none at all. No. Interviewer: [23:14] Did, uh, low-flying aircraft ever bother you, or…? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Not at all, no. Interviewer: [23:20] I just wondered how, uh, how World War II nurses fared as compared to those who were in Vietnam, because I hear so much about them today. I wonder if maybe we were stronger or something? [laughter] Margaret Kaminski Bliss: I think it’s the society we’re living in. Um, occasionally, and it was very, very, um, occasional, we would get somebody at that time that had a vial, which was about 6, or about 3 inches long, of morphine or Dilaudid. We didn’t have Demerol in those days; it came later. Interviewer: [23:56] Right. Margaret Kaminski Bliss: So we had very, very little of, of dope addiction, to my knowledge. Interviewer: [24:03] And it was not available there like it ha-, was in Vietnam from the natives? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: No. No. Interviewer: [24:10] Because they didn’t grow, well, the only thing they grew there was betel nut… Margaret Kaminski Bliss: And they chewed that… Interviewer: [24:15] [laughter] And they chewed that… Margaret Kaminski Bliss: …and their teeth turned orange. Interviewer: [24:17] But, for some reason or another, the Americans didn’t seem to go so much for that. Margaret Kaminski Bliss: No, not at all. The natives were interested in getting American cigarettes and, at that time, they were all interested in getting Luckys. They didn’t want Raleighs. Interviewer: [24:31] Oh! They had a selective idea of what they wanted? [laughter] Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Yes, and it was strange to see a native go down the, um, dusty streets or wander around the area in an o-, wool OD GI suit. Interviewer: [24:46] Did you, um, have chocolate there? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Yes. Interviewer: [24:50] Or did it just turn gray and… [inaudible 24:53] Margaret Kaminski Bliss: No, everything was cocoa butter and the chocolate was – our butter was cocoa butter and our chocolate was – I got most of the bars because nobody liked them. They were Hershey cocoa butter bars. Because Hollandia was right on the equator and it was very humid and almost unbearably hot. Interviewer: [25:11] What, what were your rations? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Uh, everything was, um, a lot of it came, our powdered eggs and our powdered, um, potatoes all came from Australia and they weren’t as good a grade later, as, as we, and later, we got American food. Everything was powdered. Interviewer: [25:32] Did you get any K-rations at all or… Margaret Kaminski Bliss: No, I always liked the K-rations when somebody brought ‘em by. I thought they were good. Interviewer: [25:39] Flight crews brought those in. [laughter] Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Yes. And then I’d get a lot of packages with candy and, and, um, different packages from home… [inaudible 25:47] Interviewer: [25:47] Did the candy coming from home, uh, hold up ‘til it got there at the dropping site then or did it… Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Pretty well, unless somebody broke into it. In Australia, we had a lot of ants. We had to keep our bedposts in ants and keep all our nylons and undies in ant-, in, uh, glass jars. But most of it came through. There was a lot of, of, um, I guess people in the post office department, some of the kids had sticky fingers and would steal from us. Interviewer: [26:16] And you wore, uh, the seersucker pants and shirts [inaudible 26:21] … Margaret Kaminski Bliss: No, they were dressed as the men did, the suntan, long-sleeved shirts and pants. Interviewer: [26:25] You did not wear the, uh, [inaudible 26:27] fatigues at all? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: No, not on… [inaudible 26:31] Interviewer: They were too heavy? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: Yes, it was hot… Interviewer: [26:33] And you didn’t have to wear a helmet [but on the plane 26:34]? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: No, we were issued all of those. We all had those issued just in case needed them. Interviewer: [26:40] But you didn’t have to wear them? Margaret Kaminski Bliss: No. Townsville, Australia was bombed by the Japanese before we got there and also Darwin. Interviewer: [26:49] Well, I think probably that pretty well covers your experiences. I hope we got it all in. Margaret Kaminski Bliss: I think so. I think one could really write a book on all their experiences. Interviewer: [26:57] I think so, too. /ab