D. Clarke Evans Photographer

Josephine Reaves

First Lieutenant, U.S. Army Nurse Corps, Ret.
1942–1945

Lt. Josephine Reaves
Bristol, England, 1944

We had all these boys, they hadn’t been in the Army long enough to get their feet wet. And here they were, their faces were blown, their arms were blown, it was a tragedy.

I grew up in Philadelphia, graduated high school and went to Philadelphia General Hospital for nursing. I was 21 in February, 1942 and decided to join the Navy. They said we were too short and didn’t weigh enough, so we went down the street to the Army. He said to go home and eat four bananas and come back in the morning. We made the weight requirement. He told us to touch our toes ten times; you stretch your spine when you do that. He measured us, we passed and joined the Army Nurse Corps. We didn’t have a boot camp; we started working in the ward in Fort Mead, Maryland. We then went to Bristol, England at Frenchay Hospital Park.

In late May, 1944, I was ordered to get all my gear: bedroll, canteen, helmet, and gas mask. In five days I was leaving for France. Forty nurses and an Army officer met on the docks at the ship we were to board. Quite a number of soldiers were already on the ship. The Navy captain said, ‘Those nurses aren’t going anyplace.’ The Army officer said we were. ‘Women are not going on my ship,’ said the captain. A big argument ensued as the Army officer explained that we were going to Normandy. We finally got on. There was only one private bathroom—the captain’s.

Around June 10th, we disembarked the ship and went straight to the beach. We set up a tent hospital in a little town just off the beach called Colleville-sur-Mer. We were told not to go anywhere because other areas were mined. I was put in charge of the ward for combat fatigue. We showered them, shaved them, cleaned them up, fed them, and gave them IVs. Many we sent back to England.

I was a nurse at the Battle of the Bulge. We worked with the 44th Evacuation. We had a lot of new soldiers that had just arrived, flown over directly from the States. They were very young and many of them were getting injured. We had all these boys, and they hadn’t been in the Army long enough to get their feet wet. Here they were, their faces were blown, their arms were blown; it was a tragedy. Fortunately, we had good surgeons.

It was getting near Christmas and we started to decorate. A colonel was adamant and said we couldn’t have a party. I wanted to bring that Christmas tree to the patients in my ward. The colonel finally allowed it. I was happy because my boys were happy.

My worst day was nursing a young boy, Kenny, from West Virginia. I’ll never forget him. He had lost both legs and one arm and had a big hole in his chest. I was talking to him and he said, ‘You know, Mother, (some of them called me mother even though I was only 23) I would like to go to sleep now. Can I put my head on your shoulder?’ I said, sure, sure. He did and he went to heaven. I took him to the morgue and had to pass by some Germans who gave me a bad time. All I had to say was, ‘Russia’, and they wouldn’t make a sound. They were afraid they would go to Russia. For my work in Northern Europe, I was awarded a Bronze Star with four battle stars.

When the war was over, I got out and married my husband, who I had met in Paris. We came to San Antonio and started our family. Ten years later, I went back in and became an orthopedic nurse at Brooke Army Medical Center for 16 years, and then I retired for good. My daughter was a lawyer. My son was a photographer for Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine for 38 years. I am very happy with my life. {08-12-2015 • San Antonio, TX}