Interview of Dorothy Early and Sarah Leach on their service in the U.S. Army Nurse Corp during WWII Interviewer: [00:02] This week, uh, you've probably seen and heard a lot about what was going on 40 years ago. And I have two ladies in the studio this morning. I've talked with one of them before, and this is my first opportunity to sit down face to face with Dorothy Early, who is the president of the Kansas City unit of the Women's Overseas Service League, and Sarah Leach, who is an [Iron 00:27] Member. And Dorothy and Sarah were both nurses assigned to the 77th Evac Hospital in Germany on V-E Day, 40 years ago. Welcome to you. Thanks for being here. Open your microphones and tell me some things about this. [00:41] Dorothy, you brought this wonderful book this morning, Medicine Under Canvas, it’s called. It’s a war journal of the 77th Evac Hospital, and I had just a couple of minutes to look at, at some of the things that were going on. I’m astounded at the amount of work that you all had to do, the number of casualties that were coming in just prior to V-E Day. Seventy-one hundred in a – [audio cut off]. Dorothy Early: Well there was a lot. I think the last of the war. At this time, we were taking care of German prisoners. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Dorothy Early: And they just admitted anybody that was sitting on the curbing, they emptied their mental hospitals and everything, and since we were there, we were to take care of them. Interviewer: [01:24] Where were you located exactly? Dorothy Early: Well it was Munchen-Gladbach in Germany. Interviewer: Uh-huh. Dorothy Early: And, of course, we’d already been overseas three years, and they kept sayin’ the war will be over and finally it was. Interviewer: Finally, it was. [01:37] Sarah, do you remember how you got the news that the war was over? Do you remember what was happening and what kind of atmosphere there was for you? Sarah Leach: Yes, I recall very well. Interviewer: [01:48] What was going on? Sarah Leach: We were all expecting it because we had gone across Germany pretty rapidly and had been told to wait for the Russians. We had one nurse with us who was a German-Jewish extraction and who had gotten out of Germany, and I remember he waking me and asking me – poking a bottle of liquor in my face. Interviewer: [laughter] Sarah Leach: “Have a drink. Germany has fallen.” And that’s what I recall about it. Interviewer: [02:23] Was there a lot of celebration? Sarah Leach: Within our ranks – Interviewer: Mm-hm. Sarah Leach: Of course. Interviewer: Yeah. Sarah Leach: It [wouldn’t 02:31] – there was a great deal of celebration. We were glad it was over. We didn’t know what our future would be. We had been told that we might go on to the CBI. We’d hoped we would at least be allowed to stop at home. Someone told us they wouldn’t permit that ‘cause they’d never be able to get us together again. Interviewer: Hm. [02:53] Now, what’s the CBI? Sarah Leach: China Burma India Theater. Interviewer: Ah, okay. Sarah Leach: On the other side of the world. Interviewer: [02:59] So what happened for you then? Did you stay in Germany a while longer and then move on? Sarah Leach: We stayed in Germany. Apparently, Headquarters could not decide what to do with us. And they pulled us back to France to wait. We were not too far from Reims, and we waited in the camp there. Wasn’t that called Camp San Antonio? Dorothy Early: You mean [Meslay the camp 03:24]? Sarah Leach: Yes. Dorothy Early: [Meslay 03:26]. Sarah Leach: We were near Camp San Antonio. Dorothy Early: Mm-hm. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Sarah Leach: To wait for their dispensation of us. And that’s where we were when V-J Day came. Interviewer: [03:36] How many of you were there at that time? Sarah Leach: A full complement of nurses was 52. We didn’t always have a full complement. I believe we were close to it, if not at it, at the time the war ended. Interviewer: [03:50] What made you decide to go? Sarah Leach: I was single. I had no dependents. I could go, and many nurses could not go because we got very little pay. We did not have a full rank in the army. We got about half the pay of a second lieutenant in the army. So not many could go. Many of our male members of our family were going including my brother, so I went. There was nothing really to hold me, but it – even though my salary wasn’t great at that time, the army paid me even less. Interviewer: Yeah. [04:30] Dorothy, how about you? What prompted you to go in the first place? Dorothy Early: Well I was doing public health, which isn’t hospital work. And I thought that would be my life’s work, but I had a girlfriend that worked at Providence Hospital, and she talked to me. She said, “They’re forming a unit and we’ll really – you’ll enjoy it.” And I said, “But I don’t wanna go alone.” She said, “Oh, we’ll all stay together.” Well she never did get in. She ate bananas and tried to gain weight and never made it, but I got in the 77th. Interviewer: [05:01] And you went from where to where as you got started? Do you remember? Dorothy Early: We went to Fort Leonard Wood. