The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-12-02

Camp Kohler, Cal, Dec, l-tI Kolaler, Cal, who draws iSt It Ma and CorreRidor, as his nurse, For to tell of her experiences during the
 She was one of l3 nurses, inelN6- ing a Navy nurse and one Navy officers wife, who escaped from the besieged fortress in U, $, SOh- marine only few hours before the Rock" fell to the Japanese,
 Until the last minute, we thought help was coming" Chief Nurse Stevens said,
 Previously she had escaped from Bataan, From July, l95i, until her escape from CorTegidor, she was officially attached to the Fort Mills hospital,
 Marrow SQueeae at BatAan
 Before assignment to the Signal Corps Replacement Training Gen. ter at Camp Kohler, Lieutenant Stevens was stationed temporarily at Letteyman General Hospital ia San Francisco, the same post where she entered the Army Nurse Corps in Jan, l9s0,
 The attractive, brown-h a ire 6 nurse had heart-rending deScriD- ton of the withdrawal from Ba- eaan to Corregi6or just before the surrender of the peninsula,
 She had gone from the post hos pital at Fort Mills on Corregi6or to Bataan on emergency duty, a n q was one of the last to l,lve. The trip began under heavy shell fire about 70 hours before the Surren- der.
 Exhausted, undeTnouriShe6 and diSheartened, the muse and Sol- dierS who managed to escape bare ly got across the channel in time, She recalled that some missed boats and swam across supported by blanks and bamboo poles,
 Lieutenant Stevens ro6e 10 the shore in a garbage truck. 60eking into culrertS when enemy fire be- came too lively.
 ~Sitting on a Bulls Eye
 In vivid terms, she described the errific bombing of Corregidor VI how water pipes were blasted, buildings set afire and men killed and wounded by hundreds.
 we were : really sitting on bulls eye as someone described il. = she said.
 Once, a four-hour Japanese bombing raid resulted in destruction of all water pipes, All fresh water was gone. And it was not until week later that an arteSisn well which had been abandoned burst forth with fresh, cool water,
 we were told at four o'clock one evening to be ready to leave at 7:S0, The JspS had direct bead on the entrance to our tunnel, and think it took more courage for me 10 go out into the open and down to the sub than anything else I did 6ur- ing the entire siege" she recalled
 We were permitted to bring only pair of orerallS and g small handbag with us. During the l7 days on the submarine, we wore sailors blue denim shirts a D shorts. We had only four hunks and slept in shifts on the way. The extra girl slept on the floor"
 Landed in Australia
 The submarine landed at an un- disclosed port on the west coast Of Australia and Lieutenant Stevens remained 'dogn under" for three weeks before returning to the United States.
 She had only praise for the mor- ale of the men on Bafasn and Cor regidor. They fought gallantly to the bitter end. she said, hoping to the last for help
 But of her own miraculous es- capeS from death, she said simply that somebody seemed to take care of those of us who weren't in jured or killed"
 The army nurse emphasized the importance of human blood plas- ma, which she described as liter ally "a life saver on C0rregidor-"
 All of the nurses who escaped with her are now on duty again-One in Australia. the others in the United States.
 Lieutenant Stevens is a native of Creighton. Neb. She Eas gra6n- ated from the Ver6igre. Neh., high school in lss1 and the nurses train ing course at the Creighton Memor- ial St Joseph hospital in Omaha. in 1894.