WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:05.600 [Official Film, Misc. 1173, War Department] 00:05.600 --> 00:10.000 [Produced by Army Pictorial Service, Signal Corps] 00:10.000 --> 00:16.170 [The Army Nurse] 00:16.166 --> 00:19.796 [Bombs exploding and artillery fire sounds] 00:19.800 --> 00:25.900 [Narrator:] Summer, 1945, and the war is one million men old. 00:25.900 --> 00:32.300 [Machine gun fire in bursts] 00:32.300 --> 00:41.570 [Dramatic music] 00:41.566 --> 00:48.496 [Speaker 1:] Hang on kid. Keep your eyes shut tight and drink. 00:48.500 --> 00:52.300 They're moving you back now. Don't give up, just hang on. 00:52.300 --> 00:57.170 The road back is bumpy and maybe the pain blurs your eyes, but listen: 00:57.166 --> 01:01.096 The sound of battle grows dim. 01:01.100 --> 01:08.230 And now one question cuts clearly through the haze: Which man will you be? 01:08.233 --> 01:11.333 The one who gets hurt and dies? 01:11.333 --> 01:14.103 Or the one who gets hurt and lives? 01:14.100 --> 01:18.300 When the dizziness stops, when the fog clears, 01:18.300 --> 01:22.400 an army nurse will be at your side. 01:22.400 --> 01:26.600 A woman who has meant safety and comfort and home 01:26.600 --> 01:32.400 to thousands of men before you, a woman who will mean all those things to you. 01:32.400 --> 01:35.400 A nurse brought another American's blood to your side 01:35.400 --> 01:39.630 to pour new strength into your veins. 01:39.633 --> 01:43.973 A nurse handed clamps to the surgeon and counted sponges. 01:43.966 --> 01:47.396 A nurse prepared and administered the anesthetic 01:47.400 --> 01:51.330 and watched you constantly for any telltale change in your breathing 01:51.333 --> 01:55.473 or blood pressure. All of them working with the same purpose: 01:55.466 --> 02:03.666 to ease the pain of war, to help save lives. 02:03.666 --> 02:08.966 [Music increases] 02:08.966 --> 02:12.796 The preparation for the moment that would bring the Army nurse to your side 02:12.800 --> 02:15.730 began months ago back home in the United States. 02:15.733 --> 02:20.633 It started with four weeks of basic training. 02:20.633 --> 02:26.103 In those days, perhaps the nurse wondered why she had to sit through seemingly endless classes 02:26.100 --> 02:28.300 and submit to rigid discipline. 02:28.300 --> 02:32.630 Often while muscles ached and groaned, 02:32.633 --> 02:34.503 she may have wondered why it was necessary 02:34.500 --> 02:38.870 to take those long hikes or grope her way through a gassed area. 02:38.866 --> 02:43.226 Yet, there were demands that would require of her perfect physical health and stamina, 02:43.233 --> 02:46.933 the strength to stand up under the rigors of combat nursing. 02:46.933 --> 02:50.233 Now, when the four weeks of basic training are finished, 02:50.233 --> 02:54.333 the Army nurse is ready to serve, no matter where her assignment may take her. 02:54.333 --> 02:58.873 She might find herself stationed in a general hospital right here at home, 02:58.866 --> 03:02.996 or perhaps she'll find herself assigned to a mobile hospital unit overseas. 03:03.000 --> 03:06.330 After she arrives, she may have to help build the very hospital 03:06.333 --> 03:11.073 in which she is to work. For the field hospital or the evacuation hospital, 03:11.066 --> 03:15.096 like a circus, must be able to pack up and move on at a moment's notice. 03:15.100 --> 03:19.200 Its primary function is to offer immediate surgical treatment 03:19.200 --> 03:23.430 to the wounded, and that means following ever-changing battle lines. 03:23.433 --> 03:26.533 Everyone pitches in when a mobile hospital goes up: 03:26.533 --> 03:29.533 enlisted men, doctors, and nurses. 03:29.533 --> 03:33.503 Just one small instance where basic training pays off, those muscles 03:33.500 --> 03:40.200 toughened and hardened during the four weeks of basic back home are equal to the job. 03:40.200 --> 03:45.530 In the field, the Army nurse lives roughly and works gently. 