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Dorothy Early: I was the first nurse there from the 77th. And they asked me, “Do you wanna work or would you like to wait?” And I didn’t know that you could sit around, so I said, “Oh, I’ll work!” [laughter] Interviewer: [laughter] Dorothy Early: But it was very interesting. I wouldn’t’ve missed it for anything. Interviewer: Now, that’s looking back. [05:25] I’ll bet there were times along the way when you felt, “What have I gotten myself into?” Dorothy Early: Well we couldn’t complain. The patients were so seriously injured that, you know, how could you complain when you knew they were in much worse shape. And then the sergeant in the orthopedic department said,” I don’t wanna hear any complains. You volunteered.” Interviewer: [laughter] [You said 05:48], “But, but, no, wait! I had a girlfriend who twisted my arm and she didn’t make it, and here I am!” That’s great. [05:54] So you trained at Fort Leonard Wood and then went overseas directly? Dorothy Early: We went to Indiantown Gap in civilian clothes, and we got our uniforms and things on the docks. We didn’t know where we were going, really. Interviewer: [06:07] And they shipped you out? Dorothy Early: Mm-hm. Went to England and stayed there. Was that Thanksgiving Day that we arrived? No? Sarah Leach: About. I think it was Nov – or we arrived in August. Dorothy Early: August the 5th. Sarah Leach: England. Dorothy Early: We had a luxury liner that was really elegant. It hadn’t been changed, and, uh, we were in a convoy, and it was exciting. Of course, anybody from Kansas hadn’t seen that much water ever, but, uh – well I guess it got worse after that, all these ships that we were on, but that was a luxury liner, the very first one. Interviewer: [06:46] When did the two of you meet? At the very beginning of all this? Sarah Leach: I think we met in Fort Leonard Wood, though we both were from Hutchinson, Kansas. Interviewer: [06:56] Is that right? Sarah Leach: Mm-hm. Interviewer: [06:58] And So it was after you got to the fort that you met? Sarah Leach: Uh, yes, in Fort Leonard Wood. Interviewer: Uh-huh. Sarah Leach: And, of course, we were together from then on along with all the others. Interviewer: [07:07] How much time did you do altogether in the service? Sarah Leach: It was over three years. About three years and three months, wasn’t it? Dorothy Early: Well we were overseas 37 months. Sarah Leach: Overseas 37 months. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Sarah Leach: And actually, we were only in Fort Leonard Wood six weeks. Then after we came back, we were to have reassignment, and before the time for us to report to another camp came up, we got our conditional discharge in case they didn’t need us. And they never did. Interviewer: [07:43] They never needed ya? Sarah Leach: Hm-mm. Interviewer: [07:44] Were you relieved? Sarah Leach: I, I presumed so because we had other things to do. I had other things to do with my life, and I wanted to get on it. Interviewer: [07:53] By that time you were, you were beyond the stage of being single and footloose and fancy free? You wanted to get on? Sarah Leach: I was still single, but I had, uh, started work on a master’s degree before I went, and now I wished to go back and finish. Interviewer: [08:07] Did you? Sarah Leach: Yes, I did. Interviewer: Very good. Very good. Compare that period of time in your life with anything else that has happened. [08:20] I mean, is there anything else that compares in terms of the amount of experience and the, the new things that happened and came your way? Dorothy Early: I don’t think so. Um, that’s why people in the United States or people that haven’t been in a war situation, they really don’t understand it. And I think if I’d have seen M*A*S*H, maybe I wouldn’t have gone. Interviewer: [laughter] Dorothy Early: Because I remember one time in Africa, they said the, um, paratroopers were in our area and they thought that my tent made and I should move into the big tent. And I said, “Oh, no. We’re real safe.” We tied the rope on the inside, and we went on to sleep. The next morning, it was just that the Arabs had stolen our Geneva cross, the sheets we had out on the pasture. Interviewer: Oh. Dorothy Early: And there really weren’t paratroopers, but we were sure we were very secure. Interviewer: Do you feel – Well you said if