Navy nurses as prisoners of war in the Philippines

Nurse POWs

Leadership and the POW Nurses

What a Way to Spend a War by Dorothy Still Danner recounts the experiences of a group of Navy nurses who were taken prisoners by the Japanese in the Phillipines during World War II. They were captives for four years. The book, written by one of the nurses, is an eye-witness account. She apparently kept a journal and had access to the journals of other prisoners as well. Dottie, as she is called in the book, went to nursing school after high school and into the Navy in 1939. Her first two years were spent stateside very comfortably. She made friends, had fun, and for a young girl, led a rather glamorous life in California. However, that ended after she was transferred to the Philippines near Manila.

At first, she and the nurses live nicely with the help of Philippino servants, paid by the Navy to cook, clean, and pamper them. Then one day the Japanese bomb, invade, and take them all prisoners. The nurses live in three different concentration camps, none good. The second camp they live in is an abandoned prison where overcrowding makes life miserable. When they move to the third camp, Los Banos, which is in the country, at first things seem much better. The call it their Country Club. They have more space, they can garden, the air is sweet, and there is enough food for everyone. However, as time goes on, more and more prisoners come there. The Japanese guards get most of the food and real hunger sets in. The prisoners lose strength from the chronic lack of food, and no medicine is left to treat sicknesses. With no soap and no way to sterilize equipment, the hospital is not clean anymore. A committee voted in by the internees tries to maintain order, while rules from the Japanese administrator get more and more strict. Two prisoners are shot for trying to escape. Death from hunger and untreated sickness becomes an everyday occurrence. The nurses, dressed in unforms they sewed by hand from old dungaress, get thinner and thinner. Dottie and her closest friend Mitch doubt at times they will survive. At the end they are rescued by American forces only hours before the Japanese intend to execute them.

Miss Redeker, the nursing supervisor in charge of the 12 nurses, stands out as an excellent "boss" and administrator. Throughout the ordeal she maintains dignity and deals with the nurses fairly. She "takes care of them" in the sense that whatever she gets, she shares with them -- a shanty at one point in the story which she makes available for their use despite her own need for privacy. At one point she works a miracle and gets some money for them: "One evening Miss Redecker came into our room and said solemnly, 'Twenty-five pesos for each of us.' 'Oh, how nice,' Julia said. 'And who do we thank for this?' 'If you do not ask, I will not have to answer,' the chief nurse said, and that was that. It wasn't much, but money meant replenishing the most basic of necessities" (p. 113).

At the same time Miss Redecker is very firm and maintains strong discipline. The young nurses obey her unfailingly. When Miss Redecker suggests that they all work every day, for example, despite the fact they do not have to, all the nurses agree. The author compares Miss Redecker's style of supervision with that of the Army chief nurses': "There was no similarity between her and her Army counterpart other than their commanding positions. Both were conscientious leaders and neither would allow herself to be stepped on. But the manner in which each accomplished this differed considerably. Miss Redecker made her presence known in her quiet, defiant way, while Capain Crawford had an authoritative desk-pounding approach" (p. 104).

The natural leader has been defined by some as the person who is willing to take a stand on a moral issue and to stand alone, even when everyone else disagrees. In this regard, Mitch stands out as such a person. He has been chosen by the internees to be a judge of their disputes and to mete out punishments for wrong-doing. His willingness to stand on principle is revealed in a short conversation he has with Dottie. She feels uncomfortable about using their friend's shanty all the time and suggests that they sit at a picnic table which belongs to her friend Liz. Mitch refuses because the table is made from lumber that was stolen from the Japanese by another friend Austin: "...I suggested taking advantage of the picnic table under the dormitory. 'You go ahead if you like,' [Mitch said]. 'Lizzy's on duty. She won't mind,' [Dottie says]. 'Maybe so, but for me to do so would imply approval, and I can't do that.' 'Approval of what?' 'Look at it this way, doll. When I make judgments against men for far less violations, I can't condone that.' 'Condone what?' 'If Austin is caught stealing from the Japs, that's his hard luck. The fact is, the Jap contractor knows what's been stolen, and he takes it back from the camp's stockpile. No matter now noble Austin's intent, he gets a lot of satisfaction out of doing this, and it's wrong.'"