This is a fictional account.
Jennifer Wells was so excited. She had never even been outside of Lincoln, Nebraska before and here she was about to board her first airplane. She had just graduated from nursing school and volunteered for the navy. It was April 1942, and the nineteen year old, Jenny Wells, was dressed in her uniform and ready to go.
Her first assignment was Midway Island, a sleepy little island in the Pacific about 1,300 miles northwest of Hawaii. The two islands that made up Midway totaled a minute two square miles. A little over 450 people lived there permanently, but since the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor five months earlier, the population had swollen to several thousand. The navy, which managed the island, was pumping resources into Midway as a forward base of operations against the Japanese. The airstrip built in 1935 was vital to the defense of the Pacific.
Jenny was happy to be doing her part to help the military and the war effort. Her brother was stationed in Georgia, at the newly established Fort Gordon with the Army. He wrote letters indicating they might be headed for England and possibly on to North Africa. Jenny's boyfriend from church had also enlisted and was doing basic training in New Jersey at Fort Dix.
This would be Jenny's first plane flight. She would fly to San Diego for some last minute training then on to Midway. Jenny met two of her classmates from nursing school at the airport. They were both headed to San Diego like her but their ultimate destination was Pearl Harbor. Jenny was thankful not to be headed there. The rumors among the enlisted nurses were that Pearl Harbor, though beautiful, was not the place you wanted to be stationed right now.
Jenny could hardly contain herself as they walked out on the tarmac to board the big twin engine plane. She had always been an adventurous girl, not afraid to try new things. When her brother had called her chicken for not jumping off a high rock wall into the creek near their house, she did it. She had taken on many dares in her young life. Jenny had however, remained a faithful girl. She had not allowed herself to fall into the sexual traps that many of her high school friends had. Several were already pregnant. Some were married with a child, or had been involved with many men.
Jenny had just one boyfriend, Gary, and they had remained true to their faith and not been sexually active. Sure they had kissed a couple of times and even one time Gary had touched her clothed breast, but they had never gone beyond that.
Jenny talked with the other girls on the flight. They had a great trip talking and gazing out the windows at the sights below. This was one of the most amazing days of Jenny's young life and she reveled in the excitement. She was almost disappointed when the pilot told them they would be landing soon.
The short trip to the naval base gave the girls a chance to check out San Diego a little. It was a lot different than Lincoln with palm trees and large bodies of water. The next three weeks of 'Wave" training - that is what the navy called their nurses - was intense but still fun in Jenny's eyes. It was over quickly and her orders arrived for transfer to Midway.
Jenny had made a few friends at the base that were also headed for Midway. They were excited as they walked to the plane for the flight to Pearl Harbor. They would only be in Pearl until transportation was arranged to Midway Island. It was beautiful in San Diego in May and Jenny wished they could stay longer to see more of California.
The flight to Pearl was about eight hours and almost entirely over water. Jenny found it boring until they began to circle the Hawaii Islands prior to landing. They looked so lush and inviting from the air, Jenny could hardly wait. They touched down at the Honolulu Airport at around 4 o'clock in the afternoon. A car with a red cross on it was waiting for them and took them to the Waves quarters on the naval base.
Jenny and her friends got a little more first hand training from the nurses at Pearl and a tour of the devastation still visible. When Jenny saw the sunken ships and toured the hospitals with many wounded sailors, she was glad to be headed for quiet little Midway. Her only concern was that it might prove to be very boring. To her mind the little islands were hardly even worth defending. Who would want them anyway out there in the middle of the Pacific so far from anything?
Her two new friends, May and Beatrice, were good company on the long boring flight from Pearl to Midway. May was from Wichita, Kansas and Bea was from Colorado Springs, Colorado. They had talked for hours on the flight from Pearl. Each told about themselves, where they lived, what it was like, and boyfriends. Bea was funny and May very sweet. They had boxed lunches for the long flight, which they ate about mid-flight.
As they sat eating silently for the moment, Jenny looked at her two new friends. May was tall, possible 5' 10", with straight long brown hair. She was slim but looked to have a nice figure. Bea was much shorter, probably not much more than 5' 3". She had freckles around her nose to match her reddish blond hair. Her skin, besides the freckles, was creamy white and Jenny envied her that. She also envied her breasts as they were larger than Jenny's from the cut of her uniform. Bea's shortness with her large breasts gave her the appearance of a larger build than May, but actually her waist was quite small.
