MF144 Women in the Military

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  Marjorie C. Hall, interviewed by Robin Arnold and Molly MacLean, Part 1

  Marjorie H. Clarke Hall

  Marjorie C. Hall, interviewed by Robin Arnold and Molly MacLean, November 15, 2000. Hall talks about completing her basic training at Hunter College in New York City in 1944; joining the Hospital Corps upon completion; being stationed at Bethesda Naval Hospital; and later at Great Lakes, Illinois as part of the WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service). Text: 18 pp. partial transcript. Time: 00:59:27. Photographs: p14507-p14512, p14561.

  Listen:

  Part 1: mfc_na3217_c2320_01
  Part 2: mfc_na3217_c2320_02

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  Marjorie C. Hall, interviewed by Robin Arnold and Molly MacLean, Part 2

  Marjorie H. Clarke Hall

  Marjorie C. Hall, interviewed by Robin Arnold and Molly MacLean, November 15, 2000. Hall talks about completing her basic training at Hunter College in New York City in 1944; joining the Hospital Corps upon completion; being stationed at Bethesda Naval Hospital; and later at Great Lakes, Illinois as part of the WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service). Text: 18 pp. partial transcript. Time: 00:59:27. Photographs: p14507-p14512, p14561.

  Listen:

  Part 1: mfc_na3217_c2320_01
  Part 2: mfc_na3217_c2320_02

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  Beth Parks, interviewed by Sarah Kneeland, Part 1

  Mary Beth Clayfield-Parks

  Beth Parks, interviewed by Sarah Kneeland, February 16 and 23, 2005, Corea, Maine. Parks talks her experiences in the Vietnam War and how she dealt with it afterwards: reasons for becoming a nurse; training at D.C. General Hospital; volunteering as an officer in the Army Nurse Corps (ANC); Viet Cong tunnels underlying the base camp at Cu Chi; attacks against their camp; operating rooms in the MASH and evacuation hospitals; it was the peak of her career; army vs. civilian nursing; attending the reunion; Annie Cunningham, Glenna Goodacre and Diane Carlson Evans; her film “A Chunk of My Soul”; coping with memories; leaving nursing; the Iraq War and public opinion; James Davis Nelson’s oil painting of the 12th EVAC Hospital operating room. Also included: summary and index of interviews 1 and 2; articles: “A Chunk of My Soul” and “A Vietnam Nurse’s Thanksgiving,” 12th Evac, Cu Chi, RVN; 5 photos. Text: 29 pp. transcript, index, summary, and index, two articles. Time: 00:55:07. Photographs: p14552-p14557. Restrictions: None.

  Listen:

  Part 1: mfc_na3328_cd0950_01
  Part 2: mfc_na3328_cd0950_02

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  Beth Parks, interviewed by Sarah Kneeland, Part 2

  Mary Beth Clayfield-Parks

  Beth Parks, interviewed by Sarah Kneeland, February 16 and 23, 2005, Corea, Maine. Parks talks her experiences in the Vietnam War and how she dealt with it afterwards: reasons for becoming a nurse; training at D.C. General Hospital; volunteering as an officer in the Army Nurse Corps (ANC); Viet Cong tunnels underlying the base camp at Cu Chi; attacks against their camp; operating rooms in the MASH and evacuation hospitals; it was the peak of her career; army vs. civilian nursing; attending the reunion; Annie Cunningham, Glenna Goodacre and Diane Carlson Evans; her film “A Chunk of My Soul”; coping with memories; leaving nursing; the Iraq War and public opinion; James Davis Nelson’s oil painting of the 12th EVAC Hospital operating room. Also included: summary and index of interviews 1 and 2; articles: “A Chunk of My Soul” and “A Vietnam Nurse’s Thanksgiving,” 12th Evac, Cu Chi, RVN; 5 photos. Text: 29 pp. transcript, index, summary, and index, two articles. Time: 00:55:07. Photographs: p14552-p14557. Restrictions: None.

