Interview of Anne Noreen Bauer
on her twenty-eight year career as an United States Army nurse


Jane:	…[inaudible 0:01] Fort Benjamin Harrison women who are members of WOSL, better known as Women’s Overseas Service League. I have with me Major Nora Hazelmeier who is a retired army nurse. She is now our President of WOSL. The other person is Lieutenant Colonel Anne Noreen Bauer. That’s spelled B-A-U-E-R. And Anne is going to tell us about her 28 years of military service as an army nurse. [0:39] Anne, would you tell us this?

Anne Bauer:	Yes. I started out as a registered nurse, graduating from St. Joseph Hospital in Mishawaka, Indiana, in 1938. At that time, I accepted a position with Dr. [Whitlock 0:57] as his surgical nurse and his office nurse until the bombing of Pearl Harbor. And at this time, uh, I became a little antsy because we were getting letters from the Indiana State Board of Nurses requesting, uh, volunteers for nurses, that if they did not meet their quota, they may have to draft them. I wasn’t about to be drafted. 

	But in the meantime, my roommate in training, who also worked for a doctor, uh, insisted on me going in the Service with her. Of course, I didn’t know anything about the Army Nurse Corps at this point, but she kept thinking that this would be a good thing for us. Finally, we checked into it and found out that we could not go in until we joined the American Red Cross. So we started those papers, and we were both accepted in the American Red Cross and were given appointments for, uh, a physical examination. I discussed this with the doctor I worked for, and he said well, I'm glad you're taking this step because, he said, I'm ROTC. I'm hot for military service, he said even though I have a family, and he said if I go in, I will go in as a surgeon with a major rank, and if I'm drafted, I'll go in as a lieutenant. So he said you let me know what you decide. He said I really don’t want to break up the office unless you, uh, unless you do. So I had my preliminary physical and then was given a physical for Chicago, at which time, uh, I went, uh, to the military, uh, physical professional services and had my physical and waited if I would be accepted or not. 

	So I finally did get orders that, uh, when would I be available of which I said August 15, 1942, so the doctor and I could close the office, etc. [throat clearing] Excuse me. At that time, um, he had already put in his papers, and in order for me to, uh, go into the Service, I would go in as relative rank, a second lieutenant. I took my Oath of Office on the 24th of August 1942, and went on active duty by bus to Fort Benjamin Harrison on the 25th of August. And at this time, I had my orientation by a Colonel [Ann 3:57] Anderson, and she, uh, gave me a complete orientation of the Army Nurse Corps, and of course, I had – of the post and, uh, etc., but had, had not had any basic training of course. And I was 27 years old. And I had requested if there was a possibly of going into the regular army, and she said no, the books were closed [but if 4:26] she was so glad that I was interested, and if so, she wanted to know if wanted to put a letter to that effect in my file. We proceeded, and fortunately, that saved me many years later because you had to be 27 years old to join, get into regular. You couldn't be older than 27 to be – get in the regular army at that time.

Jane:	[4:52] Well, Anne, if you went into the regular army, would you have been a nurse?

Anne Bauer:	I was a nurse, yes. 

Jane:	[4:57] You would have been a nurse? 

Anne Bauer:	And then you went in as a nurse.

Jane:	Uh-huh.

Anne Bauer:	And you were commissioned as a second lieutenant at that time because I had no degree, but that, that wasn’t really taken into effect at that time anyway.

Jane:	[5:09] Okay, but I thought you j-, you had to join through the American Red Cross?

Anne Bauer:	Well that was only t-, to go into active duty.

Jane:	I see.