03:45.533 --> 03:49.333 There is no glamour, and her life is far from spectacular. 03:49.333 --> 03:54.673 She sleeps under hastily pitched canvas on a GI cot under GI blankets. 03:54.666 --> 03:59.696 She trains her mind to act as an alarm clock, because time is important. 03:59.700 --> 04:07.470 A wasted moment may mean a wasted life. 04:07.466 --> 04:10.666 She lives a life completely stripped of luxuries, and yet, 04:10.666 --> 04:15.896 she has asked for no more luxury than a patient's smile when the pain is eased. 04:15.900 --> 04:17.800 She eats regular GI rations, 04:17.800 --> 04:21.730 the same as the rest of the Army does and often at irregular times. 04:21.733 --> 04:25.633 The hours are long and the demands never ending, and as a result, 04:25.633 --> 04:34.503 the nurse has learned to make use of every moment of her off duty time. 04:34.500 --> 04:37.800 A GI helmet may not be exactly what she'd choose to wear to her 04:37.800 --> 04:42.570 kid sister's wedding, but it makes up for its lack of style by its versatility. 04:42.566 --> 04:53.426 It's a beauty parlor, laundry, cooking pot, wash basin, and anything else 04:53.433 --> 04:58.533 you might wish to call it, a little community in size seven. 04:58.533 --> 05:01.003 She may spend some of her time writing letters, 05:01.000 --> 05:04.730 not the "having a wonderful time, wish you were here" kind, 05:04.733 --> 05:09.833 but letters filled with all the drama of her days, with stories of the courage 05:09.833 --> 05:13.003 and spirit of the men over whom she watches. 05:13.000 --> 05:18.930 She may devote a few moments to prayer, 05:18.933 --> 05:22.603 others to lounging about talking of home. 05:22.600 --> 05:26.100 She may long to wear the evening dress sent from home, 05:26.100 --> 05:28.800 but probably only gets the chance to talk about it. 05:28.800 --> 05:33.770 Usually, she wears olive drab or battle gray and is battle-ready throughout the day, 05:33.766 --> 05:38.526 on duty or off. Her uniform at all times is her badge of service. 05:38.533 --> 05:42.103 But however she spends her time, she always wants to return to the 05:42.100 --> 05:45.030 hospital where the wounded are fighting for their lives. 05:45.033 --> 05:49.103 For first and foremost, and at all times, she is a nurse, 05:49.100 --> 05:51.630 offering professional and skilled care 05:51.633 --> 05:56.673 to the sick and wounded. A nurse first, a woman second, and an officer third 05:56.666 --> 06:01.096 might well serve as the slogan for every member of the nurses corps. 06:01.100 --> 06:04.770 Complete recovery of the patient depends not only upon the use of drugs, 06:04.766 --> 06:09.666 but on the skill with which they are administered and the care that follows. 06:09.666 --> 06:13.366 The nurse must be capable of recognizing at once any symptoms 06:13.366 --> 06:16.026 in her patients which demand immediate treatment, 06:16.033 --> 06:18.773 because if serious consequences are to be avoided, 06:18.766 --> 06:23.026 medical treatment must be on hand the moment any symptoms appear. 06:23.033 --> 06:27.973 Professionally skilled and capable, in her there is the 06:27.966 --> 06:33.696 tenderness of all women, of mother and sister and friend. 06:33.700 --> 06:38.830 Her touch and voice lend encouragement, instill hope. 06:38.833 --> 06:41.973 It's the surgeon who saves a man's life. 06:41.966 --> 06:46.226 It's the nurse whose loving care helps him to live. 06:46.233 --> 07:01.503 [Music] 07:01.500 --> 07:03.800 The crisis has passed. 07:03.800 --> 07:05.970 The patients begin to sleep again. 07:05.966 --> 07:09.126 Now, the pain is just a bad memory. 07:09.133 --> 07:12.773 The field hospital is a stopover to give them immediate surgical treatment 07:12.766 --> 07:14.966 as soon as possible after they're wounded. 