HomeMy WebLinkAboutFrances Gough, Brazos Valley Heroes
One in a series of tributes to melllbers of "The Greatest
Generation" who seryed our country during World War \I
Frances Gough can lay claim to having nursed
more sick Aggies than any other person in history.
Few, if any, would dispute her claim. From 1964 to
her retirement in 1995, she served as a nurse at
the A&M Student Health Center. But before nursing
Aggies at A&M, she cared for many in hospitals in
France during World War II.
She was born Mary Frances Sullinger in Phila-
delphia, Pa., and grew up in North Hills, just out-
side Philadelphia. She graduated from high school
in 1939 and attended nursing school at Thomas
Jefferson University Nursing School, graduating in
1943.
"I had a brother in the service and knew that I
wanted to serve also. A nursing friend and 1 joined
the Army in July 1944, We were first sent to Ft.
Meade, Maryland, where we learned to drill, mili.
tary ethics and how to do things the military way.
After we were commissioned, we were sent to
Richmond, Va., to a hospital which was just begin-
ning to receive patients from Italy. About that time,
the Army asked for volunteers to serve as nurses
overseas. My friend Isabel and I voluntr-ered. We
were allowed seven days leave and then ordered
to report to Camp Kilmer, N.J., for transport on the
USS Crystabal, a banana boat, to England."
"We were billeted six nurses to a very small room
and we were at sea for 11 days before landing at
Plymouth, England on October 8, 1944. In Plym-
outh, we were billeted in an old barn with straw
beds full of fleas. At least we had more room."
Mrs. Gough had been assigned to the 194th
Hospital Group, which was reassembled at South-
ampton, England, and then sent on an all-night
voyage on an LST to LeHavre, France, landing on
December 9, 1944.
"After landing, we were assigned to a chateau at
Estratate, France. The windows were broken out
and most of the furniture was gone. The only heat
was from a fireplace located in a large room. All 92
nurses put our cots in that room. We put newspa-
--
pars on the cots, then blankets and then Sleeping
bags and slept in our long johns, but we still almost
froze to death.
"The Battle of the Bulge was starting about then,
so we were sent to various hospitals that had been
set up so we could attend to the wounded coming
in from the Battle of the Bulge. I was sent to Paris,
arriving there on New Year's Eve. The Army had set
up a hospital in the SI. Cloud Art School. All the
food we had to eat on arrival were C rations that
were mostly frozen. On New Year's Day, each nurse
was given three bottles of liquor. We shared two
with the patients and kept one for our own personal
celebration of New Year's.
".We were a general hospital but did some surgi.
cal work, mostly on frozen feet and hands of sol-
diers who had been in the Battle of the Bulge. Near
the end of the war, I remember treating a soldier
who had been a POW. When they brought him in,
he was in bad shape. He died the night we got him.
It appeared that he was just waiting until he could
get back. He didn't want to die as a POW."
The good thing about her assignment, especial-
ly near the end of the war, was her ability to travel
and see such places as the South of France and
Belgium, as well as all the sights of Paris. With
their issue of candy, cigarettes, etc., they were
able to barter with the locals for perfume, meals
and lodging.
Before coming home after the war, Mrs. Gough
broke' the nurse's rule. don't fall in love with your
patient. She broke that rule with an Army pilot from
Muleshoe, Texas. So, in 1946, a Philadelphia Yan-
kee girl moved to Texas, where she raised her fam-
ily and then nursed sick Aggies for 31 years.
Frances Gough's name can be found on the Bra-
zos Valley Veteran's Memorial. For more infonna-
tion, to make a contribution, or if you know a World
War II Veteran whose story needs to be told, con-
tact the BWM at www.veteransmemorial.org or Bill
Youngkin at (979) 260-7030.
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