My heart was racing, the telephone was ringing, the chief nurse, Gertrude Arnest, was saying, “Girls, get into your uniforms at once, This is the real thing!”*

Today marks 69 years since the attack on Pearl Harbor. Nurses were instrumental on that fateful day. All things considered, the Pearl Harbor attack wasn’t that long ago. There are still many Navy and Army nurses alive to recount the day, and the military, family members, and media have captured numerous histories, giving us glimpses into the horror and the bravery of those nurses and servicemen dedicated to our country during that time.

For more personal nursing stories, check out U.S. Army Nurse Corps 2nd Lt. Harriet Moore, When Our Mothers Went to War, Monica Benning, and one of my personal favorites – a video made by a granddaughter about her grandmother and Navy Nurse, Grace Fay.

Thank you to these nurses and the other men and women who served at Pearl Harbor. We remember.

And thank you to those nurses and others currently serving our country at home and abroad.

*Read more of Lt. Ruth Erickson’s oral history of December 7, 1941.