MILFORD, Mass. (AP) - The joy and exuberance that filled the thousands that gathered in Paris to celebrate the end of World War II is a memory Stella Frabotta will never forget.
Around every street corner in the City of Lights, locals hugged, yelled and waved flags. Frabotta and several nurses in the Army Nurse Corps were among them.
“You can’t even imagine the thrill and partying going on,” said Frabotta. “We suffered, but nothing like they did in Europe. The war did a lot to people. I was glad the war was over. I was thrilled it was over and people were safe.”
The scene was not as joyous several months earlier, as fierce battles raged across Europe throughout the early 1940s. Frabotta, who arrived in Europe just after the Germans surrendered but before the Japanese surrendered, was able to visit several countries across Europe and said many were left in bad shape.
“Some areas were bombed out terribly and others weren’t touched,” she said. “Switzerland had no bombing. France was the worst.”
A teenager growing up in Milford at the outset of the war, Frabotta wanted to follow the footsteps of her brother Frank, who was a member of an Army tank battalion. Frank was in the war “from day 2,” fought in several battles across Europe and made it back home safely.
“He was a tough bird,” said Frabotta.
Back in the United States, Frabotta joined nursing school, graduated and a short time later enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps. Her reasoning was simple.
“I wanted to do my part,” she said. “We wanted to go over and do our part.”
Shortly after enlisting, Frabotta was sent to boot camp, where she and numerous other members of the corps spent their days marching, parading and learning to protect themselves in the event of an attack.
“They put us through hikes so we could tolerate whatever happened,” she said.
Frabotta’s unit was shipped across the Atlantic to the European Theatre, where they would relieve other nurses of their duty. As they approached the European coast, Frabotta and her unit got word of the German surrender.
“I was on the high seas when the war (in Europe) ended,” she said.
Frabotta remained in Europe for a few weeks and was slated to be sent to the Pacific Theatre, but the Japanese surrendered a short time later.
Unlike many, Frabotta had no fear of traveling into war-torn areas.
“I was so anxious to get in,” she said. “I wanted to get into the thick of it.”
Frabotta remained in Europe, and she worked at an Army hospital in Hamburg, Germany, where she administered medicine and oversaw soldiers that had contracted various diseases. She did not treat soldiers that were wounded on the battlefield.
“They sent the wounded back to the U.S. as fast as possible,” she said.
During a typical day in the hospital, which the nurses also called home, Frabotta, a 1st Lieutenant, provided medication to the ill soldiers and tried “not mother them too much.”
“They were a bunch of wild people in that hospital,” she said with a laugh. “We were kind to them, gentle to them. It was slow.”
Working an eight-hour shift in the morning, Frabotta was offered a lot of time to travel around Europe. Frabotta described the Europeans she encountered in France, Belgium and Switzerland as “friendly.”
“People were trying to get back to normal,” she said.
Frabotta was stationed in Europe for a year before being discharged. Returning to the U.S., she worked as a nurse for several years at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Worcester and Milford Medical Center.
Peering at a photo of herself from the war, Frabotta expressed pride in not only her service, but the sacrifices of the hundreds of thousands that fought in battles across Europe and the Pacific.
“I was thrilled I was doing a little something,” she said. “We wanted to go over and do our part.”
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Information from: The Milford (Mass.) Daily News, https://www.milforddailynews.com/
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