Irma Darphine, Jason Theriot:

-Graduated high school in 1939 and moved to Port Arthur, Texas for medical training
-She had to be a registered nurse in order to get into the army
-Was at camp Claiborne then John Sealy in Galveston, Texas
-At Sealy when the hospital (127th General Hospital) was activated to go overseas; left August 12 (1943) and took 10 days to get to New York
-Sent to Camp Shanks and missed the ship so they were transferred to Fort Devons in Boston; stayed there till October 13

-Boarded the ship “Martainia” and headed for England; took 15 days, not in a convoy and had to take a detour as the submarines were following them
-Landed in Liverpool in the morning and took a train to south England to Bishop Lydia (near Tauten) to build their first hospital
-It was on an estate’s gardens and they had put in about 45 Quonset huts; the men lived in the manor house but the women stayed in smaller homes nearby
-The hospital opened in November 1943 and kept it going until May (1944); they turned it over to another general hospital

(3:42) D-Day
-Sent near Stonehenge to wait for D-Day; they waited awhile and they lived in tent cities
-They made them march to keep busy as well as conditioning and training; practicing to go down ladders on ships
-They knew about the invasion and that it was coming but they were in a secured location and they weren’t letting them out
-Got on a ship July 31st, an Indian ship, and crossed the Channel; it was a nice ship
-Got on smaller boats (Higgins boats) and landed at Utah beach with the whole staff; 100 nurses, 80 officers (MACS and medical doctors) and 250 enlisted men

-Carried with them their bed roll, Musset bag, Val pack, helmets, canteen belts—everything they owned
-The first night stayed at a bombed out church and then later they built a tent city; maybe stayed there for about 5 weeks (close to Sainte-Mère-Église as holding zone)
-No Germans, the women were well protected and never close up to the Germans
-They kept going until the big trucks came to take them to Rennes, France; opened the second hospital
-It wasn’t too safe at Rennes as they weren’t allowed to go out of their dorms and buildings as there were German snipers; had to clean it all from the mess that the Germans made
-Stayed there for about 9 months and left January 1 (1945)

(11:42) Started for Nancy, France
-Put them on a train, outside was cold
-Nancy wasn’t completely secured so they had to wait in Paris (Battle of Bulge was happening); had some R&R
-Back at Rennes they had worked 12-16 hours a day; were bringing in soldiers from ships as they were near the Brittany Peninsula

-At Rennes, Darphine worked in the orthopedic ward and when in England it was the Hepatitis ward
-If the men could walk they were sent back to the front
-She remembers the first soldier they lost at Sandhill, England and it broke everyone’s heart
-They even had a German pilot there but she doesn’t know what happened to him afterwards

(14:43) Nancy
-Stayed in a chateau and had to walk through a village to the hospital; it was cold and there was snow but the Army kept them well supplied
-It was not a bad experience more of a sad experience; weren’t close to any fighting
-It was rewarding for what they did and they were glad to do it
-Had 2 brothers in the war; the oldest in the infantry and the younger one in the Navy
-The older one was wounded in Metz and transferred to the air force

(17:03) Meeting her older brother in France
-Darphine had had an appendectomy and was recovering so she was working the ward with the POWs
-She was smoking when her older brother came up to her; hadn’t seen him in 2 years
-He took her to Mont-Saint-Michel with friends (island castle off of France)

-She saw him again in Marseilles as he was in the air transport command and at her port of debarkation
-He took her and some friends out on a boat in the Mediterranean
-He was a captain so he was able to get things

(19:15) Back to Nancy
-They had to walk through a village to get to the hospital
-Had a friend that befriended a little girl and gave the girl her first toothbrush
-Looking at some photos of them
-They’d give the children candy, gum or chocolate when they had it and if they didn’t the children would throw things at them; Darphine had something dead thrown at her once

-Towards the end of the war the POWs would farm for them
-They had a dry cleaning establishment, shined the women’s shoes and waited on them in the cafeterias
-They were happy to get out of the army and the war; never made any trouble
-The ladies from other hospitals made baseball teams and they’d play against each other
-Since they were a Texas hospital they had a longhorn for their sign
-The locals started bringing their animals to them thinking they were a veterinarian clinic
-The French people she met were nice

(33:54) Return Trip
-Nancy was their last stopping place
-Got on a train to Marseilles and given immunization and flu shots; half of them got sick
-Also where she met her older brother again; he got to fly home and beat her
-They got on a ship, “Breckenridge;” it was 2 years and couple of days to the day of when she left, October 1945

-Landed in Newport News and were given the opportunity to call home; her parents were so happy to hear her
-They hadn’t heard each other’s voices in 2 years
-Took a train to San Antonio for debriefing before going home
-Her parents didn’t know when she was coming home

Transcription Begins:

Irma Boullier(?) Darphine
Born: August 8, 1922
Crowley, now living in Iota
ETO
Nurse, 127th General Hospital

I was originally from Crowley. I graduated from High School in 1939 and then went to Port Arthur, Texas for my medical training. You had to be a registered nurse in order to get into the Army. On July 7, 1943, I was headed to Claiborne, right here south of Alexandria. That’s where I got into the 127th General Hospital.

