Mildred Edsall
The person I interviewed is Mildred "Millie" Edsall, a navy nurse who treated sailors who were injured from the Normandy Invasions during WWII. She entered service in March, 1943. She joined the Reserve Navy Nurses Corps and the unit she was in was Special Naval Advance Group 56 and she was ranked Lieutenant. She served in near Southampton, Hampshire, England in the Royal Victoria Hospital, or the Netley Hospital, where she treated the sailors from D-Day. She also served at the Naval Hospital at Great Lakes Naval Receiving Center outside of Chicago, at the Naval dispensary in Madison, Wisconsin, and at the Naval Hospital in Oakland, California. She was discharged in 1945, at the end of WWII.
Millie was born on January 10, 1918 in Rockford, Illinois. She graduated from St. Joseph's School of Nursing in Joliet,
Illinois, at 20 years old, in 1938 and began working at a doctor's office in the area. She decided the join when she heard of the bombing in Pearl Harbor and because he brother was already in service. After being discharged, she got married to pharmacist's-mate named Ernesto Edsall, in 1946, whom she'd met before in Madison during the war. They had two children together: Larry, a journalist, and Mark, a cost estimator for a construction company. Sadly, in 1997, Ernesto died after over 50 years of marriage. But a couple of years later, she went to a reunion in England held by Special Advance Group 56, where she saw, Eugene Fazekas, a corpsman she served with during her time at the Royal Victorian Hospital. They decided to marry and she now has three grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
http://donmooreswartales.com/2011/04/04/mildred-edsall/
This is Millie in 2011.
Millie was born on January 10, 1918 in Rockford, Illinois. She graduated from St. Joseph's School of Nursing in Joliet,
Illinois, at 20 years old, in 1938 and began working at a doctor's office in the area. She decided the join when she heard of the bombing in Pearl Harbor and because he brother was already in service. After being discharged, she got married to pharmacist's-mate named Ernesto Edsall, in 1946, whom she'd met before in Madison during the war. They had two children together: Larry, a journalist, and Mark, a cost estimator for a construction company. Sadly, in 1997, Ernesto died after over 50 years of marriage. But a couple of years later, she went to a reunion in England held by Special Advance Group 56, where she saw, Eugene Fazekas, a corpsman she served with during her time at the Royal Victorian Hospital. They decided to marry and she now has three grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
http://donmooreswartales.com/2011/04/04/mildred-edsall/
This is Millie in 2011.