Hello All,
March is
upon us and you know what that means? Women’s History Month, of course! All too
often women are the unsung heroes in many aspects of life, especially during
major, life altering conflicts. World War II put women in a position to be
reckoned with, as far as society was concerned. Women stepped up to the
challenge when their boys went off to fight in a foreign land. They took charge
of their circumstances at home and realized without their hard work ethic, the
success of the war would have taken a very different turn. This was not only true
for American women, but all women in war torn countries. Through the next
several weeks, I would like to spotlight some brave women who put their lives
on the line for their country and the war effort.
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| Reba Whittle |
Reba Z.
Whittle, born August 19, 1919, Texas, was the first and only American military
female prisoner of war in the European Theater during World War II. First
Lieutenant Whittle was serving in the United States Army Nurse Corps when her
casualty evacuation aircraft was shot down over enemy territory, September
1944.
Whittle
had aspirations for nursing before the war broke out in Europe. She attended
North Texas State College, and then continued on to the Medical and Surgical
Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in San Antonio, Texas. Soon after
graduating, Whittle enlisted into the Army Nurse Corps in 1941. Due to her
higher education, Reba entered the military as a Second Lieutenant and was
stationed in Sacramento, California.
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| 2nd Lt. Reba Whittle on board a C-47 |
By August,
1943, Whittle joined the Army Air Forces School of Air Evacuation to train as a
flight nurse; an occupation that had never been used in warfare before and was
highly dangerous. The nurses were trained in trauma situations, including
severe pain, substantial blood loss, and shock, when a trained physician was
absent. On January 22, 1944, Reba and twenty-five other nurses crossed the
Atlantic on the RMS Queen Mary, bound
for England. Just eight months later, Reba logged over 500 hours of flight time,
with at least 40 missions under her belt.
Reba had
made it through so much already, but on her last mission, on September 27, 1944;
she would experience one of the most traumatic incidents of her life. On a
mission to St. Trond, Belgium, to collect causalities, her C-47 was hit by
German flak and crashed 70 km from where the crew should have been. Since those
planes typically carried more than casualties of war, the aircrafts were not
marked with a red cross which would have allowed them to fly ‘safely’. When
they crashed landed, Reba sustained a concussion and lacerations to her face
and back, while the rest of the crew either perished or were badly wounded. As
soon as they crawled out from the wreckage the Germans were upon them and the now
prisoners of war were taken to a nearby village for medical treatment. The
German soldiers and doctors were unsure how to handle having a woman prisoner
such as Reba because that situation had never occurred beforehand.
After the
crew had been properly treated for their injuries, they were sent to
Auswertestelle West (Evaluation Office West) where Whittle was permanently separated
from her crew. Throughout her imprisonment, Reba was sent to one POW hospital after
another to help treat other POW patients. A month after the crash, a
representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross saw her and
immediately notified the State Department, who then began immediate work for
her release. Whittle was repatriated on January 25, 1945, leaving Stalag IX-C
for good. She, and other POW patients, were sent by train to Switzerland, and
then transported back to the United States.
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| German POW Camp |
On
February 7, 1945, she received the Purple Heart for her injuries during the
plane crash and then awarded the Air Medal ten days later. After twenty-one
days of convalescent leave, Reba returned to duty, stationed in Miami Beach,
Florida. She would never be able to fly in air missions again due to recurring
headaches caused by her concussion. She spent the rest of her active duty
assignment as a ward nurse for the AAF Regional and Air Debarkation Hospital. A
few months later she applied for release from active duty because of her medical
issues but was denied compensation and was discharged by the army in January
1946.
Whittle
continued to suffer with chronic pain and a slew of other medical issues as a
result of her crash. She applied for disability compensations but was denied
numerous times. Not until 1954 did the Army Physical Disability Appeal Board
grant her disability benefits, but only from the time she applied in 1952. She
was given about $4,800 of retroactive pay. If she was given retroactive pay
when she was initially discharged in 1946, she would have received $13,800.
Reba made
the decision to continue on with her life and not prolong a seemingly uphill clash
with the Army. She and her husband, Colonel Tobiason had two sons, one of whom
served in the Vietnam War as a naval aviator. In 1981, Reba passed away after
losing her battle with cancer.
In 1983,
her husband petitioned for his wife to finally have the POW recognition she
deserved when the Department of the Army was honoring Army and Navy nurses who
were captured and imprisoned by the Japanese. Reba Whittle was at last given
official POW status she deserved on September 2, 1983.
Take Care,
Elizabeth
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