Interview of Lilah Ramsay on her 10-year service in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps Interviewer: You are? Lilah Ramsay: Lilah Cameron Ramsay. I was known, would be known in the service as Cameron. Interviewer: Just go ahead and talk if you’d like. Lilah Ramsay: I went in in 1940 in January. I got out in 1950 in January. Interviewer: [00:26 inaudible] time were you overseas? Lilah Ramsay: Uh, from the 4th of June ’42 until the 10th of October ’45. I said I was going home on my birthday. Interviewer: [00:39] Where did you serve in the states? Where did you… Lilah Ramsay: Fort [Snelling 00:41], Minnesota for 2 years. And then we, we left there and went to California and joined the 166 Station Unit and sailed with all the hospital units that were sent to the Pacific in ’42 of June. On one ship alone. The USS West Point. And that now is stationed in Seattle. Uh, we landed the 4th of June in Melbourne and then we took a train, the [inaudible 01:25] which was an old little town thinking we spoke English but we didn’t. And no heat. The only heat you had was a fireplace in some of the rooms. Mine didn’t have one. It registered 47 in the bathroom most of the time. The only time you could get warm is if you walked on the sunny side of the street. There was no heat in the stores. The saving grace of the whole thing was a week after we got there the reserve unit from Idaho that had been 9 months at Alice Springs, Australia arrived [inaudible 02:07]. It woke the town up. It was a little sleepy town. Interviewer: [02:19] How big? Lilah Ramsay: I don’t know. It was little. It was a small town. And why we were there I don’t know either excepting this other group came down. Interviewer: [02:34] Were you billeted in private homes? Lilah Ramsay: We were billeted in, no, in hotel. In a hotel. And, uh, we didn’t know, I knew the 2 girls that I had left Saint, Fort Snelling with and the rest had mostly come from Camp Robinson and we were put in, made a unit out of before we sailed. We didn’t know our officers. And then I guess from there we went to; did I say we came in… Interviewer: To Melbourne. Lilah Ramsay: I believe we went into Sydney and then we went from [inaudible 03:19] to Melbourne and had a small hospital out of a children’s school that had all kinds of paintings on the wall for children and very small, uh, toilet facilities. Everything for children. It was a beautiful school. And, uh, they put us on duty. The chief nurse insisted everybody work so there was oh 7 or 8 of us on night duty for maybe I don’t know 20 patients. This was in a building. It was a venereal hospital [chuckle] and all those people in it. We had one appendectomy one night. But these were… Interviewer: American military. Lilah Ramsay: American military. Where they come from now I don’t know. Interviewer: They were not battle casualties at that time. Lilah Ramsay: No, they weren’t battle causalities and we would, um, we would take turns [inaudible 04:27] take turns maybe taking a nap at night. [Inaudible 04:32] duty was 6 or 8 of you on duty because they didn’t want us, the chief nurse didn’t want us to go anyplace. Interviewer: [04:41] Didn’t want what? Lilah Ramsay: Want us to go anywhere in the daytime. I mean she wanted to feel that everybody was working for their $70 a month. No, I guess we were getting’ $90. We got 10 percent. Interviewer: We got $70 and $75. Lilah Ramsay: We got $90. And then from there we were sent up to Adelaide. Can’t remember much about Adelaide. I’m like Helen. Interviewer: Mine is so much longer than yours. [Laughter] Lilah Ramsay: But anyhow we were divided and I was sent with a group up to an Australian hospital and we took over. Our boys had already taken over and, uh, that was, they had done a beautiful job of taking care of the patients but there were no charts and so when we would ask them what was wrong with this patient they would reach in their pockets and pull out something here and there but they had a record of the patient [inaudible 05:48]. I’ll never forget. There was one gas gangrene. It was a miserable thing. Our first sergeant got mumps. Refused to come into the hospital so the boys took care of him down in his tent and, uh, and again I don’t know how long we were there. And then some of the other group came. I don’t know if the chief nurse ever did get there. That was another time that I was sent up with a group not knowing anything. Interviewer: [06:21] Did you have a number to your unit or? Lilah Ramsay: 166 Station. Interviewer: Oh, you were named that wherever. Lilah Ramsay: Wherever we went, we were unit. We got Cholera shots in Melbourne and I got terribly sick and I remember being so afraid I’d get left behind ‘cause I’d just gotten acquainted with this unit. But I don’t really remember but somehow the next thing I remember we were in Brisbane which