12/03/2022
🇺🇲 WWII uncovered: The Angels of Los Banos: Lieutenant Junior Grade Margaret Alice Nash of the US Navy Nursing Corps Taken Prisoner of War in the Philippines
"Lieutenant Junior Grade Margaret Alice Nash, NC, USNR, who was one of the eleven US Navy Nurses taken Prisoner of War in the Philippines from 1942 through 1945." - Office of the Photograph Curator of the US Navy
Following her graduation from Hanover High School and the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Margaret Alice Nash joined the US Navy Nurse Corps on April 28, 1936. Following two tours of the United States, Margaret was assigned to the US Naval Hospital in
Guam, and later to the Canacao Naval Hospital in Manila, Philippines.
On February 10, 1941 Lieutenant Junior Grade Margaret Alice Nash was taken as a Prisoner of War when Japanese forces seized the islands on January 6, 1942.
Initially, Margaret was interned with other US civilians at a Catholic school that had been converted into a prison facility. Later, she was held at the Los Banos Internment Facility, about 30 miles southeast of Manila. Mary was one of 11 nurses that were imprisoned at the Los Banos facility. During this time she, along with the others, worked endlessly to care for the injured and sick.
By 1944, the Japanese military had reduced the food ration to less than 1000 calories a day per prisoner. The "Angels of Los Banos" were known to sacrifice their own food rations in favor of their patients. All 11 nurses were awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart Medals for their actions during imprisonment.
On February 23, 1945, the US Army 11th Airborne Division and a Filipino guerrilla task force combined their efforts to liberate 2,147 Allied civilian and military internees from Los Banos Internment Camp.
After her medical retirement from the Navy in 1946, now Commander Nash joined the nursing staff at the Student Health Center of the University of California at Berkeley. After retiring from her nursing career in 1973 Margaret served as a volunteer with several senior citizen organizations in Walnut Creek, California.
Commander Mary Alice Nash passed away on November 25, 1992 at the age of 81 years old. She lies in rest at Saint Mary's Cemetery in Hanover Township Pennsylvania. Lest We Forget.
WWII uncovered©️ original description and photos sourced by The American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Museum Brooke County West Virginia Public Library, Times Leader News Publications and Ancestry Database (Fair Use Photo)