you had seen M*A*S*H, you probably wouldn’t have gone. Dorothy Early: [laughter] Oh, I don’t know. Interviewer: [09:17] When you see things like that, you know, this is all foreign to me. The only thing that I know about this time is what my parents have told me and the experiences they went through. And I think there – of course, today there are so many of us who don’t know what it was like during World War II, what it was like to come home, what it was like to have friends and family fighting a war that the country believed in. Dorothy Early: Oh, yes. Sarah Leach: There was a great deal of loyalty at that time. I, I am afraid that we’re missing some of that now. Interviewer: [09:47] Some of the patriotism is gone, isn’t it? Sarah Leach: At times. I think so. And we’re making a great deal of little things. I’ve been particularly aware of this with the situation over Bitburg, which to my way of thinking really doesn’t matter 40 years after those people are dead. Interviewer: Uh-huh. Interesting, interesting. Sarah Leach: And if we really were thinking about loyalty to our country, I don’t think that would make one bit of difference one way or the other. Interviewer: It’s, it’s something that Janet and I were talking – Janet’s my producer, and we were talking earlier this week, I guess, one of the – or last week, one of the articles that came out, and it just seems sort of nitpicky to me. Sarah Leach: Yes, I, I agree. I agree. Interviewer: You know, little bits and pieces of information that are coming out and are being sort of blown up and – I guess, we have a right to know those things, and is not that I, I wouldn’t – but it – [we seem to nitpick 10:34]. Sarah Leach: Those people, those people were misinformed. They, they really were. I saw that in the patients we had, German prisoners. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Sarah Leach: They really didn’t know as much of what was going on as we did. And possibly, had we been in that situation, we might’ve been SS troopers too. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Sarah Leach: At least that’s my feeling. Interviewer: That same kind of loyalty. Sarah Leach: Yes. Interviewer: Present in a different way, a different culture. Sarah Leach: Right. Interviewer: There was something in the, in the book that I did see here before we got started about the German prisoners, and I wanna see if I can find it again and share that with them. It was a quote about Hitler scraping the bottom of the barrel, that, uh, the prisoners that you saw, some were on, were on crutches, some were – Dorothy Early: Oh, yes. Interviewer: Blind, some were deaf. I can’t put my [finger on it 11:30]. Sarah Leach: I had one that was dying of cancer. Interviewer: Tuberculosis patients. Dorothy Early: I know. We had one with a long, white beard. But right at the last, we accepted prisoners of war from a German camp. And I was the only nurse on duty, and I walked across the field to a burnt down factory, and our men had prepared it for their own use for the Germans. There was one German ward boy, and the rest of them were prisoners. And as they marched in in platoons, they didn’t help one another. Americans would help the sickest but not the Germans. And that night, I gave, um, uh, sulfaguanidine, which was a medicine for diarrhea. And we’d give them their pills and a cup of tea. And I remember, uh, the medicine came in large bottles from the pharmacy, and there was 1000 in each bottle. And we were just starting on the seventh bottle, so that's the biggest dose of medicine I ever gave at one time. Interviewer: Oh. Dorothy Early: We’d count’m out, and the ward boy said, “Hand me the medicine so you won’t [get lice 12:40].” Interviewer: Oh, for heaven’s sake. Dorothy Early: He could speak English. And I remember one German dropped a pill and I insisted he pick it up. I said, “You know, American sailors brought that across to you. Don’t you destroy that.” [laughter] Interviewer: [laughter] Dorothy Early: He popped it in his mouth and he took it. He took it. Interviewer: We need to take a quick break, and we’ll come back and talk some more about this. Dorothy Early and Sarah Leach are with us. Both were nurses assigned in the 77th Evac Hospital in Germany when armistice was signed. And they’re here and available to you. If you have memories you wanna share with them are questions you’d like to ask about their experience, please feel free to call us here, 576-7781 is the phone number, and will return with you shortly on News Talk 81, KCMO. Sarah Leach and Dorothy early are in the studio with us. And Sarah and Dorothy were with the 77th Evac Hospital – [13:30] is that the way to say that? Okay, for little better than three years, some 40-plus years ago. Now if you count back, it’s little more than 40 years ago. [13:39] Does it seem possible? I bet the time has just flown? 