07:14.966 --> 07:19.966 [Music] 07:19.966 --> 07:22.326 [15th. EVAC Hosp] 07:22.333 --> 07:27.403 The evacuation hospital is also just a stopover on the trip back through the medical chain. 07:27.400 --> 07:31.730 Here, facilities for treatment are more complete than those of the field hospital. 07:31.733 --> 07:36.073 And here, too, the nurse plays an increasingly important part 07:36.066 --> 07:39.266 in the vital period of treatment and convalescence. 07:39.266 --> 07:41.666 After three or four days, 07:41.666 --> 07:51.226 the patients are well enough for the trip back to the general hospital. 07:51.233 --> 07:57.503 Trains will be waiting for them, hospital wards on wheels. 07:57.500 --> 08:07.500 [Music] 08:07.500 --> 08:12.730 Each train carries, in addition to medical officers and enlisted technicians, 08:12.733 --> 08:17.103 four surgical nurses and two medical nurses, all of whom 08:17.100 --> 08:21.070 are on duty from 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM 08:21.066 --> 08:25.726 and as far into the night as they are needed. 08:25.733 --> 08:30.303 When speed means life, evacuation may take place by plane. 08:30.300 --> 08:34.570 Because of these flying hospitals, men are alive today 08:34.566 --> 08:39.626 who otherwise would have died in the jungles of Burma or on the beaches of Normandy. 08:39.633 --> 08:42.333 These patients are thoroughly checked before the take off. 08:42.333 --> 08:48.473 They will be watched over and checked again when the plane lands. 08:48.466 --> 08:53.966 [...] 08:53.966 --> 08:57.326 While in the air, the flight nurse is in complete charge. 08:57.333 --> 09:04.103 She is ready to handle every emergency and does everything a doctor would have to do, except operate. 09:04.100 --> 09:06.330 Air evacuation is difficult. 09:06.333 --> 09:11.073 It requires specialized skill and training, and the flight nurse must be prepared 09:11.066 --> 09:17.366 for the unexpected, for the next moment it may happen. 09:17.366 --> 09:20.926 At the general hospital in the theater of operation, 09:20.933 --> 09:25.003 other skilled teams of surgeons and nurses stand ready to take over 09:25.000 --> 09:27.500 where the frontline hospitals left off. 09:27.500 --> 09:32.170 Whether a hospital is under canvas out in the field or in a solid structure in a city, 09:32.166 --> 09:40.026 its routine, like the nurses routine, doesn't vary, and its principal aim remains fixed: to offer 09:40.033 --> 09:45.133 the best possible medical care to the sick and wounded. 09:45.133 --> 09:54.173 Nurses sterilize the operating equipment, the surgical gowns and gloves, 09:54.166 --> 10:00.326 prepare drugs, lay out the instruments the doctor will need for his next operation, 10:00.333 --> 10:04.833 and keep accurate records of each patient's history and progress. 10:04.833 --> 10:11.333 While in a civilian hospital the ratio is one nurse to every three beds, in an army hospital, 10:11.333 --> 10:13.473 it's a great many times that number. 10:13.466 --> 10:18.726 To help lift the burden from the nurse's shoulders, enlisted technicians trained in special schools 10:18.733 --> 10:22.003 will be assigned to work under her direct supervision. 10:22.000 --> 10:26.270 One of her biggest jobs is to teach these technicians both in the classroom 10:26.266 --> 10:28.426 and in the hospital wards. 10:28.433 --> 10:32.233 This means added responsibility for the nurse, for although she will have 10:32.233 --> 10:34.773 less personal contact with her patients, 10:34.766 --> 10:38.266 she must direct the activities of the personnel assigned to her 10:38.266 --> 10:44.526 so that the treatment and well-being of her patients is assured. 10:44.533 --> 10:48.433 Relaxation and entertainment are an important part of medical treatment. 