Elizabeth Schwab Sanders Oral History

title:

Elizabeth Schwab Sanders Oral History

creator:

Sanders, Elizabeth (Schwab) (1911 August 1 - )

subject:

American Red Cross

description:

This is the original, unedited interview audio. Elizabeth S. Sanders (formerly Schwab) was born on August 1, 1911 in Nashville, Tennessee. Her family moved to Louisville, Kentucky when she was young, so she grew up and went to school there until going up to Brookline, Massachusetts to graduate high school from Mrs. Choate’s school. Se traveled to Europe for a year after graduation, and came home in the midst of the Depression. She made her debut, got married, had a divorce, and went to the University of Louisville before moving out to the farm her father had purchased in Oldham County, where she became coordinated with Civil Defense. She first started working with the Red Cross at the start of 1943 as a nurse’s aide, which she chose as a branch in part because she thought it gave her the best chance of going overseas. Her first assignment was as a hospital recreation worker until getting trained at Pine Camp, New York. After that training, she was assigned to the 57th Station Hospital in North Africa. They arrived at Oran, Algeria soon after General Rommel was defeated by Allied forces, so her first assignment was to dance on the streets with the returning soldiers. Her next assignment was with the 95th Evacuation Hospital after a Red Cross worker there was injured when the ship she was on was bombed. That nurse, Esther Richards, rejoined the unit after recovering, but she was later killed in action when their hospital was extensively bombed. She was then sent to the 21st General Hospital, then to her final station with the 27th Evacuation Hospital as they prepared to move from Baccarat, France into Germany. At the 27th Evac, she was in charge of all of the hospital recreation workers, although she couldn’t be given the formal title of Director of the Unit because she didn’t have a degree in social work. She left the overseas service after being hospitalized for a month in France with pneumothorax. She was shipped home from Paris, France on V-J Day, and formally discharged in January 1946. Since she was in the Red Cross, they only had unofficial ranks and did not receive military awards. A transcript of this interview is available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Miles, Virginia Vanzant

date:

1989-04-12

type:

Audio

format:

Cassette

identifier:

819; 1989.819

source:

NSCD | CLIR - Recordings at Risk

language:

English

relation:

541838

coverage:

World War II (1939-1945) | 1943-46

rights:

Unrestricted