The Angels of Bataan (also known as the "Angels of Bataan and Corregidor" and "The Battling Belles of Bataan"According to research by Dr. Elizabeth Norman, the nurses first referred to themselves as the "Battling Belles of Bataan" in 1942; the phrase "Angels of Bataan" appeared later, in 1945. Norman, Elizabeth (2013). We Band of Angels, pp. 53, 296 note 8.) were the members of the United States Army Nurse Corps and the United States Navy Nurse Corps who were stationed in the Philippines at the outset of the Pacific War and served during the Battle of the Philippines (1941–1942). When Bataan and Corregidor fell, 11 navy nurses, 66 army nurses, and 1 nurse-anesthetist were captured and imprisoned in and around Manila.Norman, Elizabeth (2013). We Band of Angels, Appx. IIMonahan, Evelyn M. & Neidel-Greenlee, Rosemary (2003). All This Hell, pp. 103, 193–195 (Appx. G). They continued to serve as a nursing unit while prisoners of war.Monahan, Evelyn M. & Neidel-Greenlee, Rosemary (2004). And If I Perish: Frontline U.S. Army Nurses in World War II, p. 19 (First Anchor Books Ed.) They were freed in February 1945.
In Manila At the outset of World War II, US Army and US Navy nurses were stationed at Sternberg General Hospital in Manila, and other military hospitals around Manila. During the Battle of the Philippines (1941–1942), 88 US Army nurses escaped, in the last week of December 1941, to Corregidor and Bataan.Norman, Elizabeth (2013). We Band of Angels, p. 24. Two army nurses, Lt. Floramund A. Fellmeth and Lt. Florence MacDonald, accompanied severely wounded patients from Sternberg aboard the improvised hospital ship Mactan that departed Manila shortly after midnight of the New Year of 1942 for Australia.
The navy nurses, under the command of Lt. Laura M. Cobb, stayed behind in Manila during the initial invasion to support the patients there. One of them, Ann A. Bernatitus, escaped from Manila to Bataan just before Manila fell.Norman, Elizabeth (2013). We Band of Angels, p. 25Monahan, Evelyn M. & Neidel-Greenlee, Rosemary (2003). All This Hell, p. 31. The remaining 11 navy nurses were captured upon the fall of Manila and interned by the Japanese at Santo Tomas.Norman, Elizabeth (2013). We Band of Angels, pp. 27–29Monahan, Evelyn M. & Neidel-Greenlee, Rosemary (2003). All This Hell, p. 60.
The army nurses, under the command of Capt. Maude Davison and 2nd Lt. Josephine Nesbit, together with navy nurse Bernatitus, escaped from Manila and went on to serve in the Battle of Bataan and the Battle of Corregidor.Norman, Elizabeth (2013). We Band of Angels, pp. 23–24Monahan, Evelyn M. & Neidel-Greenlee, Rosemary (2003). All This Hell, p. 40
On Bataan In late December 1941, many of the nurses were assigned to a pair of battlefield hospitals on Bataan named Hospital #1 and Hospital #2.Norman, Elizabeth (2013). We Band of Angels, pp. 32, 39Monahan, Evelyn M. & Neidel-Greenlee, Rosemary (2003). All This Hell, pp. 30, 40. These hospitals included the first open-air wards in US history since the Civil War."Jungle Hospital". Time (February 16, 1942). Tropical diseases, including malaria and dysentery, were widespread among both hospital patients and staff.Norman, Elizabeth (2013). We Band of Angels, p. 52Monahan, Evelyn M. & Neidel-Greenlee, Rosemary (2003). All This Hell, pp. 42–43.
Just prior to the fall of Bataan on 9 April 1942, the nurses serving there were ordered to the island fortress of Corregidor by General Wainwright (commander of the forces in the Philippines after MacArthur was ordered to Australia).Norman, Elizabeth (2013). We Band of Angels, pp. 84-89Monahan, Evelyn M. & Neidel-Greenlee, Rosemary (2003). All This Hell, pp. 59–60.foxnews.com, POW story of "Angels of Bataan" army nurses is one of the greatest WWII stories never told. By Jennifer G. Hickey, 7 April 2017
On Corregidor During the Battle of Corregidor, the nurses were stationed in the hospital and wards in the maze of tunnels connected to the Malinta Tunnel.Norman, Elizabeth (2013). We Band of Angels, p. 96Monahan, Evelyn M. & Neidel-Greenlee, Rosemary (2003). All This Hell, p. 67.
