June 4 – AUSTIN – Today, Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham is proud to introduce the next part of the series highlighting VLB’s Voices of Veterans oral history program. In this special episode, we highlight the service of veterans who experienced D-Day. Today we hear the story of American army nurse Josephine Reaves and her experiences with D-Day.
Mrs. Reaves lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she trained as a nurse at Philadelphia General Hospital. She received her nursing degree just two months after Pearl Harbor was bombed. Mrs Reaves said her brother was also in the service, and their family was extremely proud of them for joining the army to serve their country.
She recalled that when she boarded the ship to travel to Normandy to serve as a nurse in the U.S. Army, the head nurse asked her where her military supplies were. Ms Reaves told the woman she only had a small bag of cosmetic supplies with her. The head nurse became irritated by the make-up bag and Mrs. Reaves replied wittily, “Then we’ll fight the war over that.”
Ms Reaves spent five nights on the deck of the ship and recalled the sky lighting up like the Fourth of July when nearby boats were hit and exploded. She also spoke of the shock she felt after seeing the bloodshed that occurred when American soldiers stormed the beaches of Normandy.
Ms Reaves said of D-Day: “The Germans are waiting high in the mountains to hit them, and that’s what happened. That’s why there were 14,000 boys there, 14,000 young men. I will never forget that scene as long as I live.”
Ms Reaves said she had worked as a nurse in a post-operative critical care unit and spoke highly of the men she and the other nurses cared for, saying she had “never met such wonderful, warm, wonderful men in my life.” [They] never complained about anything, never complained.”
She admitted it was “quite a challenge” to care for these seriously injured and sick men. She also said she hadn’t fully realized the difficulties she would face after joining the military until she dealt with the aftermath of D-Day.
Ms Reaves said the nurses did everything they could to care for these men and make them comfortable. “We just did the best we could with those guys, and I tried to be with all of them if they weren’t going to be there too long. I just went up to them and talked to them. They were in a coma…not’ I don’t know if they could hear me or not. [I] would talk to them just like we talked face-to-face.”
Before leaving the service in 1945, Mrs. Reaves met her husband and later moved with him to Texas, where she said, “It took a war to get a Texan and a Yankee together.” They were married for sixty years before his death. Mrs. Reaves continued to support military members and served as Chief of Women’s Orthopedics at Fort Sam before retiring.
Even after her retirement, Ms. Reaves gave back to the military and veteran community by giving speeches about her experiences and helping female veterans in need. She was honored with the Yellow Rose of Texas Award for her philanthropy.
Click here to listen to Ms. Reaves tell her story.
