Hidden Heroes of WWII (Part III): DeKalb County Cadet Nurses

The United States and the world is currently facing a pandemic like we’ve never seen before. Some have said that society has not been unified under a single cause like this since WWII. So today, thank and support healthcare workers who are on the front lines of this epidemic. Then, remember the nurses, doctors, and nurses’ aides who also served in crucial roles during WWII.

To read the previous post about DeKalb County women during WWII, please click here.

---

To help alleviate the shortage of civilian and military nurses at the beginning of the war, the US government offered a free nursing training program through the Cadet Nurse Corps, a part of the Public Health Administration. The program ran from July 1, 1943 to December 31, 1948, and more than 120,000 women completed the rigorous training and joined the Corps. About 64 women from DeKalb County joined the Cadet Nurse Corps. After training, they were assigned to civilian and military hospitals and public health agencies, and were required to stay in active service for 6 months after the war.

The free education definitely allowed women to get an education when they might not have otherwise been able to afford it. Verta Mumaw, a young woman from DeKalb County, remembered, “So this little girl from the country goes to the big city to a Nursing School. My folks drove me in and yes I was scared stiff.” The program even paid for all tuition, books, housing, and uniforms, and as a freshman, Verta earned $10 a month at St. Luke’s in Chicago. By the time they were seniors, they earned $30 a month. They typically worked 8 hours on the floor of the hospital, attended classes, and the rest of their off-duty time was spent studying. The programs were quite rigorous, and many women left because of grades, homesickness, illness, marriage or pregnancy, or making dangerous mistakes while on duty. Many of the registered nurses already on duty were recruited into the service, leaving the hospitals understaffed. As their training progressed, the Cadet Nurses bravely took on more and more responsibilities and patients. Student nurses often made up the bulk of the nursing force. As nurses they saw some important changes in the medical profession, including the introduction of penicillin and increasing standards of sanitation and treatments.

Women who completed the program were prepared to join the Nurse Corps in the Army or Navy, or become a civilian nurse. A few DeKalb County women, like Betty Craig, Doris Hagman, Janice Lindus, and Margaret Weydert, joined the ANC or NNC after completing the program. The war ended before many of them had graduated, so most new registered nurses were assigned to civilian or VA hospitals. Most of the DeKalb County women remained civilian nurses in the area after completing the program, and were dedicated nurses throughout their careers. Collectively, Cadet Nurses were essential to our hospitals operating and healthy during our time of crisis. They remain a vital part of our healthcare system today.

When Verta Mumaw was a Cadet Nurse, she found this poem in a frame at a gift shop in downtown Chicago. She and other nurses were inspired by this nurse’s prayer:

A Nurse’s Prayer

The World grows brighter year by year,

Because some nurse in her little sphere

Puts on her apron, and smiles, and sings,

And keeps on doing the same old things.

Taking the temperatures, giving the pills

To remedy mankind’s numerous ills.

Feeding the babies, answering the bells,

Being polite with a heart that rebels.

Longing for home and all the while

Wearing the same old professional smile,

Blessing the new-born Baby’s first breath,

[Closing the eyes that are stilled in death.]

Taking the blame for all mistakes.

Oh, Dear! What a lot of patience it takes.

Going off duty at seven o’clock

Tired, discouraged and ready to drop,

But called out to help at seven-fifteen

With woe in the heart that must not be seen,

Morning and evening, noon and night

Just doing it over, hoping it’s right.

When we report off to cross the bar,

Dear Lord, will you give us- just one little Star

To wear on the cap of our uniform new

In the ward above, where the head nurse is YOU.

[I believe the above poem was published by Buzza mottos in about 1910’s or 1920’s. If someone has further information about this poem or motto, please contact me.]

 

---

 

 

 

 

 

 

Phyllis Rand, MariJane Holderness, and Rita Herrmann where three DeKalb County women who attended St. Luke’s School of Nursing with Verta Mumaw during WWII.

 

---

The following women from DeKalb County served in the Cadet Nurse Corps during WWII. The information provided reflects their names and hometowns at their time of service. An (*) next to a woman’s name indicates that they later joined the Army or Navy Nurse Corps during the war.

