Beatrice Wachter (1906-1979) from Philadelphia, PA married Harry Wachter, a circulation agent with the Philadelphia Daily News, in 1931. She enlisted with the Army Nurse Corps at the age of 37 on June 7, 1943 and arrived in Europe on March 11, 1944. She served with the 51st Field Hospital in the campaigns of Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes, and Central Europe, and returned home on November 29, 1945. She received a Certificate of Merit:"With unselfish disregard for her own comfort and safety, Lt. Wachter contributed immeasurably to the care and well being of the many seriously wounded patients of the 51st Field Hospital in France, Belgium and Germany"
Detailed film condition and transfer report from Brodsky and Treadway in departmental files.
Daily life of the 51st Field Hospital personnel at a training camp, possibly in the US or in England. Captain Beatrice Wachter (the donor's grandmother) enlisted in June 1943 and departed from Europe on February 26, 1944. A group of men in military uniform and women uniformed as nurses laugh and joke around for the camera. The man with a moustache wears the eagle pin on his cap and the caduceus insignia on his collar, indicating that he is a colonel in a medical corps. Several people in a small boat cross a pond. Two women and two young girls walk and pose for the camera by a large stone wall (shot in slow motion). 01:00:49 Beatrice, the short woman with dark hair, poses in uniform and hat. Young girls pick flowers. Local architecture. Beatrice and other medical corps nurses pose for the camera. Older couple (civilians) pose in garden. 01:01:51 Women in medical corps uniforms line up and run drills (some shot in slow motion), then pose for a group photo (the male officer in the back row teases one of the women). Women and other personnel read on the lawn. 01:03:09 Beatrice and two women in civilian clothes pose for the camera. A child peers at the women from inside the house. Others pose for the camera in front of the same brick building.
51st Field Hospital personnel at a training camp