Three Lutheran Hospital Graduates Enlist for Service in the U.S. Army
[Excerpt]
Three 1941 graduates of the Lutheran hospital school of nursing have enlisted for army service and will leave soon for Camp Bowie, near Brownfield, Tex. They are Geneva Wiland of Pleasant Valley, Ia., Miss Hildgarde Keller of Davenport and Miss Louise Behn of Rock Island.
Miss Wiland, niece of Mr. and Mr. G. George McDowell, formerly of 1330 Thirty-fifth street, Rock Island, has been an assistant on the maternity department since her graduation. Miss Keller has been an assistant in the women's department of Lutheran hospital since her graduation.
The nurses will leave for the Texas camp sometime after March 28.
Source: The Dispatch, March 17, 1942 (photo included)
Local Nurses on Africa Front
Three nurse of the tri-cities area, one from Davenport, one from Pleasant Valley and the third from Rock Island, Ill,all of whom graduated together form the school of nursing at the Moline Lutheran hospital school of nursing, are now serving together on the Africa front as army nurses. They hold commission as second lieutenants.
They are Lieut. Louise Behn, Lieut. Geneva Wiland, niece of Mrs. Geo. W McDowell, Pleasant Valley, and daughter of Otto Wiland of Bettendorf; and Lieut. Hildegarde Keller, daughter of Mr. and Mrs.John Keller, of Davenport.
Upon their graduation from the nurses school they went to Camp Bowie, Tex, where they received their training and left for overseas duty in East Africa later in 1942.
Lieut. Wiland in a letter to Mrs. McDowell states all of the girls are in good health, that stockings cost $3.20 a pair and a small can of tomato juice is 44 cents.
Source: The Daily Times, March 10, 1943 (photo included)
Lieut. Geneva Wiland, Local Army Nurse Visits Holy Land
Lieut. Geneva Wiland, niece of Mrs. George McDowell, Pleasant Valley and daughter of Otto Wiland of Bettendorf, spent her first leave in a year traveling through Palestine visiting Biblical spots.
In a recent letter to her aunt, Lieut. Wiland wrote of seeing the Wailing Wall, Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of the Ascension in the floor of which bears the heel print of Jesus. From there she traveled to Bethlehem and went swimming in the Dead Sea and also the River Jordan.
At the end of the seven day leave, Lieut. Wiland with another nurse, four doctors and two pilots flew back to their post in a B-25 bomber. A trip that normally takes 16 hours on train took one hour and ten minutes by plane.
Lieut. Wiland has been station in North Africa with the nurse corps since Feb. She received training at Camp Bowie, Tex before going overseas.
Source: The Daily Times, June 3, 1943
Word has been received here of the promotion of Geneva Wiland, niece of Mrs. George W. McDowell, of Pleasant Valley and daughter of Otto Wiland, of Bettendorf, from the rank of second to first lieutenant in the army nurse corps. She is stationed in Cairo, Egypt
Source: The Daily Times, January 4, 1945 (photo included)
