Shirley Jones, a member of the Palmerton Area Historical Society, brought her cousin Marian Jones to a recent meeting to discuss her service as a World War II nurse.

Jones, 91, who was wearing a shirt on which was written, "I proudly served in World War II," said she followed Gen. George Patton during the invasion of Europe.

He would move forward and the nurses would pack up and move, too, she explained.

"You are only as rich as your memories," Jones said, adding her memories of the war are rich and a permanent part of her.

She mentioned Irene Halmi of Lehighton, also a nurse from the war, who died last August.

After the war, Halmi worked in a leprosy colony in Louisiana and with the Navajo Indians on a reservation.

Halmi donated her uniforms and equipment from the war to the Holocaust Museum.

Karen Halmi Black, her niece, was in the audience to hear Jones' presentation.

"Little is said about the nurses," Jones said. "We were soldiers but not like the men. We dressed like soldiers. Soldiers were issued guns and were sent out to kill men.

"We had our own weapons – syringes to protect against disease and infection.

She said the nurses did what they were assigned to do, just like the soldiers.

Jones said one of the first things soldiers learn is to give their name, rank and serial number.

"No soldier will ever forget his or her serial number," she said.

Jones joined for the duration plus six months after Pearl Harbor.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt had appealed for volunteers.

"You had to be 21 and a volunteer to join the nurses," Jones said.

She was sent to Western Pennsylvania and then joined the 34th Division in Louisiana where they played war games and were trained for combat.

Some people complained but they were not in condition, she said.

"I could toss my duffel bag in back of a 2-1/2 ton truck, no sweat," Jones said. "We headed out to Texas. The next stop was Camp Kilmer in New Jersey and we knew we were going to Europe."

There was a horrible storm, she said.

They traveled on a medical ship. Everyone but Jones was seasick. When they landed in Liverpool, everyone was happy to be on solid ground, even though it was cold.

Jones and a friend were billeted with an English family. They learned about the straight-laced English.

They learned to identify airplanes and were given a French dictionary and French money.

On D-Day it was difficult to get to Utah Beach. The soldiers were yelling and wanted them to hurry.

"Then, they saw our lipstick," Jones said.

The first two nights on the beach they slept in foxholes. The unit was split in half. The 1st Army learned what combat was all about.

The nurses learned to give plasma transfusions, something previously reserved for doctors. Some nurses were working around the clock.

They got back to their own unit, the 34th Evacuation Hospital, where they lived and worked in tents.

"When the troops moved forward, so would we," Jones said. "We tore down the tent and packed up with only half a unit moving at a time. The second half would follow."

Nothing was sterile. There were cots on the ground.

They followed Patton and the 3rd Army. Patients did not stay long, just until they stabilized.

Nurses folded their uniforms and used them as part of the mattress on their cots. They did not have pillows or sheets, she said.

They did not take their clothes off. One time, Jones had so many blankets on her, she could not roll over.

They saw the total destruction of towns with the wounded waiting in line for surgery.

The nurses were not allowed out of the area because they were so close to the front.

There was the rumble of Sherman tanks and the stench of bodies, human and animal. The 155 mm guns in the field were so loud, it shook the ground.

French girls who had associated with the Germans had shaved heads. Rumor said they were so close to Paris they could have walked. Everyone had periods of homesickness.

"The arrogance of the SS men .... I was assigned to the POW wards because I knew Pennsylvania Dutch and could talk to the Germans," Jones said.

She also discussed eating matzo with jelly, the first shower in France, flooding and mud at Verdun, sweeping up cockroaches with a broom, the whistle of fighter aircraft overhead, meeting Bing Crosby at her ward, trying to hide when Patton visited the hospital, his son in our hospital after being freed from a POW camp and the new passwords after the Battle of the Bulge; sleeping through bombings and, wherever they went, seeing written "Kilroy was here first."

The stench at Dachau Concentration Camp made the soldiers sick, she said. The men came back and vomited.

"For the wounded you do your best and it is not good enough, but you force yourself to smile," Jones said. "The most pitiful were those who could not cope with what they saw. We were prepared for a battlefield but not this."

Camp immates were fed oatmeal. They would hide scraps of bread in their clothing.

"I still feel the relief and joy at the end of the war [May 9, 1945 Victory in Europe Day]," Jones said. "There was singing and dancing and prayers of thanks. We could let our minds think of home."

Tears streamed when they saw the Statue of Liberty. A beautiful, calm boat-ride home caused Jones to be seasick, which the wild ride over had not.

"How can you describe it?" she asked. "You cannot, you must live it. It was emotional when I saw my family.

"We could not imagine what it was like on the front lines. We saw the results of the battles. I will never forget that those brave souls gave up their lives for us."

Upon returning home, Jones and her companions could not get their fill of hot fudge sundaes and bananas.