Local woman enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps during World War II

Local resident Emylou Keith enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps in 1944 and served at the former O'Reilly Army Hospital in Springfield during World War II.
Local resident Emylou Keith enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps in 1944 and served at the former O'Reilly Army Hospital in Springfield during World War II.

When finishing their final moments of high school, a significant number of young women choose to embark upon the path toward a career by attending college or university.

In the early 1940s, a very eager and focused Emylou Keith became one such person when making the decision to attend nursing school.

"I completed my nursing training at Wesley Hospital (Wichita, Kan.) in 1944," said Keith, 90, a resident of Heisinger Bluffs Senior Living Community in Jefferson City.

Shortly after finishing nursing school, Keith - along with her sister, who was also a nurse -applied for a commission in the Army Nurse Corps to help with the war effort.

The decision, she explained, was motivated by her family's legacy of service - a father who had served in World War I, a mother who volunteered with the Red Cross, and a brother who lost his life while serving as a pilot during World War II.

She and her sister were sent to basic training at Camp Carson, Colo., where they learned to "dig latrines, identify airplanes, got innumerable shots, and received a truckload of uniforms," Keith said.

The newly trained nurses were then given the opportunity to select from a number of stateside assignments before being shipped overseas to treat wounded servicemembers. For Keith and her sister, the choice was simple.

"We asked for Springfield (Missouri) because I thought we'd at least be able to get home to see my parents before going overseas."

The sisters' request was granted and they continued their training at the O'Reilly Army Hospital in Springfield. (The hospital closed in 1946 and a portion of the original property is now the home of Evangel University.)

The Army, Keith explained, later discovered she had a perforated eardrum and believed the exposure to loud noises in a combat environment might lead to irreparable damage.

The sisters were separated a few months later when Keith remained at the hospital and her sister was sent to serve as a nurse in India.

While stationed at the Army hospital, Keith was eventually placed as nurse in charge of one of the wards overseeing "ambulatory patients, all of whom were able to get up and around except for two of them," she said.

Keith added, "One of the patients was severely burned and confined to a bed, and the other one had his lower jaw shot off in combat."

According to the veteran, the hospital maintained a military atmosphere with the patients wearing a uniform consisting of white pants and t-shirts. She also noted that the hospital had a post exchange where the patients could purchase personal items and were extended liberty to "go out on the town" in the evenings.

"We had quite a few celebrities come through while I was there," Keith exclaimed. "One time they pushed all of the beds to the wall in the ward and brought a piano in," she said.

"Jane Wyman - Ronald Reagan's ex-wife - came in and played some songs for the troops."

On another occasion, Keith recalls, the Ritz Brothers came in to entertain and pulled the young nurse to the middle of the ward to enjoy a dance in front of the patients.

Yet despite the joyful distractions, the former nurse also recalls the sordid realities of the injuries she was exposed to on a daily basis.

"Lots of the GI's there had fingers gone, hands missing, ears gone ... that sort of thing," she said.

"Many of the patients were there the entire time I was stationed at the hospital because we didn't have enough operating facilities to accommodate the number of patients in the hospital." Pausing, she added, "But everyone was in good spirits."

In December 1945, several months after the war in both Europe and Japan had ended; Keith was discharged and came home to Wichita, returning to college and earning her degree in psychology and English.

She married in 1956 and worked in several nursing and administrative positions through the ensuing years, eventually moving to Jefferson City to work for the Missouri State Board of Nursing.

Delighted to have been able to support her country during World War II, the time spent working with wounded and injured patients was one of the most rewarding aspects of her military experience.

"I didn't do it for a career, I just went in because I wanted to help," she said. "I was fortunate because I had a wonderful group of guys to take care of ... and to be honest with you, they really made it easy for us. They were great to be around and would help us out whenever we needed it."

Jeremy P. Amick writes on behalf of the Silver Star Families of America.