When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, Mildred MacGregor (ex. Lieutenant Mildred A. Radawiec, Army Nurse Corp) had a life rooted in Michigan. In Ann Arbor, working at the University of Michigan Hospital as a private duty nurse, MacGregor had the makings of a comfortable life: a fiancé, a career, parents in close proximity. However, war was on the nation's mind, and Mildred-realizing the inevitability of her fiancé going to war-began considering her options.

While attending a discussion on forming an army general hospital, Mildred's plans materialized. The speaker told the audience, "It will be the most unforgettable experience you will ever have. You will never want to go through it again, but you would not want to have missed it for anything in the world." It was then that Mildred decided to serve in the war.

Before leaving the United States, Mildred had to be inducted at the Port of Embarkation in New York. There, she was physically examined and vaccinated against typhoid, cholera, malaria and tetanus. While stationed in New York, Mildred discovered that the University of Michigan Unit had already set sail, leaving her and six other nurses behind. Her time in New York was brief, however, as she was soon assigned to the Third Auxiliary Surgical Group-an assortment of officer surgeons, enlisted men, dentists, anesthetists, and nurses. The group would provide aid to the front lines, assisting wounded soldiers.

On December 7, 1942, Mildred boarded the Queen Mary, teeming with excitement and anxiety. "I wondered what my sweetheart was doing tonight and how this separation would affect our lives. Thoughts raced through my mind. Was it a mistake to have joined the Army? I was filled with misgivings about what lay ahead," said Mildred. For eight days the Queen Mary sailed, finally reaching its destination in Scotland.

Mildred and the Third Auxiliary traveled to Oran, Algeria on February 14, 1943. Nearly six months of Mildred's wartime efforts were spent in Africa, where fighting constantly disrupted periods of calm. In April of that year, nurses were sent to service both the 38^th Evacuation Hospital and the 3^rd General Hospital near Mateur.

Of that time Mildred said, "We now worked twelve-hour periods and lightened the work for the nurses at the Evacuation Hospitals, which left little time to get acquainted with the unit personnelOur work was assisting doctors in the operating room, checking wounds, changing dressings, giving injections and boosting their morale by just being there."

Constant Danger in France

On June 6, 1944, six Third Auxiliary surgical teams landed on Utah Beach and eight landed on Omaha Beach. During the invasion, Mildred was stationed in France, making it to the beach on June 22. "We proceeded to the cluttered beach and saw damaged jeeps, weapons carriers, Sherman tanks, and huge guns tilted on their sides. In the water, ships like behemoths lay on their sides, others with only their masts protruding from the water," she said.

Field hospitals were soon set up in an area off the beach. Nurses and doctors immediately witnessed a flood of wounded soldiers rush into their hospitals. Mildred treated dozens of injuries, ensured sterile operating areas, and monitored patients' fluid levels. Working with surgeons in a hospital composed of makeshift tents, Mildred cared for gunshot wounds and shrapnel lacerations.

"We nurses operated 18-hour stretches in the beginning, and I remember one 36-hour stretch, after which we stumbled to our tents and collapsed into profound, exhausted sleep. We became like robots during the next several months except when a nearby explosion jolted us, or something of out the ordinary occurred." Life, at this point in the war, consisted almost entirely of working, with few hours allotted for sleep. Throughout Mildred's time in France, she was in the midst of constant warfare. "I was awakened by a tremendous bombardment of Artillery bursts and the rat-tat-tat of machine gun fire nearby. I stepped out of the tent to see the world on fire. Raging flames spread across the horizon as far as I could see," she wrote. American forces were breaching a line from Coutances to St. Lo and the shells deployed hit a German ammunition dump, igniting the forest in flames.

A few weeks later, Mildred witnessed another bombing barrage as Allied forces pummeled German anti-aircraft artillery, sending the earth into a quake. "The sky turned dark as the smoke and dust from the exploding bombs of 3,000 bombers filled the horizon."

Such was the life of a front line nurse.

Bombs Over Germany

Mildred was transferred to Germany in September of 1944. She had reached the epicenter of the war. By October she was stationed in the Huertgen Forest in an area targeted by the Luftwaffe. Feared more than the German air force, however, were the Buzz Bombs-auto piloted bombs launched from distant locations. Recalling an encounter with a bomb, Mildred wrote, "I had experienced a Buzz Bomb attack while travelling across one of the many bridges in Liege earlier An elderly farmer walking off the sides of the road held the reins of the huge Percheron horse All of a sudden, to our surprise, the farmer dropped the reins and threw himself into a ditch beside the road I looked over my shoulder toward the sound and saw the huge bomb flying low toward us." The bomb hurtled past Mildred and landed upon a railroad terminal, throwing a grey cloud of smoke in the air.

In April of 1945, as the war in Europe abated, Mildred and a group of nurses flew from Germany to Nice in a C-47 transport plane. In October-along with her newly acquired dog, Pepe-Mildred began preparations to return home.

Arrival Home, Life After Wartime

Her first glimpse of America was the same as the one she saw when she sailed three years prior: New York City's skyline. Though the city-with its fashion and ceaseless activity-appealed to Mildred, it was Michigan to which she returned.

Memories of Ann Arbor comforted Mildred during her time overseas. Describing her conversations with soldiers, she noted, "If anyone named your own state you immediately felt a kinship. Home was the thread that tied us together." Back home, Mildred reunited with her fiancé, Robert K. MacGregor, and married him soon after.

In 2008, when Mildred was 95, the University of Michigan Press published her memoir, "World War II Front Line Nurse." The book is an unflinching account of her time as an army nurse in both Europe and Africa. After 100 admirable years, Mildred passed away on February 13, 2013.

For more information on University of Michigan nurses and doctors who served in World War II, read James Tobin's article "Liege under Siege," or refer to Bentley Historical Library's Harry A. Towsley papers-a collection replete with photographs of U-M's medical unit, the 298^th General Hospital.

- Cameron Stewart