"You have no idea what the GIs are like in a place like that. You got so that you didn't mention that you might want something, because if you did, you would get it." (Audio Interview, 32:10)

Marion Anna Steinhilber

Marion Steinhilber in New York City, en route to Atlantic City for basic training [1944] War: World War II, 1939-1946; Cold War Era, 1945-1991; Cold War Era, 1945-1991 Branch: Army Nurse Corps Service Location: Atlantic City and Fort Dix, New Jersey; Staten Island, New York; Karachi, Pakistan Highest Rank: Lieutenant Place of Birth: Buffalo, NY

Working in Buffalo, New York's Mercy Hospital in the fall of 1943, Marion Stenhilber was persuaded by a friend to visit the local Red Cross office one night after their shift concluded. Steinhilber wound up volunteering, while her friend decided against it. She was assigned to the women's ward of a hospital in Brooklyn, but she craved something stronger. Again, a friend intervened, signing them up for overseas duty. That put them in Calcutta, India, and from there she was off to several duty stations in the China-Burma-India Theater. She treated malaria patients, worked with soldiers who had been badly burned, and found she liked working in the operating room best of all. Most of the GIs were, if anything, overly solicitous of her needs for a touch of comfort and home.