The hospital was activated at John Sealy in Galveston, Texas. On August 12 we were headed to New York. It took us about 10 days or so to get to Camp Shanks, New York, but we had missed our ship. From there we were transferred to Camp Devons in Boston. We stayed there until October 13, 1943. On October 13, we boarded a ship, the Martainia, and headed for England. It took us about 15 days. We landed in Liverpool. We were greeted by a band playing American songs and the Red Cross gave out donuts; it was pretty neat. It was dreary and dark when we got off that ship. Then they took us down to South England about seven miles south of Tauten to a little town called Bishop Lydia. This is where we set up our first hospital. It was on a big estate and they had torn down the gardens and they had put in about 45 Quonset huts. We lived in homes close by. We opened that hospital in November of ’43 and we kept it going until May of ’44.

Then we were set up in a tent city near Stonehenge waiting for D-Day. They were trying to keep us busy with constant marching, and conditioning, all the while they were training us. We had to practice going down the sides of ships with ladders and what have you. We were in a secure area but we knew the invasion was coming. We didn’t know about the casualties from the invasion. We had already closed down our hospital by the time it began, so we were just waiting to go.

We got on an Indian ship on July 31 and the Channel was just as smooth as ice. We crossed over on this beautiful ship; it was the calm before the storm. When we got close to the beach we had to climb down the nets to get on smaller boats—Higgins boats—and then we came up on Utah beach with our entire hospital staff. We were 100 nurses and 80 officers—medical doctors and MACs—and about 250 enlisted men. Most of them were from the south Texas area.

We landed on Utah beach on July 31st. We splashed landed and that’s when we got off. I carried a musset bag, a bed roll, a val pack, and of course our helmets with our canteen belts and all of our eating utensils. We carried everything we owned.

The first night we stayed in a bombed out church in St. Mare Eglise because we couldn’t be out in the fields. We had too much of our own anti-aircraft guns shooting in the air and it was dangerous to be out in the open. The next day we set up a tent city where we stayed for about 5 weeks. We were maybe 10 or 12 miles from the beach. We were holding out until it was safe enough to move closer in land.

I remember one time we had these big water jugs hanging from a tripod and these little French kids came over and they were using our water and splashing their faces and all. The kids had got into a minefield and it had peppered their faces, but it wasn’t too bad. So, it wasn’t too cleared out and we had to be careful.

We were well protected and we were working in a safe zone. The Army really took good care of us—the females, the ladies. We kept going until the big trucks came and got us and we went on into Reinnes. It was a sad sight to see because we had to go through all the little burned out cities. When we got to Reinnes, that’s where we opened our second hospital. We were in the Brittany Peninsula and the Germans were bombing ships so we would treat the wounded from that. We were really busy. They were bringing in soldiers from all over and we worked sometimes 12 to 16 hours a day.

I worked in the orthopedic ward. If they could walk around, they were sent back to the front, whether or not they were well enough. I hated to see them go like that. We had some serious injuries and I’ll never forget the first one who died in Sandhill, England. It seemed like it broke everyone’s heart. I guess we just thought that we weren’t going to loose anybody. This doctor jumped on him and tried to resuscitate him. He was a real young boy. We even treated a German pilot who had been shot down. Some of our American soldiers were walking around at night and they came upon this German pilot who was just wandering around, so they brought him to the hospital. They didn’t know what to do with him. That made history for us.

It wasn’t too safe in Reinnes, because they wouldn’t let us get out of our dormitory in our big buildings. There were a lot of German snipers around, so we had to be careful when walking to the hospital. Our first job was to clean the hospital where the Germans had been. It was filthy, filthy, filthy. They had left so many things that were too dirty to use. I helped clean up the pharmacy and we took things down from way up high on the shelves and through them out of the window. And there were trucks and men that would just haul all this stuff off.

