The Reminiscences of Capt. Wilma Leona Jackson, Nurse Corps, USN (Ret.) (1909-1998)

This was originally intended as a full-length oral memoir, but a decline in Captain Jackson’s health prevented further sessions beyond the first one. Nonetheless, it provides valuable insights into the character and achievements of an individual who eventually reached the pinnacle of her profession as director of the Navy’s Nurse Corps. After civilian nursing training in Ohio, Jackson entered the Navy in 1936 and had initial tours of duty at the naval hospitals in Philadelphia and Brooklyn. Her transcript discusses the relationship between nurses and other Navy health care providers, including physicians and enlisted pharmacist’s mates. She provides a number of examples of the ways to treat patients and to ensure high standards in their care. In 1941 she was transferred to Guam, where she was captured by the Japanese when the island fell in December 1941. After a few months’ imprisonment in Japan, she was repatriated as part of a diplomatic exchange of internees in 1942. She later had the satisfaction of returning to Guam with the invading American forces in 1944.