The Forgotten American POW - The Only US Servicewoman Captured by the Germans

[Music] on the western front in world war ii the allied armies did not ordinarily permit women to enter the line of fire with the exception of some female members of the british special operations executive or the american office of strategic services the parachuted behind enemy lines to help support the french resistance service women never really saw a shot fired in anger in britain certainly women manned searchlight batteries and anti-aircraft guns and saw some service against german aircraft while large numbers in britain and america served in auxiliary army air force or air corps and naval services performing all kinds of supporting roles from administration to servicing vehicles in order to free up more men for frontline service another important task performed by women in britain and america was as ferry pilots moving replacement aircraft to front line squadrons a dangerous job but none were actually shot down by hostile aircraft but the one job british and american women performed that did place them in harm's way was nursing british and american military nurses often came under fire particularly by artillery mortars and enemy snipers as they manned aid stations and field hospitals many close to the front line and in range of german guns a number would be killed or injured for example in the days following d-day on the 6th of june 1944 over 500 british and american army nurses came ashore to help deal with the huge volume of allied casualties during the bitter fighting in normandy as the war progressed and the allies advanced towards germany more and more nurses ended up in the combat zone there was one particular job that nurses could volunteer for a daring form of nursing involving real dangers the flight nurse the u.s army air force created the first training program in autumn 1942. the first 39 flight nurses graduated in february 1943 many more would pass through the new school of air evacuation at randall field texas before war's end in britain a similar program was established using volunteers from the women's auxiliary air force the wafts who were nicknamed the flying nightingales after florence nightingale the mother of modern nursing the us navy also created a similar school at naval air station alameda california unlike in the british armed forces all u.s army nurses were commissioned as officers so that if they were captured they would be treated better by the enemy flight nurses receive quite a lot of military training during a course of between six and nine weeks including map reading field survival camouflage and some very important survival skills if their aircraft went down including ditching and crash landing procedures and how to use a parachute though this was theoretical they did not actually undertake parachute training much emphasis during training was placed on physical fitness getting used to the noise of military weapons living in the field and even dealing with simulated enemy attacks as the airfields the nurses would fly into were frequently under some form of attack they needed to know how to look after themselves u.s medical air evacuation squadrons were divided into four flights each flight led by a male flight surgeon with six teams of flight nurses and male surgical technicians flight nurses were allowed to wear a flight surgeon's wings with a maroon n for nurse attached to them evacuation flights were made using specially modified c47 and c46 aircraft converted internally to accommodate stretchers drina flight the flight nurse was the senior medical person on board commanding a male surgical technician the nurse would deal with ivs and oxygen and deal with any medical emergencies that occurred during the flight including patients going into shock hemorrhaging or requiring sedation flying was itself dangerous and many flight nurses saved lives during dire emergencies when aircraft actually ditched in the ocean or caught fire flight nurses successfully loaded patients aboard life rafts at sea or evacuated burning aircraft following crash landings in the north african desert and loaded stretcher cases and a japanese fire in burma one flight nurse even parachuted clear of a stricken aircraft over china in one famous incident a c-47 carrying 13 nurses but no patients became lost during a flight from sicily to italy and ended up crash landing in albania behind german lines saved by albanian partisans and special allied personnel parachuted into assist the nurses the flight crew and the surgical technicians were saved they walk for two months hunted by german patrols across mountainous and snowy regions before being rescued in total 16 american flight nurses were killed in world war ii one little-known incident was the story of the only allied service woman taken prisoner by the germans on the western front who was you've guessed it a flight nurse both british and american aircraft involved in medical evacuation flights were not marked with red crosses this was so that the aircraft could also be used to bring in military supplies and bring wounded out but of course it meant that the aircraft would be legally targeted by german fighters or flack so from dodging german artillery and mortar fire at ford airfields british and american flight nurses had to also worry about being shot down an aircraft lacking red cross insignia and it did happen on occasion born in rock springs texas in 1919 reba whittle became an army reserve nurse in san antonio college educated she was five foot seven inches tall but actually under the weight required but was accepted because of an educational background and assigned to active duty in 1941. until early 1943 whittle worked as a general duty war nurse in various base hospitals in new mexico and california before volunteering for the school of evacuation she completed six weeks training in october 1943 and was assigned overseas to the 813th medical aeronautical transportation squadron at raf grove in england between january and september 1944 whittle chalked up 40 missions in c-47s 500 hours in the air including 80 in combat on wednesday the 27th of september 1944 she embarked on a routine mission from grove to advanced landing ground a92 at st trond in belgium [Music] at some point during the