WWI - Blanda
Sampson, U.S. Army Nurse Corps
Over 22,000
professionally-trained female nurses were recruited by the American Red Cross
to serve in the U.S. Army between 1917 and 1919 – and over 10,000 of these
served near the Western Front. From PBS American Experience, the Great War American Nurses WWI Blanda Sampson enlisted in the Army 20 Feb 1918 and discharged 6 Jul 1919, U.S. Veterans Administration BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010.
“We are sure
that our readers enjoyed greatly the interesting letter from Miss Blanda
Sampson, of the Army Nurse Corps in France, that we published yesterday, and we
are therefore glad to publish today an extract from a letter that her mother,
Mrs. Alida Sampson, received from her today, and in which she refers to some of
our Stoughton boys, Miss Sampson wrote this letter July 24th. It was mailed the 25th, and thus
was less than two weeks enroute. It will
be seen that she is now stationed at Limoges, a good-sized city in south
central France, far from the battle region.
Limoges, by the way, is famous as being the home of the celebrated
Haviland china. Miss Sampson is night
superintendent of the hospital at which she is now stationed…”
Excerpt from Stoughton Courier Hub August 7th, 1918
The above Courier Hub article reported Otis Sampson suffered gas and that portion is also included on Otis
Sampson webpage: “Otis
Sampson had suffered from gas – Stoughton boy reported as severely wounded in
France is now well again” published just two
months before he died on October 9th, 1918.
“Lamoges,
France, June 24
Dear Mother:
“We left Paris on July
15. The Sunday night before we left, the
bombardment could be heard in Paris. It
started at about midnight, and the next day “Bertha” shot every twenty minutes
into Paris.”
“Osuld Bredesen was up and around before I
left. His foot was still stiff. He had the calf of his leg shot off with a
machine gun.
The other night some new patients came into
our hospital, and Oliver Myre, from Stoughton, was one of them. His hand was wounded, but he expects to go
back to the front. And another boy came
in – he was a friend of Otis Sampson; he and Otis have been together all the
time until this boy was wounded. He had
the end of his elbow shot off, but expects to go back to the front soon. He said Otis was fine now, Otis had been
gassed, and had slight burns, but was O.K. the last he saw him.”
“Will write again soon. Love to all, BLANDA”
Excerpts of
letter written to her mother, from Lamoges, France, June 24, 1918 as printed in
the Stoughton Courier Hub, August 7, 1918
Six months after the U.S. entered WWI nearly 1,100 nurses were serving overseas in nine base hospitals. One year later 2,000 Regular Army and 10,186 Reserve nurses were on active duty serving at 198 stations worldwide. By the end of the war the ranks of the Army Nurse Corps would swell to 21,480 with over 10,000 having served overseas. This was an increase of 3800% from before the war. Army Nurse Corps Association - U.S. Army Nurse Corps link below.
Please click to read more about the Red Cross Nurses during WWI
To read more on the contributions of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps
Alice Ames, U.S. Army Corps Reserves Nurse from Stoughton, was born 8 Nov 1892 and died 1 Dec 1970, daughter of
Sylvanus and Cora Ames. She departed
France on 20 May 1919 and discharged on 14 Jun 1919. Discharge date from U.S. Veterans
Administration BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010.
With thanks to the Kvamme Local History Collection, Stoughton Public Library
To read more about Blanda Sampson click here