Anne Bauer:	Yes. So, because at that time, since regular army was closed, the rest was volunteer Red Cross, like, like the schoolteachers, the social workers, or anyone else was. And so anyway, I was assigned to a surgical ward, and, eh, that wasn’t the only thing, the head nurse on that ward that oriented me was already assigned to an overseas assignment. And these were all under security r-, eh, purposes at that time. You didn’t know where you were going for sure. Some places, you might know you were going to Europe or the Far East or England, but that was it. And she gave me a thorough report of the entire service, uh, on her section, which was recovery. The other thing is, uh, she was a very talented, a very, um, a learned person, and she said, uh, in case you don’t know this, you're going to take over my duties as the head nurse, which I did. Her name was [Inaudible] [Brown 6:31], from Kentucky somewhere. Then, uh, 6 months later, here I get overseas orders, and I was in route to parts unknown. Our, uh, orders gave a – we had a, a head nurse assigned to us, and I forget how many of us there were. We were put on a train at Fort Harrison, a troop train, and went into Indianapolis. We were put in a CO car temporarily until we got to Chicago. 

	And the head nurse was to open up these order envelopes as we stopped and, and had changes, and that told you where to go, how, how to get there, whether it was a cab or a bus, and to get to a certain train and a certain track. And from there we went on, and we ended up in, uh, California. Uh, this was a very interesting thing to me because we went to Camp Stoneman, and the only training we had had was at Fort Harrison, which was how to salute and, uh, do a little marching, and we had a little bit of bivouacking, not much, and when we got to Camp Stoneman, we really had, over the debarkation net, we had the whole business. And we were out in the mud and every other kind of features that you could imagine. Then, uh, we were put on a, um, a ferry many weeks later, and this was in, uh, in February, uh, that we, uh, left, we left, yeah, so it was in February. We boarded this ferry and, uh, went down to San Francisco, in which we boarded the, uh, West Point. Now this was all in the dark late at night, no lights, no anything. And the West Point was the [convert 8:34] of America for troopship purposes. So we boarded this, and we were on the water for 6 weeks. 

	And during this period of time, we had, um, not only boat drill and the usual training that we had for disasters and so on, but finally, one day, we were in the mess hall, at least I was in the mess hall, which was a converted swimming pool, fabulous big place. We had our trays and were to a place to seating, and the ship took [alerts 9:10], made a complete [go around 9:12]. There were, um, submarines chasing us in the waters. Uh, I got a sprained ankle, what I thought was a sprained ankle at that time. There were quite a few injuries but nothing too great. And, uh, I had to favor that quite a bit of which I still have problems. We also had, um, meningitis. Uh, well what do you want to call it, eh, we had quite a few. We even had sea burials because we couldn't take them with us. And finally we ended up, after 6 weeks on the water on this troop ship, we landed on Bombay, India. [throat clearing] Now this ship could not go in to some of the other areas that they wanted to because it was too big. Part of us were put on a British tug of which I was one of them. It was called the Rajula, R-A-J-U-L-A. It was an English, uh, ship, but it had been carrying prisoners for many years, and you can imagine what problems we put up with there. 

	Others were put on a train. And we ended up in Karachi, India. This was the 112th Station Hospital Unit. These had all been put together from all over the United States at Camp Stoneman. Our chief nurse was Dorothy [B. Keyes 10:47]. At that time, she was a lieutenant and later on promoted to a captain. She was a first lieutenant. [coughing] Now we were at, um, Karachi, India. We were assigned to the 159th Station Hospital. It later on became the 181st General Hospital. And our chief nurse there was [Doris 11:20] Churchill-[Avery 11:21], a captain. I was there for 1 month assigned. The nurses that had been there had been there for a year without any time off. They were sent out to dispensaries to relieve those people, and some were sent on R&R. At the end of 1 month, several of us were sent on a new assignment to our own hospital, which would be r-, in readiness in the near future. Our chief nurse was Margaret [Dickmeyer 11:57] from Ft. Wayne, Indiana. She later married, and her name was Spahr, S-P-A-H-R. She was our – she was the assistant chief nurse at the hospital, but she was the chief taking us to where we landed in Kolkata, India. We had no idea where we were going, but we were put on this Indian train, which was a cattle car. And I could go on for a long time telling you about that. 

