The pretty brunette from Falmouth, MA tooled around Worcester in her Packard convertible in 1942, while attending nursing school at the Hahnemann Hospital. After graduation, she stayed on there working in the Psych Ward for a while. Although her work was gratifying, she felt there was more she could be doing for her country. Albina Thompson was among 59,000 nurses who went to war to help care for our wounded fighting men.

From 1943-1945, 1^st Lt. Thompson was with the 203^rd Hospital Compliment and served on board the Army Hospital Ship, Algonquin, which was a 500- bed hospital. “Tommie”, as she prefers to be called, says the ship’s medical team patched up the boys and even escorted the ones home that couldn’t return to battle. The Algonquin made about 18 trips back to US ports in New York, New Orleans and Charleston, SC from all over the battlefront. They sailed to Italy, North Africa, and Southern France, bringing the wounded home and returning with medical supplies. Thompson received decorations for campaigns including European, African, Middle Eastern, and the WWII Victory Medal. The ship sailed some turbulent seas and met with formidable weather, even a hurricane. “The Algonquin somehow got in the middle of a convoy at some point,” Thompson related. Of course the hospital ship was lit up like a Christmas tree so that the enemy, and allies as well, could see who they were; but, the other ships wanted to remain incognito. That big red cross didn’t want to be mistaken for a big red target! Tommie says they were cruising right along, unaware, until someone from another ship started signaling for them to “get the hell out of their convoy.” They did so, pronto.

Nurses usually worked twelve- hour shifts on board, but were on call when needed. Thompson was responsible for the 76 beds in Ward C-1 on the ship. I located a copy of the ship’s newsletter, The Barnacle, written by both the staff and patients on board and found a snippet written by a patient who stated: “Somewhere in the Army Transport Service there must be a gentleman with the eye of Flo Ziegfeld, for more lovelier than moonlight on the Taj Mahal is the vision of one of these nurses on her early morning rounds.” It was signed, A Soldier.

 “I’m a proud American,” she assured me when I visited her North Fort Myers home to congratulate her for receiving the French Legion de Honneur medal. The 65^th Anniversary of V E Day May 8^th.   2010, found Tommie as a guest on board the French Destroyer, Chevalier Paul, docked at the Port of Miami. She and fellow North Fort Myers resident, Sam Nogaro, were there to receive this prestigious award from the country of France. “I’ve never been so overwhelmed,” the nurse stated. “I never dreamed I was entitled to such an honor.” She credits another North Fort Myers resident, Raymond Reed, a recipient of the Legion de Honneur himself, for making the phone calls to nominate her.

While visiting with Tommie she asked if I would like to see her pictures of the tea party at the White House with Michelle Obama. Tea? White House? Michelle? Well, yes, I would! This charming, unassuming lady proceeded to explain that one day the White House called and invited her to have tea with Michelle Obama, along with 130 other women veterans. Thinking it was a joke at first, she had her friend and caregiver, Margaret Fanning, talk with the representative on the telephone, and sure enough, tea was being served. In November 2009 Tommie sipped tea with the First Lady and had a wonderful conversation with her, even receiving a kiss on the cheek and a “thank-you” from her as well. “She’s just lovely,” Tommie beamed. Seeing the White House and a tour of Arlington and meeting all of the honored guests was one of those once in a lifetime moments that she will never forget.

“I saw so much human suffering during the war,” Tommie recalled. “We nurses and the wonderful doctors did what we could and I was so proud to be there, but, the images haunted me for so long. The memory fades somewhat, and you keep going forward, but it’s there, in the back of your mind.” The Algonquin waited in the waters off the beaches of Normandy for the wave of wounded to arrive. It’s a memory the 89 year-old nurse tried not to let surface as she spoke. “We did our best,” she stated, misty-eyed, but secure in knowing that she had helped her fellow man. She had made a difference in so many lives.

When I asked how she coped with the human pain and suffering during the two years she served on the hospital ship, she quoted these lines: “Out of the night that covers me, black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever Gods may be, for my unconquerable soul.” Those lines from Invictus, written in 1875 by William Ernest Henley, are what kept her going. She carried a pocket- sized copy with her to war and read it every night before closing her eyes. Sixty-six years later Tommie still keeps a copy of the poem in her possession. This poem is a personal favorite of mine, too, and I will always think of the brave young Tommie clutching a worn out piece of paper standing on a ship bobbing in the ocean, listening to the sounds of low moans of pain and reading to herself: “Beyond this place of wrath and tears, looms but the horror of the shade. And, yet, the menace of the years, finds, and shall find me, unafraid.”

Thank you for your service, Lt. Thompson.