"I Knew We Were Going to War"

By Tyler Francke, Veterans News Magazine

Oregon resident H. Jean Wojnowski has lived a life that exemplifies the courage, resilience and dedication of the remarkable group of Americans history remembers as “The Greatest Generation.”

Wojnowski served four years as an Army nurse during World War II, a journey that took the smalltown daughter of a Congregational minister from New York City to the then-brand new Royal Melbourne Hospital in Australia, to the untamed jungles of Papua New Guinea, and back home again, to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where she worked until the war ended.

After the war, she married an Army officer, Arthur Wojnowski, and continued her career as a nurse and nursing educator. She later served as director of nursing at an Ohio nursing school before retiring in 1973. She turns 102 this May.

She sat down with Veterans News Magazine earlier this year to talk about her thoughts and experiences before, during and after serving her country.

Jean Wojnowski, pictured here in uniform, served as a U.S. Army nurse during World War II, from January 1942 to January 1946.

VN: First of all, Jean, I know you have a birthday coming up soon, so I wanted to say happy birthday, and congratulations. Did you ever think 102 was a mark you would reach?

JW: (Laughs.) No, I did not. As I recall, I never expected to be 100. No one in my family, that I know of, lived to 100. I was born in 1915. I just feel very thankful, because I think I’m very fortunate.

VN: What’s your secret?

JW: I think, moderation. I believe in living as fully as you can, but I do think moderation is the key word.

VN: Well, you mentioned you were born in 1915. Let’s talk a little bit about your early life, where you were born, where you grew up.

JW: Well, actually, I’m from Ohio, and I was born in southeastern Ohio at my grandparents’ house, out in the country. I had one brother, four and a half years younger. My father was a minister, so we moved around several times.

VN: Your mother, did she work?

JW: (Chuckles.) Nooo. In those days, women didn’t go out to work like they do now. They stayed at home and took care of the family.

VN: That’s one thing I wanted to ask you about: What do you think about the ways you’ve seen the culture change, in terms of women and their roles?

JW: Well, the role of women has really changed. When I was growing up, women didn’t go out and work, unless they had to. They took care of their family and their home. Not like now, when women want to go out and work and be independent. I think independence wasn’t as important then as it is now. I think they accepted their role as fitting and appropriate. I know my mother never would of thought of going out to work.

VN: So, what do you think of the way times have changed? Do you think it was positive, or do you feel like maybe things should have stayed that way?

JW: Oh, no, I think it’s been an improvement, definitely. I feel like women have much more freedom today than they did then, and they have the right to have such freedom.

VN: Well, back then, when it might have been strange for a woman to even work a regular job, I can only imagine what it must have been like for a woman to join the military. What was your experience like?

JW: Of course, by then, the war had started, and I signed up. We had the Army Nurse Corps, and the WACs (Women's Army Corps) came into being during World War II. But before that, I don’t think there was much military opportunity. It just wasn’t considered, in those days, a proper role for women.

VN: What did your family think of you joining the military? Your father, he must have been fairly conservative.

JW: I don’t really remember that he had any reaction to it, but I’m sure he would have been in favor if it’s what I wanted to do. He would have been supportive. My brother went into the military, too. He was a Marine. He signed up, because if he hadn’t, he would have been drafted.

VN: Did you grow up wanting to enlist in the military?

JW: Oh, no. Uh uh. It was something I felt I should do, but growing up, the military was the last thing I ever thought I would be involved in. I wanted to be a nurse, and I was a nurse, but an Army nurse? No, I never thought that was what I would be.

VN: So why did you decide to enlist?

JW: Well, because we got into the war. After Pearl Harbor. There was no peer pressure. I just felt it was the right thing to do, as a loyal citizen.

VN: Tell me about what stage of life you were in then. Had you graduated college yet?

JW: Oh, yes. In those days, you had to be a college graduate to be a nurse, and I had graduated. But I was living at home at the time, because my mother had passed away, and she had asked me to take care of Dad. So that’s what I did for a year. I stayed at home and took care of him.

VN: Did you enlist by yourself, or did you have some friends or co-workers who enlisted with you?

JW: It was me and a few friends. We were working at University Hospital in Cleveland, and we had said that if we got into the war, we would join up. I remember, I was at home, sleeping after a night shift, when I heard on the radio that Pearl Harbor had happened. That was a transforming moment, because I knew we were going to war.

A photo of Jean and her unit that was published in a Cleveland newspaper shortly after they were activated. Jean appears in the front row, far right.

VN: You and the other nurses who were mobilized ended up gathering at New York City to be deployed overseas. Do you recall what you were feeling back then?

JW: Oh, yes, I was excited to enlist. I was really enthusiastic, I remember that much.

VN: You had no fears about what you were doing?

JW: No, I didn’t. I know some of my companions were not as comfortable as I was, but I was not the least bit apprehensive. I just didn’t feel afraid at all.

VN: You also thought you were going to England.

JW: That’s right! They told us to bring a foot locker and a winter dress. We thought we were going to England, until we started going through the Panama Canal. (Laughs.)

VN: So you were really had no idea where you were going to be stationed?

JW: No, we didn’t know where we were going.

We speculated, but no one knew. We never dreamed we were going to go to Australia. When they told us to bring a warm winter dress, we just thought we’d be going to England.

VN: Had you ever traveled by ship before?

JW: No.

VN: Did you get seasick?

JW: No. (Laughs.) I tell you, almost everyone else did. It was awful! But it didn’t bother me at all. I ate every meal and enjoyed it.

VN: I take it your accommodations were a little nicer than some of the enlisted men’s.

JW: Oh, it is a sad story. Because the officers — and the nurses were officers, in order to be able to insist that the troops take their treatment and their medicines — we had rooms on the upper decks. But the troops were down in the hole, and they were jammed in there and miserable. It was a terrible thing to do to them.

