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Mu Phis During Wartime
By Wendy A. Sistrunk, International Librarian
Since our very early days as an organization, Mu Phi Epsilon has supported and served the United States’ war efforts. Our membership has always created and provided much in the way of leadership and service, music and therapy, respite and celebration. Below is a small example of what Mu Phis have and continue to provide to those who serve in the military and for those who await their return.
By the time the United States entered the fray of World War I in April 1917, the war in Europe had been going on for several years already. That is not to say that during those years the U.S., and indeed Mu Phis, had not been providing supplies and support to the other countries involved. There had been an annual exodus of MFE music students to European conservatories, but this came to a halt in the summer of 1914 when war in Europe was declared, so they all had to come back.
At the start of the U.S. joining the war, there were 18 active Collegiate Mu Phi chapters on our rosters (by the time Armistice was declared in November of 1918, we had 25). Much of the support Mu Phi Epsilon members provided was in the form of nursing aid and music therapy to the Red Cross, organizing food and money drives and staffing canteens (often accompanied by music), knitting socks and scarves, and other such efforts to keep morale positive at the home front and abroad.
Some chapters even raised funds to “adopt” war orphans, underwriting their sustenance and care. The National MFE Office organized a Committee on Purchasing and Sending Phonographs and early on we hand-carried Victrolas with recordings and various needles across the oceans “Over There” as a way of supporting and bringing cheer to the soldiers in hospitals.
World War II (1939-1945) provided yet more structured opportunities for the Mu Phi Epsilon membership to serve and support the war efforts. In addition to continuing activities offered during World War I, many Mu Phis worked in various machinery and armament factories (i.e. “Rosie the Riveter”), provided national administrative leadership in patrols, ordinance, and even the FBI, and, yes, enlisted in active military duty as WACs, WAVEs, SPARs. Quite a few Mu Phis received commendations and citations from the national government.
One delightful outcome from WWII was the growth in appreciation for the humble accordion. Otis Manning, USO, wrote an article in from the August 1944 issue of the Accordion World (reprinted in the October 1944 issue of The Triangle (Vol. 38, no. 4)):
“This war has done more to prove the worth of the accordionist in the eyes of thousands and thousands who never gave it too much thought before now…. Acts in the USO Camp Shows … couldn’t work without music. The piano is out due to conditions under which we play: in fields, on top of trucks, mess halls, hospitals, in makeshift stages of every kind. The accordion can use arrangements of orchestra and piano music and provide accompaniment for singers. The accordion has proven its worth!”
The membership of Mu Phi Epsilon has continued offering support during other wars and conflicts that the U.S. has been involved in since World War II. One concept started in World War I and continuing in World War II was the importance of music as therapy. The discipline of music therapy grew certainly as doctors saw the benefit of music (live or recorded) on the morale of those suffering in hospitals, those worried about their loved ones, those seeking inspiration and courage, those who are human. Whether offering performance, composition, historical study, engineering or a myriad of other aspects that “music” is made up of, we must remember how important what we do is for our humanity and for the world.
Evelyn Gibson DeGordin (Upsilon) joined the U.S. Naval Women’s Reserves (WAVES) on November 4, 1943. After training, she was assigned to duty at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Oakland, California, where she supervised music for all church services and directed a WAVE chorus. After she was commissioned as an ensign in October 1944, she then was appointed assistant recreation and welfare officers at the second largest all-WAVE station, located in Arlington, Virginia, where she supervised musical activities for 2,000 WAVES.
In the October 1944 issue of The Triangle, Alta Muehlig (Gamma) wrote about learning to play the accordion and how its portable size “makes its use convenient for hospitals, out-of-door parties, sick rooms and the like, as well as for community singing.
Leota Lane Day (Mu Alpha) toured for the USO, performing at Army bases across the nation. In 1944, she joined the Women’s Army Corps.
Captain Mary Parker Converse was the first woman to be commissioned by the United States Merchant Marine. She was also a noted philanthropist who wrote poetry and composed music. In response to the United States’ entry into World War I, she joined the Boston chapter of the American Red Cross where she penned an inspirational pamphlet for U.S. military and helped assemble soldiers’ grooming kits. She then actively worked to improve conditions for prisoners of war and joined the U.S. Navy’s ambulance corps.
The April 1945 Triangle identifies this photo as “Ensign Grace K. Hosler and her ensign husband.” A member of Sigma chapter, she served as a Navy communications officer in San Francisco.
Composer and member of the Seattle Alumni chapter, Amy Aldrich Worth (Tau) volunteered for the Red Cross Hospital and Recreation Corps, whose members were affectionately known as the Gray Ladies and provided nonmedical services to sick, injured and disabled patients, including thousands of wounded American servicemen.
Ruth Bradley (Mu Rho), at left, national chairman of the Music in Hospitals Committee of the National Federation of Music Clubs, and contralto Dorothy Fisher-Jones (Tau Alpha) presented musical programs in hospital wards. In early 1944, the Federation of Music Clubs inaugurated a nationwide program of hospital music in collaboration with the American Red Cross, the Veterans’ Bureau, the Public Health Service and the Army and Navy.
