IN PERSON
Elva Bertha at the Women’ s Military Service Memorial in Washington, D. C.
A Calling to Give
World War II veteran Elva Bertha is still giving back at 97.
BY TRACY FEDKOE
In 1936, it must have been a calling for Elva Bertha( then Elva O’ Brien) to enter nursing school at St. Francis Hospital when she graduated high school. After she finished nursing school she worked as a surgical nurse in the VA hospital known as Leech Farm. The head doctor there was in the process of recruiting a wartime medical unit when the Japanese hit Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
Several of Bertha’ s family members were in the service and her fiancé had already enlisted so the decision wasn’ t a difficult one.
“ The moment I heard about Pearl Harbor, I wanted to join. I knew I could do something to help because I was a nurse,” said Bertha.
There were more than 100 nurses from all over Pittsburgh who answered their calling and joined the Army Nurse Corps. They formed the 27th General Hospital Unit, five of them Bertha’ s co-workers from Leech Farm.
In July of 1942, the unit entered active duty and was sent to Fort Lewis, WA, for infiltration courses and worked at the military base hospital. After a year, they were sent to Brisbane, Australia, one of the places where General MacArthur went to recruit.
As the fighting moved, so did the hospital unit. Bertha’ s next transfer was to Hollandia, a port on the Dutch side of New Guinea, known today as Jayapura. The unit was flooded with casualties from the fighting in the Central Pacific islands and worked endless hours in makeshift hospitals, built quickly by the troops with metal roofs and screen walls. There, Bertha took care of many of the psychiatric patients in addition to those who were wounded or sick. While she
Elva in New Guinea.
had all of the nursing experience and education needed,“ nothing could really prepare you for the emotional side of war,” she recalled.
With close bonds forming between those who worked together in desperate situations,
Hospital construction in New Guinea
Bertha was able to make the most of her surroundings and enjoyed recreational activities when she owned and rode a horse in Australia and grew gardens with watermelons in New Guinea. She joked that the soldiers took their watermelons, but admitted she would have given the fruit to them anyway.
Bertha and several other nurses she had worked with were transferred to Manila in the Philippines, where they worked at St. Thomas University and stayed in a convent. Entering the army as a 2nd Lieutenant, she was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant in 1945, and also supported the 134th and 54th Hospital Units in Manila. While transferring around took its toll, luck brought Bertha to the right place at the right time when she was able to be present for one of the most memorable moments of the war. After the United States bombed the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, effectively ending the war, she was at Clark Field in the Philippines when the Japanese proposed signing the Peace Treaty to General MacArthur.
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