Interview with Ruth Lillian Anderson Aitken [Undated] - excerpt
Kathryn M. Rasch:
This interview is of Ruth Anderson Aitken, born April 25th, 1920. She served in World War II in the Army Nurse Corps, reaching the rank of First Lieutenant. It is being recorded in Rockford, Illinois, on July 7th, 2008. My name is Kathryn Aitken Rasch, Ruth's daughter. Court reporter Terrie Wasilewski is also present. This interview is being conducted for the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress. Where and when were you born?
Ruth Lillian Anderson Aitken:
I was born in Rockford Illinois at Saint Anthony Hospital, April 25th, 1920.
Kathryn M. Rasch:
What were your parents' occupations?
Ruth Lillian Anderson Aitken:
My mother was Jenny Johnson and she had worked in the family store; but at the time of my -- of meeting my father, she was working at a rooming house where he was -- had a room. My father was John Elof Anderson. He was an immigrant from Sweden. When he reached Ellis Island, he was told he should go by his middle name because there were too many John Andersons coming over from Sweden. My father was a furniture-maker. He made furniture for the Union Furniture Company and he did a lot of work in our home after they were married.
Kathryn M. Rasch:
Did you have any siblings?
Ruth Lillian Anderson Aitken:
I had three sisters and two brothers. I was the third pregnancy, but I was the only one -- only baby that my mother brought home from the hospital.
Kathryn M. Rasch:
Did your mother grow up -- did you grow up with your mother?
Ruth Lillian Anderson Aitken:
My mother was the last -- with the last pregnancy my mother had a cesarean section. And when my father went to the hospital to bring her home, she threw an embolism and died when I was seven years old; so she and my brother that was born at that time were buried together.
Kathryn M. Rasch:
Okay. Who raised you, just your father?
Ruth Lillian Anderson Aitken:
My mother's sister, who had never married, was living with him at the time and she stayed and kept house for my father and I; so she was really like a mother to me.
Kathryn M. Rasch:
How did you decide to enter nurse's training?
Ruth Lillian Anderson Aitken:
I had always wanted to be a nurse. By this time World War II was on all our minds. The sisters at the hospital were originally from Germany and they were sending care packages to relatives and friends in Germany; and so we heard a lot about things that were going on over there, which we didn't understand at the time. Some of my classmates joined the Army immediately and came back with wonderful tales, of course. Also friends that we were with, their brothers and the fellows we were dating, were being called into the service. And the bug gradually bit my two roommates and I, and a recruiter came out from Chicago and we decided we would sign up. So we enlisted at Camp Grant in Rockford.
Kathryn M. Rasch:
What special training did you have before you went out of Seattle?
Ruth Lillian Anderson Aitken:
Well, the strange part was when we entered the Army we had no basic training. We had had no basic training. We had some marching and, of course, we were told the rules and regulations of the hospital and regulations regarding enlisted men and officers and soluting, but we had never had any basic training. But when we got to Fort Lawton, we learned it in a hurry. We climbed the rope ladders, which we would have to use getting on and off a ship, and we crawled through the obstacle courses and did a lot of marching. April 1st, 1945, was Easter Sunday. We were in chapel when we got -- they interrupted everything to tell us that Okinawa had been invaded that day. The men, of course, were very chagrined because it meant they would be leaving immediately. We waited for our orders, and they came about a week later when we were told we would be boarding ship to go to -- for Okinawa.
Ruth Lillian Anderson Aitken:
However, after the island was secure, we had heard these stories -- the Japs occupied the island before we came and they threatened the Okinawans that when the Americans come they will rape your daughters, they will rape your women, they will kill you, they will do some very bad things. END OF TAPE ONE, SIDE ONE
Kathryn M. Rasch:
Did you have a church --
Ruth Lillian Anderson Aitken:
Yes.We had a church, always had a church. We had a chaplain and we always had a service on Sunday and there was never an empty pew at the church. They were just planks set across water cans, but it was always full. And the men were definitely thinking seriously before they went into battle.
We were not allowed to take care of the Japanese, but I was going over there just to see where it was and especially interested because of this dropping this bomb on Hiroshima. And while there I met a lieutenant who was a graduate of Tokyo University, a very knowledgeable man, and he showed me a picture of his wife and child and his home in Hiromshima; and I felt so sorry for him and I told him I just don't understand that we can't solve this without this kind of damage. And he was very stoic and said it didn't make any difference to him because he would never go back to his people. He was a disgrace; he had been captured. He had been a pilot and his plane didn't explode and he was a disgrace to his family and he didn't care, it didn't make any difference to him. I have never seen anybody so cold in my life.
Kathryn M. Rasch:
So first we want to start back on your arrival at Okinawa. What date did you arrive and what happened when you got there?
Ruth Lillian Anderson Aitken:
We arrived May 3rd. There was a heavy battle going on. We could hardly hear ourselves talk, but we got on the landing vessels and were picked up in a truck. At the time there were photographers there, but our chief nurse said no pictures today. Because we were the first nurses to arrive on Okinawa, they were there bright and early the next -- the photographers were there bright and early the next day. And our pictures were in the Chicago Tribune, I believe, within a day or two. So our families all knew by March 4th or 5th --
Kathryn M. Rasch:
And those pictures have been used other places, too?
Ruth Lillian Anderson Aitken:
Those pictures have been in several books that I have found and they are also in the Women's Memorial in Washington D.C.
