Interview of retired Colonel Mary Ruth Pullig on her long career in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps
Retired Army Colonel Mary Ruth Pullig talks about growing up in Arkansas and Louisiana, her education and her long career as a U.S. Army nurse. After nursing school and working at various hospitals in the south, Pullig says that she joined the Army Nurse Corps in 1943, did her basic training at Fort Sam Houston in Texas and was first assigned to Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in Denver. She also talks about other Stateside assignments and says that she was finally sent overseas to New Guinea and and then to the Philippines and describes the living conditions at both posts, the poor diet, working under enemy fire, some of the patients she treated and nursing civilians suffering from collateral damage wounds. After the war, Pullig says that she was stationed in occupied Germany for a time and finally came back to the States and earned bachelors and masters degrees. She says she is thankful for being given the opportunity to travel and see the world and that the young men who fought were good men overall and that she enjoyed her experience with them and helping people as a nurse. Ruth Stewart interviews Pullig.
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- In Collections
-
Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project
- Copyright Status
- In Copyright
- Date
- 2003
- Interviewees
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Pullig, Mary Ruth, 1919-2007
- Interviewers
-
Stewart, Ruth F.
- Contributors
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University of Texas at San Antonio. Libraries
- Subjects
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Pullig, Mary Ruth, 1919-2007
United States. Army Nurse Corps
United States. Army
Fitzsimons Army Medical Center
World War (1939-1945)
Armed Forces--Foreign service
Armed Forces--Military life
Learning and scholarship
Military education
Military nursing
Military participation--Female
Nurses
Veterans
Women veterans
Germany (West)
New Guinea
Philippines
Texas--Fort Sam Houston
- Material Type
-
Sound recordings
Interviews
- Language
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English
- Extent
- 00:24:43
- Holding Institution
-
Vincent Voice Library
- Call Number
- Voice 35415
- Catalog Record
- http://catalog.lib.msu.edu/record=b11891089
- Permalink
- https://n2t.net/ark:/85335/m5p428