Logan Reid
In May 1934, the US Navy achieved a decisive victory over the Spanish fleet in the Battle of Manila Bay, which took place during the Spanish-American War. The US Navy's Asiatic Fleet was stationed at Cavite Naval Base in Manila Bay, and Commodore George Dewey led a powerful squadron of steel vessels that overwhelmed the Spanish naval force. This battle resulted in the United States gaining control of the Philippines and establishing Naval Base Manila. During World War II, US Army and Navy nurses were present at military hospitals in Manila, including Sternberg General Hospital. These nurses played a crucial role in providing medical care and supporting the military efforts in the Pacific Theater.
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What You'll Learn
US Army nurses stationed at Sternberg General Hospital
At the outset of World War II, US Army and US Navy nurses were stationed at Sternberg General Hospital in Manila, one of the largest and best-equipped medical facilities in the Philippines. The hospital was a centre for military and civilian casualties during the war.
During the Battle of the Philippines (1941-42), eighty-eight US Army nurses escaped to Corregidor and Bataan in the last week of December 1941. Two Army nurses, Lt. Floramund A. Fellmeth and Lt. Florence MacDonald, accompanied severely wounded patients from Sternberg aboard the improvised hospital ship Mactan. The ship departed Manila shortly after midnight on New Year's Day, 1942, bound for Australia. The remaining US Navy nurses, under the command of Lt. Laura M. Cobb, stayed behind in Manila during the initial invasion to support the patients there.
The US Army nurses who escaped to Corregidor became known as the "Angels of Bataan". They were stationed in the hospital and wards in the maze of tunnels connected to the Malinta Tunnel. On 29 April, a small group of these army nurses were evacuated aboard a navy PBY Catalina. However, they became stranded on Mindanao and were captured and imprisoned by Japanese forces. They were transferred to Manila and interned at the University of Santo Tomas. When Corregidor fell to Japanese forces on 6 May, the remaining nurses were also captured and transferred to the Santo Tomas Internment Camp on 2 July.
The Santo Tomas Internment Camp was under the command of Capt. Maude C. Davison, who had 20 years of service experience. She maintained a regular schedule of nursing duty and insisted that all nurses wear their khaki blouses and skirts while on duty. The nurses remained at Santo Tomas until their liberation in February 1945.
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US Navy nurses stationed at Sternberg General Hospital
At the beginning of World War II, US Army and Navy nurses were stationed at Sternberg General Hospital in Manila, the Philippines. The hospital was named after George Miller Sternberg. During the Battle of the Philippines, 88 US Army nurses escaped to Corregidor and Bataan in December 1941. Two of these nurses, Lieutenants Floramund A. Fellmeth and Florence MacDonald, accompanied severely wounded patients from Sternberg aboard the improvised hospital ship Mactan, which departed Manila for Australia in January 1942.
Sternberg Hospital was a US military hospital in Manila during the early 20th century. During World War II, the hospital was staffed by US Army and Navy nurses. One of these nurses was Frances Nash, who had trained at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, one of the largest public hospitals in the country. Nash and her colleagues experienced a constant stream of wounded soldiers coming into surgery. Despite their lack of readiness for war, they persevered, focusing their attention on their patients.
Peggy Nash, another nurse at Sternberg, recalled the terrifying experience of air raids. During one such raid, she and her colleagues took shelter in a crawl space under the hospital, nervously giggling and trading quips. After the all-clear, they emerged to find the Cavite Naval Shipyard in ruins, with casualties streaming into the hospital. Nash and the other nurses worked tirelessly, administering medications and tending to the wounded.
When Bataan fell, 11 navy nurses, 66 army nurses, and one nurse-anesthetist were captured and imprisoned in and around Manila. They continued to serve as a nursing unit while prisoners of war. The captured nurses were initially interned at the University of Santo Tomas, which had been converted into an internment camp by the Japanese. They were liberated in February 1945.
The experiences of these nurses, known as the Angels of Bataan, highlight the bravery and dedication of the US military nurses stationed at Sternberg General Hospital during World War II.
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The Battle of the Philippines
On December 8, 1941, just hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese planes began bombing U.S. forces in the Philippines, targeting aircraft at Clark Field near the capital of Manila on the island of Luzon. This was followed by Japanese landings on northern Luzon and major landings at Lingayen Gulf and Lamon Bay by the Japanese Fourteenth Army under Masaharu Homma. In response, MacArthur ordered his soldiers to evacuate Manila and retreat to the Bataan Peninsula. Despite brave resistance, the U.S. and Filipino forces faced a series of setbacks, including the fall of Bataan and Corregidor, which resulted in the capture and imprisonment of U.S. Army and Navy nurses.