A few escape On 29 April, a small group of army nurses were evacuated, with other passengers, aboard a navy PBY Catalina.Norman, Elizabeth (2013). We Band of Angels, pp. 104–105, 112–113Monahan, Evelyn M. & Neidel-Greenlee, Rosemary (2003). All This Hell, p. 81. However, they were stranded on Mindanao and became prisoners. They were transferred to Manila and interned at the University of Santo Tomas. On 3 May, the sole navy nurse, Ann Bernatitus, a few more army nurses, and a small group of civilians were evacuated aboard the submarine .Norman, Elizabeth (2013). We Band of Angels, pp. 108–109Monahan, Evelyn M. & Neidel-Greenlee, Rosemary (2003). All This Hell, p. 85.
Fall of Corregidor When Corregidor fell to Japanese forces under the command of General Masaharu Homma on 6 May, the remaining nurses were captured and on 2 July transferred to the Santo Tomas Internment Camp.Norman, Elizabeth (2013). We Band of Angels, pp. 130–134, 150–151Monahan, Evelyn M. & Neidel-Greenlee, Rosemary (2003). All This Hell, pp. 91, 99.
Internment
At Santo Tomas
The campus of the University of Santo Tomas was converted to the Santo Tomas Internment Camp by the Japanese during their occupation of the Philippines.Santo Tomas Internment Camp: 1942-1945, by Frederic H Stevens (1946) foreword by Gen. Douglas MacArthur) (ASIN: B0007DK618)So Far from Home: Manila's Santo Tomas Internment Camp, 1942-1945, by Bruce E Johansen (1996) (, )G. Ward and K. Burns, The War: An Intimate History, 1941-1945, pp. 79–82 (Alfred A. Knopf 2007) The camp is described in detail in The War by Ken Burns. In addition to its civilian population, Santo Tomas became the initial internment camp for both the army and navy nurses, with the army nurses remaining there until their liberation.Norman, Elizabeth (2013). We Band of Angels, pp. 151–155Monahan, Evelyn M. & Neidel-Greenlee, Rosemary (2003). All This Hell, pp. 103, 107
Capt. Maude C. Davison, 57 years old and with 20 years of service experience, took command of the nurses, maintained a regular schedule of nursing duty, and insisted that all nurses wear their khaki blouses and skirts while on duty.Lyn Kukral, WWII Nurse POW Gets Posthumous Award (Army News Service, Arlington, Va. August 21, 2001) A. Booher, Celebrating Angel Maude Davison, Stories, American Ex-Prisoners of War She worked with Josephine Nesbit.
At Los Baños In May 1943, the navy nurses, still under the command of Lt. Cobb, were transferred to a new internment camp at Los Baños, where they established a new infirmary and continued working as a nursing unit.Norman, Elizabeth (2013). We Band of Angels, p. 173Monahan, Evelyn M. & Neidel-Greenlee, Rosemary (2003). All This Hell, p. 116. At Los Baños they came to be known as "the sacred eleven".Sforza, Kevin (4 August 2002). "Bethesda nurses honor former POW, National Navy Medical Center Public Affairs"Sforza, K. (September 28, 2001). "Bethesda nurses honor former WW II POW Nurse". Navy & Marine Corps Medical News, #01-38.
On the home front While the capture of the nurses was widely publicized in the US, little specific information was known of their fate until they were liberated.
