For the Boys: The War Story of a Combat Nurse in Patton’s Third Army

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For the Boys: The War Story of a Combat Nurse in Patton’s Third Army
With NCR Davis
Part of our Individual Heroes of WWII Series
• Individual Heroes of WWII
Also part of our 80th Anniversary Series
• 80th Anniversary Special
A month after her 24th birthday, Lt. Mary Elizabeth Balster collapses among the rubble of a shelled supply room. Has the young nurse finally succumbed to the mounting emotional toll caused from months of caring for the sick and wounded just behind the front lines of General Patton’s Third Army? On the night of November 30, 1944, holed up in the Heinrich Himmler Barracks in Morhange, France, Lt. Balster’s evac receives a typical patient load (over 200 soldiers, including wounded enemy), but this time one of the admissions is a 19-year-old tanker she’d nursed back to health five months before in Normandy. The charge nurse on Surgical gently informs the lieutenant that the private is critical, admitted with two gunshot wounds and almost half his body consumed by burns. Rising determined to save him, Balster limps toward the shelled supply room determined to search for any blood plasma bottles still intact after Luftwaffe strafing.
Recaptured from her mother’s reminiscences and letters home, NCR Davis joins WW2TV to talk about her mother's war.
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Пікірлер: 35

@morganhale3434 Ай бұрын

I am only halfway through this and this is an extremely powerful episode. The fact that her mother opened up was because she wanted her sisters in arms needed to get the credit they deserved was so poignant and very human. One of your best shows Woody, could you please have your guest back on, she is a wonderful storyteller.

@jackiemontogmery125 Ай бұрын

Wonderful interview. Her Mother's story was so amazing. Thank you to all military nurses! Grammy from Texas

@timstradling7764 Ай бұрын

Thank you Nancy for the very Real insights into your mums war service and your family. Truly Humane.

@jimwalsh1958space Ай бұрын

'The human angle' of war is always fascinating. thank you

@garyaugust1953 Ай бұрын

A very moving and personal account. NCR Davis gave an emotional account of her mother's recollections and experiences. Our somewhat sheltered and privileged lives owe so much to all that fought, and equally those who supported and cared for that brave generation. Top, top show as all personal accounts are.

@scottgrimwood8868 Ай бұрын

A very powerful and moving pressure. Thank you NCR for sharing your mother's story with us.

@1089maul Ай бұрын

Woody/Nancy. A wonderful, thought provoking and moving presentation. Just when you think WW2TV can’t throw up anything different, up pops this one! Thanks to you both. Bob

@silentotto5099 Ай бұрын

This was outstanding. I've so rarely heard of the experiences of women in the nursing corps, what they thought and what they felt. I'm glad her experiences were memorialized.

@davidbrookins Ай бұрын

Excellent. Thank you Nancy. I’m getting copies for my nurse cousins.

@jaydee3993 Ай бұрын

Simply the best WW2 channel on KZbin. Thanks to Nany and Paul.

@markfrumkin3230 Ай бұрын

Thank you, great history.

@veronikamalic9077 Ай бұрын

I absolutely loved this show. Thank you.

@TJBell-n6y Ай бұрын

What a brilliant show. I confess I got a bit of dirt in my eye when Nancy described her Mum's return. On a tangent I was in traction at RNH Hasler after a cliff fall. The QARNNS were fantastic. Once I graduated to a wheelchair they would push me to the pub for a pint and fish and chips. The matron was a force of nature. I think had she been at D-Day, Port en Bessin would have been taken, tidied and cleaned with a working harbour by the end of 6th June.

@bobleicht5295 Ай бұрын

God bless them all. The BoB Bastogne aide station episode is one of the most moving to me.

@stuartbuxton4316 Ай бұрын

Paul I'm gutted I missed the live show, but so pleased I caught up the day following. This was singly one of the most powerful presentations I've seen on your show. It really brings home my research and work with the 65th General Hospital in WW2 and has inspired me to kick the squirrel of self doubt, out and embrace my inner Fox!

@stuweiss-zi9rc Ай бұрын

Ther story of the “colored” labeled plasma was profound. The commendation at the end made me feel good!

@StewartHall-jj7wt Ай бұрын

Unbelievably moving. Such a deep delve into so many different experiences of the human condition in and outside of war. Thanks to both of you for this outstanding presentation.

@georgecooksey8216 Ай бұрын

These personal stories are riveting. And those few words describe the grit and determination of Mary's entire generation: "you dig deep, you remember who you are, you make decisions accordingly". Absolutely Churchillian !

@FlytheW11216 10 күн бұрын

Coming straight after Susan Yu’s fantastic presentation about her family is another great presentation from NCR Davis discussing her mother’s experiences as a Combat Nurse. Another powerful and personal story. The things she experienced and saw are hard to imagine. Thanks for sharing her story.

@jimcaufman2328 Ай бұрын

My Uncle was in Patton's 3rd Army as a foot soldier. He suffered frozen feet at Bastone and was shot in the arm. He was evacuated out and back to the states. I served two tours in Vietnam as an Army helicopter pilot and have always said the toughest job in Vietnam was an Army nurse. I can't count the time I flew critically wounded men who looked more like hamburger than human beings and handed them off to an Army nurse who was brand new to Vietnam. How they coped with it I have no Idea.

@Sawyersmaple Ай бұрын

What unit was your uncle in? My grandfather was 51st armored infantry, 4th armored division, 3rd army.

@keithrosenberg5486 Ай бұрын

I had the privilege of talking to a great uncle who was a tank officer in the First Army. If they did at all, soldiers generally opened up later in life.

@craigmartin1727 Ай бұрын

Wow….so powerful!

@willierobertson862 Ай бұрын

A wonderful presentation

@bruceday6799 Ай бұрын

Some gave all, all gave some...

@PaulScott_ Ай бұрын

Just caught the last part of the and found it interesting how her mother responded after the war and not associating with anybody who was in the ETO or who had experienced what she had. My father was a WW2 vet and one of his good friends took the total opposite approach. When my father's friend returned to Canada following the war, he purchased a motorcycle and drove across Canada and the USA visiting all the family members of those members of the Regiment that were killed or severely wounded in action. When I mentioned this to my wife she insightfully stated that he was in essence "burying" them again and that was part of his grieving and healing process. This friend went on to become an Anglican Reverend and did my father's funeral in 1997. Prior to that he went on numerous veteran pilgrimages to Italy and Holland until his passing in 2017. He seemed to approach and embrace his experiences head-on. For those wondering he had experienced combat watching some of his friends burn and die in tanks in Italy and Holland so he had indeed experienced the horrors of war first hand as a tank crewman.

@WW2TV Ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing your father's experiences Paul

@glennstribling7797 Ай бұрын

Great show

@MsVictory1945 Ай бұрын

I only wish she had gotten those letters from her mother when she was young enough to really share information with her mom.

@Rusty_Gold85 Ай бұрын

At my training course I learnt my Teachers Grandpa was a doctor in the 9th Australian in Africa and was from South Australia where also my Great Uncle served in one of the same battalions. What are the chances when his truck was hit and lost an eye and had a head injury, that they may well have met each other on the battlefield of El Alamein?