Madelyn Blonskey

I was Second Lieutenant of the Army Nurse Corps, At Pearl Harbour when it was attacked and bombed; I was in my room at the nurses’ quarters, a store, Near Tripler Army Hospital, six miles from le monde. At about 8:20am the on-call nurse called me, Said Pearl Harbor was being attacked, grave concern, She looked out and said something was strange, really, “There is an awful smell…a lot of noise,” we did discern. So I decided to walk to the hospital, ten minutes flat, Bt as I stepped out the quarters, had an awful feeling, No gardenias or hibiscus to sent my nose in a bat, Just the odour of sulphur and burning oil, and buzzing. Upon reaching the hospital, I saw twenty stretchers, All with injured men, lined up, each with bloody wounds, Some with an M on their foreheads for morphine, etchers: I was an anaesthetist, and was commended at the sounds. The chief of surgery turned to me and he did say, “Madelyn, if we are hit, I want to say to you that, It is a pleasure to have worked with you,” hey, hey, “You are a good anaesthetist”, and I accepted that. But I just replied, “I know God knows we did nothing, To deserve this, I am putting my trust in him”; And caring for the wounded took days, also the dying, And our emergency rooms were schools and a kitchen. We were very short of bandages, medicines for repair, Totally unprepared for the hundreds of casualties, But we did the best we could do with our work and fare, And blood was donated day and night, no apologies.