	But there were several of us then in Kolkata in which we took over 2 Indian mansions for the administrative and the medical and surgical buildings. I ended up being the surgical supervisor. Angela Flanagan was the medical supervisor. And we had, of course, an operating room supervisor and some other staff members. Initially, being these 2 buildings, it was up to us as soon as the equipment came in to put up the beds, put up the – set up the wards and the operating room, etc., and including making supplies. And we did this until the time came when we were allowed to open up and accept patients. General Xavier [Cheves 13:20] was the base commander in Kolkata, and he was very good to us. He saw that we got fans for where we lived, which were homes. The nurses had their own small nurses’ home. The officers lived, uh, in a, another one of the Indian mansions. These were normally tea plantation owners’ homes. [throat clearing] We finally opened up the hospital, and I was there for over a year. During this period of time, they built basha huts, which later became the outside buildings. W-, we still maintained the 2 main buildings that we started out with. 

	I received orders to report to Delhi, India, under the Southeast Asia Command Headquarters. This was under the command of Lord Louis Mountbatten, and on his staff was General Stillwell and General Merrill whom I later had much to do with. We reported by train from Kolkata to Delhi, India, was met and oriented under General or under, uh, Lord Louis Mountbatten’s orientation program. And after this was completed, along with the Women Army Corps, the nurses aboarded another troopship, and there were other people that went again on another secret move. We had no idea where we were going. We ended up, uh, on the Island of Salon.

Jane:	[15:29] Anne, I'd just like to ask you, uh, do you, do you know Lord Mountbatten well enough to say something about him?

Anne Bauer:	Yes, I do. He, he was a fabulous man, uh, fabulous, um, uh, officer. His wife, uh, sometimes visited our hospital that we opened up later, but he had a place in Kandy by the Temple of the Tooth, which was a very nice place. He had movies there that we could go to. The nurses had a special invitation that we could go. But that was good because there were 5 of us. We, we – 2 of us had to go together, and we were most of us on duty or on call all that time, so we did not get to go very often. And we, uh, one night we were invited to – I was invited to dinner and sat along – I was on his left. And he asked me where I was from, where my home was, where I got my training, and I told him that I got it in Mishawaka, Indiana, and he says I know that place. Uh, he's – I told him that I worked for an industrial surgeon that, uh, was with the, what we call now the Ball-Band, but at one time, it was a, uh, a rubber company. And he said well I know that real. He said you know, uh, he said I was in on the planning of the [Weasel 16:48], and we had very much conversation about ice cream and [inaudible 16:53] and a lot of other things. And – but when he visited the hospital, he always stopped by to see me. 

	And his wife was very, very active with the British Red Cross, and she went around to many of the hospital areas in which he was in command of also. So it was a nice feeling. So, uh, there – we ended up with 5 nurses on the Island of Salon in Kandy, K-A-N-D-Y. Our chief nurse was Bernice [Nelson 17:28] who was a, uh, anesthetist, a nurse anesthetist, and we were assigned to the Queen’s Hotel to live until our place was ready in the Peradeniya Gardens, which is royal botanical gardens of Kandy. We were housed in along with British nurses and other, um, members of the staff, uh, secretaries, and uh, just all professional areas and civilians, which were with the, uh, uh, the different security areas and so on. [throat clearing] Now this was a security post in which we could not go on and off, uh, at all. During the time that we were in the hotel, many of our troops became ill out in the, in the gardens where the main headquarters was, out in the troop area of which there were, uh, uh, different, uh, medical people who staffed dispensaries and so on. Then, um, we had, um, some that were put in the British Hospital. Our medical officers did not approve of the way they were being cared for because they were being cared like they were other, um, uh, native people. 