  Listen:

  Part 1: mfc_na3328_cd0950_01
  Part 2: mfc_na3328_cd0950_02

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  Patricia Conlon, interviewed by Kristin Taylor

  Patricia Conlon

  NA3227 Patricia Conlon, interviewed by Kristin Taylor, November 6, 2001. Conlon talks about her personal and family histories; her childhood in Newark, New Jersey; her parents, Joseph and Elizabeth Conlon; being a commissioned officer in the Air Force during the Gulf War; McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey; hers and her family’s reactions to her enlistment in the Air Force; being a mother while serving in the military; Shephard Air Force Base in Texas; her experiences and duties as a flight nurse for Air Evac in Europe and the United States; her opinions on differences between men and women in the military; activities during leisure time; her homecoming after the Gulf War ended; her opinion on women in combat; benefits received for serving in the military; and her subsequent training as a perfusionist. Text: 9 pp. Recording: mfc_na3227_c2332_01 (C 2332, CD 2464). Time: 00:28:42. Restrictions: None.
  
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  Erma Frances Fletcher, interviewed by Amy L. Stevens

  Erma Frances Dancer Fletcher

  Erma Frances Fletcher, interviewed by Amy L. Stevens, April 24, 2003, in Dexter, Maine. Fletcher, age 79, talks about her family history; her early life; working in a factory after high school; the stigma against female military service; enlisting in the Navy in World War II; her basic training experiences; marching for President Roosevelt; surviving on a small stipend; missing out on serving in Manila; her transcription work; how she spent her leisure time; meeting her husband during the war; regretting not staying in the service after 1946; moving to Washington, D.C. after her service; her sense of patriotism during the war; whether she would recommend enlisting in that time period; working under female superior officers in training and male afterwards; doing kitchen police (KP) duty; losing weight in basic training; women dropping out during basic training; her reception upon returning as a veteran; and whether her military experience changed her. Also included: print of photo. Text: 14 pp. transcript. Recording: No recording. Photograph: p14498, detail p14499.

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  Mary Elliott, interviewed by John Dunham, Part 1

  Mary Downey Elliott

  Mary Elliott, interviewed by John Dunham, December 2, 2001, Camden, Maine. Elliott talks about training as a nurse in Massachusetts; becoming a member of the Red Cross; being called to serve in the Army following the attack on Pearl Harbor; being stationed at Camp Edwards, Massachusetts, Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Salisbury, England; being a Second Lieutenant nurse. Text: 18 pp. transcript. Time: 50 minutes.

  Listen:

  Part 1: mfc_na3215_c2318_01
  Part 2: mfc_na3215_c2318_02

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  Mary Elliott, interviewed by John Dunham, Part 2

  Mary Downey Elliott

  Mary Elliott, interviewed by John Dunham, December 2, 2001, Camden, Maine. Elliott talks about training as a nurse in Massachusetts; becoming a member of the Red Cross; being called to serve in the Army following the attack on Pearl Harbor; being stationed at Camp Edwards, Massachusetts, Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Salisbury, England; being a Second Lieutenant nurse. Text: 18 pp. transcript. Time: 50 minutes.

  Listen:

  Part 1: mfc_na3215_c2318_01
  Part 2: mfc_na3215_c2318_02

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  Christine DiPompo, interviewed by Sarah Beazley

  Christine Ermentrout DiPompo

  Christine DiPompo, interviewed by Sarah Beazley, May 15, 2003, in her home in Brewer, Maine. DiPompo, age 82, talks about her family background; joining the Women's Army Corps in World War II; her basic training experiences; barracks life; her work as a W.A.C. lab technician; married women being forced out of the lab; working a second job at a plastics factory; her treatment from her male and female superiors; visiting home; social life during the war; meeting her husband, a fellow lab technician; her family and friends’ reaction to her enlistment; the W.A.C.’s scandalous reputation; lesbians in the W.A.C.; her most memorable W.A.C. experience; the relationships she formed during the war; her civilian work as a lab technician; her family life; how her service has shaped the rest of her life; whether she would do it all over again; whether she encouraged her daughters to enlist; her brother’s military service; and changes in the role of women in the military. Text: 15 pp. transcript. Recording: No recording. Photograph: p14496, detail p14497.

