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2LT Mary Elaine O'Neill Oral History Side A - Edited
Publication date: 31 July 2024
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title:
2LT Mary Elaine O'Neill Oral History Side A - Edited
creator:
O'Neill, Mary Elaine (McEntee) (1921 January 30 - )
subject:
Army Nurse Corps
description:
Side 1 of 2. This is the edited interview audio. Mary Elaine O’Neill (formerly McEntee) was born on January 30, 1921 at Eddyville, Nebraska. After completing nurse’s training, she enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps in January 1945 and made it through basic training despite having trouble marching. After training, she was sent to Camp Crowder, Missouri as a staging area for overseas training. She was assigned to a psychiatric ward, then was sent out to Camp Stoneman, California to be shipped put to the Pacific. When they made it to the Philippines she joined the 5th Field Hospital, and by chance she ended up with two other classmates from her nurses training class. Her next assignment was with the 13th General Hospital, which was only 10 miles from the front. After V-J Day, she was one of five volunteers to go to Japan. They traveled to Kokura, Japan first, then volunteered to move to Kure to help transport wounded people back to the United States. She volunteered, and they island hopped with the wounded back to the States. After receiving her discharge in March 1946, she returned home and worked as a nurse in Kearney, Nebraska. She married and had several children with her husband after World War II, and in 1982 she initiated reunions with the five nurses she went through the entirety of her military service with. The group called themselves the “Unholy Five.” Wen she left the service O’Neill had reached the rank of 2nd lieutenant, and for her service she was awarded a Philippine Liberation Ribbon with a bronze star, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, and Army of Occupation Medal (Japan). No transcript of this interview is currently available.
publisher:
Military Women's Memorial Foundation
contributor:
Rosenkotter, Judy
date:
2003-07-25
type:
Audio
format:
Cassette
identifier:
707; 2004.707
source:
CLIR - Recordings at Risk
language:
English
relation:
068710
coverage:
World War II (1939-1945) | 1945-46
rights:
Unrestricted