	They didn’t have medicine glasses, and they didn’t – they went along with spoons and went from one to the other and cups from one to another and so on. And this was very bad in a tropical country because there were many diseases that could be transmitted, so they were pushing to find a place to have our own. They set up a tent and our male technicians took care of patients in the tent areas. The officers were taken care of in their, uh, rooms at the King’s Hotel, which was called the Suisse Hotel, S-U-I-S-S-E. And we nurses were assigned to them on shifts. We would walk from the Queen’s Hotel to the Suisse, which was over a mile, a beautiful walk, however, and would take care of these people as they needed be. Finally, the reason, uh, this was slow in starting is because our hospital had been planned to be built in the botanical gardens, but we couldn’t wait that long. So finally the British took over Mount [Inaudible 20:10], which was, uh, a little distance from Kandy, and this had been a, a convent in which they took care of orphans, and the one big main building was a – had been used as a research when they pushed the orphans and the nuns out of Mount [Inaudible 20:31]. So at that time, the research building had been closed, had not been used for a year. 

	We went in and cleaned up the area. Our supplies – we got our supplies and decided that we had just better start setting up as soon as possible, which we did. We had a small hospital, and we became quite active. At that time, we also had the troops coming in from China and different areas if they were close by or on the navy ships coming into [Colombo 21:10] Salon. So we did have quite an assortment of injuries and – well many of our injuries were things like leaches and, um, uh, or terrible bites from insects, and of course the snakes were prevalent there as well, in addition to much dysentery, malaria, Dengue fever, uh, especially, uh, the amoebic dysentery was very prevalent at that time. I remember Lord Louis Mountbatten, uh, had some, uh, diseases and, uh, especially amoebic dysentery, and so he put out an order finally that, uh, we would have to have our dishes and, uh, waters boiled for certain periods of time, which we had had a hard time getting in the – at the hotels previously. So he was very cooperative in anything that he really could accomplish. I remained there in a, uh, head-nurse capacity then until 1945, at which time our theater nurse stated that there would be no nurse in the area over 30 months, so I went home. 

	Our theater nurse became Agnes [Mailey 22:41]. She is still alive and lives in Texas, and we enjoyed her very much. I also had her on a future assignment, uh, as a theater nurse. Then my orders came to go home, and I flew home from [Colombo 23:00] Salon and arrived in New York. I had a 30-day leave then at that time, and of course, V-J day had been a short time previous to that, and I was in Salon. Also, at that – during my, my, uh, tenure there, uh, President Roosevelt died. And so there were several things that I can pinpoint to as to what year it was because of that assignment. When I came home, I was reassigned to Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. And at that time I, uh, was assigned to the [Inaudible 23:49] Hospital, which was Billings General Hospital, and they were bringing troops back, returnees, and naturally there were many that would come in on the troop trains. They would be, uh, checked out, and as soon as possible, when they were ready, they were reassigned to homes, uh, home hospitals, uh, veterans hospitals that were closer to their home or to a military hospital depending upon their status. If they were discharged from the service or if they, uh, would get further care. We closed up Billings General Hospital and opened up the station hospital at Fort Harrison, which is now the headquarters at Fort Harrison. 

	And, again, I was there until 1947, at which time we closed the hospital completely, and I was sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky, to the station hospital there. I was assigned to contagion service, was a head nurse, and I remained there for 5 years. During that period of time, I was assigned to a civilian disaster team, and again this was all top secret. All messages were delivered by military police. No one else knew you were. No one else knew where you were going or what your duties would be or otherwise. And I was on, um, a drug trails during this period of time as well. So it was very interesting in along with my assignment. We had many polios during this period of time. So I attended a, uh, a course in Louisville, Kentucky, that was held by the National Orthopedic, uh, Public Health Service to learn more about polio and to care, and we went through all the treatments and so on and so forth, which were s- Sister Kenny’s treatments. So we did have a fabulous set up at Fort Knox, I thought in our treatment of patients. I later then was assigned as the head nurse in the clinic area, and again this was a big clinic. Many things were being done. There was research work being done on amoebic dysentery, n-, uh, also known as Amoebiasis.

