V-E DAY IS JUST A MOVING DAY, NURSE WRITES
Lt. Vivian Bakken, army nurse, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ben B. Bakken here, in a letter written May 26 to her sister, Mrs. K. S. Cowan, said in commenting on Algona’s V-E observance:
“On that day we were being transferred in a two and a half ton truck from near Trier, Germany, to a hospital near Ehensee, Austria.
“When we were told Germany had surrendered no one did anything. Some GIs drove by in a jeep and offered us champagne. We got here about 10 that night, tired, dirty and crabby.
“Our hospital is set up in a former German prison camp. It’s a hard job . . . the men are thin, underfed, and vermin infested . . . but Florence Nightingale would want us to carry on so we must.
“Wish you could see the crematory the Germans used here. There are bones still lying on the hearth, and it’s not very pretty.”
Lieut. Bakken was graduated from Trinity Lutheran hospital, Kansas City, entered service in September, 1944, and was ordered overseas in March, 1945. She has served in hospitals in France and Germany, and is now in Austria.
Source: Kossuth County Advance, Tuesday, June 12, 1945
