April 9, 1942: Evacuation of nurses before the surrender of Bataan
The Army Nurse Corps in the Philippines | Photo from the National Park Service.
On April 9, 1942, the combined American and Filipino forces on the Bataan Peninsula surrendered to the Imperial Japanese Army. The American and Filipino troops were suffering from a combination of starvation, malnutrition, tropical diseases and combat wounds.
Facing overwhelming odds, Major General Edward King, the American commander in Bataan, signed the surrender document with the Japanese commander. The “Battling Bastards of Bataan” were ordered to capitulate.
During the hours leading to the surrender on April 9, 1942, the senior American officer in the Philippines, General Jonathan Wainwright, was very concerned with the fate of the American and Filipino nurses in Bataan. He wanted the Army and civilian nurses based at Hospital #1 and Hospital #2 in Bataan to be evacuated immediately from the peninsula.
General Wainwright wanted the nurses transported to the Malinta Tunnel in Corregidor. He ordered the nurses to leave their medical assignment immediately and travel by bus to the docks in Mariveles. The nurses were given 30 minutes to gather their stuff and head to the buses.
Initially, the nurses were troubled by the direct order to evacuate. The nurses felt that they had an ethical and moral obligation to care for their patients. The nurses also did not want to leave their colleagues – physicians and medics – behind.
The Army nurses were commissioned officers in the United States Army. Although they may have disagreed with the evacuation orders, an officer must adhere to a direct order by their commanding officer. The Army and civilian nurses headed to the docks. The evacuation of the nurses was dangerous since Japanese airplanes were strafing the docks at Mariveles.
Once the nurses reached Corregidor, they were escorted to the Malinta Tunnel. Almost immediately, the nurses were able to expand and improve the hospital in the tunnel. The nurses were under the leadership of Maude Campell Davison, who was the senior nurse in the Army Nurse Corps in the Philippines.
On April 29, 1942, several Army nurses were able to escape from Corregidor and travel through Japanese-occupied territory to Mindanao in Southern Philippines. Eventually, the nurses made the long and arduous journey to Australia.
When Corregidor surrendered to the Japanese on May 6, 1942, the Army and civilian nurses were taken by boat to the docks in Manila. From there, the Army nurses were transported by truck to the University of Santo Tomas.
The university was transformed into an internment camp called Santo Tomas Internment Camp (STIC). The camp was designated for allied civilians, not military personnel. Ironically, the nurses at STIC, who were commissioned officers in the Army Nurse Corps of the United States Army, were not civilians. There were 11 United States Navy Nurses at STIC who were also commissioned officers.
Dennis Edward Flake is the author of three books on Philippine-American history. He is a Public Historian and a former park ranger in interpretation for the National Park Service at the Eisenhower National Historic Site in Gettysburg, PA. He can be contacted at: flakedennis@gmail.com