40 years, that way, there you go. [laughter] Dorothy Early: Well it has for me. I can’t believe that it really has been that long. Interviewer: [13:52] Sarah, how about you? Sarah Leach: Well this happens with all of life. Interviewer: Yeah? Sarah Leach: Doesn’t seem but yesterday when I did many things that I did during World War II and even prior to that. Life goes pretty rapidly. Interviewer: Mm, it does. You mentioned something about going in and the pay scale for you is that you did not have full army status and nurses [inaudible] 14:14]. Sarah Leach: That’s right. Interviewer: [14:15] Now, is that – was that true throughout the time that you were serving? Sarah Leach: No. The WACs were formed, I believe, in Iowa first by Mrs. Oveta Culp Hobby, and she was quite, um, an autocratic lady and a very vocal lady. She felt that her WACs should have the same army rank that male members of the farm, of the army, the armed services had. And she got it. And when they, she got it for the WACs, she also got it for us, and it was retroactive. So we were in Africa where we had nothing to buy and we got – I don’t remember, must’ve been $300 or $400 in cash. Interviewer: Oh. Sarah Leach: In Francs. Dorothy Early: [Isn’t that funny 15:09]. Sarah Leach: At that time, back pay. Dorothy Early: I thought the reason they wanted us to be full officers was so they get an extra liquor ration. [laughter] Interviewer: [laughter] Sarah Leach: [laughter] Interviewer: [15:20] What came with the status then? Dorothy Early: Oh, we had to salute. Sarah Leach: Additional pay. Interviewer: More money Sarah Leach: More money [is a big thing 15:28]. Interviewer: Had to salute. Interviewer: Liquor rations. [We earned this one 15:29]. Dorothy Early: I think we got about $18 or $19 extra for being overseas, a month. Interviewer: A month. Sarah Leach: In addition to a second lieutenants’ pay. Most of us at that time were second lieutenants. As I recall, the overseas pay for a second lieutenant was about $150, wasn’t it? And our pay as Red Cross nurses, which we were labeled before, was 60 or 65. I’ve forgotten which. Interviewer: [15:57] And that’s $65 or $60 a month? Sarah Leach: Mm-hm. That’s right. Interviewer: [16:02] Now, did you need money most of the time? Sarah Leach: Not there, no. We didn’t need it. There wasn’t much of any place where we could spend it. Buy a few eggs from the Arabs and, or a chicken and that was about it. But most of us had a fair-sized allotment being sent home in order to pick up our, you know, pick up our lives when we got back. Many of our unit went back to school, if not for more work in nursing, more work in some other career choice. Some of them changed careers. So the money was being used. And some of’m were assisting other members of the family with their money, which they had been doing in civilian life. Younger siblings going to school. One nurse I know, had, uh, uh, parents who were ill and in trouble, and most of her money was going to assist them. So it wasn’t that we [were spending it 17:04], but we weren’t spending all our own money in civilian life. Interviewer: Yeah. Dorothy Early: Hopefully. Interviewer: [17:10] What were the – I, I hate to say a normal day, but what was the routine like? What time did you get up? What kinds of things did you do? Were they long days? I bet they were given some of the numbers I’ve seen. Dorothy Early: They were 12-hour duty almost all the time, even when we weren’t real busy, they never would cut the hours. Sarah Leach: And we’d go to 18 hours when we were busy, when we were taking care of battle casualties. Interviewer: Mm-hm. [17:34] Lots of those times? Lots of times with a lot of battle casualties for you? Sarah Leach: Well we have seven battle scars, so – Interviewer: [laughter] Sarah Leach: You know, it’d depend on the length of time that the battle lasted. But, um, we emptied out patients every morning and every night. So the night nurse and the day nurse in that area would work. The day nurse would come on early. The night nurse would stay on late, until they had all patients loaded on the planes or trains that could go out. And then, hopefully, we’d get them pretty well loaded before the ambulances would be coming in with new ones. Interviewer: [18:14] And that was your job then? You took care of men as they came from the Battle Aid Stations? Sarah Leach: Right. Interviewer: And then send them on to – Sarah Leach: That’s right. Interviewer: Uh, major hospitals, or better hospitals, wherever they could go? Sarah Leach: You see general hospitals in the rear, sometimes station hospitals, and many of them were eventually