March 8th, 2008, 08:38 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Martha's Vineyard, MA
Age: 33
Posts: 321
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The Angel of Anzio
I was thinking about a first thread for this forum and thought an inspirational woman from World War II might be a great start. Some of you may have heard of her and some may not, but without further delay....
Quote:
Mary Louise Roberts grew up in Texas, the eldest of six children. When she was eighteen, she knew she wanted to be a nurse. Enrolled in a training program, she quickly discovered her skills lay in surgery.
By 1941, when still in her 20s, she was chosen to be operating room supervisor at Dallas’ Methodist Hospital. In the turmoil following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Mary volunteered for duty. Now Lt. Roberts , she became operating room supervisor for the army’s 56 th Evacuation Unit out of Baylor.
From the moment she landed in Casablanca in April 1943 and set out on an eight-day trek across the desert in a caravan of 130 vehicles, Wilson’s wartime experience was intense and harrowing. The fighting was so fierce at Anzio, Italy, that six nurses were killed, and German shrapnel ripped through her unit’s surgical tent. Wilson was later awarded the Silver Star for her leadership under fire, becoming the first woman to receive the medal.
In one of the most brutal chapters of World War II, Allied forces withstood weeks of attacks as the Germans fought to retake the beach. During this time, Lt. Roberts earned her nickname the “Angel of Anzio.” She was later quoted as saying, “You could say I was fearful but not scared. There were so many soldiers depending on you.” They were fortunate to be in her care.
With the Army evacuation hospital taking a pounding from German shellfire, surgeons ordered Roberts to take cover. She refused. Roberts and her nurses were able to keep the hospital functioning, doing what they could to help "her boys.”
For bravery and service in battle, Lt. Mary Roberts was the first female in the history of the United States to be awarded the Silver Star.
Nurses were not sheltered from danger during World War II, Wilson says, pointing out that 16 members of the Army Nurse Corps died as a result of enemy action. Sixty-seven were taken prisoner of war, and more than 1,600 were decorated for bravery under fire or meritorious service. The conditions for providing care were difficult, at best. “If we weren’t in a tent, we were in a bombed-out building—there was nothing romantic about it,” she says. “Any way you take it, war is hell. We had amputees, eviscerated abdomens, open chest wounds—you name it."
Lt. Roberts served two more years overseas before returning home to Dallas. In 1946, she became the operating room supervisor at the local Veterans Administration Hospital, a position she held for 25 years.
She died November 19, 2001, of a heart attack in Dallas at age 87.
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The article fails to mention that 2nd Lt. Elaine Roe, 2nd Lt. Virginia Rourke, and 2nd Lt. Ellen Ainsworth (posthumous) were awarded the silver star with LT Roberts.
Here's the link for the websites I borrowed this from: Love America First: Heroes; The Long Green Line and Alumni Spotlight: Mary Louise Roberts Wilson, R.N.
Last edited by Biscuit; March 9th, 2008 at 12:14 AM.
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