Wartime

        A few years before Mom passed away in 2017 (she was 99 when she passed), I gave her one of those memory books to fill out as she wished. The following story is one of the things she wrote about, and I would never have known it happened had she not written it down. I have researched what she wrote and it all was true. I was able to find newspapers articles that backs up her remembrance.

World War II - September 15, 1944 to be specific. There was a battle, but it was not on foreign soil, it was in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The opposing factions were Mother Nature against those already wounded in the war. Here is the story, and our mom was right there as it unfolded.

Mom. on the boardwalk of A.C. 1938

First, a little background. Fresh out of Atlantic City high school, Mom got a secretarial  job working for Leeds and Lippincott, the owners of Haddon Hall, a large convention center and hotel on the boardwalk. A few years passed, and WWII started. The US Army/Air Force requisitioned Haddon Hall to serve as a hospital to care for wounded solders returning from the war. At that time, she received her Civil Service appointment and went to work for the commanding officers. The Army renamed the hotel “Thomas M. England General Hospital,” who was a hero of the Yellow Fever experiments in Cuba in 1900. For anyone wanting to read more about this topic, here is a very detailed article. 

https://www.irishbrigade.com/blogs/http-www-irishbrigade-com-blogs/resorts-was-formally-wwii-military-hospital-thomas-england-general-hospital

Thomas England Hospital (Haddon Hall) during WWII

Fast forward to the 14th of September 1944,  a Thursday. This is when the hurricane hit Atlantic City, after it traveled up the eastern seaboard. Winds of up to 82 MPH and an incoming tide hit Atlantic City hard, and the storm lasted well into the night. The rushing water forced open the doors of the basement entrance and poured into the cellar. More than five feet of water ruined food stuffs and hospital equipment. Flood water knocked out the pumps that supplied water to the boiler rooms, which caused the loss of all power.

This is from the link above:  “The following day, the order to evacuate the patients was given. Coast Guardsmen at the training school volunteered to assist with the effort as litter-bearers; one thousand patients had to be taken to waiting ambulances and then on to the train station where four trains stood ready to carry them to Halloran General Hospital in New York. Many of the patients had to be walked down eleven flights of stairs lighted only by flashlights or oil lamps. Within nine hours, the entire evacuation was completed. “

Now here is our mom’s memory of that event: “This was a year to be remembered. A bad hurricane hit A. C., so all the patients had to be evaluated - imagine, no power - and the hotel was 13 floors! The Coast Guard saved us, bringing patients  down with lanterns and gurneys, they were then taken to another area in north NJ.” Below is the entry from her memory book. She remembered it very clearly, and that was well over 65 years later. It made a huge impact on her. 

Mom's journal of that day written many years later

As a side note, our mom and dad met at this Army hospital in Atlantic City. He was a 2nd Lt in the Army, and was part of the medical corps. They were married in Oct 1943, so he was there too when this hurricane hit, I’m sure busy with his responsibilities. He was sent overseas in January 1945, and returned safely one year later, at the end of the war. 

Photo of Mom in 1943, when she was working for the Army 

Our mom and dad were both such incredible people. Even though they are both gone now, I continue to be so impressed with them, and their generation! And I am so grateful that they left us this legacy of our mom’s remembrances and our dad’s WWII letters home and audio recordings, among so many other things. 

Mom and Dad on wedding day Oct 1943

        I am including a detailed newspaper article that described this event and evacuation in detail for anyone interested in reading more.