Army Service (April 1943-Feb 1946)
Virginia Nan Henderson Granger
Dog Tags N772086
I voluntarily entered the Army Nurse Corps as a Second Lieutenant. Camp McCoy, Wisconsin was my first station. There I received my basic training for about six weeks and worked in the station hospital waiting for further orders. Due to the shortage of uniforms, I was fitted with uniforms and shoes too tight and waited for the next assignment to be properly attired. With three other nurses, I was sent by troop train to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey; port of embarkation. We arrived there in about two or three days with tired, aching feet. The nurses’ barracks had just been built and was unfurnished. The area was shoe-top-deep in mud due the recent rains. Our small room was soon completed with bunk beds, mattresses, table, chairs, and waste cans. Within a week, we were relocated in the permanent nurses’ quarters. At Kilmer we received further training such as marching, learning to salute, putting on gas masks, going through the gas chambers, and wearing backpacks, use of eating utensils and packing a duffel bag, etc.
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