coming home to the United States. Interviewer: [18:33] What was your job, Sarah? Sarah Leach: I was, um, I guess, you would call it a general duty nurse. I was in a tent, or tents as they were lashed together at times to make them bigger, with corpsmen working with me. And, um, well that’s what I did. To care of the – Interviewer: [18:56] Giving medication, changing bandages? Sarah Leach: Whatever needed to be done. Yeah – Interviewer: Whatever it was. Sarah Leach: Cleaning up. Um, uh – Interviewer: [19:05] Did you do any surgery? Sarah Leach: Putting pressure on them. No, we did no surgery. We did start IVs, which was new. Nurses didn’t do that then in civilian life. Of course, that’s old hat now. Many of the things that are being done in nursing today, which are much more advanced than they were prior to World War II, started during World War II, even early ambulation of patients. Interviewer: [19:30] Is that right? That was – prior to that time, that was not something a nurse could do? Sarah Leach: It wasn’t something we did with patients. We kept’m in bed so long that many of’m did get emboli. And we found, because we had to get them up in the army, they did better. So we started doing that in civilian life for many patients who’d had injuries of some kind or surgery. Interviewer: [19:54] Now, you came back and got your master’s? Sarah Leach: Yes. Interviewer: [19:57] And continued to nurse for quite some time thereafter? Did you stay in the profession? Sarah Leach: I retired seven years ago. Interviewer: Stayed in the profession. [laughter] Sarah Leach: I stayed in it. Interviewer: [20:08] Dorothy, how about you? Dorothy Early: Well I was a nurse anesthetist, and I got to go on a surgical team, and, uh, we were sent on. They call it detached service, but I always called it distinguished service. [laughter] Interviewer: [laughter] Dorothy Early: And there was a nurse and two enlisted men and two doctors. And we were gone for a month, yeah, when I think we’d been pulled back to Belgium to rest. So that was kinda different. But I enjoyed givin’ the anesthetics. And, uh, I didn’t talk to my patients as much since I was in surgeries. You [wrote it on a board 20:42]. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Dorothy Early: But, um, I remember trying to put the German prisoners to sleep. And I was raised in a small German town, and I knew how to speak a little Eng –, uh, German. And So I’d use about five phrases, and it was Low Dutch where I was raised. I’d say, “[Brauchst du narkose 21:01]?” And they’d nod. “[Brauchst du schtechen 21:04]? [Brauchst du schlafen 21:09],” which meant sleep, [the way I say it 21:12], and then, “[Brauchst du okay 21:13]?” And he’d say, “Okay.” And I’d use the [panthenol 21:17], and, you know, put him right to sleep, but you were to get the confidence of the patients, no matter if they were American or German. So – Interviewer: [21:26] Was there any difference in the way they were treated, Americans and Germans? Dorothy Early: Not in our hospital. We did have a ward that Dorothy Osgood was telling about. One of our nurses, uh, they had a German doctor, and this patient had a very severe illness and wasn’t going to likely live. And he wanted to give him an overdose so they could use the bed. And she said, “We don’t do that in our hospital.” And our own doctor came on the next morning and had a very serious talk with this German doctor, “That is not the way the Americans treat patients.” Interviewer: [22:05] So there was significant difference – Dorothy Early: Oh, yes. Interviewer: In between the American treatment and the German treatment? [22:10] Did you have much of an opportunity to observe how the Germans were treating their patients in the time that you were there? Or just really after you saw the prisoners you could, you could see? Dorothy Early: They were just different. They were raised to be on their own and be independent, and they weren’t buddies that I observed. Not in the – the one night, they were all wandering around, and there were 40 patients, and I often did night duty. And they didn’t seem to settle down. I knew some of them [inaudible 22:41], and I could understand that they were – by mainly by the tone of their voice, they were upset. And I said, “All right. Everybody get to bed. You’ll get one blanket that’s [going to 22:51] the Geneva Convention, and I’m cold to, and so I don’t want any more of this conversation. Everybody get to their cot,” because, you know, it kinda frightened me that they were all standing around and really discussing things. Interviewer: Yeah. Dorothy Early: But I think they were kinda surprised I could understand a little – Interviewer: [laughter] Dorothy Early: Of German. Interviewer: Enough to stand your