We finally opened it up and it was a beautiful place once it was clean. The Germans were really dirty people, or maybe they were in a hurry to get away. Towards the end, they must not have had time to clean up. So we stayed there about nine months until January 1, 1945. That’s when we started for Nancy. They us put on this train and it wasn’t warm. Nancy wasn’t completely secure by that time so they dropped us off in Paris for a while. The Battle of the Bulge was still going on so we had to hold up in Paris. We had a hotel with warm baths and we took tours of the city. We took group pictures. It was a fabulous time. But the fighting was still going on. It is unbelievable to think that you can be in a place like that and maybe a hundred miles away; they are fighting and killing our men. It’s awful.

In Nancy, we were in a chateau, a nice place, and we had to walk about half a mile through a little village to get to the hospital. It was cold and snow, but it was a nice walk. The Army kept us well supplies with warm clothing and boots.

In Nancy, we had to walk through this village from our dorm to get to the hospital. These little children would come and we would give them chocolate and candy. They were very hungry children. My friend, Penney, befriended this one little girl and they stayed friends after the war. The girl told Penney that she didn’t have a toothbrush until she was 9 years old. These kids didn’t have much.

Our unit was from Texas so we always had a big Longhorn sign in front of hospital. I can remember in Nancy, the town’s people were bringing in their cattle and horses; they thought we were a veterinarian hospital.

The people who lived next to us were nice people. The towns were cleaner as you got closer to Germany. This one clerk at a hotel was very nice. There was a lady who lived in Crowley who had married an American after World War I, so she still had family in France. I was getting letters from back home and so I gathered up a big bag of used clothes and this hotel clerk helped me find this lady’s family.

It really wasn’t a bad experience, but it was a sad experience. Dealing with a big, big hospital, we were not close to any fighting. It was very rewarding and we were proud to be there, but people back home were having emotional problems. My mother and dad had three in the Army at the same time. I had a younger brother over there in the navy who I met up with twice and an older brother who was with the infantry. He was wounded in Metz.

I was recovering from an appendectomy and my brother didn’t know that I smoked. He was a big, big ole fellow and he came in (what town was this in?). I hadn’t seen him in about 2 years. He came over and he looked me and said, “Well this is a fine state of affairs.” He swore up and down that I swallowed that cigarette. That was good meeting him. He knew where I was and somebody sent him right up to the ward where I was working. He took me to Machaey Michelle with a group of his friends and some of my friends. It’s an island off the coast of France with a big castle. When the tide comes in it is isolated from France. But if you get there when the tide is out you can drive right on up to it. It was beautiful.

When we got to Marseilles at the end of the war, my brother was in the air transport command and he was at the port of debarkation. He took us out to the Mediterranean in a boat. It was a really nice trip. My brother was a captain and he was able to get things.

Towards the end of the war, we had a farm of POWs who planted vegetables for us. They also had a dry cleaning establishment. These Germans would come and get our shoes and shine them for us. They waited on us in the cafeterias. They were so happy to out of the army.

Towards the end we had a softball team. Girls from other hospitals would come to play. It wasn’t always gloom and doom. We had some good times, too.

I was a first lieutenant nurse in the 127th General Hospital. We went to the war memorial for women in Washington D.C. in October of 1997.

I went back to Reinnes, France in 1997 and went to the same town were we had our hospital. I talked to this man on the street and asked him if he remembered the 127th. He said, “Yes I remember them. I was 12 years old and I used to deliver papers to them, but I remember they were all very generous.

“The 127th hospital did famously and became one of the most dependable units in France.” Elliot Cutler, Brig. Gen. Army of the United States, August 21, 1945. (what book is this quote from, who is the author, and year of copyright?)

Nancy was our final stopping place. From there we got on a train, the 40 and 8’s and we went to Marseilles. There we were given immunization and flu shots. My brother flew back to the States and beat me home. I came home on a ship, the Breckenridge in October of ‘45. It was almost 2 years and maybe 5 or 6 days to the day since I had been home.

When we landed in Newport News, I saw a WAC who was really working. We got into one of these huge trailer-like things and she was driving it. She drove us to someplace where we could get cleaned up and something to eat and make phone calls. We stood in line to make those phone calls and I called my dad and my mother. They were so emotional. They hadn’t talk to us kids for over two years.

I took a train to San Antonio for a debriefing and then they sent me home.

My parents knew we were coming home but they didn’t know when. My mother was canning stuff and she was mailing it to us overseas; she was mailing cans to anybody overseas. She had a friend whose child was in the service and she was mailing cans to him, too. She would stay up half the night canning things to mail to us. It took an effort from everybody, everybody: the rationing of the shoes, the sugar, the coffee, the gasoline, and the tires. It was different times and look at how the world has changed.