London War Letters of a Separated Family: 1940-1945

Christine Vassar Tall's readings from her book, London War Letters of a Separated Family 1940 to 1945, on July 29th, gave us images of WWII London under the bombing Blitz, oranges as rare delights, and a child in a new country far from home. The book has been added to the Library's collection: NEW 940.5316 TAL

Later, looking through her book, I particularly liked this passage:

July WWII Veterans Discussion Group Meeting

Join us for this talk by Christine Vassar on a compilation of letters exchanged between her family in war-torn Britain and the child she was at that time, sent for safety to the United States. Wednesday, July 29th at 2 p.m. at the Hagaman Memorial Library.

Veterans Group Member of the Month June 2009

Please meet Antoinette Coleman.
Antoinette Coleman grew up in Rhode Island. Her grandmother was a nurse. Antoinette states "I would look at her picture with the muffin cap and told her before she died that I would be a nurse."

From High School she went to Rhode Island Hospital in Providence where she trained to become a Registered Nurse. She joined the Red Cross before she graduated. The Red Cross was the recruiting arm for Army and Navy nurses. She could not get into the Navy because of her eyeglasses and she did not have the required 32 teeth-she had 28! She was assigned to the Army Air Corp and was sent to Bradley Field as her first assignment. Antoinette had volunteered for overseas duty. At that time however, the Air Corp was not sending nurses overseas so she was sent to the Army Installation at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

Her service there was preparing people, mostly ground forces, to go overseas. This preparation involved a great deal of surgery and dental work. It also involved teaching people who had not had the opportunity to attend school, to sign their names, and learn rudimentary reading.

She was then sent to Kennedy General Hospital in Memphis, TN where she took care of spinal cord injuries and amputees for six weeks. The physical work of 12 hours a day 7 days a week was exhausting. Antoinette prepared patients to be sent to the rehabilitation hospital nearest their hometown.

Following this she was sent to Camp Deale in California. The training involved a repeat of basis training, and the warning to "Be always packed and ready to go." Antoinette recalls that one night they said "We're leaving." It was pitch black. The group of about 25 nurses were put on a train. They rode for about three hours, then were taken off the train and herded in line with one hand on the shoulder of the one in front because of the black out. They went down a shoot and she could tell they were on a ship. The group sailed for 28 days and saw nothing on the sea except the porpoises following the ship- "day and night they followed the ship. If the moon was shining you could see the irridescence of the fish." She said there was really rough weather when "We went through the Tasmanian Straights where two oceans converge at the bottom of Australia." They spent a week in Perth, Australia then back on the ship. The ship zig zagged through the ocean to avoid the enemy. About two or three days later they saw land, but were being followed by Japanese observation planes for two days. They made it safely into Calcutta, and the group stayed in the 146th hospital until ferried up country to Ledo.

It was not then made public that the nurses were replacing 19 other nurses who had been killed in a plane crash at the base of the Himalayas.

Antoinette's first impressions if India were of "Utter poverty; people starving to death, a million people begging for food, odd jobs for a morsel. Boys in rags, girls in sack dresses."

When she arrived at the 14th Evacuation Hospital she said she she "Did not expect to find dirt floors in some of the sections where the Chinese people were, but the hospital was built by them for them." The Chinese patients had a frame for a bed and one blanket, no pillow. There were chickens tied to the leg of the bed. Another had a little piglet. I called one "Mr Hole in the Head because he still had a bullet in his head," she recalled. Most of the Chinese patients had tuberculosis and were frequently spitting. "We couldn't get them to stop. They paid no attention."

She had to place her shoes in a seal tin to keep the rats from getting into them. While there she was bitten by a monkey one of the doctors brought to the hospital.

Antoinette spent about six at the 14th Evacuation hospital on the Ledo Road in India.

Below: Antoinette’s Army Id Card taken after she arrived at Ft. Jackson

A Very Moving Image

Reprinted with permission from the Legionaries of Christ

World War II Corner

The Hagaman Library is proud to introduce the new World War II Corner located in the Media Room to the right of the front entrance to the library.

Here you can view WWII Veterans Group Member of the Month profiles, browse selected DVDs, videos, pamplets, articles and books. You can find videos such as The History Channel's Deep Sea Dectitives: D-Day series; The Secrets That Won World War II series- such as When Hitler Invaded America, or What Really Happened to Rommel? DVDs such as Ken Burns' film The War and Frank Capra's Prelude to War. There is an atlas, an almanac and an historical encyclopedia of WWII shelved in this area. There are also various odds and ends here, such as a 1964 Life magazine article on General Douglas MacArthur; a United States News publication on Harry S. Truman's addresses and a National Geographic publication "Our War Memorials Abroad: A Faith Kept." Please stop by!

Veterans Group Member of the Month Please meet Thomas B. Yester Tom Yester enlisted in the Air Force January 1942 and served till July 1945. Tom served with three squadrons, the B-24 Unit in the 98th Group, the B-26 456 Squadron, and the 1st Pathfinders. The 1st Pathfinders were the first squadron to use radar blind bombing, in which they bombed according to the radio signal received from England. The B-26s were called Marauders by the Airforce, but nicknamed the Widow Makers by the men because there were so many casualties during the training process of the crews. In combat however, they had the least casualties because of the expertise of the pilots. Tom flew bombing missions over France, Belgium and Holland and, after D-Day, Germany. Tom served as a B-26 Staff Sergeant Tail Gunner on 60 missions and received the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with Nine Clusters, and ten Service Ribbons. One mission flown over France before D-day, was memorable for the 88 shell that went through the plane. The shell left a hole without the fuse of the shell exploding. Tom credits this to sabotage. The Germans used the Jews or anyone who had any experience doing metal work in the German labor camps making weapons. The prisoners sabotaged the German's shells and other armaments. Tom also served in Germany during the Korean War and in active duty with the National Guard retiring with the rank of Captain. Tom is currently the Chairman of the Branford Veterans Parade Committee, and has served on the Committee for 40 years. He has also served over 30 years on the Soldiers' Sailors' and Marines' Fund helping indigent veterans needing assistance. Tom volunteers at St. Mary's School in Branford as a Recess Supervisor and has done so for 25 years.

Please view a video clip from an interview with Tom Yester below.