They were just finishing lunch when one of the three other new nurses in the front row turned to talk with them. She introduced herself as Vivian. She was from San Francisco and older at twenty-one. Vivian was disappointed to be going to Midway. She wanted to stay on the more populated islands of Hawaii where all the sailors were. They all talked a little longer but Viv soon turned back to talk with the other two girls.
When everyone was sort of talked out, they dozed for a little while. The total flight was about five hours. They hadn't slept long when the pilot indicated they were going to land. He circled the islands briefly and the girls got a good look at their new home. It looked very tiny to Jenny. To a girl from the wide open stretches of Nebraska, this looked smaller than her dad's farm.
As the plane pulled to a stop by the airport hanger, Jenny noticed three jeeps waiting outside the plane. When the door was opened, they exited to the tarmac. It was a bright sunny day but the wind was quite strong and nearly blew all their hats away. The pilot and co-pilot loaded their duffel bags into the last jeep as the six women joined the drivers in the first two. When everyone was in, they took off for the base hospital and the nurses' quarters.
Jenny was in the middle jeep with May and Bea. The driver introduced herself as Charlotte. She had been on the base for four months and was from Chicago. She welcomed them to Midway Island. Charlotte pointed out different buildings and sights to the passengers. The ride took all of three minutes and they arrived at the base hospital. It was really not much more than a series of three buildings. The first larger building was the main part of the hospital for patient care and operations. The other two buildings had been recently constructed. One was for housing patients and the other was their quarters.
As they walked around on a tour with Charlotte, they also meet all the people from the first jeep. Vivian they knew but the other two girls from the flight were Joan from Dallas and Dorothy from Saint Louis. Their guide was Mary Jane. She was from Charlotte North Carolina and had a cute accent.
They met two of the four staff doctors on the tour. The hospital only had ten patients at the time and the worst problem seemed to be an appendix that had needed to be removed. Most of the patients were either sick or had hurt themselves during construction of the base buildings. The tour lasted about twelve minutes.
Mary Jane and Charlotte walked them around the hospital to the entrance to their quarters. As they walked around, they spotted a group of marines doing a training run. Vivian yelled, "Hey, Boys," and several turned their heads and waved.
As they walked on, Jenny looked at the other girls. May was a little shocked that Vivian had done that, which made Jenny smile. Bea had waved back to the guys along with Vivian and Dorothy, so it was obvious how they felt. Joan and the two instructors had just kept walking.
Their quarters were Spartan even by the standards of a farm girl from Lincoln. Ironically the rooms were set up as small suites, three nurses to a room. Each suite had its own bath with a stall shower. There were five suites in all, so a maximum of fifteen nurses could be housed in this building. The first three suites were occupied so they got the last two. Vivian, Dorothy and Joan took the first one while May, Bea, and Jenny got the last one. Being in the corner of the building, it had windows on two sides which was nice. Charlotte showed the girls her room and how they had set it up. They had used blankets secured to the ceiling to separate the beds for a little privacy. There was a small open space with a little table and three chairs. Each girl would have a bed, dresser, part of a joint closet, and a foot locker.
Vivian asked, "Why put up the blankets? We're all girls here?"
Charlotte said, "Occasionally, someone might have a guy over."
"Ahh... good point," Vivian said, with a big grin.
May gasped and the other girls all chuckled.
Charlotte and Mary Jane left them alone in their rooms to unpack and get settled. They had the night off but duty started the next day. Being the new replacement recruits, they got the night shifts which displeased them. The shifts were eight hours on, sixteen off. Starting times were at six in the morning for the day shift, two in the afternoon for the afternoon/evening shift, and then ten o'clock for the night shift. All but Joan got put on the night shift. She lucked out and got second shift.
Jenny unpacked her duffel bag and put her clothes away. Bea and May did the same thing and they talked as they went.
"Did you see all those cute Marines?" Bea asked.
"Yeah, there were some cute ones," Jenny agreed. "They all looked to be in great shape too."
"I can't believe Viv yelled hi to them," May said.
"She is the outgoing one, isn't she?" Bea said, with a big grin.
"I think she is pretty wild," May said.
"Maybe people from San Francisco are a bit more aware of their sexuality," Jenny said.
