Currently living in Bryan, OH.
Daughter of Perry and Mae Schaffer Kikly.
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Mildred Howey of Bryan spoke to the fifth and sixth graders. A graduate of Methodist Episcopal Hospital School of Nursing, Fort Wayne, Ind., she enlisted in the Army Nurses Corps on March 1, 1943, in New York. She completed her basic training at Camp Stoneman near San Francisco. She shipped out to Hawaii, stationed near Honolulu and was assigned to the 148th General Hospital.
She was sent to the island of Saipan in the Marianas group. Here she took care of critically injured soldiers and sailors. She spoke specifically of the casualties from Iwo Jima and Okinawa. She recalled how the men coming from the front had very serious injuries and of working many 24-hour shifts. Unknown to her at the time, her future husband, who was serving in the Air Force [NOTE: this is an error; he was in the Army -- JJS], was stationed on the island of Guam, approximately 250 miles from Saipan. She related her husband's experience of hauling the atomic bomb of the USS Indianapolis to its shore installation in preparation for the dropping of the bomb on Japan. Mrs. Howey was discharged from the army on Feb. 3, 1946. Upon returning to the states, she came to Bryan and began her civilian career as the Bryan City Nurse prior to starting her family. She also worked for the Ohio Art Company for 20 year before retiring in 1980. |