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1LT Irja Rachel Hofschire Oral History
Publication date: 30 July 2024
File metadata
Dublin Core Metadata
title:
1LT Irja Rachel Hofschire Oral History
creator:
Hofschire, Irja Rachel (Ryssy) (1911 January 24 - )
subject:
Army Medical Corps
description:
Irja Rachel Hofschire (formerly Ryssy) was born on January 24, 1911 in Worcester, Massachusetts. She graduated from Sergeant College in Boston, Massachusetts in 1931 and taught physical education at public schools in Baltimore, Maryland for 12 years as well as acting as camp director at Camp Green Top for 7 years. She joined the US Army Medical Corps in June 1943, and after basic training she went to the University of Wisconsin Medical School for Physical Therapy. She then worked as a physical therapist at Ashford General Hospital in Sulphur Springs, West Virginia and the US Army Hospital at Fort Benning, Georgia for the duration of World War II. While at Ashford General, she treated American servicemen and German POWs. She also treated General Eisenhower for severe exhaustion and pneumonia after the European liberation campaign, and General Wainwright after he was released from Japan as a POW for three and a half years. While stationed at Fort Benning, she married her husband who was in the Army Airborne Infantry and resigned her commission in November 1946. They returned to Worcester and had two children in the following years. She continued working as a physical therapist, treating children with polio into the 1950s and returning to teaching physical education after receiving her masters degree from Clark University. She continued teaching until her retirement in 1983. When she left the service Hofschire had reached the rank of 1st lieutenant, and for her service she was awarded an American Campaign Medal and World War II Victory Medal. No transcript of this interview is currently available.
publisher:
Military Women's Memorial Foundation
contributor:
Reborchick, Marcy
date:
2007-06-16
type:
Audio
format:
Cassette
identifier:
440; 2007.440
source:
CLIR - Recordings at Risk
language:
English
relation:
042538
coverage:
World War II (1939-1945) | 1943-46
rights:
Unrestricted