Losing the Last Angel
Mildred Dalton Manning, the last surviving “Angel of Corregidor” passed this last week at the age of 98. She was the last of 66 nurses who had been imprisoned by the Japanese when they over ran the Philipines in 1942. From the New York Times;
Mrs. Manning — Lt. Mildred Dalton during the war — and her fellow nurses subsisted on one or two bowls of rice a day in the last stages of their imprisonment. She lost all her teeth to lack of nutrition.
“I have been asked many times if we were mistreated or tortured,” she wrote in a remembrance for her files, made available on Saturday by her son, James, who announced her death. “Physically, no. A few people might get their face slapped if they failed to bow to a Japanese guard. Humiliated, yes. We would be awakened at 2 in the morning for head count or searched for contraband.”
“From time to time they would round up a number of men and take them out of camp and they were never heard from again,” she continued. “Our internment was nothing compared to the Bataan Death March and imprisonment our soldiers went through. They were tortured and starved.”
Mildred Jeannette Dalton was born on July 11, 1914, near Winder, Ga. She graduated from the Grady Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in Atlanta, then was head nurse at Grady before entering military service.
She was stationed at Clark Field, north of Manila, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, and bombed the Philippines (where it was Dec. 8, across the international date line).
Category: Blue Skies, Historical
And may she rest in peace. I have a friend who is 99…one of the first nurses that landed on Normandy who would be proud to have known her. Godspeed to you, Ms. Dalton.
By all accounts, the term “angel” is fully apropos for her and the other nurses who served at Baatan and Corregidor.
Rest in peace, elder sister. Rest now in peace.
On Mount Sarat, in Bataan, is a plaque that reads as follows:
TO THE ANGELS– In honor of the valiant American military women who gave so much of themselves in the early days of World War II. They provided care and comfort to the gallant defenders of Bataan and Corregidor. They lived on a starvation diet, shared the bombing, strafing, sniping, sickness and disease while working endless hours of heartbreaking duty. These nurses always had a smile, a tender touch and a kind word for their patients. They truly earned the name–THE ANGELS OF BATAAN AND CORREGIDOR.”
The Hell she and her fellow Nurses suffered is no more. God bless them all for what they did.
One of the heroes of the Nurse Corps..Rest in peace, LT Dalton. You did your duty under circumstances that would have, and did break many others.
And as for the Nurse Corps…We’re here for you. We stand with the Chaplains, Physicians, and Enlisted Medics, and all of the other ranks that choose the path of the healer, be it mind, body or spirit. We may not always be on the front lines with you, but you can be assured that you will never be alone. Where goes the Army, goes Army Medical.
Truly the closing of an important chapter in our history – one which, sadly, too many of our fellow citizens have no clue.
RIP, ma’am, to you and all with whom you are now reunited.
Rest in Peace, Ma’am.
Shai Dorsai!!
Would that we all could be as heroic. Rest peacefully in the arms of the Lord. Your work here is done.
@4 ANCCPT, or anyone: I once knew a woman who was taken prisoner by the Japanese during World War II. She lost part of some fingers during interrogation. She was a public health nurse who traveled around northwest Alaska on a dog sled — I remember Shungnak in the southwestern Brooks Range. I think that she was in the military but I’m not positive. Around 1977-78 she lived in Anchorage, Alaska. Her name was Audrey Leona Corey and she wrote a book called “White Angel of the Trails”. I think that she is gone now, does anyone have any suggestions how I could find out more about her?
@ #8: Robert-You might start here at the Alaska Nurses Association. You may find the book by that title listed on Amazon and several other outlets, published in 1968. Other than that, you can contact ST. Louis NPRC once you have required information and FOIA her service record if they have it.
Also, you may have to go to the National Archives itself to research as well. Another thought, check the Library of Congress, they may have additional info on her.
Richard, you might start here: http://consortiumlibrary.org/archives/FindingAids/hmc-1107.html
Rest in Peace, Ma’am, you’ve earned it. Hey folks, is it just me or is it dusty in here again?
Its dusty in here….RIP ma’am!
Really, quite dusty.
#12 API
Yeah. It’s dusty in here. Again. Happens often when honoring a deceased hero. Seems like this place never gets clean. Not sure I ever want it to be.
RIP, Lt Mildred. You’ve more then earned your rest and peace from pain.
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When these people are gone, unless someone has recorded their stories, those will be gone, too.
Something in my eyes…