ground anyway. Dorothy Early: [Well not really 23:14]. Interviewer: [23:16] Sarah, did something – was there something you wanted to add? Sarah Leach: I was just going to say I think there was quite a difference in the attitude of the German physicians according to whether they were regular army or whether they were civilians who had been drafted into the German army. Many of those civilian doctors, or I should say several of them, were very hopeful that as prisoners, they would get sent to the United States. They were wondering how they could get here. And one young man I remember even said he was not going to rest until he did after the war was over. So I think their attitude was somewhat different. Interviewer: [23:56] They were surprised by the kindness that was apparent among the Americans? Sarah Leach: I think they were surprised by that. Also they had heard that the Center of Learning for Medicine was in the United States, no longer in Austria, and that was true. Interviewer: We learned a lot of lessons in World War II about medicine. You were talking about the ambulation, early ambulation of patients. Sarah Leach: Yes. All was not lost. Interviewer: Yes. We need to take another quick break. We’ll do that and come back and talk a bit more with Sarah Leach and Dorothy Early. Both were nurses assigned to the 77th Evac Hospital. And we’re available to you here, by 576-7781 on News Talk 81. And have been good enough to come in and talk with us today. It’s a fascinating conversation for me because I think many of us don’t stop to consider the number of women who were actively involved in the service and in serving the troops during World War II. Dorothy and I met by phone, just around Veterans Day last year when she called to talk about the Presidential Proclamation for Women Veterans. Now, I hadn’t heard anything about it, and I’ll bet most of you hadn’t heard anything about it either. And So we’re gonna kinda right that wrong and talk about that a little bit. There is some [movement afoot 25:17] to recognize women veterans [25:19] and there are benefits to women veterans, which probably are not discussed very often, huh? Dorothy Early: Well that’s very true. It was for recognition of women of all wars, and that’s why I was so disturbed, you know, that the first time in the history of the United States. But we did get some publicity in Kansas. We went to the governor office and had a proclamation signed with several representatives. And then the different cities around were very generous. And I wrote all my relatives, and they got their cities all stirred up. Interviewer: [laughter] Dorothy Early: But the main reason, we wanted to encourage any woman veteran that needs help to realize that she can contact her service officer. They are not necessarily near a VA Hospital. They might be in their own small town or county seat. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Dorothy Early: But there is help available, and, uh, they have – there’s even help to find the records if you’ve lost your records. I know Senator Dole’s office in Kansas will make a search and send you your records. Interviewer: Very good. Very good. So if, if there’s nothing in particular, if you can’t find her service officer, you can contact your Congressional representative – Dorothy Early: Yes. Interviewer: Or your senator and – Dorothy Early: Right. Interviewer: Get some assistance through that. Dorothy Early: That’s true. Interviewer: [26:42] So help is available? Dorothy Early: Right. Interviewer: Okay. Tell you what, if you’ll slip their headphones on, you can do it this way. We have Doris standing by on the phone. We’d like to take a minute and it say good afternoon to her. Hi, Doris Doris: Hello. I am enjoying your fascinating guests, but – and I had two questions, and then I will hang up and listen, [27:05] but I wondered if they knew [Betsy 27:04] Walker in the unit and if they know where she is today? And the other thing, I wonder if they would discuss a little bit their experiences in the Sicilian Campaign? Interviewer: Okay. Very good, Doris. [We’ll take care of those 27:19]. Thank you. 576-7781 is the number here. You’re welcome to call with your questions. [27:24] [Betsy] Walker? Sarah Leach: She lives in Lenexa. She’s doing well and she comes to a lot of our annual reunions. Interviewer: Okay. [27:36] and how about your experiences in the Sicilian campaign? Sarah Leach: When we were in Sicily – by the time we reached Sicily, most of the campaign in Sicily was over. And we were there for a mopping-up process. We stayed in Licata, Sicily for a while, and as soon as patients there were able to be shipped out, taken care of, and shipped someplace else, we were moved up to Palermo where we were