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  Agnes E. Flaherty, interviewed by Melissa Piselli, Part 1

  Agnes E. Flaherty

  Agnes E. Flaherty, interviewed by Melissa Piselli, February 22 and April 26, 2005, South Portland, Maine. Flaherty, born in Portland, Maine, talks about her parents, Anna and Mark Flaherty; her family’s involvement in nursing; enlisting in the military during WWII as a nurse in the Army Air Core; working out of Grenier Field in Manchester, New Hampshire; her experiences and favorite memories as a flight nurse; early medications; experiences with the Women’s Army Core (WAC); patriotism during WWII; serving in the Pacific as a flight nurse; working out of Hickam Air Field in Oahu, Hawaii; relationship between nurses and doctors then and now; G.I.’s teasing the nurses; transporting psychiatric patients; landings at Tarawa and Canto; experiences with patients suffering from head trauma; Elaine McCarty, a nurse during the Vietnam War; working at Maine Medical Center and Mercy Hospital; serving as president of the Maine State Nurses Assoc.; how nursing has changed since. Also included: WWII Flight Nurses Association Pamphlet; reservation request form for World War II Flight Nurses Association; mailed article “No Time for Fear”; pamphlet. Text: 33 pp. transcript, 3 pp. index, summary for interview #2, 38 pp. supplemental content. Time: 01:04:38

  Listen:

  Part 1: mfc_na3327_cd0949_01
  Part 2: mfc_na3327_cd0949_02

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  Agnes E. Flaherty, interviewed by Melissa Piselli, Part 2

  Agnes E. Flaherty

  Agnes E. Flaherty, interviewed by Melissa Piselli, February 22 and April 26, 2005, South Portland, Maine. Flaherty, born in Portland, Maine, talks about her parents, Anna and Mark Flaherty; her family’s involvement in nursing; enlisting in the military during WWII as a nurse in the Army Air Core; working out of Grenier Field in Manchester, New Hampshire; her experiences and favorite memories as a flight nurse; early medications; experiences with the Women’s Army Core (WAC); patriotism during WWII; serving in the Pacific as a flight nurse; working out of Hickam Air Field in Oahu, Hawaii; relationship between nurses and doctors then and now; G.I.’s teasing the nurses; transporting psychiatric patients; landings at Tarawa and Canto; experiences with patients suffering from head trauma; Elaine McCarty, a nurse during the Vietnam War; working at Maine Medical Center and Mercy Hospital; serving as president of the Maine State Nurses Assoc.; how nursing has changed since. Also included: WWII Flight Nurses Association Pamphlet; reservation request form for World War II Flight Nurses Association; mailed article “No Time for Fear”; pamphlet. Text: 33 pp. transcript, 3 pp. index, summary for interview #2, 38 pp. supplemental content. Time: 01:04:38

  Listen:

  Part 1: mfc_na3327_cd0949_01
  Part 2: mfc_na3327_cd0949_02

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  Dolores “Del” Hainer, interviewed by Rebecca Pelletier and Elizabeth Fowler, Part 1

  Dolores F. Hainer

  Dolores “Del” (Theriault) Hainer, interviewed by Rebecca Pelletier and Elizabeth Fowler, November 10, 2000, Hampden, Maine. Hainer talks about joining the army after World War II; her basic training in Camp Lee, VA; and being stationed in San Antonio, TX. Text: 34 pp. transcript. Time: 1 hour 17 minutes.

  Listen:

  Part 1: mfc_na3201_c2301_01
  Part 2: mfc_na3201_c2301_02

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  Dolores “Del” Hainer, interviewed by Rebecca Pelletier and Elizabeth Fowler, Part 2

  Dolores F. Hainer

  Dolores “Del” (Theriault) Hainer, interviewed by Rebecca Pelletier and Elizabeth Fowler, November 10, 2000, Hampden, Maine. Hainer talks about joining the army after World War II; her basic training in Camp Lee, VA; and being stationed in San Antonio, TX. Text: 34 pp. transcript. Time: 1 hour 17 minutes.

  Listen:

  Part 1: mfc_na3201_c2301_01
  Part 2: mfc_na3201_c2301_02

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  Anne Tenney, interviewed by Elizabeth Bunten

  Anne E. Howes Ferris Tenney

  Anne Tenney, interviewed by Elizabeth Bunten, May 7, 2003, in Castine, Maine. Smith, age 81, talks about her decision to join the Navy (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) in World War II; her basic training experiences; being assigned to New York City; her anti-submarine work; marrying and leaving the service after her pregnancy; remarrying another WWII veteran as a widow; public perception of women in the Navy during the war; minorities in the military; and changes in the role of women in the military. Text: 6 pp. transcript. Recording: No recording.

