Captain Sallie Durrett, A Soldier's Story
Captain Sallie Durrett, A Soldier's Story
Captain Sallie Durrett was born on October 3, 1914, in Louisville, Kentucky.
She graduated from J. M. Atherton High School in June 1932, then pursued nursing at the SS Mary and Elizabeth School of Nursing, completing her training in 1935. At a time when military nursing required both skill and resilience, she chose a path that would soon place her at the center of one of World War II’s most desperate campaigns.
After joining the United States Army Nurse Corps, Captain Durrett was assigned to Manila, Philippines. When Japanese forces advanced across the Pacific following the attack on Pearl Harbor, American and Filipino forces withdrew to the Bataan Peninsula and the fortified island of Corregidor.
During the Battle of Corregidor in early 1942, Captain Durrett continued her nursing duties inside the Malinta Tunnel, an underground complex that served as a hospital and command center. Conditions were severe. Supplies dwindled. Air raids were constant. Yet the Army nurses remained at their posts, treating wounded soldiers under bombardment and with limited medical resources.
When Corregidor fell in May 1942, Captain Durrett, along with other American nurses, was taken prisoner. She was interned at Santo Tomas Internment Camp in Manila, where she remained a prisoner of war until liberation in January 1945.
Life in Santo Tomas was marked by overcrowding, malnutrition, disease, and uncertainty. Many internees lost significant weight, some up to 30 percent of their body mass. Despite these conditions, the Army nurses continued to provide care to fellow prisoners, sustaining morale and physical health.
After the war, Captain Sallie Durrett returned to civilian nursing. She later worked at the Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, retiring after a long career of service in both wartime and peace.
She remained active in veterans’ organizations, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, and the Disabled American Veterans. She also volunteered with the Red Cross, continuing a lifetime commitment to service.
In 1994, she was inducted into the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame for her extraordinary resilience and dedication.
Captain Sallie Durrett died on January 7, 2003. She rests at St. Mary’s Cemetery.
She was not armed at Corregidor. She carried no rifle into battle. But in the tunnels beneath the island and in the prison camp that followed, she demonstrated a different kind of courage, the quiet endurance that keeps others alive.
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About the Author
a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller traveling through life
She shares her journeys at Take the Back Roads, explores new reads at Rite of Fancy, and highlights U.S. military biographies at Everyday Patriot.
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