belted in tents on what was known as Mondello Beach, waiting dispensation of the army as to what they were going to do with us next. General Patton visited us there, and then we were sent on detached service, at least some of us were, to assist station hospitals who were over and who had a rather large workload. So we worked, not as the 77th Evac in Palermo, but in a station hospital that was established there in the University of Palermo until we left to go back out of the Mediterranean and go back up to England. Interviewer: [28:52] What was Patton like? Sarah Leach: He was a showman. Had a great deal of devotion from his troops. He led troops in battle. I think what he was best known for was that sometimes he seemed to be almost inhumane in his treatment of them, but he drove them so that, um, as he said, at least in driving them, they got through alive rather than dead. [audio cut off] Dorothy Early: [Inaudible 29:21], and our uniforms looked so much better than the British, um, women. So the Americans, you know, I thought of all the things we had it best, even though we weren’t at home. Interviewer: [29:35] Do you remember missing anything particularly, Sarah? Sarah Leach: I remember not liking Spam. Interviewer: [laughter] Sarah Leach: And fruit cocktail. To this day, I won’t eat either one. Interviewer: [laughter] Sarah Leach: We had lots of that, and dried eggs. Everything was dried. Dried vegetables. Interviewer: We have – Sarah Leach: No fresh meat, except once in a while, once in maybe six months, some way or other they’d get refrigeration through. We didn’t have adequate refrigeration to keep meat. Interviewer: Yeah. [30:11] Dorothy, you started to say something again? Dorothy Early: Well don’t forget our C-rations. We had either hash or stew or beans, and you could have one for a meal with crackers in a little tin. There were several kinds of rations. A was a little nicer, and I don’t know if there was a B, but we had the C; the ones you carry in the field. And when we went from England to Africa on board ship, they said to take enough for two or three days, and I thought they were kidding. Where could I be that I wouldn’t get any food? But, you know, when I got to Africa, I didn’t miss the food. [laughter] Interviewer: [20:51] Why’s that? Dorothy Early: Oh, it was just difficult, you know. We landed and, I guess, our men had to walk several miles, but they took us right into the port in a small boat. But the port had been bombed, and all the ships were sunk in the harbor. So the big ship liners couldn’t come in to Oran Harbor. Interviewer: We talked about the camaraderie of the American soldiers. [31:16] How about among the women? Dorothy Early: Oh, that was the same. Interviewer: [31:20] You took care of each other? Dorothy Early: Oh, yes. We’re still, you know, real good friends. You had to like them, they were there forever. [laughter] Interviewer: [laughter] [31:29] You better get along, huh? Too busy fighting the Germans to fight each other? Dorothy Early: Well I think our group were more mature. We worked in other jobs. We weren’t just right out of training. And, um, nurses, I think, had it easier because they had a job that they were trained and disciplined, you know, as a nurse. And it is different. It does sort of help the rest of your life. Interviewer: Well good. I’m just delighted that you could come in on such short notice and be with us today. It’s fascinating for me, let’s do this again. Sarah Leach: It’s been a pleasure. Thank you. Dorothy Early: It has been. Thanks a lot. Interviewer: Sarah Leach, Dorothy Early, [both 32:07], thank you. [32:08] Gonna do anything special to recognize the anniversary, 40 years? Dorothy Early: Well the only thing, we are hoping to have all the local branches of service of woman veterans try to get together this November. And then we try to help in the VA hospitals if there’s assistance needed for woman veterans there. Interviewer: Good. Lemme know. Dorothy Early: Okay. Interviewer: If you need to – Dorothy Early: Mm-hm. Interviewer: Make some announcements here – Dorothy Early: Well thank you. Interviewer: About who to get in touch with. Dorothy Early: [Fine 32:35]. Interviewer: We’ll help you out with that. Dorothy Early: Okay. Interviewer: Well good. Thanks again. Sarah and Dorothy, both nurses assigned to the 77th Evac Hospital were in Germany, um, V-E Day. Uh, you’ll be hearing more. I also recommend, too, the special issue of Life Magazine on World War II. If we have time later this week, we’ll book a Between the Covers of this magazine and share some of that with you. In the meantime, relax. The news is next. We’ll return with [Billy Ramsberger 33:03] and talk about office politics. That and more, on News Talk 81, KCMO. /tl