It's a real pleasure at this time to present a personality well known,
particularly in the capital city of Arizona. Lieutenant Matilda, Yannis
Shannon's was for a long, long time. A part of the very efficient office
staff of dr joseph Madison Greer, widely known in phoenix and all over
Arizona for his brilliant practice in the art of medicine, particularly
surgery. Lieutenant Janice. How long have you been away from home? 16
months. Does it seem a long time? It did at first, but doesn't anymore. Do
you dream about going home or have you sort of put that out of your mind?
I did it first. But not anymore. Because I don't want to go home until I'm
through over here. What have you missed most of all, since you've been
away from the state's beautiful clothes. Color good, beautiful shoes. And
funny hats. Well, to tell you the truth, some of the ladies at home are
missing those things too. I don't think they can possibly miss them more
than we do. The business of shoe stamps is one of the funniest things that
we have to contend with at home. We don't have trouble with our stamps
because we get ji shoes. The same shoe that the men wears. We have worn
out in the field and in the hospital and it's been the most satisfactory
shoe up till now. Now we can wear silk stockings if we have them or not.
How long can you get them at all here? We cannot. But some of us built
some over I incidentally brought six pairs of nylon stockings. Alright
goodness! Alive! You'll be the envy of everyone who hears your voice in
that statement? Well, I don't know after being in New Guinea close doesn't
last as long over here. Is the dead in the state? Well, did you bring
anything else over here with you that you've been able to use? Yes. I
brought a lot of things including a down quilt which I will never use. And
it is quite a problem to know what to do with things that we brought.
Incidentally, I'm using the last soap that I brought from the States.
Well that should be a cue for somebody to send you some soap. I think this
is an excellent way to put the story across. No, I can't quite frequently.
Fine. Did you miss anything else? Particularly when you came in here? Yes.
All of us Miss Children. When we first came we didn't see any Children
and we used to miss Children's voices. Their laugh and watch them play. We
have been here for about five months before we saw any Children and then
we had to go to a different island to see some fuzzy wuzzy babies. Are
they anything like our own Children at home? They're still Children. They
laugh and they laugh, they cry, they play and they have tantrums and the
parents act very much like they do in the States. Maybe they're not as
spoil in our terms but there still isn't the mortality among them pretty
high. It's supposed to be very high. Some of the missionaries say that it
has been extremely high, especially the last few years. Are you satisfied
with the work that the hospitals are doing in this area decidedly so
patients get very good care. We have some of the outstanding men in the
country. We have men, their professors of surgery, professors of medicine
from some of our outstanding universities and uh after anybody has seen
surgery and has been this close contact with surgeries. I feel that I have
there are getting swelled care. Are the Arizona boys coming through here,
recognizable or do you? Oh yes, we recognize them. At least I do because
I'm the only Arizona girl in our unit and as far as Arizona nurses, I've
met two or three.
And does everyone seem to be reasonably happy in spite of the
circumstances. Everybody thinks about home talks about home and they don't
talk about how they want people to sacrifice. They talk about home as home
wanting to them when they were in the States and they want their families
to live the same life and enjoy the same things that they did when they
were there themselves. Any special message you'd like to send home while
we're at it? No. Just that I'll be very happy to go home. But as I said
before, I am not interested in going home until it's over over here and go
with the rest of the GI's. Well, I think that's a characteristic attitude
and to be admired friends. We've been talking here very informally with
Lieutenant Matilda Yannis, whose former association with the office of dr
joseph Madison Greer in phoenix, Arizona made her well known to many
definitions and many Arizona's. I can promise you that she looks fine and
seems to be very happy. Thank you very much, Lieutenant. Thank you. Howard.