A Diary of Tena Tarman, January 1941 to December 1945

This is a series of journal entries from first liutenant, Tena Tarman, during the events of World War Two. The entries refer to her time working in medical tents and medical facilities on the battlefield. Also talks about important events that occured during the war that may have affected her nursing job. Tena was a nurse from the Brokaw School of Nursing, which is now known as Bromenn, a well-known facility here in Bloomington. This medical facility is constantly visited by IWU students in need of special care and the building has been a staple in the nursing field here in town.

During the reading of the journals, Tarman specifies on certain important current events that are occurring at the time, with examples such as the death of FDR being one of them. Other examples include when Hitler was killed, when Pearl Harbor was attacked, and the day when the war in Europe ended. On other entries, Tarman explains her time in medical tents, and the care she gave patients in those tents. She also brought up hardships and complications that were apparent in her time there. Tena stayed mostly in MASH units, which were specified in treating wounded soldiers fresh off the war efforts. She was constantly moving to different parts of Europe, from France to Belgium, and finally, all the way to Germany for the final months of the war. after the war in Europe, Tena was stationed in the South Pacific, as the war in Japan was still in motion. Finally, after the end of the war and the bombings in Japan occurred, the entries talk about her journey back to the States, taking trains, boats, and buses all the way back to Chicago, and then a train back to Bloomington. Toward the end of the entries, Tena reflects on her time in the Army Nurse Corps and how she felt connected with her coworkers on a new level because of the war, as they now felt like a family. To conclude, she claims that during her time serving, she did not care about her life, but rather the lives of those she cared for, as they felt more important, and that her service was for the betterment of the others.