March is Woman's History Week

 This is my article that was in The Crittenden Press for the week of March 9th, 2023.

For Women's History month I would like to recall three of Crittenden County's own lady nurses that served in the Army Nurses Corps, WAC nurses who served their county during the terrible days of World War II. The late Mary Ann Lowery Cox shared this information about her two aunts.

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Lois and Matilda (Maggie) Griffith were two of the women from Crittenden County who served in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC's) during World War II. They were daughters of Guy and Nellie Donakey Griffith, originally of the Sheridan community, and were raised by their mother’s family after their parents’ death. The eight siblings included four boys and four girls. Lois was the eldest, born in 1910, and Matilda was the fourth, born in 1915. All eight graduated from Tolu High School between 1928 and 1938. Their home after 1923 was a farm west of Tolu on State Route 135 with Charlie and Dancy Moore Donakey and Celia Donakey.

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Capt. Lois Griffith story.

After graduating from Tolu high school, Lois went to Louisville, KY, to study nursing at Louisville General Hospital. Before she could attend nurses training, she had to supply her own uniforms. The nursing school sent patterns and instructions on how to make her uniforms of blue checked gingham that she would purchase from a country store at home prior to her arrival. To get to Louisville she came to Marion, and her great-uncle, George Foster, took her to Princeton to catch a passenger train. Someone at Louisville, from the hospital, would meet her and take her to the dorm. She graduated as a registered nurse in 1933, and followed that profession for her entire working life.

Lois did basic training at Camp Atterberry in Indiana, and met Roy Waymire, whom she married after they came back from service in Europe. Her trip “overseas” was on the Queen Mary, and she was stationed in England until the invasion in 1944. During this time the Army made many opportunities for the nurses to see historical sights, which Lois appreciated, but felt ill prepared to fully absorb. She mentioned the cathedrals, and castles, and Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest, after Germany’s defeat. 

 

Lois’s experience in Europe came on the Normandy beaches on D-Day Plus 6. At that point paratrooper casualties were still sadly visible in the trees. Her unit followed General Patton’s troops to the conclusion, and she saw him several times in the course of events. Her job after invasion was as a member of a MASH unit, as she always said, “Before MASH units were invented”. The first aid crews would bring in the wounded, and her group’s task was to get the injured stable enough to be air-lifted to an English hospital.

She really did use a shower made from a bucket with holes, and she had a series of foxholes. However, she did not dig her own foxholes—there were enlisted men who did that, and she asserted did it exceedingly well. 

 

After the war, she lived in Central Indiana, where her husband had family, and worked at the Veteran’s Hospital in Marion, Indiana. She and Roy took seriously the bonds formed during World War II, and were active in veterans’ organizations. Especially in retirement years, as the funerals piled up, he served at numberless color guard memorial services. 

 

Her obituary from the Crittenden Press, Sept. 20, 2001 - Lois Griffith Waymire, 91, of Marion, formerly of Peru, Ind., died Sept. 17, 2001.

Lois Griffith Waymire, served as a captain in the U. S. Army Nurse Corp during World War II, and participated in campaigns in Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes and Central Europe. Her decorations include the American Campaign Medal, the European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal.

Services were at Elkenberry-EddyFuneral Home with burial in Mr. Hope Cemetery in Peru, Indiana.

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Matilda Griffith's Story.

Matilda followed Lois to Louisville after her graduation to also study at Louisville General. She used the same nurse uniform pattern to make her uniforms that her sister Lois had used.. She also traveled to Princeton with their Uncle George Foster to catch the passenger train to Louisville. She and Lois shared apartments and worked at the hospital until “the war” was declared after Pearl Harbor.

Matilda’s World War II experiences were in some ways similar, but in others more harsh with a sadder outcome. She was not posted to England and Europe, but to North Africa, leading to Italy. 

 

While Lois was close to the front lines, Maggie managed to end up a whole lot closer. Her job in the MASH-to-be (mobile Army surgical hospital) unit was in surgery removing shrapnel. This process at that time used a kind of fluoroscope/X-ray device that would reveal where to locate the shrapnel to be removed. Consequently, she, and the rest of the medical staff, was exposed to high doses of radiation. The patients came and went and were removed from the radiation source, but the nurses had to stay at the post and absorbed it all. 

 

She managed to survive Anzio Beachhead, where the invasion of Italy was nearly lost, but succumbed to cancer in 1961. At her death she was still active military, with the rank of Major. 

 

Her lingering illness and survival attempt was spent at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D. C., so she chose to be buried at Arlington, in a section for military nurses within yards of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Mast of the Battleship Maine. Her tombstone reads. Major Matilda Mary Griffith, of Kentucky. 

 

Her obituary from the Crittenden Press, Aug. 3, 1961 tells that Major Matilda M. Griffith, died July 20, 1961 in Walter Reed Army Hospital, Washington, D. C. where she had been a patient for most of the time since November 20, 1960. Major Griffith would have been eligible for retirement in early 1962, having served in World War II, being in the first group of Nurses to land in Africa from the U.S. and was also among the group to land on Anzio Beachhead in Italy, serving out the remainder of the war in Italy. She was with the Army of Occupation in Germany for several years and served two different time in San Juan, Porto Rico, as well as Ft. Knox, Ft. McArthur and Ft. Stewart in the States.)

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Belva Ann Towery, Army Nurses Corps

Another lady World War II nurse from Crittenden was Belva Ann Towery. She was the daughter of Willis Monroe Towery and Laura Mildred Towery. She was born October 14, 1895. This article was written in The Crittenden Press to her sister Mrs. Arvel Hunt, here in Crittenden County, June of 1943.

 

In the name of the Commanding General and the staff of this hospital, Letterman General Hospital, San Francisco, Calif., expressing personal loss in the death of Miss Towery who was attached to the United States Army hospital.

 

Miss Towery was well known and loved by everyone who knew her, especially by her patients, to whom she was most kind and gentle.

 

Letterman General Hospital is the largest military hospital in the world and devoted solely to rehabilitation of men wounded and otherwise disabled while in actual combat. 

 

Miss Towery gave her life for suffering humanity and since Pearl Harbor she and all nurses in Letterman General Hospital has devoted all their time in caring for our wounded soldiers who are giving their all that we may keep our freedom. 

 

She was taken by the flu in January 1943, which left her with a weak heart condition. She was given a month sick leave but this didn't seem to help very much. She was called back to duty and was on night duty at the time of death June 9, 1943.

Her body was brought back to Crittenden County and she is buried in Mapleview cemetery next to her parents.

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Thank you for your service and sacrifice in the field of military nurses to the heroes of World War II.