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Rose Morrow
Jeremy Anderson2021-07-10T13:51:13-05:00
- Name: Rose Morrow
- Location of Birth: Coleraine, Minnesota
- Date of Birth: January 4, 1913
- Date of Death: October 28, 1995
- Parents: Andrew Morrow & Anne (Knutson) Morrow
- High School and Class: 1931 Greenway High School, Coleraine, Minnesota
- College:
- Highest Rank: 1st LT (First Lieutenant)
- Branch: Army
- Other Branch:
- Date Sworn In: February 20, 1943
- Place Sworn In:
- Date of Discharge: December 12, 1945
- Place of Discharge:
-
- Military Awards:
- Military Highlights:
Newspaper article: 1944 – “In Coleraine the spic and span, uniformed Lt. Morrow, one of Uncle Sam’s transport nurses, was “Rose” to everyone in town; and now, in Persia, she has her “work pants” stolen right out of her barracks by one of the Uncle-Sam-supported protégé Arabs! She bought them “back in the States” when she was on that brief leave of a few weeks ago – her “best ones.” And in telling the tale she says that to these Arabs we are “just suckers; the government transports this houseboy back and forth to his wife and six kids, and he does only the things we show him how to do, and then” – and she goes on to tell the story of the missing “pants.” Lt. Rose Morrow, on transport planes which evacuate wounded men from Persia, the Mediterranean, and Italy, writes of the “scum” and “filth” of Persia, and then goes on to tell of some of the lighter moments which relieve the strain of seeing horror and death near the battlefronts; of going to the “city” to see and hear Lily Pons, and of going again to “hear her tomorrow night.” She tells of how “lucky” are she and her nurse pal “Ginny,” together ever since they were in training at the Kahler in Rochester, Minnesota, and still together as Army nurses. They had a marvelous trip together to Jerusalem, an experience “too impressive to even try to put on paper;” and she tells of sailing on the Nile on a Sunday afternoon; lovely even though “all along the banks there were things to close one’s eyes to.”
Newspaper article: The Iron News, Coleraine, Minnesota - 1944 – “Michigan Air Corps Sgt. Meets Rose Morrow in India – That being in India, Africa, Italy or any other foreign country is just like playing in one’s own back yard is indicated time and again in this war as men and women meet overseas. A clipping from the Marquette Mining Journal tells that Clarence J. Laramie, son of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Laramie of Ishpeming, Mich., a sergeant in the air transport command of the U.S. Army, recently met Lt. Rose Morrow, R.N. of Coleraine, while she was traveling between Africa and India. The Richard Laramie family lived in Coleraine many years ago, coming here about 1906, according to James Remington Sr., to whom the clipping was sent and who gave it to The Iron News. Rose Morrow has been in foreign nursing service on transport planes which convey wounded soldiers to base hospitals. Lt. “Bill” Hitchcock also wrote home a few days ago that he had met Nurse Rose Morrow in his work. She is one of Coleraine’s five nurses who are serving overseas. The others are Ethel Saunders, Vivian Curtis, Lois Peterson and Muriel Smith.”
Newspaper article: 1944 – “Lt. Rose Morrow is the first of the five nurses which Coleraine has on overseas duty to come home, arriving here Tuesday night; and her leave is short. She goes away tomorrow to connect with a plane in the Twin Cities, and from there by plane back to India, where she has been on airplane transport duty since last fall in removal of patients from the battlefront to hospitals; most of her trips between India and Africa. Lt. Morrow brought a patient by plane back to the United States and took advantage of the opportune journey to go to Minneapolis to visit her father, Andrew Morrow, who is seriously ill in the University hospital, and visit her mother in Lawrence Township. She takes her mother to Minneapolis with her tomorrow so that Mrs. Morrow may be with her husband for a while. Andrew Morrow had a major operation recently. Coleraine has five nurses on overseas duty. They are Rose Morrow, Ethel Saunders, Muriel Smith, graduates of Kahler in Rochester; Lois Peterson, graduate of University of Minnesota; and Vivian Curtis, graduate of St. Mary’s in Duluth.”
Newspaper article: March 1945 – “Two letters came recently from 1st Lt. Rose Morrow, Army nurse in Italy. In one, Army Nurse Morrow tells of the birthday dollar she received a year ago, when she was stationed in Central Africa and “food was hard to get and the money went for that,” and then this year, when she is in Italy and bought a souvenir with her birthday dollar. In the earlier of the two letters she speaks of “rumors” that she and Bill Hitchcock are due for leave home before long, and that she and Bill and Arthur Pelletier expect to get together soon for a “hometown” party. The latter letter, March 4, said: “I received the Service Club Christmas box today. I can’t tell you how very much I appreciated it. The cedar bough with the little red candle is over our fireplace, a little late for Christmas, but I like it so much. I was so pleased with the picture of Coleraine and still think Coleraine is more loyal to its service people than any place I know. We’ll always remember.” Her letter continues: “Yesterday we drove to Casino. I couldn’t tell you in words the feeling I had the whole trip. We drove along such a pretty highway, but all along the houses had been through the war. Then when we got to Casino, a little Italian village at the foot of a mountain, and saw nothing but pulverized ruins – well – I don’t know how the Allies ever chased the Germans out of there. We stopped to visit an American cemetery. One section was reserved for enemy graves and given the same care as the American side. I noticed one cross was for a boy in Hibbing, so I wrote his mother today, that she might know what a beautiful cemetery her son is buried in and the care given his grave. I am soon scheduled for a trip to Africa, about a 12-hour trip, on which I spend my time caring for and listening to the boys. It is then we really see and feel the war. I feel so sorry for some of these kids, but they are just so glad to be alive! Since October I have been thinking maybe we would be coming home. That was what was told us, but lately no one mentions a thing, so we don’t know when it will be.”
Newspaper article: Itasca Iron News, Coleraine, Minnesota – April 19, 1945 – “Lieutenant Rose Morrow is visiting her father, Andrew Morrow, of Lawrence Lake during her ten-day furlough from the U.S. Army. Rose is an Army nurse and has been stationed in Italy for the past year. She will report to California for assignment to duty in the States at the end of her leave.”
- Wars Involved:
World War II
- MIA / POW:
- Civilian Life:
Rose Morrow attended the Methodist Kahler School of Nursing in Rochester, MN. She later joined the Army-Air Corps during World War II. After her discharge, she became a school nurse for the Vallejo Unified School District in California, retiring after 27 years. She was a member of the California Chapter of the Sons of Norway.
Rose died in Kensington, California and is buried in Lakeview Cemetery, Coleraine, Minnesota (Block 2). She is survived by two nieces, Carol Meisch and Heidi Sorg; and three nephews, Todd and Gill Sorg, and Don Morrow.
- Tribal Affiliation(s):
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