During the Battle of the Philippines, 88 U.S. Army nurses escaped to Corregidor and Bataan in the final week of December 1941. Two Army nurses, Lt. Floramund A. Fellmeth and Lt. Florence MacDonald, accompanied severely wounded patients from Sternberg General Hospital in Manila aboard the improvised hospital ship Mactan, which departed shortly after midnight on New Year's Day, 1942, for Australia. The remaining nurses were captured and imprisoned in internment camps, where they continued to serve as a nursing unit.
The Battle of the Points and Battle of the Pockets resulted in significant victories for the USAFFE, inflicting heavy losses on the Japanese forces. However, the Allied forces faced harsh treatment, including atrocities such as the Bataan Death March and the misery of Japanese prison camps. The campaign culminated in the liberation of the Philippines from Japanese occupation, with intense urban combat in Manila in early 1945, marking the end of fighting in the Philippines during World War II.
The liberation of the Philippines commenced with amphibious landings on the eastern Philippine island of Leyte on October 20, 1944. The U.S. Sixth Army, supported by naval and air bombardment, played a pivotal role in these landings. The decisive victory in the Battle of Leyte Gulf effectively destroyed the remainder of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Philippines campaign was the largest American campaign in the Pacific War, involving more troops than those deployed in North Africa, Italy, or southern France.
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The capture of Bataan
In the lead-up to the battle, General Douglas MacArthur consolidated all of his Luzon-based units on the Bataan Peninsula to fight against the Japanese army. The Bataan Peninsula and the island of Corregidor were the only remaining Allied strongholds in the region, as the Japanese had already invaded Luzon and several other islands in the Philippine Archipelago. The American and Filipino forces on Bataan were faced with a lack of supplies, including insufficient food and ammunition. Despite this, they were able to fight and delay the Japanese advance for three months.
The Japanese goal was to capture Bataan in 50 days, and they committed a force of 60,000 men from the 14th Army to this task. The Japanese army was able to push the Allied forces back gradually, forcing them to retreat southward. By early January, the Japanese had forced the Allies to new defensive lines along the Gumain River.
By April 1942, the troops on Bataan were suffering from malnutrition and disease, and many had lost a significant amount of weight. On 3 April, the Japanese launched their final assault on Bataan, and on 9 April, Major General Edward P. King, the American field commander, surrendered to General Masaharu Homma. This surrender resulted in approximately 12,000 Americans and 63,000 Filipinos becoming prisoners of war. The capture of Bataan was followed by the infamous Bataan Death March, during which thousands of prisoners of war perished.
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The Battle of Corregidor
In 1941, American and Filipino forces withdrew to the Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor to await assistance from abroad. However, by April 1942, all of Corregidor's north shore batteries were out of action. On April 29, two Navy PBYs flew out 50 nurses and headquarters staff. On May 1, the Japanese bombardment increased, concentrating on landing sites. The next day, 3600 240mm shells fell on Batteries Cheney and Geary, putting all eight guns out of action. On the night of May 4, the submarine USS Spearfish evacuated 25 people.
On May 5, Japanese troops landed on the beach and succeeded in gaining a foothold despite heavy losses inflicted by American artillery. The Japanese made steady progress inland and by 1:30 a.m. on May 6, they had captured Battery Denver. Heavy fighting ensued, and the Japanese slowly overwhelmed the Marines as reinforcements arrived from the mainland. By the end of the battle, the Japanese had captured Corregidor, marking the fall of the Philippines to the Japanese Empire.
During the battle, nurses from the United States Army Nurse Corps and the United States Navy Nurse Corps, known as the Angels of Bataan, were stationed in a hospital in the Malinta Tunnel on Corregidor. On April 29, a small group of army nurses were evacuated aboard a navy PBY Catalina but became stranded and were taken prisoners. On May 3, the remaining nurses were evacuated aboard the submarine Spearfish. When Corregidor fell to the Japanese, those who were left behind were captured and transferred to the Santo Tomas Internment Camp.
Corregidor remained under Japanese control until February 1945 when it was liberated by Allied forces. The U.S. Army successfully recaptured the island, which served as General Douglas MacArthur's headquarters during the Japanese invasion.
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