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A TRIUMPH OF LOVE IN THE MIDDLE OF WAR

Coastal Breeze News salutes a couple as part of its continuing recognition of World War II veterans. Two young lieu-tenants met while serving in the United States Army and neither war nor far away assignments could keep them from find-ing each other again and again.

Georgia Ivanoff Olsen resides on Mar-co Island in the same condo she shared with her husband, Edward, until his death here in 2005. Their northern homes were in Chicago and Fontana on Lake Geneva, Wisconsin where they raised their only child, Lucienne.

In 1943, Georgia, a recent nursing school graduate, was working in comfort-able conditions in the United States but knew about the urgent need for nurses in the armed services. She wrote to the Red Cross describing her interest in enlisting and one week later received a reply. Geor-gia still has the correspondence.

She chose the army, quit her job and boarded a train for Camp Ellis, Illinois. Her mother and father were the parents of daughters and as the oldest, Georgia considered it her duty to serve her coun-try in the name of her family. Following her training, she was assigned to tempo-rary duty with the 43rd Field Hospital and transferred to Camp Stoneman, Califor-nia to await orders.

Lt. Edward Olsen served at several army bases in the United States before he was ordered to Camp Stoneman for ship-ment overseas as a replacement infantry officer. Just before shipping out, he met another lieutenant, Army Nurse Lt. Geor-gia Ivanoff, at a dance in the Officers Club at Camp Stoneman. The young couple promised to write one another.

On February 14, 1944, Lt. Olsen em-barked for Kauai, Hawaii to join the 33rd Infantry Division as a rifle platoon leader. On February 15, 1944, Lt. Ivanoff depart-ed for Milne Bay, New Guinea to help set up the 43rd Field Hospital. It was a rough crossing and upon arrival in the bay, the nurses were transferred to “ducks” for landing on the beach. They were thor-oughly soaked along with all their gear.

The new arrivals were trucked into the jungle to their base of operations. Quar-ters were tents on platforms cocooned in mosquito netting, four to a tent. They slogged through ankle deep mud to their quarters and discovered there was no run-ning water. These newly minted officers, used to typical American homes and all their comforts, were told to use their hel-mets for “spit showers” and to do their laundry.

The hospital and the mess were on a rise where conditions were a little dryer. The 43rd Field Hospital staff lived on

spam, sausages and powdered milk. They were saved by a great baker whose deli-cious bread became the mainstay of their diet.

The nurses were assigned wards and treated the wounded soldiers brought in from the front lines. The most difficult cases were patients with “jungle rot.” Sol-diers who had been on the line for days and weeks with wet boots and socks, sub-jected to rain, mud and sweltering jungle heat suffered terribly and the damage to their lower legs and feet was nearly impos-sible to treat.

Georgia praised the corpsmen for their devotion to duty, helping to lift and move wounded soldiers with great care, assist-ing with treatment and making it possible for the nurses to look after the constant

influx of patients under trying, difficult conditions.

A corpsman came rushing to Lt. Iva-noff one day to report that two patients were fighting with each other. The petite lieutenant interceded and led one of the soldiers to another part of the hospital to talk with him and help him calm down. He looked down at her and said, “and a little child shall lead them.”

Lieutenant Edward Olsen, now a rifle

platoon leader in the 130th Infantry Regi-ment, landed at Finschaven, New Guinea in May, 1944. Finschaven was a seaport town where allied shipping found safe harbor as more of the Japanese navy was destroyed. In October, 1944, the 43rd Field Hospital left Milne Bay with new orders to set up base in Hollandia. Their hospital ship made a brief stopover at Finschaven and upon hearing the news, Edward rushed to the harbor. Edward and Georgia had their second meeting, an un-predictable, unexpected, happy encounter in the middle of war.

Lt. Ivanoff remained with the 43rd Field Hospital in Hollandia for several months ministering to sick and wounded soldiers. Lt. Olsen, still with the 33rd di-vision, had moved on to Morotai, Nether-lands, East Indies. In the winter of 1945, as the Japanese were pushed back by the U. S. Sixth Army, the 33rd landed at Lin-gayen Gulf, Luzan, Phillipines. Olsen es-tablished a munitions dump for his bat-talion, stockpiling ammunition, grenades and other explosives. He organized and led parties to transport ammunition to the front lines.

Lt. Ivanoff was on the move again with the 43rd. This time her destination was Urdaneta, a village near Lingayen Gulf.

By Jane A. Marlowejane@coastalbreezenews.com

SUBMITTED PHOTOLTS. Georgia and Edward Olsen.

Read more SALUTE TO VETS, B/2Local youth assist corpsmen of the 43rd.

A smiling bride-to-be.

Their wedding menu.

Hand painted wedding invitation.

SALUTE TO VETS

From parachute to wedding gown.