Gertrude Tuttle

It was here that Tuttle got a true understanding of the horrific injuries these men were suffering. “There were so many men with spinal cord injuries, bullet wounds and amputees; it was a tragic sight that would never leave you,” she recalled. Shortly thereafter, Lieutenant Seither got orders to ship out, which came as a surprise to her. She was not sent to Europe, but to the Pacific Theatre of War. “My destiny was different,” Tuttle said. At Camp Stoneman in California, she boarded the Willard A. Holbrook, bound for the Pacific. “We were 60 nurses on board, all traveling with both Army and Navy servicemen” she recalled. 

Tuttle remembered watching the Golden Gate Bridge fade in the distance as she began her journey to the unknown. A month later, the ship docked at its final destination: the Philippines. “The extreme heat and humidity were just suffocating,” she said. But in good time, the girls adjusted to the bugs, heat and their open-air compound made of burlap held together with poles. Her stay at the compound was brief, for she was quickly transferred to the Physical Therapy Department of the 126th General Hospital.

Here, the young Lt. Seither experienced many horrific sights. “There were men who were emaciated, weighing only 70 pounds, others with terrible wounds, and those who were mentally unstable. Many of these men died, it was tragic”. But she quickly realized the reason she was sent to the Philippines, when she encountered the number of soldiers who had been paralyzed by bullet wounds to the spinal cord, for her training in Infantile Paralysis therapy provided the only form of treatment that could give these men a chance. “We used a form of Sister Kenny’s massage therapy techniques, which was basically our only tool,” Tuttle recalled.

Later, Tuttle unfortunately contracted “jungle rot”, an ulcerative skin lesion caused by a polymicrobial infection which is common to tropical climates. The doctors could not treat the condition, as heat and humidity prevented healing. She was given orders to return to the United States after 8 months of service. Homebound, her final destination was Pearl Harbor, where Tuttle was very fortunate to learn of the Japanese surrender. She remembered “the tragedy of so many broken soldiers who were both physically and mentally wounded, but together on that memorable day, we all rejoiced … the war was over.”

Of her experience, Tuttle remarked, “It was a lot like the TV show “M*A*S*H”, the difference being that we had a terribly hot and humid climate breeding all sorts of disease.” On a personal note, her story is not complete without recalling how happily it ended. On her journey to the Philippines, the female soldiers were out on deck sunbathing, and a sailor came by and was tripped when Lt. Seither stuck her foot out. His name was Lieutenant Roger Tuttle. Shortly thereafter, he became her husband, and together they raised a family of seven children. He became a well-known radio and television announcer during the Sixties and Seventies. Meanwhile, Tuttle continued her nursing career. Gertrude “Trudi” Tuttle was a woman who served the United States Army with devotion, conviction and honor.