Imagining in Time

Lieutenant Adeline Simonson, a young nurse from McGregor, Minnesota, was one of more than 2,000 nurse anesthetists who served in WWII. Like the 59,000 other nurses who joined the Army Nurse Corps (ANC) between 1941 and 1945, they worked in physically exhausting and often hazardous conditions. Until recently, their vital contribution to the Allied war effort has attracted little scholarly or popular interest. Neither the Veteran's Administration nor historical societies kept any records, and the nurses rarely spoke about their service. A handful of recent studies has finally begun to shed light on the history of the ANC, yet their discussion of nurse anesthetists is surprisingly scant. This article aims to fill a gap in our knowledge by throwing light on the ordeal of one nurse anesthetist attached to the 95thEvacuation Hospital. Drawing on unpublished correspondence and diaries, we recreate the story of Adeline Simonson and examine its lessons for combat nursing. The frontline setting fostered an unprecedented level of collaboration between nurse anesthetists and physician anesthetists. Under the guidance of Captain Marshall Bauer, the 95th Evac's sole anesthesiologist, Simonson not only acquired new techniques such as the administration of spinal anesthesia, but also helped train other nurses. Most important, while under fire the medical officers learned to overcome varying levels of ability and experience and to work together as a unit.