June Lucile Connell: Military Nurse

Granddad J.C. volunteered some information about his sister June the other day when I was talking with him. He said that several of his older siblings went to serve their country during WWII--three of his older brothers and his older sister June. When he said that, my curiosity was piqued. Women didn't usually go overseas to war in that era, did they?

Well, this one did.

June signed up to volunteer her services to her country as a nurse when she was about 21, and was assigned to the USAHS Marigold (United States Army Hospital Ship Marigold). This was the first Allied ship to reach Japan (according to Wikipedia :P, but also according to Granddad) after the Hiroshima bombings in 1945. June eventually became a nurse lieutenant, and when she came home was a nurse in Charleston. Later, she transferred to the VA hospital in Tampa, Florida where she met a man "by the name of Reynolds," as Granddad put it. They had one child together in addition to the two he had from a previous marriage. June later graduated from the University of Tampa and taught elementary school in Florida for the rest of her working life. Granddad said sometimes he'd go down to Florida to spend Christmas with her family.

The USAHS Marigold (picture found here)