Lt Doris M. McKenzie.
Doris McKenzie was a registered nurse from Union Center, New York, at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. Like many other young nurses at that time, she volunteered for military service to become N744935 Lt D.M. McKenzie, U.S. Army Nurse Corps. Doris found herself affiliated to the 52nd General Hospital from nearby Syracuse, before sailing to Great Britain with this command on 6th January 1943. The ship docked at Greenock, Scotland, Doris remembers her only fear at that time. “I was very much afraid of submarines, and felt sure the ship would be sunk”. Doris soon lost this fear once she had been told that the particular luxury liner they were to sail on could not be sunk.
Just a few weeks after arriving in the UK, the 52nd general hospital
moved into its permanent quarters at Camp Wolverley, where Doris shared a nissen hut
with six other nurses. Recreation and visits to places of interest were soon arranged,
Doris still tells her family of one amusing event that occurred to her and a friend
one evening during an air raid on one of her visits to London. Just like many of the
local folk, Doris has memories of “the patients going over the wall to drink
in The Lock Inn”, this was the pub adjacent to the camp. Doris also remembers
children waiting at the camp gates on numerous occasions, one of their many questions
was to ask “got any gum chum”. To this the GI’s would often reply “got
a sister mister”. One day Doris was leaving camp when a young boy rushed up to
her and asked, “got any matches”. Surprised, Doris asked, “and what
would you do with a match if you had one”, “Loight it” was the reply!
Doris McKenzie at Camp Wolverley.
“Corporal George Keselowsky was a medic on one of the wards that I worked on, army rules forbid officers to fraternise with enlisted men, but eventually George asked me for a date one day. Of course I accepted and so on the day of our date, I sneaked out of camp to meet George, before going on a bicycle ride together. Ironically Doris and George had lived just fifty miles apart in America, then after travelling thousands of miles; fate was to bring them together at Wolverley camp.
Later on George was drafted to another outfit, and kept in touch by letter, before both of them returned to the States at the end of the war. Almost a year after they were both discharged they were married and raised a family of their own. The family moved to Florida, but sadly George died in 1976.
Before leaving Camp Wolverley, a young GI gave Doris some sketches, scenes of Wolverley that he had drawn during the time he was a patient at the 52nd. For many years Doris has treasured the sketches, they have become a constant reminder of those days she spent at “Camp Wolverley”.
