Eileen Hands: Nursing in three countries

By John Hanley, Honor Flight Chicago Veteran Interview Volunteer

When I met Eileen at her home, one of the first things she said to me was “what an honor to be going on this historic all women flight.” Some of her friends had encouraged her to go on earlier honor flights but for one reason or another she chose not to go. She couldn’t pass up this opportunity to join the all women flight. 

Eileen was born and raised in Chicago on the northwest side and graduated from Providence High School. She then continued her education at DePaul University with the thoughts of becoming a chemistry teacher. Not long after, she felt teaching may not be for her and she switched to nursing school at Northwestern.

After graduation, she worked the night shift at Wesley Hospital. Two older nurses, Mrs. Shaffer and Ms. Burns always were talking about their regrets of not joining the Nurse Corps. After listening to them, she was off to sign on the dotted line. She signed up for a year and received her military training at Brooke Hospital in San Antonio Texas. She then was assigned to Fort Belvoir in Virginia just outside of Washington DC. There she waited to receive orders to go to either Europe or the Far East. It was a coin toss and finally she and another nurse, Helen Larson, got orders for Japan. They were assigned to the 118th Station Hospital on the bottom of the island. They served there for about one year before deciding they needed a change in duty assignments.

Eileen was given the opportunity to transfer to Okinawa, Tokyo, or Osaka. At the bottom of the paperwork she wrote in Korea. Well it was off to Korea for her. When she arrived in Korea, it was the middle of winter and very cold. They boarded a tiny British plane; its wheels became frozen to the runway. Eileen and the others on the plane had to jump up and down to free the wheels from the ground. That was quite a memorable beginning.

She was assigned to the 25th Evacuation Hospital in Taegu, Korea. Their unit took over the Taegu hospital which was pretty much an empty building. Plumbing and electricity had to be brought in so the medical staff could perform their duties. Before the plumbing was installed, a classroom was set up as a latrine which the Army painted Air Force blue.  They had to work in these conditions while a new 25th Evacuation Hospital was being built by the Army Corps of Engineers on the outskirts of Taegu. 

There were ups and downs to being an Army nurse. The worst was the white phosphorus wounds that her patients would arrive with; they were very easily infected and difficult to treat along with being very painful. Patients would arrive at the evacuation hospital by trains, jeeps, busses, and helicopters. They would have already been triaged and treated at the battalion aid stations near the front lines. The dressing that had been applied at the battalion aid station had to be removed. Patients were triaged again to see the extent of the wound. G.I.s would go from corpsman to nurse to doctor and back to the nurses. The hospital consisted of Quonset huts that each had thirty beds in it, fifteen on each side. Eileen was the charge nurse responsible for three of these huts. 

The hospital also had an officers’ club where some of the staff started a small band of their own. The USO would sometimes show up with various acts to entertain the troops. One singer/comic that Eileen remembers was Flip Wilson. He used to tell jokes at the expense of the nurses. 

Eileen’s mom would send her various things from home; one of the things she loved to get was perfume. She would wear it for herself and it made her feel good. Her patients also loved it. No matter how wounded or hurt her patients were, they were always up for a little fun. They were always trying to “make out” with the nurses. One soldier smelled her perfume and asked what it was called. Eileen said it was ‘Would You’ and the G.I. said “I would, would you?” Eileen still laughs at remembering that line.

While in Korea, Eileen recalls that G.I.s could call in to a radio show and have songs dedicated to someone. One of the corpsmen that worked for her, Joe Rizzo, called in and had a song dedicated to her, “Cold Kisses and Warm, Warm Beer.” Years later that corpsman was visiting Chicago with a group of guys and he tracked her down and paid her a visit. To this day, she has no idea how he was able to find her. 

The thing that Eileen most remembers is the resilience of the American G.I. She saw many injuries, but no matter what the servicemen faced, they faced it head on and with some sort of sense of humor and honor. She also recognizes the  United Nations effort to bring peace during the Korean War. She said that there were troops from Turkey, observers from Sweden and even ambulance personnel from India.

When Eileen returned to the states, she also returned to Northwestern and began a program to train nurses to become Nurse Anesthetists. For a time, she worked with a very prominent neurosurgeon named Dr. Davis, who just happened to be Nancy Reagan’s father. 

Eileen met and married Dick Green, a U.S. Navy Veteran who served on the USS Hopewell. They were married for 47 years and had three children, Daniel Green, Nancy Green and Dr. Richard Green. Eileen and her husband Dick traveled a great deal with their best friends Mr. and Mrs. Hands. The four of them visited the far east together as well. When Dick Green and Mrs. Hands passed away, Eileen and Dick Hands spent a lot of time together and eventually married. Dick Hands was also a U.S. Navy Veteran having joined the Navy close to the end of WWII.

Eileen was not the only one in her family to serve in the military; Eileen’s brother Daniel V. McDonald served as well. He joined the U.S. Marines, rising to the rank of Colonel and was part of the “Merrill’s Marauders.” He served two tours in Vietnam and was an aide to Lt. General Chesty Puller, the most decorated Marine in history. 

In closing, Eileen commented that her time in Korea did not replicate the TV Show M.A.S.H. and there were not too many Major Margaret Houlihans around. We both laughed at that.

Thank You, Eileen, for the many lives you saved in service to your country.  Enjoy your well-deserved day of honor as part of “Operation Her Story.”