News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: POW Nurse

Date: February 06, 2002

"Elderly Army Nurse a Role Model
By ROGER ALFORD, Associated Press Writer

PRESTONSBURG, Ky. - Ruby Bradley ignored her hunger in a World War II prisoner of war of camp, opting to give most of her food to children who also were being held captive.

In the midst of the gloom, she and other nurses also set up a clinic to care for the sick and wounded and to comfort the dying.

Now, Bradley, who at 93 is one of the nation's most decorated female veterans, is the one who is weakening, and others are proudly stepping forward to help.

"It's hard for me to imagine what she's been through," said Leigh Ann Hamilton, a physical therapist who works with the retired colonel each day. "I get goose bumps just thinking about it."

Sometimes Bradley does, too.

She will never forget the night a U.S. Army tank crashed the gates of the Japanese prisoner of war camp, freeing her after three years of captivity.

"We had heard rumors that American soldiers were close by," she said. "Then, that tank came through. It was the best Saturday night performance I've ever seen."

Bradley, now living in a nursing home, said nothing has ever matched the excitement she felt in the moment that the tank cleared the wooden rubble and she saw troops following on foot.

The scene ushered out what seemed like an eternity of short rations, largely rice, for the Army nurse who was imprisoned at the Santo Tomas Internment Camp in Manila, Philippines.

Bradley can no longer walk, but her memories are sharp. She wept as she recounted the hardships and violent deaths of fellow prisoners who tried to escape.

"She has made a lot of sacrifices in her life," Hamilton said. "She put duty first, and never married, never had children. It would be so easy to be intimidated by her, because of her extensive knowledge and experience. She won't let you. She is really appreciative of every little thing you do for her."

A native of Spencer, W.Va., Bradley moved into the Prestonsburg Health Care Center earlier this month after a small personal care home where she lived in West Virginia scaled back its patient load.

"All the nurses here are absolutely in awe of her," said her nephew, Charles Bradley. "They really do give her special treatment."

A black-and-white photograph in her room shows Bradley as an attractive young lady in the uniform of the Army Nurse Corps. Next to that hangs a shadow box filled with medals and ribbons once pinned on her chest. Thirty-four medals in all, including two Legion of Merit medals, two Bronze Stars, two Presidential Emblems, the World War II Victory Medal and the United Nations Service Medal. She also received the International Red Cross' prestigious nursing honor, the Florence Nightingale Medal.

Bradley insists that she was never sick during the time that she and her nursing colleagues battled disease, starvation and crude conditions to care for other prisoners, both soldiers and civilians.

A vintage photograph shows Bradley and other nurses, all thin and frail, riding in the back of a truck, smiling and waving as they were driven out of the compound after their rescue.

Bradley said her earliest nursing experiences were taking care of animals on the family farm in Roane County, W.Va. After a stint as a teacher, she became a nurse in 1933. She joined the Army Nurse Corps as a surgical nurse a year later.

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, she was a 34-year-old administrator serving in the Philippines at Camp John Hay in Baguio on Luzon Island, 200 miles above Manila. She was captured three weeks later.

Bradley was moved to Santo Tomas in Manila on Sept. 23, 1943. There she was among a group of imprisoned nurses who became known to captives as the Angels in Fatigues. Not only did they provide medical treatment for prisoners, but they were adept at stashing food for the little ones.

"I was a pretty good thief," she said. "I would take food and put it in my pockets for the children."

While the children ate, Bradley shrank. She weighed about 80 pounds when the American troops arrived on Feb. 3, 1945.

For the next five years, Bradley enjoyed peace. Then came the Korean War. A month after its start, she was overseas again, working as a combat nurse in evacuation hospitals, an assignment that expanded her collection of medals even further.

Bradley gladly shares her experiences with people who ask, and lots of people ask.

"I've got a long list of questions," said Valary Sykes, an occupational therapist who has been helping Bradley regain strength in her weakened hands so that she can write again. "She's lived through things that we can't imagine. Things that movies can't capture."

Bradley wouldn't change any part of her life. The experiences, she said, have made her appreciative of the small things, especially food.

"I haven't missed a meal since 1945," she said. "I eat everything."