	So, consequently, I had a very, uh, thorough, uh, training I can say in many things, which also helped me in many other of my assignments. And, um, I was there until 1951, at which time my orders were for Europe. I was assigned to the 97th General Hospital in Frankfurt, and then they sent us, of course, to an orientation program in the Berchtesgaden area for a short period of time. And I was head nurse on the communicable disease section. I was there until 1954 when my father became acutely ill, and I came home on emergency leave with only a few more months to go on my 3-year assignment. I came home by plane on emergency leave, but my father had died before I arrived. So after 30 days of leave, my orders came in and assigning me to the dispensary at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. I reported in, and a short period of time after I arrived, we opened up the station hospital, which is now the headquarters at Fort Benjamin Harrison. I was assigned to the chief nurse for duty at which time, she said Annie, I do not have an opening for s-, for supply for the central services as I have that position filled. 

	And she said I see that you’ve been doing that for a period of time, but she said I drastically need you in the OB Department. We just opened it up, and the, uh, head nurse has been – is on orders for Walter Reed. I need to replace her. She’s a fabulous nurse, and in fact, she’s from Indiana. Uh, I, uh, her name is Dorothy, uh, I can't remember her n-, her married name now, but Dorothy was a fabulous orientation person to me not knowing anything about OB. But she said I hope you won't mind, and I said oh, I just don’t see how I'm going to be able to be the head nurse. I'll be glad to be, be a peon. She said I don’t need a peon. I have good staff people, but I need someone to organize and, uh, to keep it in tow, and she said I know you can do it, from your records.

Jane:	Anne, that was quite a compliment to you I think. 

Anne Bauer:	It was...

Jane:	Yes.

Anne Bauer:	…you know, my – I think, uh, I grew another head size, and, and I said now the only thing I remember about OB, it's been many, many years, is where babies come from. She said well you'll learn in a hurry. And she was right because the, the hall was full of litters with mother’s on that were in labor. And we still had a very small department, but they were all coming in. And we did not have cribs for the babies at that time. We were using dresser drawers. And, um, so, and, of course, one of my first duties was I had to have cribs. We couldn’t have dresser drawers all over the place. And so our supply officer said impossible until his wife got pregnant and was gonna to have twins, and I guess, you know, it didn’t take us long to get cribs as he went to Fort Knox and came back with them. But we did have a very, very nice department. We had wonderful doctors, and she was right, the staff were out of this world. We were there until we moved over to the old Potomac Hospital, which had been renovated for a station hospital. Now this was in 1954, and I remained there as the head nurse of the OB Service, which was the labor/delivery, the ward, the clinic, the nursery, and the premature nursery, and we had at least a hundred babies a month. 

	At that time, I received orders for the Nurse Administration Course, the 9027, at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. This is a preparation for supervisors and chief nurses. I was then promoted to a major and received orders for Fitzsimons General Hospital in Denver, Colorado. I reported there after leave to Colonel Alice Gritsavage who was the chief nurse. She gave me many responsible positions while I was there. I was head nurse on the medical intensive care area, relief supervisor on weekends and holidays. I became the permanent evening and later the permanent night supervisor. I had many a-, additional other duties. I was the officer in charge of the Batchelor Officer Quarters. And I wanted to complete my education for a degree, which was very, very easy to do, uh, at the University of Denver in Colorado. So I worked many split hours. I did many other duties in order to attend courses daytime or nights, whatever was feasible for my courses. I rotated at the training nurse. I was an umpire on a disaster team. I was the educational coordinator, nurse methods analyst, and this was all in a training position. I became the troubleshooter. Where there were problem areas, I relieved in those areas as well. This included the TB supervisor, the supervisor on the a-, Neuropsychiatric Service, and this was at the beginning of the milieu therapy in the, in the military. During this period of time, I transferred my credits from the Indiana University to Denver, and I finally received my degree in nursing administration in 1959. 