flight a navigational error was made that put the c-47 of course apart from the flight crew and whittle there was also a surgical technician on board the plane carried supplies and would unload at santrond and then load up with stretcher cases for the return flight to england such was the plan however the c-47 had drifted some 70 kilometers or about 46 miles from santrond when all hell broke loose the aircraft was actually close to the heavily defended city of arkhan in western germany whittle was asleep at the rear of the plane when she was awakened suddenly by an incredibly loud detonations as german flag shells exploded all around the c-47 she glanced at her surgical technician who had blood flowing from his left leg the noise inside the fuselage was tremendous and whittle saw that the port engine was on fire she started to pray as the plane descended rapidly for a crash landing the pilot managed to make a difficult crash landing in a snowy field four kilometers or two and a half miles outside of arkhan everyone aboard was a casualty one of the pilots was dead the other having multiple injuries surgical technician sergeant hill had shrapnel wounds to his arm and his leg whittle was concussed and had lacerations on her face and back the c-47 was burning and the survivors crawled from the wreckage initially whittle and her companions thought that the soldiers coming towards them across the fields were british but they soon realized that they were german one german immediately wrapped a bandage around whittle's head as she was bleeding profusely the german soldiers were shocked to discover that one of the americans was a woman officer the injured americans were placed in a german truck and driven to the nearest village a medical treatment administered then there was a long journey aboard the cold and dirty german army truck with frequent stops in villages and towns for meals or discussions about what to do with the prisoners eventually the germans moved them to a hospital for further treatment the germans were unsure how to treat a female allied prisoner an army doctor telling whittle too bad having a woman as you are the first one and no one knows exactly what to do the entire german prisoner of war system was designed for male captives the only allied women held were civilians held in special internment camps in old castles citizens of enemy nations for the moment whittle and the rest of the crew was sent to the central luftwaffe interrogation center at orbit ursula near frankfurt all captured enemy aircrew were interrogated to try and ring intelligence out of them before they were sent on to a prison camp the allies did the same with german airmen following a polite interrogation the germans transferred whittle to the hospital that was attached to the interrogation center that was used to treat wounded allied servicemen after some debate the germans decided that an american nurse could be used to help allied pows whittle was transferred to stalag 9 c specifically the camp's detached reserve hospital at auburn massfield arriving on the 6th of october on the 19th of october whittle was transferred again this time to reserva lazret 9 cb another hospital as part of the wider camp at meiningen she assisted the camp doctors treating burns patients those who had lost limbs the capture of a u.s woman officer had tweaked the interest of the protecting power switzerland as representatives of the international red cross regularly inspected german pow camps the red cross gave details of whittle's location and status to the u.s state department which opened negotiations through the swiss to have the germans repatriate her repatriation of prisoners deemed too ill injured or psychologically unfit to switzerland occurred regularly during the war the reasoning being that these men would be of no further use to the allied war effort of course whittle was perfectly fit and could resume her work for the allied war effort as a nurse if released but the germans found housing and administering one single allied female soldier too much bother and preferred to send her back which julie occurred on the 25th of january 1945 whittle being shipped on a train with a batch of repatriated cases to switzerland from there she was able to board a plane to england for onward shipments stateside whittle received several decorations for her ordeal she was awarded the purple heart for wounds received from the crash in the air medal for her 41 missions on c-47s evacuating the wounded she also was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant in march but the concussion she had suffered in the crash left her with lasting problems though returned to active duty in miami beach florida headaches led to her flight status being suspended whittle did receive a telegram from president franklin d roosevelt thanking her for her service and recognizing her ordeal as a pow of the germans for four months whittle was transferred to work as a ward nurse at an army hospital in california she got married and eventually was discharged from active duty she was discharged with honor on the 13th of january 1946 her post-army life was marked by physical and psychiatric problems she received several payments from the u.s veterans administration following lobbying reba whittle died from cancer in 1981 officially unrecognized as a world war ii pow despite the president's telegram she was eventually accorded that recognition two years after her death in 1983. for those who are interested in this subject coming up on my other youtube channel war stories with mark felton will be an in-depth look at the story of us army and navy nurses captured by the japanese in world war ii from my 2009 book the real tenko extraordinary true stories of women prisoners of the japanese thanks for watching please subscribe and share and also visit my audiobook channel war stories with mark felton you can also help to support both of my channels at paypal and patreon details in the description box below you

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 274,047

Rating: 4.9742489 out of 5

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Id: XcmLdBgGmDs

Length: 14min 51sec (891 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 06 2021

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