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Post by VeeVee on Apr 10, 2009 8:01:46 GMT -5
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Post by oklahoma on Apr 10, 2009 10:57:30 GMT -5
hey vic....i read this book as a lad of 11 years back in 1943. it appeared in the, now defunct, magazine "liberty". it is quoted in the recent book, "we band of angels", that some of the nurses who were imprisoned for the duration or liberation resented lieutenant redmond for writing the book. others were miffed because she was among the ones selected to leave corregidor before the surrender. there were even some who said that her "good looks" played a part in the selection process. women seem to be women regardless of the horrendous situation they might find themselves, it seems. no knock on women from me, i am happily married to the same one since 1968. just making an observation based on what i have noticed over my advancing years. it just seems that there is a "cat fight" possibility lurking most of the time. there is a group picture of the "escapees" taken in australia that appears in the book i previously mentioned and with a "sherlock holmes" magnifying glass" she does appear to be what i call "drop dead, good looking". much prettier than in the above photo, which aint half bad either. if you havent read the "angels..." book, you should. what God awful conditions those medical people had to work under. outside hospital wards at little baguio and hospital number 2 are beyond my wildest imagination. its a wonder the death rate from infection,etc wasnt even higher. i have read somewhere that when the japs captured one of the hospitals that there were some hospitalized jap prisoners and the fact that they were seemingly well cared for impressed the enemy to the point that their treatment of the captured american/filipino medical personnel might have been a bit more lenient (at least initially). my niece in laws grandfather was a patient in one of the hospitals when genl king surrendered bataan and ended up in bilibid prison. i think i mentioned to you in a previous post that all these years his family thought that he had escaped to corregidor with remnants of the 31st infantry regt (US), but through my digging in his papers/records i found where he was taken prisoner in either hosp number 1 or number 2. a buddy of his from back in oklahoma, and also a member of the 31st, made it to the "rock" and was captured and also ended up in bilibid before perishing on a "hell ship". we think, now, that the misinformation about grandpappy stems from that event. just wish he had been more talkative to his kids and that they had been more questioning. too late now for much more digging by yours truly. i am just glad i was able to clear up at least that much for his offspring (if they even are that interested. i know grand daughter is, but i just dont understand the lack of interest by this man's son and daughter).
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Post by VeeVee on Apr 10, 2009 14:48:25 GMT -5
Hi Okla,
I'm right in the middle of the We Band of Angels book. It's what reminded me to post this 1943 book on the forum.
I'm so amused at that part of the We Band of Angels book that told about the selection process for evacuating nurses. They picked the older nurses first who may have problems surviving captivity, then the sick or injured nurses, then the.... young good looking ones.
I thought it was a good criterion because the captors may get interested in the pretty ones. But I guess the nurses' mindframe was that the young pretty ones were all romantically linked to ranking staff officers and reasoned that they were getting out because of their connections.
Now they should make an updated movie about these nurses, not just Cry Havoc and So Proudly We Hail.
-vic
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