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  Barbara Beal, interviewed by Amy L. Stevens

  Barbara Ann Kasnic Beal

  Barbara Beal, interviewed by Amy L. Stevens, May 1, 2003, in Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth, Maine. Beal, age 56, talks about her service as an Army nurse in the Vietnam War; her family and friends’ reaction to her deployment; her anxiety prior to deployment; her training experiences; her preconceptions of the war vs. the reality; her emotional experience of the war; her typical day at the medevac hospital; the dangers of the job; her leisure time; socialization between men and women; her most important relationships during the war; her reception upon returning as a veteran; whether the war changed her; continuing her nursing career as a civilian; moving to Maine from Pittsburgh; whether she would do it all over again; her family history; the ethnic and gender makeup of her coworkers during the war; her experience of sexism in the military; her positive memories of the war; male soldiers’ visitation of prostitutes; and wartime pregnancies. Text: 21 pp. transcript. Recording: No recording.

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  Deborah R. “Debbie” Kelley, interviewed by Jennifer LaPlante, Part 1

  Deborah R. Kelley

  Deborah R. “Debbie” Kelley, interviewed by Jennifer LaPlante in Bangor, Maine, November 17, 2001. Kelley talks about being in the Maine Air National Guard for 12 years (at the time of interview); her basic training in Knoxville TN; attending navigational (NAV) school in Sacramento, CA. Text: 19 pp. partial transcript. Time: 01:02:40. Restrictions: None.

  Listen:

  Part 1: mfc_na3205_c2306_01
  Part 2: mfc_na3205_c2306_02

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  Deborah R. “Debbie” Kelley, interviewed by Jennifer LaPlante, Part 2

  Deborah R. Kelley

  Deborah R. “Debbie” Kelley, interviewed by Jennifer LaPlante in Bangor, Maine, November 17, 2001. Kelley talks about being in the Maine Air National Guard for 12 years (at the time of interview); her basic training in Knoxville TN; attending navigational (NAV) school in Sacramento, CA. Text: 19 pp. partial transcript. Time: 01:02:40. Restrictions: None.

  Listen:

  Part 1: mfc_na3205_c2306_01
  Part 2: mfc_na3205_c2306_02

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  Kim Lander, interviewed by Jennifer LaPlante, Part 1

  Kim Lander

  Kim Lander, interviewed by Jennifer LaPlante, November 15, 2001, at her home in Newport Maine. Lander talks about joining the Maine Air National Guard; completing her training in San Antonio Texas; attending tech- school in Pease New Hampshire; serving in the Strategic Air Command during the Gulf War; being a crew chief at the time of the interview. Text: 21 pp. partial transcript. Time: 00:51:42.

  Listen:

  Part 1: mfc_na3211_c2313_01
  Part 2: mfc_na3211_c2313_02

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  Kim Lander, interviewed by Jennifer LaPlante, Part 2

  Kim Lander

  Kim Lander, interviewed by Jennifer LaPlante, November 15, 2001, at her home in Newport Maine. Lander talks about joining the Maine Air National Guard; completing her training in San Antonio Texas; attending tech- school in Pease New Hampshire; serving in the Strategic Air Command during the Gulf War; being a crew chief at the time of the interview. Text: 21 pp. partial transcript. Time: 00:51:42.

  Listen:

  Part 1: mfc_na3211_c2313_01
  Part 2: mfc_na3211_c2313_02

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  Deborah A. Lee, interviewed by Kristin Taylor, Part 1

  Deborah A. Lee

  Deborah A. Lee, interviewed by Kristin Taylor, November 8, 2001. Lee, a member of the Air National Guard and was born in Boston in 1957, talks about joining the National Guard and her family’s reaction; job of in-flight refueling of jets; experiences with basic training and specialty training; time in survival school; equality between men and women in the Air National Guard; quality of officers in the Guard; pros and cons of being in the Air National Guard; experiences overseas; how service changes attitude toward military and the government; life after service and keeping in touch with people afterward; what she wants to share with citizens about her experiences with the service. Text: 28 pp. transcript. Time: 01:18:32.