Lt. Juanita Redmond, one of the few nurses to escape, published a memoir of her experiences on Bataan in 1943 that concluded with a dramatic reminder that her colleagues were still prisoners.Lt. J. Redmond, ANC, I Served on Bataan, pp. 166–167 (JB Lippincott Co. 1943) (dedicated to the staff of Bataan Hospital No. 1) The nurses' story was dramatized in several wartime movies,Norman, Elizabeth (2013). We Band of Angels, p. 125. including: Cry 'Havoc' (MGM 1943) So Proudly We Hail! (Paramount 1943) (based on the Redmond book) They Were Expendable (MGM 1945) When So Proudly We Hail was shown in the theaters, a recruitment booth staffed with Red Cross volunteers was set up in the lobby.Jackson, Kathi (2000). They Called Them Angels. p. 3. ()
Final year of internment In January 1944, control of the Santo Tomas Internment Camp changed from Japanese civil authorities to the Imperial Japanese Army, with whom it remained until the camp was liberated.Norman, Elizabeth (2013). We Band of Angels, p. 183Monahan, Evelyn M. & Neidel-Greenlee, Rosemary (2003). All This Hell, p. 125. Access to outside food sources was curtailed, the diet of the internees was reduced to 960 calories per person per day by November 1944, and further reduced to 700 calories per person per day by January 1945.Norman, Elizabeth (2013). We Band of Angels, pp. 194, 199.
A Department of Veterans Affairs study released in April 2002 found that the nurses lost, on average, 30% of their body weight during internment, and subsequently experienced a degree of service-connected disability "virtually the same as the male ex-POW's of the Pacific Theater."W. Skelton, American Ex Prisoners of War, pp. 26–28 (Independent Study Course Released April 2002)(Sponsored by Department of Veterans Affairs Employee Education System) Maude C. Davison's body weight dropped from 156 to 80 lbs (71 to 36 kg).Monahan, Evelyn M. & Neidel-Greenlee, Rosemary (2003). All This Hell, p. 190(Appx. F).
Liberation Emboldened by the success of the Raid at Cabanatuan, General Douglas MacArthur ordered Major General Vernon D. Mudge to make an aggressive raidNorman, Elizabeth (2013). We Band of Angels, pp. 201–204Monahan, Evelyn M. & Neidel-Greenlee, Rosemary (2003). All This Hell, p. 156. on Santo Tomas in the Battle of Manila. The internees at Santo Tomas, including the nurses, were liberated on 3 February 1945, by a "flying column" of the 1st Cavalry.50th Anniversary Commemorative Album of the Flying Column 1945-1995: The Liberation of Santo Tomas Internment Camp February 3, 1945, by Rose Contey-Aiello (1995)(, )G. Ward and K. Burns, The War, p. 342
The navy nurses were subsequently liberated in the Raid at Los Baños.
Upon returning to the US, the US Army awarded their nurses, among other decorations, the Bronze Star for valor and a Presidential Unit Citation for extraordinary heroism in action.Norman, Elizabeth (2013). We Band of Angels, p. 313, Chap. 15 endnote 57 The navy nurses were likewise awarded Bronze Stars upon their return.Dates in American Naval History: March
Memorial and recognition On 9 April 1980, a bronze plaque was dedicated at the Mount Samat shrine by men who survived Bataan and Corregidor.The story of how this plaque came to be is summarized in Dr. Elizabeth Norman's history, We Band of Angels, at p. 318 note 2 (Epilogue note 2). It reads: In honor of the valiant American military women who gave so much of themselves in the early days of World War II. They provided care and comfort to the gallant defenders of Bataan and Corregidor. They lived on a starvation diet, shared the bombing, strafing, sniping, sickness and disease while working endless hours of heartbreaking duty. These nurses always had a smile, a tender touch and a kind word for their patients. They truly earned the name
Maj. Maude C. Davison, credited by many for keeping the army nurses alive by her insistence on the nurses maintaining their identity as nurses throughout their internment, was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Medal on 20 August 2001.Lyn Kukral, WWII Nurse POW Gets Posthumous Award (Army News Service, Arlington, Va. August 21, 2001) A. Booher, Celebrating Angel Maude Davison, Stories, American Ex-Prisoners of War AAHN Gravesites of Prominent Nurses--Davison A similar effort has not yet been undertaken for Chief Nurse Laura M. Cobb.Both Cobb and Davison were recommended for such awards immediately after the war, but at the time they were denied in favor of the Bronze Star. Norman, Elizabeth (2013). We Band of Angels, p. 239.