Captain Henning Tells of Army Nurse's Work

Has Served in Army Nurse Corps More Than 3 Years

Capt. Dora Henning

Atlantic City, N. J. - It's a far cry from muddy, sweltering bamboo huts in India or Burma to the Army's big 17-story beachfront Thomas E. England General Hospital here, and the lady who can best describe the differences is Capt. Dora M. Henning of Chili, Wis., who recently returned from 26 months service with the 73rd Evacuation Hospital in India and Burma.

Capt. Henning has just been assigned to duties as an assistant to the Chief Nurse at Thomas M., England General Hospital, one of the Army Medical Department's largest amputee and neurosurgical centers.

Typical of the obstacles that confront hospitals units in the China-Burma-India theater of operations was the difficulty her unit encountered in Burma, where incidentally, the 73rd is still functioning. The "Hospital," which cared for an average of 1500 patients consisted of a series of "Bahamas," which the captain explained to be small huts, constructed of native bamboo and laid over a broad terrain.

Weather Is Unfavorable

"In seven and one-half months we had 322 inches of rainfall," Capt. Henning pointed out, "and the rain certainly played havoc with those huts. The roofs leaked badly, but there was very little we could do to remedy the situation. We practically lived in constant mud, and sometimes were isolated for days by heavy rains and landslides.

"Our hospital area had to be built terrain, which was extremely hilly," she continued.  "It seemed that we were climbing hills all day long to go from one hut to another to care for our patients."

Capt. Henning arrived in Bombay, India, in January of 1943, there to start her long trek across India, and to eventually wind up In Burma. The entire unit traveled by troop train from Bombay to the Province of Upper Assam, where the 73rd Evacuation Hospital was set up. This journey, approximately 1,000 miles, took no less than two weeks to complete.

A year later the 73rd was moved to a new location in Burma to handle casualties of both the American and Chinese armies. It was a distance of only 110 miles from Upper Assam Province into Burma, but it was a treacherous trip by convoy up the Ledo Road and through the Himalaya Mountains, consummating a full day's travel.

Air Attacks by Japs

"The roads were in very poor condition, and at times it seemed as though we were barely moving," Capt. Henning related. "And there was no rest when we finally reached our destination in Burma, for we had to set up immediately in our new hospital area, which was indeed a crude improvised site."

Capt. Henning's stay in Burma was not without its excitement. She recalls a number of Jap air attacks close to the hospital area, and how she and the other nurses and hospital personnel often forced to dash for cover in their slit trenches or against protecting trees.

A staff of 65 nurses handled the average of 1500 patients in this Evacuation Hospital, and for the nurses those days and night were long and tedious.  So understaffed were they that there were no regular shifts, but each nurse kept going as long as she was able to stand up.

 Capt. Henning, whose home is in Chili, Wis., has been in service with the Army Nurse Corps a little over three years, and did her civilian nursing at St. Joseph's Hospital, Marshfield, Wis.