grandma stories

Every time I come back to Nebraska, my mom arranges for me to come up to see my grandma. Typically, we play cribbage and make small talk about the family. But recently, one of my cousins posted on Facebook that my grandma was the last living WWII nurse in the US. That served as a good opening to ask about get her to talk about her life. So here's what I learned:

My grandma was a teacher right after school. She worked at a number of different local schools, staying in boarding houses around. One day, my grandpa came over to return or borrow a horse and that's how they met. My grandma had one too many unruly children and decided that she could try nursing. She had $100 and that was enough to cover tuition, room, and board for a year. The school she went to was hands on training where she worked during the day and went to classes at night.

During WWII, she enlisted and was sent to Missouri and some other state-side hospitals before going over to the Philippines. She and a lot of other nurse arrived there but the fort/hospital wasn't expecting them so they put them up in an empty hall where all of the bathrooms were set up for guys. They were over there for some time. She stated that she spent some time in Manila. I believe that she was there when she heard about Hiroshima and the end of the war.

Afterwards, they went to Hawaii, shortly after Pearl Harbor I believe. They were going to get shipped back to the US but a group of the nurses including my grandma wanted to go to the beaches of Waikiki first so they went AWOL. They prepaid a taxi driver to come back and pick them up in time to get back but he didn't come back so they had to talk some sailors into getting them back. I don't think she faced any charges.

My mom stated that her hearing and her eyes are going but it's clear that her memory is still solid, making her an awesome source of information and stories. I'm glad that I could take the time to sit and take advantage of her experience.

What else?

My new thing for the day was meeting lots of new people at the retirement home since I brought Ava. She did a good job there and on the road. It was about two hours in the car again each way but she was just happy to be included.