100 guests for 100 years

By Shirley Stirling

It was a birthday fit for a queen. And she did have a crown… and a sash, too.

One hundred guests attended, representing each of her 100 years. It was the birthday of Lieutenant Colonel Barbara Nichols, US Army (retired) of Lacey, Washington, veteran of three wars. On August 19, she and an entourage were driven in a luxurious black Olympic Limousine to Joint Base Lewis McChord (JBLM). They pulled into the circle drive at Lewis Army Museum, a white Swiss-chalet style three-story building of WWI fame. The immediate grounds of the building were decorated with birthday greetings and two-foot patriotic symbols by Eva Rivera, of Card My Yard. Getting out of the car, LTC Nichols was amazed by a 13-piece color guard comprised of members of the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution (SAR and DAR) with uniforms of the American Revolution, fife and drums performing, flags waving.

“Is this all for me?” she asked in a small voice. And that was just the beginning.

Inside, supplementing the facilities museum display, Historian Alice Miller introduced a display featuring LTC Nichols’ career alongside women’s military uniforms, part of the “Beauty and Duty” exhibit which has been featured in museums and a variety of venues, in the northwest and beyond. Mannequins displayed livery from LTC Nichol’s long career, including Barbara’s own Vietnam-era uniforms which she donated several years ago.

Barbara Nichols’ Army career

LTC Nichols served as a battlefield and operating room nurse in the US Army, veteran of WWII, Korean and Vietnam Wars. She is highly decorated, including a Bronze Star. She served many people, from US soldiers in MASH units in Korea, field hospitals in Vietnam, a 10,000 bed POW hospital in Korea, to orphans in a missionary facility. She drove her own Army jeep and tended President Eisenhower as his personal nurse in DC’s Walter Reed Hospital. With a particular skill in the operating room, coupled with advanced training and common sense, she served wherever she was needed.

Before the Army Nurse Corps, as a teenager, Barbara worked at Boeing as a Rosie-the-Riveter defense laborer. Her last Boeing position was placing the fiberglass nose on the B-17 Bomber, a coveted job requiring precision… and a short stature!

In her own words, “I was working at a Boeing plant helping assemble B-17 bombers when President (Franklin D.) Roosevelt started the Cadet Nurse Corps, because they needed nurses for the War. World War II was different, no one had heard of the Cadet Nurse Corps but I joined, got three years of training in Everett General Hospital, and became an RN.” She was the valedictorian of the nursing class of 1947 at Everett General Hospital. Then, the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act of 1948, endorsed by General Eisenhower, empowered women to serve as permanent, regular members of the armed forces. Her timing was good and she accepted a commission as 2^nd Lieutenant in August 1948.

In 1950, Nichols was sent to Korea, and ordered to catch the night train from Pusan to Seoul, then make her way by any means possible to join the 8055th MASH, near the border of the two Koreas. A short time later, she was sent back to Pusan and served as chief operating room nurse for the third field hospital. Whenever she could, she helped local missionaries in their care of orphans and provided gifts to the children, sent from her hometown of Everett and from her niece’s efforts in Friday Harbor. In Korea, she cared for all patients with equal compassion whether they were American soldiers, refugees, orphans, or Korean POWs. She was in the first group of nurses to arrive and among the last to evacuate out of Korea.

In the Vietnam war, she received the Bronze Star for her extraordinary service. “Vietnam,” she comments, “that was the hardest one to do. Really hard. But I [also] survived that one.” Later, at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, DC, Barbara was selected as the personal nurse to former President Dwight Eisenhower for an emergency surgery and she got to know both him and former First Lady Mamie Eisenhower quite well.

One hundred thirty-six individuals registered to attend her party, but the grand hall could only accommodate 100. The party was preceded by a birthday card drive with a goal of 100 cards. LTC Nichols received 172 cards from DAR members nationwide, friends, relatives, and other well-wishers. A basket holding the cards was presented to her with a grand flourish, accompanied by a special hand-made card enlarged to 24”x36” from the Leedstown Resolution DAR Chapter in King George, Virginia.

The museum opened at 10 a.m. and guests started arriving early to see the newly renovated museum prior to the party.

“Anything worth doing is worth over-doing,” quipped this writer, organizer of the event, while viewing LTC Nichols’ oversized portraits and a grand US flag birthday cake that Barbara sliced with a Revolutionary War sword. (That being said, most of her fans would declare that a party for this great lady could NOT be overdone!)

LTC Nichols received the following presentations and greetings: 

• The DAR Distinguished Citizen medal from State Regent Chris Crowder
• Women in History medal from First Vice Regent Melanie de Leon of the Mary Ball Chapter
• Letter from Governor Inslee
• Proclamation from the City of Lacey, presented by Sacajawea Regent Mary Blake
• Greetings from the state and national DAR chaplain for her 100^th birthday, read by WSSDAR Chaplain Darlene Carlson with both chapter chaplains, Ann Olson and Tami Reynolds
• Greetings from Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs Director Alfie Alvarado-Ramos,
• A quilt from Quilts of Valor Greetings and from Washigton State Ambassador Lanora Tanaka, representing the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation and Quilts of Valor
• Greetings from the Military Officers Association of America, Olympia Chapter President Carrie Nielsen;
• A photo of the 5,000^th B17 bomber signed by all defense workers including Barbara when she worked as a Rosie-the-Riveter, presented by Lee Thomason, Rosie the Riveter Historian and member of the George Rogers Clark Chapter SAR.

Many dignitaries  attended

These included: 

• DAR Honorary State Regent, Carol Jean Gaffney
• DAR First Vice Regent, Jackie Riddell
• Interim Deputy Commander, Inpatient Services Chief, COL Pauline Swiger
• President of the Society of Military Widows, Tulip Chapter #37, Captain Marilyn Likens, 
• Non-Commissioned Officer in charge of the 133d Army Band, Brass Quintet, SGT Collin Chandler 
• Chief Historian, Office of the Secretary of State, State of Washington, John Hughes, 
• Women’s history and female uniform historian, Alice Miller
• Army Women’s Museum Director Kari Atkinson, Fort Lee, Virginia
• SAR President Art Dolan of the George Rogers Clark Chapter and Colorguard Commander.

The party was held on Nichols’ literal 100^th birthday and was organized by her two DAR chapters of record, Sacajawea Chapter in Thurston County and the Mary Ball Chapter in Tacoma. Historian Alice Miller commented that this was the, “best event of its type that I have ever attended.”

Circle of Life

Army nurse Colonel Pauline Swiger, joined the party despite her tight schedule, and stood in uniform for the Army song. She expressed awe in seeing two eras that day separated by a century, first this 100th birthday party, followed by a graduation event for young soldiers just starting their patriotic service.

LTC Nichols, said, “Thank you for all of this… but I really can’t believe I am 100!”

Shirley Stirling, longtime resident of Lacey, is retired from the State of Washington and has taken pen (and mouse) in hand to start a writing career. She has contributed in editing and writing historical publications primarily, including her role of co-editor of the recently published Thurston County history book, Water, Woods & Prairies.