  Listen:

  Part 1: mfc_na3234_c2340_01
  Part 2: mfc_na3234_c2340_02
  Part 3: mfc_na3234_c2341_01

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  Deborah A. Lee, interviewed by Kristin Taylor, Part 2

  Deborah A. Lee

  Deborah A. Lee, interviewed by Kristin Taylor, November 8, 2001. Lee, a member of the Air National Guard and was born in Boston in 1957, talks about joining the National Guard and her family’s reaction; job of in-flight refueling of jets; experiences with basic training and specialty training; time in survival school; equality between men and women in the Air National Guard; quality of officers in the Guard; pros and cons of being in the Air National Guard; experiences overseas; how service changes attitude toward military and the government; life after service and keeping in touch with people afterward; what she wants to share with citizens about her experiences with the service. Text: 28 pp. transcript. Time: 01:18:32.

  Listen:

  Part 1: mfc_na3234_c2340_01
  Part 2: mfc_na3234_c2340_02
  Part 3: mfc_na3234_c2341_01

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  Deborah A. Lee, interviewed by Kristin Taylor, Part 3

  Deborah A. Lee

  Deborah A. Lee, interviewed by Kristin Taylor, November 8, 2001. Lee, a member of the Air National Guard and was born in Boston in 1957, talks about joining the National Guard and her family’s reaction; job of in-flight refueling of jets; experiences with basic training and specialty training; time in survival school; equality between men and women in the Air National Guard; quality of officers in the Guard; pros and cons of being in the Air National Guard; experiences overseas; how service changes attitude toward military and the government; life after service and keeping in touch with people afterward; what she wants to share with citizens about her experiences with the service. Text: 28 pp. transcript. Time: 01:18:32.

  Listen:

  Part 1: mfc_na3234_c2340_01
  Part 2: mfc_na3234_c2340_02
  Part 3: mfc_na3234_c2341_01

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  Donna Loring, interviewed by Mazie Hough and Carol Toner

  Donna Loring

  Donna Loring, interviewed by Mazie Hough and Carol Toner, June 19, 2001, in Augusta, Maine. Loring, age 53, talks about enlisting in the Army in the Vietnam War; her experiences of discrimination as a Native American in Maine; boarding school; taking an aptitude test after enlisting; basic training; her role as a member of the Signal Corps; the dangers of the job; rising through the ranks; the detachment of the Women’s Army Corps from the rest of the Army; women soldiers and weapons; leaving the base against orders; racism in the military; diversity within the W.A.C.; the psychological effects; leisure time; feeling alone in her experiences; her reception upon returning; her service as a learning experience; her family members’ service; the relative uniqueness of her Vietnam experience; bonding with Vietnam veterans; other women’s exposure to carcinogens during the war; returning to Vietnam in 1997; and her work with the Maine Women's Veterans Commission. Text: 19 pp. transcript. Recording: No recording. Restrictions: None. Approval to release provided by James Francis of the Penobscot Historic Preservation Committee, 2024-02-23.

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  Donna Loring, interviewed by Mazie Hough and Carol Toner, Part 1

  Donna Loring

  Donna Loring, interviewed by Mazie Hough and Carol Toner, June 19, 2001, at the CATS Library in Augusta, Maine. Donna talks about enlisting in 1966; training in California and going to Vietnam; serving in the Military Occupational Specialty Signals Corps and as a soldier of the Women’s Army Corps. Text: 9 pp. transcript. Time: 01:20:59. Restrictions: None. Approval to release provided by James Francis of the Penobscot Historic Preservation Committee, 2024-02-23.

  Listen

  Part 1 mfc_na3207_c2308_01
  Part 2 mfc_na3207_c2308_02

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  Donna Loring, interviewed by Mazie Hough and Carol Toner, Part 2

  Donna Loring

  Donna Loring, interviewed by Mazie Hough and Carol Toner, June 19, 2001, at the CATS Library in Augusta, Maine. Donna talks about enlisting in 1966; training in California and going to Vietnam; serving in the Military Occupational Specialty Signals Corps and as a soldier of the Women’s Army Corps. Text: 9 pp. transcript. Time: 01:20:59. Restrictions: None. Approval to release provided by James Francis of the Penobscot Historic Preservation Committee, 2024-02-23.

  Listen

  Part 1 mfc_na3207_c2308_01
  Part 2 mfc_na3207_c2308_02