Karen Egenes
Centennial, Colorado, United States

The value of nurses is recognized most often during times of crisis, such as a pandemic or natural disaster. At other times, the work of nurses is unknown to the general public. Nurses who served in World War II describe their work in battle zones, then add the comment that they “only did what any other nurse would have done under similar circumstances.” But is it possible to do more to preserve their legacy of valor, service, and sacrifice?

Marcella (Sally) Burke Stiffler was born in 1920 on a farm in Iowa. As pleasant as life was with her parents and seven siblings, she longed for the opportunity to travel and to experience life in a big city. A career in nursing afforded these opportunities. She enrolled in St. Anne’s Hospital School of Nursing in Oak Park, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. Upon graduation, she realized that a bachelor’s degree in nursing could provide even more possibilities. Sally enrolled in the degree program that was offered by Loyola University in Chicago and graduated in June 1941.

Later that year, she applied for a position as an airline stewardess, who were required to be registered nurses at that time. But the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor altered her plans. Because a close friend had been killed in the attack on the battleship Arizona, Sally decided to enlist as a nurse in the Army Nurse Corps. After basic training at Fort Sheridan in Illinois, she was sent to Camp Moxey in Texas, where over 350,000 soldiers were in training for assignment to infantry and tank divisions. There she worked primarily in operating rooms, and in 1943 felt privileged to administer some of the first doses of penicillin. Sally married First Lieutenant Charles Kelly, an officer in a tank division, in January 1944, two months before they were sent on separate assignments. Sally was assigned to the 182^nd Evacuation Hospital in France. Only two months after arriving, she was informed by her commanding officer that her husband had been killed. Sally later related, “It was the most difficult thing I have ever had to do. The Colonel called me in and told me…I went back to work because there was no one to take my place.”¹

The purpose of the 182^nd Hospital was to provide medical care to soldiers who had been evacuated from the front lines. The company relocated to Belgium during the harsh winter of 1944–1945, where the hospital cared for many victims from the Battle of the Bulge. These patients often had injuries to their feet, such as trench foot and frostbite.² Sally and the other nurses lived in tents that winter, with a pot-bellied stove as their only source of heat. She later stated that it was the coldest that she had ever been. As the Allied armies advanced, the hospital filled with starving and tortured patients from German prison camps, which Sally described as “the extent of man’s inhumanity to man.”

When the war ended in Europe, Sally’s unit was sent to New Guinea and later to the Philippines. While serving in the Pacific, she contracted both dengue fever and malaria and was discharged in December 1945. But she returned disillusioned at what she termed “that awful slaughter,” questioning why the war and so many deaths had been necessary.

Seeking a calmer environment, Sally settled in rural Colorado. But after the horrors of war, she found herself unable to return to nursing. She met and married Charlie Stiffler, a widower with two daughters. Together they had three more daughters and five sons. Sally settled into the traditional role of wife and mother, and she spoke little about her nursing experiences during the war. But when Charlie was left disabled after a serious car accident, Sally had to return to work. Although she had been away from nursing for seventeen years, she combatted her symptoms of PTSD and resumed her career. The skills she had acquired on the fields of battle served her well as a civilian nurse. At a time when intensive care units had not yet been developed, Sally excelled in the care of patients with burns, recipients of liver and heart transplants, and those who had endured various kinds of trauma. She was such a good role model that four of her children also chose to become nurses.

Some of Sally’s children and grandchildren remained in Colorado. A granddaughter was in her high school English class when the teacher asked if any students had grandparents who might be willing to speak to the class about their experiences fighting in World War II. The granddaughter asked if Sally could be invited to speak to the class. The teacher replied that Sally would be able describe the hardships of being a housewife on the home front, dealing with rationing and food shortages. The granddaughter replied that a speech of that sort would be impossible because Sally had spent the war on battlefields in both Europe and Asia. Intrigued, the teacher offered Sally the opportunity to speak to the class. Dressed in her military uniform, Sally gave such vivid descriptions of her wartime experiences that she was invited back to speak for many years. This experience first made Sally aware that her memories of nursing during the war were worthy of preservation.³

In 1995, Sally’s hometown of Littleton, Colorado invited its World War II veterans to attend a dinner to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the war’s end. They discussed their fears that as more veterans died, the legacy of World War II might be lost. The septuagenarians launched a plan to build a war memorial in Littleton to honor those who had served in World War II. Six of the veterans formed a committee to spearhead the project. When Sally asked why there were no female members on the committee, the chairman told her that none had volunteered. Sally immediately volunteered and energetically participated in the committee’s activities.⁴

The first task was to secure funding to bring the plan to fruition. When they were unable to secure funding from corporations, group members found creative ways to solicit donations from individuals in the community. For example, they sold bricks and concrete benches to be inscribed in memory of persons who had served in the war. Eventually, the City of Littleton came forward and contributed the remaining funds needed for the memorial. Sally appeared at the groundbreaking ceremony wearing the men’s olive drab army fatigues she had been issued years earlier, explaining that at the time she enlisted, the army was unaccustomed to female recruits and lacked clothing for them.

The Littleton War Memorial was completed in the year 2000. It was built on a concrete plaza and surrounded by the benches from the fund-raising effort. A tall column displaying the World War II victory medal is the centerpiece of the memorial. The column is surrounded by four large plaques that describe each of the geographic areas that the war encompassed. Veterans rejoiced at the unveiling of the memorial. One committee member quipped, “When we came back we wanted education, homes, cars, and babies…We never thought about memorials.”⁵

Sally Burke Stiffler died in 2006. Brochures describing the memorial list her as the only female member of the committee, and also document her service as an army nurse in two different war zones. This recognition highlights the work of the many, often unknown, military nurses who served on the war’s battlefields. It also alerts members of the public to the fact that women, particularly nurses, were active participants in the war effort.

Sally Stiffler, who perhaps “did what any other nurse would have done,” also has a unique legacy. The preservation of this legacy shines light on the work of all nurses, and adds to the public’s awareness of their value.

References

1. Ginny McKibben, “Nursing Opens Doors for Littleton Woman,” Denver Post, April 10, 2000.
2. 182nd General Hospital, WW2 US Medical Research Centre files, https://www.med-dept.com/unit-histories/182d-general-hospital/.
3. Brianne Hovey, email to Diana Hackbarth, October 26, 2025.
4. Anonymous, The Story of the Littleton World War II Memorial, City of Littleton, CO, 2000.
5. Ginny McKibban, “Crowds Brave Cold to Honor Brave,” Denver Post, November 12, 2000.