Shirley Van Brakle Collection

Details

Who's responsible?: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries (Repository)
How much has been digitized?: Only a part of this collection has been digitized.
What's in the full collection?: photographs and scrapbook; newspaper clippings on Shirley as an OR Nurse for Thoracic Surgery in England, 1944, 1945; "Cathedral Bells of England" lyrics printed on cardstock,1943; official portrait photograph of Shirley in uniform after medical center graduation, circa 1942; scrapbook photographs from overseas service1943-46, 1951-54; personal correspondence, 1943-45.
Full biography: Shirley Van Brakle of served overseas while a member of the Army Nurse Corps from 1943 to 1946. Shirley Van Brakle enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps in 1943 and attended basic training at Halloran General Hospital in Staten Island, New York. She was then stationed at Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey, before being sent to England in April 1944 with the 160th General Hospital. She remained overseas through at least November 1945 and was discharged in 1946.
Topics: Women's History
Military
Branch of service: Army -- Army Nurse Corps
Conflict: World War II era (1940-1946)
Subject headings: World War, 1939-1945
United States. Army--Women
Contributing Institution: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries

Pages

: ANC basic training unit; Formal group photo of ANC basic training unit seated on stairs at Halloran General Hospital on Staten Island, New York, in 1943. Shirley Van Brakle is second from left in the back row. The nurses wear blue service uniforms with garrison caps.

: ANC nurse in live fire wire course; An ANC trainee lies face-up under a wire obstacle while a serviceman films it in 1943.

: ANC nurses at Kents Cavern, England; Army nurses (left to right) Shirley Van Brakle, Milly Collins, and Bernice Finch Kneller stand behind a sign for Kents Cavern at Torquay, England, while on leave circa 1945.

: ANC nurses during live fire training; A group of Army nurses watch others crawl under a wire course during live fire training, circa 1943. The women wear field uniforms, helmets, and gas mask bags.

: ANC nurses near tents; Shirley Van Brakle (right) and fellow ANC nurses stand near tents while on a field exercise in 1943. All the women wear field uniforms with helmets.

: ANC nurses walk out of Westminster Abbey; Two ANC nurses walk out of Westminster Abbey in London, accompanied by a civilian man, circa 1945.

: ANC nurses with a child in Switzerland; Three ANC nurses, including Milly Collins and Bernice Finch Kneller, pose with a child in Switzerland, circa 1945.

: ANC unit in formation at Halloran General Hospital; An Army Nurse Corps unit stands in formation during basic training at Halloran General Hospital on Staten Island, New York, in 1943. They are wearing the blue service uniform with garrison cap.

: Army nurses during bivouac training; Army nurses Milly Collins, Shirley Van Brakle, Louise Bergwell, Humphrey, and Gibbons, all in field uniforms, pose outside tents while on bivouac training in Atlantic City before going overseas, circa 1944.

: Army nurses in Torquay, England; Army nurses (left to right) Shirley Van Brakle, Milly Collins, and Bernice Finch Kneller stand beside an Army Air Forces officer in front of an old structure in Torquay, England, while on leave, circa 1945.

: Personnel of the 160th General Hospital, England; Army nurses Grace McFedrich (left) and Arly DeCombes stand beside serviceman Jim Coffrey at the 160th General Hospital in England, circa 1945. The nurses wear brown and white seersucker hospital dresses.

: Portrait of Shirley Van Brakle; Portrait of Shirley Van Brakle, circa 1944, in Army Nurse Corps olive drab service uniform with 2nd service command sleeve patch and service hat.

: Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent with serviceman; The Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent poses with a serviceman, circa 1945.

: Servicemen and women at Palace of Versailles; A large group of service men and women, mainly Army personnel, pose in a courtyard at the Palace of Versailles in front of a statue of Louis XIV on 8 November 1945. Army nurse Shirley Van Brakle, in ETO field uniform and overcoat, is fifth from the left in the back row; also pictured are Milly Collins and Bernice Finch Kneller.

: Servicewomen in live fire exercise; A group of servicewomen lie under wire used in live fire exercises during basic training, circa 1944.

: Shirley Van Brakle and Milly Collins; Shirley Van Brakle (left) and fellow army nurse Milly Collins pose looking over a fence while on leave in Torquay, England, circa 1945.

: Shirley Van Brakle in London; Shirley Van Brakle, in Army Nurse Corps olive drab uniform with service cap, stands outside a building in London, circa 1945.

: Shirley Van Brakle in front of a cathedral; Army nurse Shirley Van Brakle poses in front of a cathedral in Europe, circa 1945.

: Shirley Van Brakle in hospital uniform; Shirley Van Brakle, in the ANC seersucker hospital uniform, stands beside a stair railing at Halloran General Hospital in Staten Island, New York, in 1943.

: Shirley Van Brakle in the snow at Fort Monmouth; Shirley Van Brakle poses in the snow at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, in 1944. She wears the ANC blue wool overcoat and service hat.