Name	Dates of Service	Hometown	School of Nursing
Mary Rose Adee	1944-1947	DeKalb / Clare	Copley Hospital, Aurora
Agnes Mae Anderson	1945-1948	Waterman / DeKalb	Swedish American Hospital School of Nursing, Rockford
Hannah Jeanette Baker	1943-?	Waterman	Copley Hospital, Aurora
Mary Margaret Barrett	1943-1946	DeKalb	Loyola University School of Nursing, St. Bernard’s Unit, Chicago
Eileen Louise Benson	1944-1947	Shabbona	Evanston Hospital of Nursing (Northwestern University), Evanston
Evadine Marie Benson	1945-1945	Sycamore	West Suburban Hospital, Oak Park
Hollis R. Breunig	1944-1944	Somonauk	St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Aurora
Lois Ruth Carroll	1943-1946	Genoa	West Suburban Hospital, Oak Park
Marjorie Dorothy Christenson	1945-1946	Hinckley	Swedish American Hospital School of Nursing, Rockford
Audrey Lea Coss	1943-1946	Lee / Paw Paw	Swedish American Hospital School of Nursing, Rockford
Mary Elizabeth “Betty” Craig*	1943-1944	Shabbona	St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Aurora
Betty Jane Crisler	1943-1946	DeKalb	Loyola University School of Nursing, St. Bernard’s Unit, Chicago
Marie Lucille Diedrich	1944-1947	DeKalb	Mercy School of Nursing of St. Xavier College, Chicago
Margaret Irene Douglass	1945-1948	Shabbona	St. Charles Hospital, Aurora
Betty Jean Dunning	1943-1945	Sycamore	Swedish American Hospital School of Nursing, Rockford
Marjorie Irene Dunning	1944-1944	Sycamore	Swedish American Hospital School of Nursing, Rockford
Mary Loretta Duffy	1944-1947	Waterman	St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Aurora
Eva Xenia Fenwick	1943-1943 1944-1947	DeKalb	St. Luke’s Hospital, Chicago  and Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI
Margaret  Jane Foose	1943-1944	Hinckley	Copley Hospital, Aurora
Barbara Joan Flusch	1943-1944	DeKalb	Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago
Betty Cloe Garner	1945-1948	Hinckley	West Suburban Hospital, Oak Park
Elizabeth “Beth” A. Gilchrist	1943-1946	Waterman	Copley Hospital, Aurora
Beverly Gene Gliddon	1945-1948	Kirkland	Swedish American Hospital School of Nursing, Rockford
Doris Elizabeth Hagman*	1943-1944	DeKalb	Sherman Hospital, Elgin
Catherine Louise Herrmann	1945-1948	Shabbona	St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Aurora
Rita Jean Herrmann	1943-1945	Lee	St. Luke’s Hospital, Chicago
Rosemary Herrmann	1943-1946	Shabbona	St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Aurora
Elizabeth Mae Holderness	1945-1946	DeKalb	Silver Cross Hospital, Joliet
Marijane Holderness	1943-1945	DeKalb	St. Luke’s Hospital, Chicago
Jean E. Holroyd	1945-1948	Genoa	West Suburban Hospital, Oak Park
Mary Elizabeth Holroyd	1944-1946	Genoa	West Suburban Hospital, Oak Park
Betty June Hueber	1944-1946	Kingston	Rockford Memorial Hospital, Rockford
Agnes C. Jensen	1945-1948	Sandwich	Copley Hospital, Aurora
Melba Elaine Kemnitz	1943-1945	Sycamore	Sherman Hospital, Elgin
Mary Catherine Kennedy	1944-1945	DeKalb	St. Therese Hospital, Waukegan
Janice Elaine Lindus*	1943-1944	DeKalb	Swedish American Hospital School of Nursing, Rockford
Jean Barbara Lucas	1944-1946	Kingston / Flora Twp, Boone Co., IL	St. Anthony’s School of Nursing, Rockford
Marian Eileen Lucas	1943-1946	Kingston / Flora Twp, Boone Co., IL	St. Anthony’s School of Nursing, Rockford
Marjorie L. Maple	1943-1946	Waterman	Copley Hospital, Aurora
Dorothy McCabe	1943-1946	DeKalb	St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Aurora
Ora June Meyer	1944-1945	Shabbona	Copley Hospital, Aurora
Mary Jo “Judy” Mohrmann	1944-1944	DeKalb / Paw Paw / Earlville	St. Joseph Hospital, School of Nursing, Elgin
Mava Jean Morsch	1945-1947	Hinckley	Copley Hospital, Aurora
Joan Irene Mueller	1945-1948	Sandwich	Copley Hospital, Aurora
Verta May Mumaw	1943-1946	Mayfield	St. Luke’s Hospital, Chicago
Joyce Ellanor Nelson	1944-1947	DeKalb	Augustana Hospital of Nursing, Chicago
Mila Marie Pearson	1943-1946	Mayfield / Sycamore	West Suburban Hospital, Oak Park
Phyllis Grace Rand	1945-1948	Malta	St. Luke’s Hospital, Chicago
Shirley Pauline Rote	1944-1946	Sycamore	Cook County Hospital, Chicago
Margaret J. Rueff	1945-1948	Waterman	West Suburban Hospital, Oak Park
Evodia June Seablom	1945-1948	Maple Park	Lutheran Hospital, Moline
Eudora Jayne Shaw	1943-1946	DeKalb	Wesley Memorial Hospital, Chicago
Maxine Elizabeth Snyder	1943-1944	DeKalb	St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Aurora
Margaret J. “Peggy” Sparrow	1943-1946	Sycamore	St. Joseph Hospital, School of Nursing, Elgin
Bonita Mae Stoda	1943-1945	Genoa	St. Joseph Hospital, School of Nursing, Elgin; Hines Memorial Hospital, Hines
Gertrude E. Tadd Yount	1944-1946	DeKalb	Rockford Memorial Hospital, Rockford
Shirley M. Walker	1944-1947	Sandwich	Copley Hospital, Aurora
Doris Mae Warner	1943-1946	DeKalb	Copley Hospital, Aurora
Helen Irene Warner	1943-1946	DeKalb	Copley Hospital, Aurora
Margaret Louise Westbrook	1943-1945	Somonauk	Evanston Hospital of Nursing (Northwestern University), Evanston
Margaret Emily Weydert*	1943-1944	DeKalb / Maple Park	St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Aurora
Joyce G. White	1943-1945	Kirkland	Swedish American Hospital School of Nursing, Rockford
Lilly Lucinda Wilcox	1943-1946	Shabbona	Copley Hospital, Aurora