CPT Marian R. Elcano Oral History

title:

CPT Marian R. Elcano Oral History

creator:

Elcano, Marian R. (Sebring) (1921 June 26 - )

subject:

Army Nurse Corps

description:

An oral history interview with Marian Elcano. Marian R. Elcano (formerly Sebring) was born in Brooksville, Pennsylvania on June 26, 1921. Her family moved to Oil City, Pennsylvania when she was four, and she went to school in there area until graduating in 1939. Afterwards, she went to nurse training school at Oil City General Hospital for 3 years. After working as a private duty nurse post-school for half a year, she enlisted with a friend in January 1943 and went to basic training in Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania. Elcano was assigned to the 45th Evac Hospital at Fort Gordon, Georgia for 5 months, where they enacted a standard medical procedure for the 40 nurses staffed and did physical training to prepare to go overseas. She was moved to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey then New York where they boarded the Aquitania, which went across the Atlantic unescorted because of its size. They landed in Glasgow, Scotland and worked in Wotton under-Edge, England for around 8 months. On June 16, 1943, they landed at Omaha Beach, only the second Evac Hospital to enter the battlefield. The hospital they set up was considered semi-mobile, in case they had to evacuate or retreat. As Allied Forces took back German-occupied French lands and forced a slow retreat, the 45th unit moved further into France. After moving to the Rhineland in the fall of 1944, her unit migrated to Eupen, Belgium, about five to ten miles from the Battle of the Bulge. They moved from Belgium to Aachen, Germany and continued to move centrally until they were eventually stationed close to Berlin when the war ended. At one point, they were stationed near the Buchenwald concentration camp and, after officers and doctors went through and began evacuating people and cleaning out the space, she remembers going through the camp and seeing gas chambers, torture weapons, and pits that had previously been full of bodies. After the war ended in Europe, she was able to go to the Riviera and Paris, France. In February 1946, they returned to the United States and went through Fort Dix, New Jersey for separation, and Elcano requested to be discharged. She reunited with her future husband, who she had met when at Camp Gordon, and they were married in 1946. When she left the service, Elcano had reached the rank of captain, and for her service she was awarded an American Campaign Medal, European-Africa-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with 4 bronze stars, World War II Victory Medal, Meritorious Unit Commendation with 2 oak leaf clusters, and French Legion of Honor. A transcript of this interview is available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Scott, Kate M.

date:

2004-04-08

type:

Moving Image

format:

Hi-8

identifier:

269.02; 2004.269

source:

CLIR - Recordings at Risk

language:

English

relation:

207944

coverage:

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

rights:

Unrestricted