is clear the other side… Unidentified Speaker: Hi Ladies. Interviewer: Hi. Lilah Ramsay: But when we got to Brisbane, we were taken to Southport which was a beautiful resort area and there again we had a hospital of, uh, 2 floors of a, uh, episcopal school and church. The church was in front of the school and they used it. And the third floor which was the attic was where the nurses had. We slept up there. And I know we were there Christmas day and it was 104. Interviewer: Oh my. Lilah Ramsay: And we were in the attic. Interviewer: I’m awful glad I wasn’t there. Lilah Ramsay: And we stepped out on the, the band came. Often a band would come and play. And the United States band came and they played White Christmas. Interviewer: 104 degrees. Lilah Ramsay: [Laughter] A bunch of homesick kids. Interviewer: [07:56] What foods did you miss the most? Lilah Ramsay: Nothing in Australia. The food was delicious. We had steaks and the food was very good and if you want to buy at a restaurant is was very cheap. Interviewer: [08:10] Did you have milk? Lilah Ramsay: Yeah. Interviewer: Ice cream? Lilah Ramsay: Oh yes. Interviewer: Eggs? Lilah Ramsay: Anything. Anything in Australia. Uh, they were very short of manpower because they’d been fighting in the east and so it was all men and boys and women and they did all the work and, uh, but there again this place we were on our own. Some of the girls rented a little, uh, beach cottages and then we’d go down on weekends and cook American food more or less. You know, what we wanted. And then from there we divided again and I took a group to New Guinea and a group from the New Guinea hospital came to our hospital. Interviewer: [08:59} Were you in charge? Lilah Ramsay: Yes, the chief nurse had Dengue fever at the time. Interviewer: [09:04] What’s that? Lilah Ramsay: It’s, uh, a fever you get over in Australia that’s, it’s not malaria but it’s a similar thing. It’s… Interviewer: It’s an actual fever? Lilah Ramsay: It’s a actual fever. It’s a very, um, sick thing apparently. I didn’t get it. Interviewer: [09:26] Did you ever have it? Lilah Ramsay: No. And I, uh, went then with this group 17 miles into the jungle from Fort [inaudible 09:36] and there we were in tents all the time. And don’t ask me how long. We must have been there about a year. Interviewer: While taking care of patients that were [inaudible 09:47]. Lilah Ramsay: Uh, in Brisbane we had a lot of first marines and we got them well and sent them back into battle and, uh, got them back in New Guinea again from another operation. I think at least 3 times. Interviewer: [10:05] Did you have some of the same? Lilah Ramsay: I suppose we did. I can’t really remember. And we ended up as groups going home from New Guinea because our time was up and our points was up. This has covered 3 years now. And, uh, our officers took the points. And we didn’t have enough, we had plenty points but, uh… Interviewer: [10:36] Well you were an officer too weren’t you? Lilah Ramsay: Didn’t count. It didn’t count for promotions because they said regular army would get promoted when you got back to the states and they were [inaudible 10:46]. But we were sent to the New York Unit on the Island of [Biak 10:56] which is 12 miles by 6 and there were 3 general hospitals and an [inaudible 11:03]. It’s almost the end of the war. I never saw the other hospitals but I saw the [inaudible 11:09]. And, uh, that’s where we were when the war ended. Still in tents. Interviewer: [11:17] V-E day or V-J day? Lilah Ramsay: V-J day. We were V-J day was the most dangerous day I spent during the war because we were just leaving, uh, uh, a party at the air force and they declared the war was over and we had to be in at midnight and this was about 11:30 and they announced it as we were going to our jeeps. And people started shooting the guns and ammunition and a captain and I crawled under a jeep. That was the worst night of the whole war. [Laughter] Interviewer: [12:02] What did you do, um, then? Did you come home? Were you sent home soon or? Lilah Ramsay: Uh, we must have stayed there till our patients left, uh, it was a large hospital. They had been there. They had opened this. But this Island of [Biak 12:17] most people never heard of. It sits on the equator. Interviewer: [12:21] You were regular army too weren’t you? Lilah Ramsay: I was regular army but we had been over there long past due date to go home. I believe there were 6 of us. [Inaudible 12:30]. And, uh, then we’re sent to the Philippines and we, um, staged there for about 3 weeks I think and we also near us they didn’t know, we didn’t know it then were the prisoners of war from Mangeria and they were on our ship coming home. Uh, Scotch and English and Canadians and Americans. Interviewer: [12:56] Did you see much of them? Lilah Ramsay: We didn’t see them until we got on board