	I then received orders assigning me to the 4th United States of America Security Agency in Arlington, Virginia. This was in 1960, the fall of 1960, at which time I flew from New York by way of Europe to Asmara Eritrea, Ethiopia. I was the chief nurse loaned to the security agency from the army to serve a 1-year tour as chief nurse at the station hospital there. During the coup d’état  of Haile Selassie, they extended my time another year. We had the U.S. Aide to, uh, the International Development Group there. We had people from the universities throughout the United States that were assisting the Eritreans. I was very much, um, in communication with the America Consulate. They were a big help to us, and we were a big help to the, the natives there in their dispensaries and in the mission areas. I visited the mission fields with a, a priest that was assigned to us as an auxiliary chapel [inaudible 35:19]. Presently he is assigned in Australia. I still correspond with him. But he made arrangements for me and as many of our people that we could go like on R&R and went by vehicle up in the mission fields through the desert areas and so on. Also during that period of time, we had the Yemen disaster, a huge fire. Now we were only 5 nurses again in Azmiri, and we needed to send a nurse. 

	Our commanding officer whose wife was a civilian nurse but had not been practicing during their married period of time, he wanted to take her along. I felt that a military nurse should go. He said no. He didn’t see how we could supply one. I said, yes, we will all work 12 or 24 hours if necessary. So I did assign a nurse to attend the medical team to go on this disaster at Yemen. She did a fabulous job. Her name was Anderson. And I don't know of anyone who could have done a better job during the period of time they were there. They assisted in organizing, uh, care. Of course, they had to delouse; they had to deworm; they had to vaccinate and etc., etc., to prevent a further disasters. The rest of my tour of duty, it was a busy one. It was a security agency again. I, of course, I was cleared for top secret was the reason for this assignment. And after 2 years, I received orders to return to the United States and was released from the security agency. I was then assigned to Irwin Army Hospital at Fort Riley, Kansas. This is the home of the 1st Infantry Division. It also was the medical support group, uh, the 93rd Evac Hospital assigned there, who were on duty at the Irwin Army Hospital, but these were only certain key people to be trained and to fill positions. 

	Upon arrival there, I was informed that I was the assistant chief nurse. And this was under May Donovan, Lieutenant Colonel. Uh, she had just recently, uh, taken the place of the former chief nurse. I also was given a secret orientation that upon a disaster or anything that I would – was assigned as the chief nurse of the 93rd Evac Hospital. I had other additional duties of course. I was, uh, the head nurse at of the o-, Outpatient Department and the Emergency Room area, and at this time, the Cuban crisis arose. We were alerted to pack and be ready to leave at any time for active duty, to activate the 93rd Evac Hospital. We were all ready, all ready to leave. I had turned my keys over the adjutant for my car and my personal belongings, and arrangements had been made to pack and put my things in storage when the Bay of Pigs was signed, and we, we unpacked. Again I assumed my duties as chief nurse or assistant chief nurse rather of the hospital and stayed on as the chief nurse at the 93rd Evac. During this period of time, we had many mock war, um, uh, emergency programs, uh, in which even the community was involved in disasters, and this was very interesting. I also was very active, uh, as a, uh, nurse for, uh, volunteering nurses or trying to get them to, uh, be interested in joining the military. And this was very, very interesting. 

	Uh, in 1964, we had a mock war desert strike in which the 93rd Evacuation Hospital was the backup for the 1st Infantry Division and was assigned to Bouse, Arizona. We had a very interesting period of time out in Arizona – desert, no water. Our trucks had to go miles and miles to get tanks of water. And our, our training for young nurses that were assigned to us during this period of time to fill in our quota for the hospital as well as our technicians, our doctors, and everyone else, eh, we really lived in a terrible time for that assignment. It was the best preparation for Vietnam that we could have ever had. But I was very fortunate to have had my tours of duty in the tropical areas and in India and in, in these areas where I was because this was just a repetition in many ways. I returned after this period to Fort Riley, Kansas, Irwin Army Hospital, and the chief nurse had received orders for Vietnam. I then assumed her duties as the chief nurse of Ir-, Irwin Army Hospital, was just getting my feet on the ground when I was sent to Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, on temporary duty. My duties were an advisory to the post commander and the post surgeon in a nursing capacity. I didn’t realize at the time what this, what this was really all about until I arrived there when I discovered that the reserves were going to man the hospital during reserve training for troops, and instead of the regular army personnel as usual. 

