Duty First

Duty First is the story of a young woman, Madeline Ullom from Nebraska who became an Army nurse prior to World War II. Following her training, she thought service in the Philippines would be the chance to see the world and have new adventures. Just as she was about to end her two-year posting and return to the U.S., the Japanese attacked, and she became a participant in one of the great episodes of the war.

During the first few days of the war, she spent countless hours in the operating room at Sternberg Hospital in Manila as she cared for those wounded in the early days of fighting. Days later she was on a boat escaping Manila for the relative shelter of the Malinta Tunnel on Corregidor. There she would continue to care for the wounded and dying and was later transferred to Bataan. Madeline and the other nurses escaped Bataan just prior to the surrender of American and Filipino forces to the Japanese and made their way back to Corregidor. The fight for Corregidor continued for a few more weeks until the eventual surrender of all forces, including Madeline and the other nurses. This was the first time in U.S. history that American women became prisoners of war.

Madeline and the other nurses were taken to Santo Tomas University in Manila where they were interred with civilians captured by the Japanese. They endured almost three years of captivity marked by disease and starvation. Yet, Madeline and the nurses continued their work and put duty first. They staffed a hospital and clinics for the internees and remained loyal to their country and vocation. Following their rescue by the invading Americans in 1945 Madeline returned home and continued her service in the Army Nurse Corps until 1964 when she retired as a Lt. Col.

I knew Madeline during the last years of her life while she was living in Tucson, Arizona while I represented her alma mater, Thomas Jefferson University regarding her bequest to the Nursing School. We had many discussions over the years and this book is one way of recording what she communicated to me about her time in the Philippines. During the writing of the book, I was fortunate to come into possession of a transcription of her diary which she kept while a POW. This diary has not been published and added significantly to the research.