Albanian Escape: The True Story of U.S. Army Nurses Behind Enemy Lines

Preface

Preface We are honored to help tell the story of a unique event in World War II history. The November 1943 crash-landing of a U.S. Army C-53-carrying thirteen army flight nurses, thirteen army medics, and a four-man flight crew-into Nazi-occupied Albania led to an amazing SOO-mile walkout escape. That danger-filled journey took the group through enemy-held territory amid German troops and Nazi sympathizers, German bombing and strafing, and Ballist smallarms fire. American military women were not supposed to be in combat areas or behind enemy lines, but, like the nurses ofBataan and Corregidor who became prisoners of war in the Philippines, these thirteen flight nurses knew only too well that "supposed to be" had little to do with the actualities of military nursing during a world war. Lieutenant Agnes Jensen and her colleagues had volunteered for the Army Nurse Corps and then for flight nurse training. They had alre,1dy flown to the front lines and beyond to carry out their mission of nursing combat-wounded soldiers being transported to hospitals behind their own lines, knowing there was always the chance that the planes sent to collect the wounded would be shot down by the enemy, always the possibility ofa crash behind enemy lines. Flight nurses knew these dangers before signing up for this pioneeringventure in military nursing. Like Queen Esther of the Old Testament, they had answered their country's call and given action to her words: "I go, and if! perish, I perish." Women's military history is an exciting and fertile field which has remained largely unexplored. Even a half-century after the end of World War II, many stories of courageous military women who served in every combat area remain untold. This book is offered to xii Preface acquaint readers with one such story: the experiences of the U.S. Army flight nurses who made the astounding journey out of Nazioccupied Albania. In writing this history, we relied upon several primary sources. It is ofcouse, chieflyAgnesJensen's view ofevents. LieutenantJensen kept a diary while on the ground in Albania and, after her return to safety, expanded her recollections in writing. Fortunately, she is still blessed with a memory of the smallest details of her life, such as the name of the ninth-grade teacher who taught her ancient history in a rural school in Michigan. Although the conversations quoted here cannot be said to be verbatim, they are as close as possible, given the documents available and Agnes Jensen Mangerich's excellent recall. We also have used (and often present verbatim) the actual military reports of Lieutenant Gavin Duffy of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) and Captain Lloyd Smith of the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS); U.S. Army Air Forces reports from the radio communications in Bari, Italy; military memoranda regarding the missing aircraft and search-and-rescue efforts; and a letter from T.E. Yarbrough, lead pilot of the three-aircraft mission. The passengers and crew of Aircraft 42-68809, Sixty-first TC Sq, 314th TC Gp, were as follows: Flight Nurses of the 807th Medical Air Evacuation Squadron 2d Lt. Gertrude Dawson 2d Lt. Ann Maness 2d Lt. Jean Rutkowski 2d Lt. Elna Schwant 2d Lt. Lois Watson 2d Lt. Lillian Tacina 2d Lt. Pauleen Kanable 2d Lt. Helen Porter 2d Lt. Ann Markowitz 2d Lt. Wilma Lytle 2d Lt. Frances Nelson 2d Lt. Ann Kopsco 2d Lt. Agnes Jensen Age 29 32 26 25 25 23 26 30 25 31 25 25 29 Hometown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Paris, Texas Detroit, Michigan Winner, South Dakota oaklawn, Illinois Hamtramck, Michigan Richland Center, Wisconsin Hanksville, Utah Chicago, Illinois Butler, Kentucky Princeton, West Virginia Hammond, Louisiana Stanwood, Michigan Preface Medics of the 807th Air Evacuation Squadron T/Sgt. Lawrence O. Abbott T/Sgt. John P. Wolf T ISgt. Charles J. Adams T/Sgt. Robert A. Cranson T ISgt. Raymond E. Eberg T/Sgt. Harold L. Hayes T/Sgt. Robert E. Owen T ISgt. Charles F. Zeiber T/Sgt. Paul G. Allen T/Sgt. James P. Cruise T ISgt. William J. Eldridge T/Sgt. Gordon M. MacKinnon Cpl. Hornsby (802d MAES) Newaygo, Michigan Milwaukee, Wisconsin Niles, Michigan Sandy Creek, New York Steeleville, Illinois Indianola, Iowa Walden, New York Reading, Pennsylvania Greenville, Kentucky Brockton, Massachusetts Eldridge, Kentucky Los Angeles, California Manchester, Kentucky Flight Crew Pilot: 1st Lt. Charles B. Thrasher Copilot: 2d Lt. James A...