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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: World War, 1939-1945
  • Branch of Service: Army Nurse Corps
  • Unit of Service: Torney General Hospital; 142nd General Hospital; McCormack Army Hospital
  • Location of Service: Fort Lewis, Washington; Palm Springs, California; China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater; Calcutta, India; Fort Dix, New Jersey; Pasadena, California
  • Highest Rank: First Lieutenant

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"The British didn't like us very well because we paid all these people more than they ever did." (Video Interview, 26:18)

Geraldine "Gerry" Boock graduated from nursing school in 1944, and she and several of her classmates decided to join the war effort. One of her friends volunteered the two of them for overseas duty, and after six weeks at sea, she landed in Calcutta, where she worked with patients wounded or taken ill in the China-Burma-India Theater. She wasn't immune to an occasional bout of dysentery; she also encountered a shifty snake charmer, and, on a moonlight visit to the Taj Mahal, an amorous British soldier. After the war ended, she stayed on in India until spring 1946 and in the Army until December of that year. Her last assignment was in a California hospital obstetrics ward, as different an experience as possible from her sojourn in India.

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About this Item

Title

  • Geraldine Lillian Boock Collection

Names

  • Carole Watson
  • Boock, Geraldine Lillian Edwards
  • Timberland Regional Library
  • Carnahan, Patricia
  • Eytinge, Margo

Home State

  • WA

Headings

  • -  Boock, Geraldine Lillian
  • -  World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Army Nurse Corps.

Notes

  • -  Veteran was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Repository

  • Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Gender

  • Female

Race

  • White

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • World War, 1939-1945

    • Branch of Service: Army Nurse Corps
    • Unit of Service: Torney General Hospital; 142nd General Hospital; McCormack Army Hospital
    • Location of Service: Fort Lewis, Washington; Palm Springs, California; China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater; Calcutta, India; Fort Dix, New Jersey; Pasadena, California
    • Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
    • Dates of Service: 1944-1946
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Photograph: Copy photographic print [1 item] -- Photograph (collected 01/1945)
  • Video: DVD [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 03/11/2003)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/32494

Cite as

  • Geraldine Lillian Boock Collection (AFC/2001/001/32494), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • image
  • video

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

Using VHP Material in Publication or Exhibition

The Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service. The Veterans History Project Collection includes oral histories along with documentary materials such as original letters, diaries, photographs, and memoirs.

Veterans and interviewers contribute these materials to the Library for scholarly and educational purposes, retaining any copyright they may hold. Therefore, permission must be obtained before using the interview or other materials in exhibition or publication. Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these materials should contact the Veterans History Project for assistance.

As a publicly supported institution, the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item from the Library’s collections and for securing any necessary permissions rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Please contact us with questions.

Obtaining Copies of VHP Materials

In order for VHP materials to be duplicated, we must receive written permission from the interviewee for you to obtain a copy of the recording unless the proposed use is limited to personal use, research, or other uses permissible by copyright law. If the interviewee is deceased, their next-of-kin may grant written permission.

Please contact VHP for assistance if you need to contact a veteran for permission to use their materials in exhibition or publication, or if you have received permission from the veteran and need access to high-resolution copies of VHP collection materials.

Citing VHP Materials

Please use the following formats when citing Veterans History Project materials (substituting the appropriate name and collection ID number).

Materials as a whole:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Memoirs (MS02), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Transcript (MS04), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Correspondence (MS01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Recording:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Audio recording (SR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Video recording (MV01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Photograph:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH01), photographer unknown, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH03-PH14), Ralph Williams photographer, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Computer file:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Computer file (CF01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Artifact (AR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Carole Watson, Geraldine Lillian Edwards Boock, Timberland Regional Library, Patricia Carnahan, and Margo Eytinge. Geraldine Lillian Boock Collection. 1944. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.32494/.

APA citation style:

Carole Watson, Boock, G. L. E., Timberland Regional Library, Carnahan, P. & Eytinge, M. (1944) Geraldine Lillian Boock Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.32494/.

MLA citation style:

Carole Watson, et al. Geraldine Lillian Boock Collection. 1944. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.32494/>.