Prudence Burns Burrell

Burrell was born in Mounds, Illinois on March 23, 1916.[1] She grew up with a caretaker in Danville, Illinois.[1] In 1934, she graduated from Lovejoy High School, where she excelled in Latin.[1] After high school, she moved to St. Louis, where she worked as a maid to put herself through nursing school.[2] Burrell graduated in 1939 from the nursing school at a segregated hospital in Kansas City, General Hospital No. 2.[1] In 1941, she was starting her degree in public health at the University of Minnesota.[3]

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Burrell joined the Army Nurse Corps and was given the rank of first lieutenant.[4][3][5] Burrell attended basic training at Fort Huachuca.[3] She was part of the 268th Station Hospital for three years.[3] On October 15, 1943 she and her unit were stationed in Australia for six months before they were transferred to a hospital in Milne Bay, New Guinea.[3] In May of 1945, the hospital unit was transferred to the Philippines.[3] As the war was ending, Burrell married Lieutenant Lowell Burrell.[1][3] Her wedding dress was made of a silk parachute.[3]

After the war, Burrell continued to study at the University of Minnesota and graduated in 1951 with a bachelors degree.[1] She and her husband moved to Detroit and Burrell worked as a math teacher.[1]

Burrell kept track of the women she served with and continued to speak about her experiences in the Army.[5] Burrell wrote a book about her life's experiences called Hathaway (1997).[6]

Burrell died on February 29, 2012.[1]

• Oral history
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