	This was because of the Vietnam upset and in which time the reserves would take over, r-, uh, regular, uh, hospitals when the military would go to Vietnam or wherever they were assigned to. So I was there for the complete opening and for the, uh, reserves each group of hospitals serving their 2 weeks for on-the-job training as reserves and taking over the hospital. It was very interesting. It was a very rewarding experience. I was assigned – I was at the headquarters with all the headquarter people. It was our responsibility that if the temperature was too high that we were not allowed, uh, if the, uh, [inaudible 43:02] report was such that troops should not be out in the fields. We had to man all the dispensaries throughout Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, and be responsible for that. And during that period of time, the post surgeon received orders for Korea, so I was assigned his duties for this temporary period of time until the post – until we closed our duties up for the year. In addition to that, I received a phone call telling me that I was to close the hospital, make an after action report and report back to Ft. Riley, Kansas, within a certain period of time. My 30-day leave was cancelled, and I returned back to Fort Riley finding out that the 93rd Evacuation Hospital was activating, and I would be receiving nurses and, uh, and [inaudible 44:05] professional personnel to be oriented.

	And, uh, we had to go through the complete processing of them for immunizations, seeing that their records were up to date, see if they need any physicals, and we had many that needed dental work and physical problems taken care of. And after this period of time, we were supposedly would each go to our assignment area. We went by plane. We flew out with doughnuts and coffee in the middle of the night and was taken to California. [background speaker] We were taken to California, at which time 2, at least, uh, 2/3 or more of the 93rd Evacuation Group had arrived. We landed by plane at [Binh Thuy 45:05], Vietnam. This was a, a replacement station in a very desolate area. The 1st Infantry Division was there to welcome us. Our equipment had not come in because of the activities. The division brought us tents, cots, put them up for us. They brought in food for us. And this was on Highway 1 in the boonies. In the meantime, this area on Highway 1 had been selected for our future hospital. The rubber plantation had been torn down. The VC had been chased out, and it was cleared to build our hospital. This was called Long Xuyen, Vietnam. We opened up our hospital as a 200-bed hospital and had many, many patients coming in from all areas. The Green Berets were close by us. They were a big help to us. They helped us in many ways. 

	And finally, after a period of time, between the injuries and the diseases, we were influxed with no place to go. We double bunked and made it a 500-bed hospital. We still had limited water, and during the first 6 months of operation, we had 10,000 patients had come through our 93rd Evac Hospital. The monsoons and the windstorms were terrible. We became a very, uh, operational unit. We had a helicopter pad with their staff. We had an orthopedic t-, uh, team assigned to us, a surgical team, a, uh, neuropsychiatric team, and a dental team had all been included. They also had a medical research lab attached to our area. We sent our cardiac and artificial kidney patients to Saigon, which was the main hospital in a permanent building. We had an organized evacuation plan and a training program, and we flew our patients from the helicopter pad into Saigon to meet the evac planes. We had very good contact. We had, uh, of course, at lot of times this was under mortar fire. We had many alerts. We had a constant training program. And beside our battle casualties, our medical and surgical and tropical diseases were many in number. We did have 1 very, very interesting, uh, disease that I was not familiar with called melioidosis, and we had many allergy and skin problems as well. 

	Our medical, uh, we had a, uh, many medical team members of the other units that would join us in what we called the Med-Cap Program. I furnished the nurses. They furnished the doctors and the technicians. And usually a nurse went along on this Med-Cap Program up to the leprosy colony, at which time we had – we made rounds, had to change dressings, examine patients, etc., and we went to several different areas besides that. I was then going to, uh, remain in Vietnam after my first year. I had been, uh, accepted to stay another year. Then I received word from Washington that they needed to cancel my orders to send me to Seattle, Washington. At that time, they had someone that could come over and replace me as the head nurse of my – but they needed someone to replace, uh, an individual at Madigan General Hospital in Tacoma. I came home on 30 days leave. I reported to Madigan General Hospital in November of 1966. I was the assistant chief nurse for a year and then became the chief nurse when [Althea 50:17] Williams was assigned the theater nurse at Vietnam. We went from 350 patients in 1966 to a census of 1,300 patients in a short period of time. There were 40 medical units on this post. We had many training courses for nurse anesthesia, operating room nurses program. Reserves came in for training. We had on-the-job training for air force reserves. We had an operating room course for nurses. 

