1LT Verla K. DeBeer Oral History

title:

1LT Verla K. DeBeer Oral History

creator:

DeBeer,Verla (Kallemeyn) (1921 August 21 - )

subject:

Army Nurse Corps

description:

Verla DeBeer was born in Steen, Minnesota on August 21, 1921. She joined the Army Nurse Corps at the very end of 1943, and was very quickly sent overseas to serve in the European Theater in 1944. She was first stationed in Cirencester, England before going north to Manchester. She was stationed here at the 188th Hospital on D-Day, helping evacuated soldiers who were coming from Normandy and other invasion areas. Towards the end of 1944, she volunteered to go south of Nancy, France and was surprised how few nurses knew anything about orthopedic nursing. She knew after Pearl Harbor was bombed that, if the United States joined the war, she’d be entering the military as a nurse. When she was younger DeBeer took German for a year, so when she was serving overseas she was immediately put on the ward with German POWs even though she couldn’t speak much. On D-Day, she remembers the hospital filling up with new patients from Europe and emptying out as they were sent back to the United States every few hours. She didn’t see that many deaths in England and France, and credits that to the introduction of penicillin and sulfanilamide to regular nursing practices on the front. After the war ended in Europe she volunteered to go to the South Pacific, but the war ended on that front about two days before she and others were shipped off that direction. She remembers a friend of hers who was Japanese and had several brothers also fighting in Italy who wasn’t allowed to go with her to the Pacific because she was Japanese. After returning to the states through Alabama, she took a quick trip to New Orleans since she figured she’d never be that close to the city again. She returned home a couple of days later and ended up meeting her future husband. After they got married, she returned to school and worked as a nurse until they had children. When she left the service in 1946, DeBeer had the rank of 1st lieutenant. For her service, she was awarded the American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, and World War II Victory Medal. A transcript of this interview is available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Vernau, Victoria

date:

2006-09-05

type:

Audio

format:

CD

identifier:

1176; 2006.1176

source:

American Legion Post 404 | CLIR -Recordings at Risk

language:

English

relation:

276858

coverage:

World War II (1939-1945) | 1944-46

rights:

Unrestricted