10:48.433 --> 10:52.333 To this general hospital overseas comes an all-star show, 10:52.333 --> 10:56.203 and the Army nurse shares the fun with her patients. 10:56.200 --> 11:00.700 The sound of laughter from home often means more than medicine. 11:00.700 --> 11:04.770 [Applause] 11:04.766 --> 11:07.366 Later on, she may spend a few minutes with the star, 11:07.366 --> 11:12.726 and there may be times when she herself is the star of the show, 11:12.733 --> 11:17.303 like this nurse, the first woman to land on Bougainville. 150 00:11:17,300 --> 00:11:23,466 The umpire calls batter up and the game is on: army versus army, 11:23.466 --> 11:26.326 as the nurses play the WACs. 11:26.333 --> 11:29.473 [Music] 11:29.466 --> 11:33.026 This infield may never play in the Polo Grounds, 11:33.033 --> 11:36.203 but maybe one of their patients will. 11:36.200 --> 11:40.900 [Crowd cheering, applause] 11:40.900 --> 11:48.100 Off duty for a while, some nurses may choose to stroll through the streets and buildings of an ancient city. 11:48.100 --> 11:54.070 Others may prefer a round of golf, 11:54.066 --> 11:58.366 or a swim somewhere if the weather is right. 11:58.366 --> 12:04.666 But it's always back to duty, back to the sick and wounded, back to the hospital, 12:04.666 --> 12:08.196 around which the life of the Army nurse revolves. 12:08.200 --> 12:11.470 Those patients scheduled for a trip back home 12:11.466 --> 12:15.266 for the final period of convalescence travel on a hospital ship, 12:15.266 --> 12:18.866 as fully equipped as a stationary hospital. 12:18.866 --> 12:26.766 Now as before, the Army nurse stands by ready to administer to every need. 12:26.766 --> 12:31.696 [Music] 12:31.700 --> 12:34.900 Next stop, a debarkation hospital, 12:34.900 --> 12:48.930 [Music, "My Country 'Tis of Thee"] 12:48.933 --> 12:53.803 then a general hospital in the United States and complete recovery. 12:53.800 --> 12:59.270 And this is the end of the long chain of evacuation, the general hospital back home. 12:59.266 --> 13:04.666 Here, the Army nurse works patiently with her hands, her head, and her heart. 13:04.666 --> 13:08.966 Here, she gently guides men back to the way of life they fought to protect. 13:08.966 --> 13:12.466 Although she may have volunteered to serve overseas, 13:12.466 --> 13:19.296 although she may chafe at what she considers the inactivity of working in a hospital in the United States or Alaska or Panama, 13:19.300 --> 13:26.670 the Army nurse soon learns that a battle line is wherever a soldier is stationed. 13:26.666 --> 13:31.526 What words of praise can measure up to these women, whose very lives 13:31.533 --> 13:41.903 are given to nursing a wounded man, a million wounded men, back to life and health? 13:41.900 --> 13:45.470 And yet, praise is offered. 13:45.466 --> 13:49.596 Long hours of tireless service are remembered and recognized. 13:49.600 --> 13:57.870 The Army nurse, decorated for bravery and valor, above and beyond the call of duty. 13:57.866 --> 14:02.226 And these nurses imprisoned for three long years by the Japanese 14:02.233 --> 14:07.833 ask only that they be returned to duty, for they will never forget the faces of the American men 14:07.833 --> 14:12.673 tortured and killed by the enemy. Wherever transports are taking our soldiers, 14:12.666 --> 14:14.796 they are also taking the Army nurse, 14:14.800 --> 14:20.530 to work by day, by night on distant battlefields, to help make shattered bodies whole, 14:20.533 --> 14:23.673 to bring smiles to faces twisted with pain, 14:23.666 --> 14:29.966 to serve at the side of the man hurt by war, directly by shellfire or indirectly by disease. 14:29.966 --> 14:33.396 This is the Army nurse, USA, 14:33.400 --> 14:38.570 ready to serve anywhere, under any circumstances, in time of need. 14:38.566 --> 14:42.196 [Music] 14:42.200 --> 14:47.170 [The End, Misc. 1173]