	And there were just many others, too many to mention. I had a large staff of 115 military and civilian nurses, 300 nonprofessionals at this time. I was planning on retiring, had my papers ready to sign and had my physical taken when the chief of the Army Nurse Corps called and asked if I would remain in 2 more years. She wanted to send me to another assignment. I went to Munson Army Hospital at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, as the chief nurse. This is the home of the Command and General Staff College. There are 1,300 top-level officers assigned there for each program. We had 100 foreign officers from 70 different coun-, uh, countries and in which many of them brought their families along. We had an English training program on the post for the dependents. And I had some additional duties while there as well. I served on the general’s staff and was a representative for many functions. We continued many training programs here also. I was on the Board of Governors of the bachelor officers quarters, and while I was there, I was president of the bowling team. I had been a b-, a bowler in civilian life. And I was also assigned on the [feasibility 52:56] of a new hospital. We had many VIPs visit us during these period of times, and it was very enjoyable. 

	On the 31st of August 1970, I retired with over 28 years of active duty as a army nurse in the regular army. I was credited for 30 years. After my retirement, I returned to Indiana, and I have my home in Winamac. During this period of time, I have, until my health did not permit it, I was quite active in the Mental Health Association in Indiana, especially in our area. We have a 4 county comprehensive mental health center in which we formed. I was on this during the building and until it was all 4 counties were represented in their own areas, and we now have one in Winamac, Indiana. At that time, due to physical reasons, I had – was forced to resign from this duty as well. And that is my story as an army nurse.

Jane:	[54:23] Anne, would you mind going back and telling us a little bit about, uh, Westmoreland? I think you mentioned his name. And also General Deane. 

Anne Bauer:	Oh, yes. These are people that I am very, very fond of. I served with them. Uh, when I reported to Fort Benjamin Harrison, uh, in 1945, General Deane was assigned to the military post as commanding general of the post and was here during the building of the finance center, and, uh, I left, of course, in 1947, and I didn’t see him again until I retired from the army. When I retired from the army and I attended my first retired officers, uh, meeting here at Fort Harrison, as I walked in, who stood up and said here comes the best chief nurse in the Army Nurse Corps. She had the 93rd Evacuation Hospital in Vietnam when I was the theater commander. And along with him stood up General Steger. He was the commanding general of the Pacific area during this Vietnam period. And he said I have to vouch for that. I visited her unit many times, and it was a very good hospital. 

	Well while I was in Vietnam, the command-, commander of Vietnam was General Westmoreland. He was there during my entire stay. I attended meeting and functions under him. And he visited his men as often as he could in all of the hospitals. He was very much interested in the best care and the best health of all of the troops. And I am hoping that I will get to see him at a meeting that the Indiana Vietnam Veterans are having in Kokomo, Indiana, in the very near future in which he is going to be the speaker. And at this meeting, they are promoting this meeting for the women of the Vietnam veterans, and they too are hoping – I was not aware of this organization until just recently and wrote in to inquire about it, and they are begging me to attend this meeting. 

Jane:	This about concludes our tape of Anne Bauer. There is one error in dates, and it happened about 1 minute ago where Anne says that she reported to Fort Harrison in 1947 – 1945, sorry. Actually, she reported in 1954, and she was in – at Fort Harrison until 1956 and then, of course, she saw General Deane again after she retired in 1970. This has been a pleasure to record this by Lieutenant Commander Anne Bauer. It was recorded at Fort Harrison on June 20, 1985. I am Jane [Fore 57:43], and I was in Special Services in Japan and Europe. Knowing people like Anne is one of the reasons why membership in WOSL is so rewarding. Over and out.


/lo