This interview is of Ruth Anderson Aitken, born April 25th, 1920. She served in World War II in the Army Nurse Corps, reaching the rank of First Lieutenant. It is being recorded in Rockford, Illinois, on July 7th, 2008. My name is Kathryn Aitken Rasch, Ruth's daughter. Court reporter Terrie Wasilewski is also present. This interview is being conducted for the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress. Where and when were you born?
Ruth Lillian Anderson Aitken:
I was born in Rockford Illinois at Saint Anthony Hospital, April 25th, 1920.
Kathryn M. Rasch:
What were your parents' occupations?
Ruth Lillian Anderson Aitken:
My mother was Jenny Johnson and she had worked in the family store; but at the time of my -- of meeting my father, she was working at a rooming house where he was -- had a room. My father was John Elof Anderson. He was an immigrant from Sweden. When he reached Ellis Island, he was told he should go by his middle name because there were too many John Andersons coming over from Sweden. My father was a furniture-maker. He made furniture for the Union Furniture Company and he did a lot of work in our home after they were married.
Kathryn M. Rasch:
Did you have any siblings?
Ruth Lillian Anderson Aitken:
I had three sisters and two brothers. I was the third pregnancy, but I was the only one -- only baby that my mother brought home from the hospital.
Kathryn M. Rasch:
Did your mother grow up -- did you grow up with your mother?
Ruth Lillian Anderson Aitken:
My mother was the last -- with the last pregnancy my mother had a cesarean section. And when my father went to the hospital to bring her home, she threw an embolism and died when I was seven years old; so she and my brother that was born at that time were buried together.
Kathryn M. Rasch:
Okay. Who raised you, just your father?
Ruth Lillian Anderson Aitken:
My mother's sister, who had never married, was living with him at the time and she stayed and kept house for my father and I; so she was really like a mother to me.
Kathryn M. Rasch:
How did you decide to enter nurse's training?
Ruth Lillian Anderson Aitken:
I had always wanted to be a nurse. By this time World War II was on all our minds. The sisters at the hospital were originally from Germany and they were sending care packages to relatives and friends in Germany; and so we heard a lot about things that were going on over there, which we didn't understand at the time. Some of my classmates joined the Army immediately and came back with wonderful tales, of course. Also friends that we were with, their brothers and the fellows we were dating, were being called into the service. And the bug gradually bit my two roommates and I, and a recruiter came out from Chicago and we decided we would sign up. So we enlisted at Camp Grant in Rockford.
Kathryn M. Rasch:
What special training did you have before you went out of Seattle?
Ruth Lillian Anderson Aitken:
Well, the strange part was when we entered the Army we had no basic training. We had had no basic training. We had some marching and, of course, we were told the rules and regulations of the hospital and regulations regarding enlisted men and officers and soluting, but we had never had any basic training. But when we got to Fort Lawton, we learned it in a hurry. We climbed the rope ladders, which we would have to use getting on and off a ship, and we crawled through the obstacle courses and did a lot of marching. April 1st, 1945, was Easter Sunday. We were in chapel when we got -- they interrupted everything to tell us that Okinawa had been invaded that day. The men, of course, were very chagrined because it meant they would be leaving immediately. We waited for our orders, and they came about a week later when we were told we would be boarding ship to go to -- for Okinawa.
Ruth Lillian Anderson Aitken:
However, after the island was secure, we had heard these stories -- the Japs occupied the island before we came and they threatened the Okinawans that when the Americans come they will rape your daughters, they will rape your women, they will kill you, they will do some very bad things. END OF TAPE ONE, SIDE ONE
Kathryn M. Rasch:
Did you have a church --
Ruth Lillian Anderson Aitken:
Yes.We had a church, always had a church. We had a chaplain and we always had a service on Sunday and there was never an empty pew at the church. They were just planks set across water cans, but it was always full. And the men were definitely thinking seriously before they went into battle.
We were not allowed to take care of the Japanese, but I was going over there just to see where it was and especially interested because of this dropping this bomb on Hiroshima. And while there I met a lieutenant who was a graduate of Tokyo University, a very knowledgeable man, and he showed me a picture of his wife and child and his home in Hiromshima; and I felt so sorry for him and I told him I just don't understand that we can't solve this without this kind of damage. And he was very stoic and said it didn't make any difference to him because he would never go back to his people. He was a disgrace; he had been captured. He had been a pilot and his plane didn't explode and he was a disgrace to his family and he didn't care, it didn't make any difference to him. I have never seen anybody so cold in my life.
Kathryn M. Rasch:
So first we want to start back on your arrival at Okinawa. What date did you arrive and what happened when you got there?
Ruth Lillian Anderson Aitken:
We arrived May 3rd. There was a heavy battle going on. We could hardly hear ourselves talk, but we got on the landing vessels and were picked up in a truck. At the time there were photographers there, but our chief nurse said no pictures today. Because we were the first nurses to arrive on Okinawa, they were there bright and early the next -- the photographers were there bright and early the next day. And our pictures were in the Chicago Tribune, I believe, within a day or two. So our families all knew by March 4th or 5th --
Kathryn M. Rasch:
And those pictures have been used other places, too?
Ruth Lillian Anderson Aitken:
Those pictures have been in several books that I have found and they are also in the Women's Memorial in Washington D.C.