ship. Interviewer: They had some interesting stories to tell? Lilah Ramsay: Yes, but they were very quiet about it. Once in a while you’d come in with the group that were talking and if you quietly sat there or something would come up you would hear about it. Otherwise, they didn’t make any big issue about this at all. And then set a sail from the Philippines on the 10th of October. Interviewer: Your birthday. Lilah Ramsay: And got in some time in November I believe. Interviewer: To San Francisco? Lilah Ramsay: Mm-hm. To San Francisco. And we set out to [Stonewall 13:35]. They never even bothered to give us sheets at night. We had a pillowcase and a blanket, army blanket. That was our welcome. The next 2 nights… Interviewer: [13:47] The Red Cross didn’t meet you with milk and donuts? Lilah Ramsay: They met everybody with milk and donuts that got off our ship and by the time they got ready to take the army nurses off the ship the newspaper had left. The Red Cross had left. But we got off the ship. There was a number of nurses, a lot of nurses. Some of us had even worked our way home with these prisoners of war. And, uh, we were herded into an army, uh, bus and as we got in they handed us a sack which was a sandwich and an apple and a bar of candy. And we were starved because we had had one meal that day and had to wait for docking and unloading and everything. And we stood there and watched ‘em unload and watched ‘em photograph and all this all afternoon. And we were starved. Before we got to eat that the driver came around and collected an order from each one of us for our lunch. Interviewer: Oh, my goodness. [15:00] Who had provided the lunch? Did you ever find out? Lilah Ramsay: The army had. Interviewer: The army had but you paid a quarter for it? Lilah Ramsay: Mm-hm. [Inaudible 15:05]. We had to have an indoctrination for an hour and then we had a steak dinner that night but not much of a place to sleep. And so the next 2 nights, uh, this other nurse and I went to San Francisco and got a room. I don’t know the name of the hotel but it was right across the street from Saint Francis. Interviewer: [Inaudible 15:31]. Lilah Ramsay: Mm? Interviewer: [Inaudible 15:33]. Lilah Ramsay: No, it was a small hotel. The nurses, they had allocated Saint Francis [was 15:40] officers. Male officers. But, uh, we had a good time then because there were 2 officers that we had met on board ship and they wined and dined us for 2 days in San Francisco. Interviewer: Mm-hm. That was your, one of your more memorable experiences. Lilah Ramsay: Well I’ll tell you how we got back. We finally got on a train and went to Denver. We had 3 days sitting on the train in Denver waiting. And then we finally got to Des Moines, Iowa and we staged there for a while. Then we took another train and went back to North Dakota. Finally got back to North Dakota. All of this time coming out from San Francisco and Des Moines the WACs had meal tickets and we paid for our meals. Expensive. And to this day we have never been reimbursed. Because it wasn’t on our orders. Interviewer: [16:53] Did you pursue that? Lilah Ramsay: Oh yeah. There was a whole bunch of us when we pursued it but nothing ever came of it. Our money that we should have gotten per deim going from Fort Snelling to San Francisco we got about 3 months after we were over in Australia. [Inaudible 17:22] Interviewer: [17:23] What influenced you to volunteer? Lilah Ramsay: Well an ad in American Nursing Journal telling about army and the opportunities they had and things that you could do and, and the training you could get. And I wanted further education in obstetrics. Interviewer: [17:45] Did you ever get it or have an opportunity to… Lilah Ramsay: No, never did because in 2 years the war came. Interviewer: [17:52] And then you did whatever you had to. Lilah Ramsay: No, then I went overseas when the war came. I had orders, uh, within 10 days after Pearl Harbor but they didn’t have ships until June. Interviewer: [18:07] Do you, uh, feel that this helped you after you got out of service? Did you learn things or see things that you wouldn’t in civilian life? Injuries? Lilah Ramsay: Oh, I saw things I never would have seen. It was a very great education. Never in staying at home would we have had the, the things to do and to see the that we did during the service. [Inaudible 18:34]. Interviewer: [18:35] Um, can you compare your service career then and now? Lilah Ramsay: Oh, I think it’s a great deal different now. Uh, I got married and had to get out because I was pregnant. Now they stay in and have their children and go right along. [Inaudible 19:00] retired, you know, like in 15 years or so. But immediately, I was discharged because I was pregnant. I didn’t get, I still don’t think I got a regular army discharge. Interviewer: [19:15] What, uh, what do you mean you don’t have