ditsenomics
  • HOME
  • WAR IN THE PACIFIC
    • 70th ANNIVERSARY
  • PACIFIC
  • PHILIPPINES
  • ASIAN HISTORY
  • CONTACT
No Result
View All Result
ditsenomics
  • HOME
  • WAR IN THE PACIFIC
    • 70th ANNIVERSARY
  • PACIFIC
  • PHILIPPINES
  • ASIAN HISTORY
  • CONTACT
No Result
View All Result
ditsenomics
No Result
View All Result
Tinian

Therapist helped establish five hospitals in the Marianas during WWII

Lexi Zotomayor by Lexi Zotomayor
4 years ago
in Pacific, War in the Pacific
Share on TwitterShare on Facebook

In an interview with this reporter on the Fourth of July in 2012, she said, many of her contemporaries had passed away and she was grateful to be around still. For Jean, she did not know of any other WWII female veteran still living.

With four brothers in the military, she wanted to experience what it was like to serve the country. She became part of the medical corps.

Jean said they went in early to build the hospital to take care of the wounded.

She was on Tinian when Col. Paul Tibbets plane dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. “I was there when the bomb was dropped to end the war,” said she commenting further that it was a game changer.

“Being on Tinian, we had so many soldiers who were bombing at the time. When the bomb was dropped, we knew that would be changing things,” Jean said.

They had long known that there was going to be a special bomb, but Jean said they were not allowed to talk about it publicly. “We knew what they were planning. Finally, when the special bomb was dropped, it did end the war.”

She still remembered that Colonel Tibbets called his plane “Enola Gay” as he named it after his mother.

She fondly recalled posing for a photograph beside the “Enola Gay” on the day that it was to fly to Japan.

On Tinian, she was the only physical therapist and she had learned so much about public health there “more than the average person would have.”

Although bulk of her work was on Tinian then, she also managed to make the trips to Saipan and Guam as they were building hospitals.

She told Variety that she soon moved to Japan where they also set up a hospital. “I was in Japan for over a year during the occupation,” she said.

As the only one experienced with acute polio, she had had seen several patients brought in with polio. She also helped train nurses.

Moreover, she said they did not only treat American soldiers; they also tended to the needs of the wounded and sick Japanese.

It was while serving in Tokyo that she met her husband, clinical psychologist Alfred Lit whom she married on Jan. 27, 1947 following their return to the United States.

She served for three and a half years in the WAAC.

They lived in New York for 10 years before relocating in 1962 to Southern Illinois where Alfred worked at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

She had been living in the same house she and her husband built in Murphysboro, outside of Carbondale.

On the Fourth of July 2012, she told this reporter how she cherished the memories and wealth of experience she gained serving during the war. She was glad to have served the country and to share her brothers’ experiences.

On the role that women played during the war, Jean was elated that women were given the opportunity to serve the country. “It was marvelous!”

She said they were needed at the time, initially in the hospitals. Then, she said, women became involved in other areas of the military service.

For those wanting to know more about Tinian where she served, she recommended the book, “The Enola Gay,” which she said had a lot of history particularly about Guam and Tinian.

When asked to give an advice to the young generations, she said for them to count their blessings, one by one; that they should not dwell on what they missed, but instead cherish what they’ve got.

Jean stayed in her Murphysboro home until her death on April 18, 2013. She was 96. All her siblings — sister Pauline Speegle Murray and brothers Clyde Wesley Speegle, John Harold Speegle, Quinton Brice Speegle, Henry Elisa Speegle, and James Raburn Speegle — and her husband had all preceded her in death.

Tags: JapanTinianWAACWorld War II
TweetShareSend
Previous Post

Former LA Times proofreader visits Saipan where he fought in WWII

Next Post

Guy Gabaldon: Saipan’s Pied Piper

Lexi Zotomayor

Lexi Zotomayor

She lived on Saipan, in the Northern Marianas Islands for 11 years as a full-time print journalist, PR specialist, magazine manager and advertising agency's production coordinator. She was active with Stellar Marianas, a non-profit organization that has been empowering young women in the Marianas. In 2014, she was chair of the media relations committee of the 70th Anniversary of the Battles of Saipan/Tinian. For her support of environmental causes, including the campaign for the designation of a vast swath of submerged lands and water in the Marianas as a national marine monument, she was Pew/Ocean Legacy Engaged Citizen Awardee in 2008. She has a BA degree in Asian Studies and was close to completing her MA in Asian Studies when she relocated to Saipan in 2004. She was a recipient of a scholarship grant from the Jose Rizal-Sun Yat Sen Society in 1994.

Related Posts

Pacific

Japanese governor brought home a wife

by Lexi Zotomayor
June 2, 2022
0

The Japanese governor of the Northern Marianas had been widowed so he took a special trip to Japan to find...

Read more

30 months in Santo Tomas: Capt. Ethel ‘Sally’ Blaine Millett’s story

May 12, 2020

US Army Nurse Capt. Ethel ‘Sally’ Blaine Millett – Part I

May 12, 2020

Six months a prisoner of war

August 1, 2019

The Guam invasion

July 19, 2019

WWII veteran Raymond Kelly honored on Saipan, Tinian

June 19, 2019
Load More
Next Post

Guy Gabaldon: Saipan's Pied Piper

A trove of rare WWII photographs in full color

Please login to join discussion
Ditsenomics

© 2022 ditsenomics. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • Battle of Saipan, Tinian: 70 years hence (1944-2014)
  • CONTACT
  • HOME
  • Philippines
  • Privacy Policy

© 2022 ditsenomics. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Welcome Back!

OR

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In