Ladies of December 7, 1941

Annie Fox, Army Nurses, Cornelia Fort, Betty McIntosh, Ma Gambo

Sep 10, 2024

Annie Fox, a Canadian-born American, was the first woman to receive the Purple Heart for combat during World War 2. Lieutenant Fox, age 47, was serving as the Chief Nurse in the Army Nurse Corps at Hickam Field.

As Chief Nurse, Fox coordinated the hospital’s response to the assault. She organized the military wives who showed up at the hospital to volunteer. Many of them had Red Cross training and she had them help in the basic treatment of the wounded; other volunteers with no experience made hospital dressings, served meals, and washed dishes.

Lieutenant Fox had to step up in the operating room, and she administered anesthesia.

Before World War 2, the Purple Heart award was occasionally awarded for any “singularly meritorious act of extraordinary fidelity or essential service.” The Purple Heart Award criteria changed in 1942 to remain limited to wounds sustained as a result of enemy action.

On October 6, 1944, Lt. Fox was awarded the Bronze Star Medal in replacement for her Purple Heart, which was rescinded. The Report of Decorations Board cited her same acts of heroism as for the Purple Heart.

Lieutenant Fox’s citation reads:

“. . .outstanding performance of duty and meritorious acts of extraordinary fidelity. . .

During the attack, Lieutenant Fox exemplary performed her duties as head Nurse of the Station Hospital. . .

In addition, she administered anesthesia to patients during the heaviest part of the bombardment, assisted in dressing the wounded, taught civilian volunteer nurses to make dressings, and worked ceaselessly with coolness and efficiency. And her fine example of calmness, courage, and leadership greatly benefitted the morale of all with whom she came in contact.”

Other Army Nurses

Four other Army nurses were recognized for their performance: Captain Helena Clearwater, First Lieutenant Elizabeth A. Pesut, Second Lieutenant Elma L. Asson, and Second Lieutenant Rosalie L. Swenson. Each received the Legion of Merit “for extraordinary fidelity and essential service.”

Other nurses were recognized for their service all over the world during the war in this AP article.

When I read that Helena Clearwater was 62 years old on the day of the attack, I had to find her photo. On December 7, 1941, she was the Chief Nurse at North Sector General Hospital.

On December 7, 1941, the Army Nurse Corps had a total of 82 nurses stationed in Hawaii. I haven’t been able to find a number of how many served in Hawaii during the entire war period, but it was more than 82!

At the beginning of the war, fewer than 1000 nurses were in the Army Nurse Corps nationwide. By the end of WWII, more than 59,000 American nurses had served, and they collectively received 1,619 medals, citations, and commendations.

Cornelia Fort

On the morning of December 7, 1941, Cornelia Clark Fort was in the air with one of her flight students. According to the story, they narrowly escaped a mid-air collision with a Japanese aircraft and were strafed after making an emergency landing.

I can’t find any reference to Fort telling that story. Maybe there was a close call in the air? Maybe her student was at the controls?

She definitely could have been strafed after landing because fellow flight instructor Robert Tyce was killed when the Japanese strafed the runway at John Rodgers Airport.

Another local story is that after Cornelia Fort made it back to the hangar safely and when she told the people in the hangar that the Japanese were attacking, no one believed her until a mechanic came in shouting that a Japanese plane had just killed Tyce. That story is a bit hard for me to believe. If the Japanese were in the air and they were strafing the runway, I would think they would have noticed the attack.

It is true that a Hawaiian Airlines plane was on the runway after making an emergency landing. The passengers from that flight ran from the plane for cover.

Cornelia Fort joined the WAFS in March 1943. While she was ferrying a plane from a factory to a base, she was killed in a mid-air crash with another WASP aircraft. Sometimes, she is referred to as the first woman aviator on active duty to be killed, but the WASPs were not technically in the Army.

I was so taken with Cornelia Fort that I made her a character in my work-in-progress. (A women’s historical novel about the Women’s Air Raid Defense.) In the future, I will dedicate an entire post to her.

Bit of trivia: Cornelia Fort was portrayed in the film Tora! Tora! Tora! by Jeff Donnell.

Marguerite Gambo

“Ma” Marguerite Gambo established the Gambo Flying Service out of Pearl Harbor in 1939. It was the first private hangar in Hawaii.

Marguerite Gambo was with a student in a Meyers biplane on the day of the attack. They were flying near the Kaneohe Air Station when Gambo saw smoke rising from the base and quickly identified the planes as Japanese.

Gambo said her airplane was “buffeted by turbulence as fighters pulled up from their strafing run.” The Japanese fighters did not engage the biplane and she was able to land safely.

Gambo’s encounter was the basis of one of the scenes in the film Tora! Tora! Tora! although, they had her in the wrong aircraft. They used a Stearman in the film.

Gambo made significant financial contributions to the University of Hawaii Foundation, the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum, and the Girl Scouts of Hawaii through the establishment of the Marguerite Gambo Wood Foundation.

One of Gambo’s planes is displayed at the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum.

Betty McIntosh

Betty McIntosh was a reporter for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin on December 7, 1941. Her article sharing what she had seen was censored and published in the Washington Post on December 6, 2012—sev

The link to that article is

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/honolulu-after-pearl-harbor-a-report-published-for-the-first-time-71-years-later/2012/12/06/e9029986-3d69-11e2-bca3-aadc9b7e29c5_story.html?

In an interview, McIntosh said, “Dec. 7, 1941, when Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor, I was working as a reporter for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. After a week of war, I wrote a story directed at Hawaii’s women; I thought it would be useful for them to know what I had seen. It might help prepare them for what lay ahead.”

In January 1943, she was asked to join the Office of Strategic Services because she was fluent in Japanese.

One of the black ops she supervised was in Burma, where local Hawaii Japanese American women in the Military Intelligence Service participated.

Mail from Japanese soldiers to home was confiscated, and the Japanese American women erased their messages and replaced them with depressing messages that claimed the soldiers had no food or ammunition and were being besieged by the enemy. The mission is said to have had a significant morale impact on the Japanese.

A bit of trivia: McIntosh became one of the few women assigned to Morale Operations, where she met Julia Child, who became a close lifelong friend.

McIntosh wrote, “I have a story to tell, as a reporter, that I think the women of Hawaii should hear. I tell it because I think it may help other women in the struggle, so they will not take the past events lightly.”

Thanks for reading World War II Hawaii: Beaches, Brothels, and Barbed Wire! Why not subscribe? I never sell your email. In fact, I never send out any emails.

On August 26, 2024 my husband and I launched our new book WORLD WAR 2 HAWAII at the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum. The book is available through all online book stores (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.,) and independent book stores.

Thanks for the support.

World War II Hawaii: Beaches, Brothels, and Barbed Wire