WARRIOR INWHITE Lucy Wilson Jopling
THE . . WATERCRESS PRESS~ San Antonio
1990
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Copyright Š 1990 by Lucy Wilson Jopling All rights reserved, which includes the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever except as provided by the u.s. Copyright Law. Printed in the U.S.A.
First Edition
A Watercress Press book from Evett & Associates, San Antonio, Texas
Cover design by Paul Hudgins Book design by Alice Evett
Additional copies may be ordered from the author at 2819 Old Ranch Rd., San Antonio TX 78217
Library of Congress Catalogue Card No. 90-71030 ISBN 0-934955-18-2 (cloth) ISBN 0-934955-20-4 (paper)
Foreword A 11
too often we hear it said that in this country we enjoy
~ the blessings of individual freedom primarily through an
accident of geography that placed us at birth within the boundaries of the United States. That point of view, by ignoring our great debt to our nation's heroic architects and defenders of freedom, has produced a special need for Captain Lucy Wilson Jopling's inspiring and firsthand account of Warrior in White. By helping us share in the experience of the Army nurses who came under attack at the outset of the U.S. entry into World War II, she has added a new dimension to our concept of freedom-its gift to the human spirit and its cost in sacrifice and service. Serving as a Red Cross nurse in 1940 when that organization was providing nurses for the Army, Captain Jopling was called to active duty December 8th of that year. In October 1941, although due to serve only three more months she was sent to the Philippines and had been there just six weeks when the attack came on Pearl Harbor. A week later she was sent to help set up a hospital in a Catholic school, and on Christmas Eve she helped set up a hospital in Bataan. About a month later she took up new duties in the operating room of a jungle field hospital. Captain Jopling was one of 104 American nurses known as the ''Angels of Bataan and Corregidor:' These women cared for wounded soldiers, endured heavy bombardments, and often were just a step away from the fighting. When Bataan surrendered on April 1, 1942, she made her way to Corregidor and a month later was one of 13 women to escape the island on the submarine Spearfish for a 17 -day underwater trip to Australia. After returning by ship to New York City on July 2nd, she was sent out on tour to make speeches, visit industrial plants, boost recruitment, sell bonds, and train soldiers. Throughout the experience of recalling all of the horror she wanted to forget, her main objective was to get back and help speed release of the prisoners of war.
Going back to the Pacific as a Flight Nurse on January 1, 1944, she helped fly out injured and ill patients from combat areas on Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Biak, New Guinea, Leyte, and many other Pacific islands. What Captain Jopling calls the highlight of her life came in February 1945 when she had the opportunity to help evacuate from Luzon by air some of the liberated prisoners of war whom she had left there in 1942. In a continuing gift of her professional skills, she makes many visits to nursing homes and veterans hospitals, and is active on the Family Support Team at Brooke Army Medical Center.
July 13, 1990 San Antonio, Texas
Colonel Al Hatcher and Colonel Howard E. Reed
Contents Foreword
PART ONE: GROWING UP, 1917-1940 I
Birth and Early Years: 1917-1923.........
5
II
School Years: 1923-1934 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
13
III
Career: 1935-1940 .....................
18
PART TWO: THE WAR YEARS, 1940-1946 IV
Joining Up: 1940-1941 ..................
26
V
The Philippines: 1941-1942 ..............
33
........
44
VII
Long Journey Home: 1942 ...............
56
VIII
The USA: 1942-1943 ...................
59
IX
Flight Nursing: 1943-1944 ...............
71
X
Destination Unknown: 1944-1945 .........
76
XI
Adjustment and Marriage: 1945 ...........
96
VI
Corregidor and the Spearfish: 1942
PART THREE: POST,WAR, 1946-1985 XII
Life of an Army Wife: 1946-1952 ........ 110
.........
XIII
From Japan to Texas: 1952-1962
XIV
Dan's Retirement Years: 1962-1985 ....... 130
121
Illustrations Lucy Wilson and Verna Henson leaving Tyler, 1940 .. ..
27
Malinta Tunnel, Corregidor ... . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
45
Japanese propaganda leaflet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
46
Japanese mail regulations for POW's. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Letter notifying her parents that Lucy was "missing in action" 48 Notification that Lucy was safe in Australia . . . . . . . . . . ..
49
Lucy's initiation certificate for the Ancient Order of the Deep 53
In Dallas Morning News, 1942, "Family Welcomes Heroine Nurse" . .... .. . .. ....... ........... ... .. 58 Lucy's brothers, 1942.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
60
Lucy on speaking tour, July 1942 . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
In L.A. Examiner, 1943, "Cited for Bravery" . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Lucy making a speech to trainees at Sheppard Field, 1943 68 At Sheppard Field, 1943, Lucy shows patients a Japanese flag 69 With natives on Stuart Islands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
79
Church on Guadalcanal built by natives. . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
81
With General Harmon, 801st Medical Air Evacuation Squadron, 1944. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
82
History of the 80 1st. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
83
Colonel Gould presenting Lucy with Air Medal, 1944 . ..
85
With Pvt. Hetzel on Guadalcanal, 1944 . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
87
Returning to Henderson Field, in her own jeep. . . . . . . ..
88
The 801st Medical Air Evacuation Squadron, 1944. . . . . . 89 "Short Autobiography of Dan" . . .... . . ... . . ......... 105 Wedding picture: Captains Lucy Wilson and Dan Jopling, 1945 111 The Jopling family in May 1961, Fort Sam Houston ..... 128
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