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Description
This white cotton armband features a blue patch with white triangle and red medical symbol with the letters "RN". It is attached with two metal safety pins. The armband belonged to Gertrude Tomashek Barrett. She was a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Army in 1940-1941. She was recruited by the Red Cross to serve under some program they had back then. She served at Letterman Army Hospital at the Presidio in San Francisco and later at Moffett Field. She used to tell of the actor Jimmy Stewart, who served in the Army Air Corps, bringing the new recruits to the infimary at Moffett to get their immunizations. She got out of the service in mid-November 1941 to marry the donor's father, Dick Barrett. At that time, women were not permitted to stay in the service when they married. They married November 29, 1941. Just a week later as they were coming out of St. Joseph's Church in San Jose, they heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor. Had she still been in the Army at that time, she would not have been released until the end of the war. Gertrude was working as a registered nurse at the then Santa Clara County Hospital when she went into the service and also following her release.
Type
image
Identifier
FE09B8C0-245C-4A65-9C24-286850342511 2008-10-27
Subject
World War, 1939-1945 World War, 1939-1945--Women Nurses Nursing Medical personnel Medicine War War work Clothing & dress Barrett, Dick Barrett, Gertrude Tomshek
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