CPT Carmela Filosa Hix Oral History

title:

CPT Carmela Filosa Hix Oral History

creator:

Hix, Carmela (Filosa) (1920 April 22 - 2009 October 21)

subject:

Army Nurse Corps

description:

Carmela Hix (Filosa) was born in Brooklyn, New York in April 1920. Her parents were Italian immigrants. Her brother served in World War II, her father ran a grocery store, and her mother was a homemaker. She graduated from Prospect Heights Hospital after a 3-year course in nursing, specializing as an operating room nurse. She spent time as a ward instructor as a surgical nurse at Queens General Hospital. She treated polio patients there using the Sister Kenny treatment and the iron lungs. She joined the Army in 1951 as a reserve nurse, and they called her into active duty within her first two weeks as they needed nurses in the Korean War. She was sent to basic training at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. There she got orders for Fitzsimmons General Hospital in Denver, Colorado and at the end of 1951 she was sent to Korea. She flew to Korea via Alaska and Japan early in 1952. She went to Pusan, Korea and was sent to the 8063 MASH unit. The 8063 MASH unit was the first MASH unit during the Korean War. There they did mostly triage and stabilizing before airlifting them out. They saw a lot of shrapnel wounds. They were on call 24 hours a day and when there was a war push, they would work 24 hours straight. They moved locations once, but remained close to the front lines. MASH 8228 was nearby, they handled hemorrhagic fever caused by mites, and she would sometimes visit. She saw amputations, head and stomach injuries, and napalm burns. Carmela was only meant to be there for a year, but she stayed in Korea for 17 months due to a shortage of nurses. It was cold and at one point she caught pneumonia. She returned to the United States via a troop ship that docked at San Francisco, California. She married an Army officer in 1955 who she met at Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey. They were sent to Italy after getting married. When she was pregnant with her first child, she left the service in May 1959 with the rank of Captain. They were a military family, with her husband going to Vietnam in 1968, and they moved over 18 times during their career. Both her son and sister-in-law would later join the Air Force. During her service, she earned the Korean Service Medal, The United Nation Service Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal. She passed away in October 2009. A transcript of this interview is available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Binker, Mary Jo | Bellafaire, Judy

date:

2000-07-06

type:

Audio

format:

Cassette

identifier:

437; 2000.437

source:

OHP

language:

English

relation:

204597

coverage:

Korean War (1950-1953)

rights:

Unrestricted