Women have the role of being the caretakers, the mothers, the housekeepers and the nurturers. When you add a military career into a woman’s life, things begin to change. She may have to give up some of her nurturing qualities to complete the demanding physical tasks that military careers require. Similarly, she may give up some of her femininity to feel like one of the men. These women feel the hardest part of having a military career is giving up their motherhood responsibilities to serve our country. On Tuesday, April 22, Kimball Area Historical Society held an event about military women. The St. Cloud-based group – Women in the Military, Central Minnesota Unit (C.M.U.) – spoke about their careers in the military. The speakers included a WWII military nurse, a member of the Air Force, and a military chaplain. Local man and Air Force Veteran Donald Kempf brought his late wife’s navy uniform to share with the group. These military women shared their stories and experiences with the audience. Taking care of the wounded: Rosemary Krauel Rosemary Krauel served as a nurse during WWII. She was a senior nursing student when the war began. Krauel recalled being on duty during the Pearl Harbor bombings and finding out about the attacks the next day. She said she and her roommate wanted to go down to Hawaii and help out but couldn’t because they were not done with school and they had not taken their state board exams. Nursing students had to be 21 to take the state board exams and Krauel was only 20 years old. Krauel later got her chance to serve the country and enlisted in the navy. She shared many events and personal stories throughout her presentation. Krauel was stationed in San Diego for a short while and she helped many wounded soldiers. She talked about how the military hospital was across from a zoo. At one point, the hospital became so overcrowded that the facilities could not hold all of the soldiers. The military took control of the zoo and made it into an overflow hospital. Krauel said, “The boys kidded about being in the monkey house, which really wasn’t far from the truth.” Krauel also shared another story about a man who had a cast put on so he could be transported back to the United States. The cast wasn’t put on right, and once removed at Krauel’s hospital, the doctors found maggots inside the cast. Krauel joked, “While we did use maggots to clean wounds, we never put them under casts.” She said this was just one of the horrific sights the medical team saw when dealing with wounded soldiers. Another horrific experience was seeing all of the paraplegic men come in from the battle fields. Krauel explained that the enemy would hide in trees and shoot soldiers in the back of the neck to paralyze them so they couldn’t go on fighting. Krauel said this was one of the hardest units to work on and the nurses really tried to boost morale among these soldiers. “Wars are bad, but out of every war comes advances in medicine,” said Krauel. She explained that in WWI, all of the soldiers with severe chest wounds died. In WWII, mobile medics following the troops allowed wounded men a better chance of survival. With WWII came new treatments and devices which saved more lives. Krauel added that WWII doctors had better technology and could perform orthopedic surgery. Metal plates and screws allowed surgeons to be more successful in mending and repairing broken bones. “As nurses, we tried to do more than care for the patients; we tried to boost their morale, we taught soldiers how to write their name for pay and we helped them write letters to their families,” said Krauel. Krauel concluded her presentation by saying that she lost a brother in the war and that her husband and her sons all served in the military. “We are a patriotic family.” Serving abroad: Roseann Petty Kimball resident Roseann Petty served in the Women’s Air Force for four years. At 16 years of age, Petty decided that she would join the military when she was of age. In 1966, Petty entered the U.S. Women’s Air Force. She joined because she wanted to travel and express her patriotism. As with all enlisted personnel, Petty had to go through basic training. She said she had no problem keeping up with the men. Included in her service was a year-and-a-half stay at the Keesler Air Force Base in Miss. She was also stationed in Germany for two years, which she thoroughly enjoyed and will always remember. Finding faith in the service: Ann Erikson Ann Erikson served as a chaplain in the military, supporting the seamen and women in the service. Erikson explained that chaplains act as a source of support and comfort for the troops. Chaplains enter the military as officers because of their educational and seminary backgrounds. Erikson explained that chaplains are endorsed by a religious associations such as the Catholic or Lutheran Church. In addition to Christians, a chaplain could also advise soldiers of Muslim faith, Buddhism, or atheism, as long as they feel comfortable doing this. “Our motto is ‘cooperation without compromise,’” said Erikson. “If you are not comfortable with a particular religion, you can find another chaplain who specializes in this area, or is comfortable dealing with this religion.” Being one of the few people on the ship that had strict confidentiality, soldiers told anything and everything to Erikson. Erikson recalled having a young female soldier come and talk to her. She was upset because she thought that she would be kicked out of the service. Erikson blatantly told her, “You cannot get out of the service because you are married or pregnant. If that were the case, I would not be here.” At the time, Erikson had to leave her husband and two children, a two-and-a-half-year-old and a four-month-old baby. Chaplains also deliver news to soldiers. “Whether it was good or bad, we told it,” said Erikson. Some of the news that Erikson had to deliver was a soldier’s dad dying, a baby being born, and a mom being diagnosed with a terminal disease. Erikson explained that chaplains were one of the few service personnel that got their own rooms on the ship. This was needed to console soldiers and monitor the news wires. “I usually stayed up until 2 a.m. [finishing all of my work],” said Erikson. Considering all of her experiences, Erikson said that her service “was something that I am very glad that I did. It was very hard physically and emotionally, but it was important work, something that God called me for at the time.” The women were very happy to share their stories with the audience. Their club has 63 members in the central Minn. area. The purpose of their organization is to care for and provide support for women veterans. They also want to share their stories with the public. As Kimball Historical Society President Mary Johnson said. “that the future may learn from the past.”