a regular army discharge? Lilah Ramsay: A regular army are supposed to go before a board. Interviewer: Oh. Lilah Ramsay: I never did go before a board. Interviewer: But you were in 10 years. Lilah Ramsay: Mm-hm. But because I was pregnant, although the baby was delivered at Percy Jones [inaudible 19:39]. No, I was discharged the 27th of January. She was born the 15th of March and the army took care of it. Interviewer: [19:48] But weren’t you at Valley Forge at some point? Lilah Ramsay: Oh, well I was sent there because I had a liver infection after I come back from overseas. Interviewer: [19:57] But you were in the service then, or were you? Lilah Ramsay: I was in the service. I had had, um, 8 or 9 years’ service when I had it. I spent 11 months hospitalized at Percy Jones. Interviewer: You did? Lilah Ramsay: Mm-hm. Interviewer: Eleven months at Percy Jones? Lilah Ramsay: Yeah, I was on duty up there. I was a patient 11 months and then I was married and a year later when I was pregnant they sent me to Valley Forge to do a liver biopsy which almost lost the baby for me. And then I left Valley Forge ‘cause I was so homesick to come home and, uh, got my papers from Valley Forge that I had been discharged. [Inaudible 20:50]. Interviewer: Uh, did that make a difference in any of your benefits that you might have received? Lilah Ramsay: I expect it did. It took me 12 years to even convince the army that I had an infected liver. They, the doctor knew it. The doctor, um, I was treated out here all the time for a residual liver. Interviewer: [21:15] Did you get a medical discharge? Lilah Ramsay: From the army? [Inaudible 21:17]. Interviewer: That’s why you had so much trouble. Lilah Ramsay: Twelve years later, when I asked for medication, they said the only way they could give it to me was through, uh, uh, if I had a 10 percent disability. And then the word came back from somewhere, this was through the DAV, that it wasn’t service connected. And then I got mad. And I said I had 9 years of service when I got it and they sent me a 10 percent disability and that’s what I have today. But it took me, and it says non-service connected or something even on my disability. You can’t fight the army so you give up. Interviewer: [22:04] What color uniform did you wear? Lilah Ramsay: I wore the old blue World War 1 when I sailed. Interviewer: [22:11] And then were you issued the…? Lilah Ramsay: Then we had to have uniforms made. I, I think we had uniforms made about 6 times the first year we were over in Australia. They kept changing them on us. Interviewer: [22:23] Then did you get the brown and white seersucker? [Throat clearing] Excuse me. Lilah Ramsay: Yeah. We wore the seersucker. We wore khaki. We wore, came home in the, we had a green, an olive drab green. Uh, we had to wear leggings in New Guinea over the top of our slacks. We wore… Interviewer: Why? Lilah Ramsay: Uh, mosquitos. Uh, we wore, um, Philippine [scout 22:53] shoes. The most comfortable shoes I ever had during the whole time I was nursing in New Guinea. I suppose we did until we got out. Interviewer: Uh, maybe you covered this but in New Guinea [23:07] where did you live? What sort of quarters? Lilah Ramsay: Um, they were tents but they had board floors. Board walls. Interviewer: Outdoors? Lilah Ramsay: Oh no, we had tents. They were semi-nice tents. I mean they were boarded walls and a tent roof. And, uh, all screened in. Everything was screened. And there were 2 of us to a tent. Interviewee: Well that was good. Lilah Ramsay: Yeah, we had nice tents. Interview: Real beds. Lilah Ramsay: Yeah. Interviewer: Cots? Lilah Ramsay: Cots of some kind. I don’t believe they were army cots and I remember in, uh, Adelaide having army cots. It was so cold. Interviewer: [23:55] What demanded the greatest adjustment? Your uniforms or regulations? Language? Living with others? Lilah Ramsay: The language was a little difficult [chuckle]. We couldn’t understand the Cockney Australian. Made a few mistakes on some of the things. Um, but I don’t remember having any problems with discipline. Interviewer: [Inaudible 24:19] wearing a tie or didn’t you ever have to. Lilah Ramsay: Oh yes, we wore a dress tie till New Guinea. Interviewer: [Inaudible 24:25]. Lilah Ramsay: Till New Guinea. No, I really don’t, uh, remember having… Interviewer: [24:34] Do you recall any regulations that everybody disliked? Lilah Ramsay: No. Uh, I suppose there were lots of them. There were lots of regulations but in New Guinea we had to go out. Two nurses with 2 officers with side arms and had to be in at midnight. And, uh, [Biak 24:55] was the same. And we had a fence around our tent in [Biak 25:00]. Interviewer: Feeling of being… Lilah Ramsay: Fenced in. That’s when the song came out Don’t Fence Me In. Interviewer: Yeah. Well, thank you very much. Lilah Ramsay: Don’t fence me in. /la