VN: Your water was rationed, wasn’t it?

JW: Oh yes. We were allowed one quart of fresh water — outside of meals — once a day. That was the amount of fresh water we could have to brush our teeth, take a sponge bath, or whatever. That was it. We could have all the salt water we wanted, but fresh water, only one quart was what we were allowed.

VN: You met your husband, Arthur, on the ship, right? He was also in the Army?

JW: Yes, he was actually the provost marshal on the trip.

VN: Were you able to spend much time together then?

JW: Oh yes, we’d get together and talk about, you know, things we were both interested in and what we were going to do when the war was over.

VN: You played piano in those days, right?

JW: Yes, and he loved the piano. That’s why he liked me: They were looking for someone to play the piano, and when they found out I could play, that was one of the first things that attracted him to me, I think. (Laughs.)

VN: How long were you on the ship?

JW: Let’s see. From our port of embarkation to Melbourne, it was 33 days.

VN: What was Melbourne like?

JW: They had just built the Royal Melbourne Hospital, and they were just about ready to get into it when the war started. But they were so happy to have us there, that they turned their brand-new hospital over to us, and they stayed in their old one until the war was over.

VN: Was the work kind of what you expected?

JW: Not exactly. We would have thought we would be treating mostly wounded patients, especially in New Guinea. But in Melbourne, we were mostly treating run-of-the-mill illnesses and things.

VN: You have one story you like to tell about a POW at the hospital in Melbourne.

JW: Yes, we had a POW there, with a guard at his side in case any of the troops went berserk and tried to attack him. But actually, the men were very nice to him. They brought him treats and cigarettes from the PE — Post Exchange — and before long, they were able to communicate through sign language about their families and their former lives. That, to me, was very heartwarming to see them share this common bond.

VN: You also got a special visit from someone while you were in Melbourne, didn’t you?

JW: Oh yes, I should mention that Eleanor Roosevelt came to visit.

VN: You got to meet her?

JW: Oh yes, the poor woman. She shook hands with everybody! (Laughs.) She was such a noble person. I’ve always admired her.

VN: Did you see Arthur at all during your deployment?

JW: Oh, yes, we continued our romance in Melbourne. We would go on dates and we had favorite restaurants there. And we ended up being stationed together in New Guinea as well. He was sent there before I was.

Another of Jean's service photos.

VN: Yes, your unit was transferred to Papua New Guinea about three years in. That must have been quite a switch, wasn’t it?

JW: Oh yes! It was a tent hospital, very similar to what you may have seen on “M*A*S*H.” And there was mosquito netting over every bed. We got to take cold showers, and the food was O.K., but you had to watch out for snakes. One of the nurses found a snake in her bed, and that wasn’t too pleasant. I just about had a heart attack.

VN: Tell me about the natives you saw there.

JW: The natives were interesting. Of course, we only saw the men. We never saw any of their women or children. But the men, their main garment was this sort of loin cloth, with a spear. That was their costume. They would shimmy up trees and get coconuts for us.

VN: What kinds of patients did you see in New Guinea?

JW: The big problem we had with the troops there was not wounded soldiers, it was malaria. Because we were at war with Germany, we couldn’t take quinine. So every day, we all had to take Atabrine, which was a yellow pill that substitutes for quinine. We had to take it every day, and it turned your skin yellow.

VN: Yikes. I imagine some of the troops didn’t want to take medicine with those kinds of side effects?

JW: No, but that’s why they classified it as an SIW — a self-inflicted wound — if you got malaria, because we had Atabrine.

VN: You were sent home early from New Guinea, weren’t you?

JW: Yes, because I got jungle rot on my fingers. In New Guinea, we were wet all the time, because it was so hot, and it rained every day. And I got an infection on my fingernails, and that’s how I got to come home, because my fingernails and fingers were affected.

VN: What do you remember about returning home?

JW: It was really an indescribable emotional experience, as the Golden Gate came into view as we approached San Francisco. It felt wonderful to be back in my native land.

VN: What was your experience like reintegrating back home?

JW: I wondered about it. I wondered how it would feel to try to go in and buy civilian clothes. I was so used to the military costumes. My sister-in-law went with me to go shopping for civilian clothes to wear. It was just an outstanding question in my mind, how I would adjust to civilian clothes.

VN: You finished your enlistment working at the Walter Reed Medical Center, right?

JW: Yes, after I came back, I had a choice of which place to go and I chose Walter Reed. That’s where I was when the war ended.

VN: What were your feelings when you heard that the war was over?

JW: Oh, wonderful. Very, very happy that the war was over, and we could go back to normal living.

VN: Had you and Arthur planned on getting married after the war ended?

JW: No, I thought when the war was over and I got back to Ohio, I probably wouldn’t see him again. But sometime later, I was at my grandparents’ house and I got a phone call from him. He told me where he was in California, and I was planning on going out to California anyway, and we picked up from there. I remember he met me on the train, and he had a hat and looked very spiffy.

VN: And the rest, as they say, was history?

JW: (Laughs.) I guess you could say that.

I didn’t need any medals or recognition or anything of that nature. I was just happy that I could do it, and that I did do it.

VN: Now, I know that you’re very proud of your service today, but I’ve been wondering if that was something you felt immediately or if it grew over time? In other words, did you always “feel” like a veteran, or was that a more recent development?

JW: You know, it’s hard to remember now. That was so many years ago. But I think I just felt good that I had done it. I didn’t need any medals or recognition or anything of that nature. I was just happy that I could do it, and that I did do it.

VN: Do you have any advice that you would offer to younger women veterans or those currently serving?

JW: Let me think. I would just tell them: Be proud of what you did, and be thankful.