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Former Army Second Lieutenant Regina Benson served in the Army Nurse Corps during WWII. In 2020, she was awarded the Angel of Honor Award for her bravery and dedication. Her service in the Pacific Theater serves as a shining example of women undertaking military roles.
Reflections from the Front: The Experiences of Women Veterans is a podcast that grew out of the interviews Parker Beverly, VSFS intern, conducted with women Veterans in the Fall of 2021 and Spring of 2022. Each episode focuses on the military career of a different woman with some serving overseas in Vietnam or the Pacific during World War II while others served on the home front. Despite having varying experiences, the women all showed incredible resolve in the face of adversity. The podcast aims to shed light on the stories of women Veterans who paved the way for future generations of women in the military.
Parker Beverly 0:04
Hello and thanks for joining us for this episode of reflections from the front the experiences of
women veterans, a podcast created by VA History Office interns Parker Beverly and Hannah
Nelson. Today we are speaking with former Army Second Lieutenant Regina Benson who served
in the Second World War. We are also joined by her daughter Phyllis Benson. Benson was a
member of the Army Nurse Corps, an organization established as a permanent body of the
Army by Congress in 1901. Like the First World War, the Second World War marked a crucial
turning point for the involvement of women in military service. With approximately 350,000
women serving in World War Two. Benson was one such individual, working as a nurse in the
Pacific Theater from 1944 to 1946. In 2020, she was awarded the Angel of Honor Award at the
14th annual Angels of the Battlefield ceremony for her bravery and dedication throughout the
war. Benson is also the oldest female World War Two Veteran in Virginia.
Could you tell me a little bit about your backstory about life growing up and where you're
from?
Regina Benson 1:12
I'm from Philadelphia.
Parker Beverly 1:14
Are you a part of a big family? Did you have siblings?
Regina Benson 1:17
Yes, I have four brothers, five brothers and four sisters. Interesting. Oh, well, I was one of
actually three.
Parker Beverly 1:28
Now were any of your family members in the military?
Regina Benson 1:32
Oh, my brothers. Yeah.
Parker Beverly 1:35
Was your father in the military as well?
Regina Benson 1:38
No. Our parents immigrated from Italy.
Parker Beverly 1:42
Oh, wow. How neat. So they you were a part of the first generation in America?
Regina Benson 1:49
First generation giant section in Philadelphia.
Parker Beverly 1:54
When you were in school? Did you have a favorite subject that you enjoyed studying their
favorite subject?
Regina Benson 2:01
I like math.
Parker Beverly 2:06
If I need some help with math, I'll come to you.
Regina Benson 2:09
That's easy. Math was easy.
Parker Beverly 2:12
When did you first enter military service? And why did you decide to do so?
Regina Benson 2:17
I entered the service after I graduated high nursing school, nursing school because my friends
were going into the service. So I followed them with three friends together. And we remained
together all through our life even today.
Parker Beverly 2:38
Wow, that's really cool.
Regina Benson 2:41
Together, and they kept us together.
Parker Beverly 2:44
Wow. So were you all from Philadelphia? Or had you moved at this point?
Regina Benson 2:49
Yeah, we're all from Philadelphia.
Phyllis Benson 2:55
You know, the three of them went for nursing school and joined together. It's amazing that we
stayed together. Not one of them is still living also, I mean, for the longevity of two of them.
That's a few years ago, and they used to get together every year. Several times they you know,
meet up together since they lived in different parts of the country.
Parker Beverly 3:21
That's so sweet. And that's so cool that you guys stayed together throughout your entire
careers.
Phyllis Benson 3:32
The other thing is that when she moved here with me, Parker, there's a woman across the
street who was also a world war two nurse, and the two of them met. And they became instant
friends. I think that military connection, really, you know, you always hear about the guys and
the buddies. But, you know, I think it exists for the women as well. A woman had their buddies
too.
Parker Beverly 3:58
What did your family think of you deciding to join the military?
Regina Benson 4:02
They weren't happy. Yeah, well, they were afraid that I would get injured or killed. And they
have four sons. I didn't want the first person.
Parker Beverly 4:13
Exactly.
Regina Benson 4:14
Exactly. Too many.
Parker Beverly 4:17
Do you happen to remember what the training process was like? Whenever you first entered
military service?
Regina Benson 4:24
It was difficult because I wasn't used to being told what to do and marching. Yeah. And I and I
couldn't march to music. Because somehow or other I used to say I was tone deaf. Because I
was always on the wrong foot. Yeah, and then I had to learn to play the gun. And I didn't know
how they taught us how to fire it.
Phyllis Benson 5:00
Oh, wow. So she was going overseas, she had to be able to swim the length of a pool and she
did not know how to swim.
Regina Benson 5:09
And they tested a and they of course, they can see a under the order that I would touch the
bottom and walk a little bit and then they thought I was swimming, but I was now unable to
swim when I when I was overseas. Wow, that was bad on my part.
Parker Beverly 5:37
Yes, I dangerous. Yeah.
Regina Benson 5:41
Somehow I just couldn't learn to swim. I know all the motions and everything. But I couldn't get
my body. Yeah.
Parker Beverly 5:51
So could you tell me a little bit about your role in the military? What did you do during World
War Two?
Regina Benson 5:57
I was an Army nurse. Yeah. And we, we took care of the sick and to die in different hospitals
even at home or overseas. And now Okinawa, Hawaii, and Japan stayed with the army. So as
they moved, I moved with them in terms of what to do they they were setting up field hospitals
in Okinawa in Japan. Yes. And then, you know, caring for the younger, but they were just, you
know, 10 hospitals?
Parker Beverly 6:31
Yeah. So you are really on the front lines? I would say, right,
Regina Benson 6:34
Well, yeah, we were on the ship going from Hawaii to Okinawa. And we come to we don't into
this, to run this time zone. So it was so bad that I captain came up and said he decided to let us
go down with the ship. You know what happened, they all got down on their knees started to
pray. And, but then the, everything was so quiet. And still, we were going through the eye of
the storm. And so everybody went back to their old old businesses, of, you know, gambling and
doing whatever they go to. Well went back to our old ways. The war, the war wasn't, it was
over. But the people that were in the hills, that eight came down, they know the war was over.
So they kept shooting at us. It was in Japan, that this took place. And the Japanese women were
so grateful, you know, that they invited us to their homes for dinner. And we went.
Parker Beverly 8:12
That's really neat. Were you stationed mainly in Japan? Is that where you spent most of your
time?
Phyllis Benson 8:19
You know, I'm not sure Parker how it broke down between the three locations. After basic
training. They were signed to Hawaii after Pearl Harbor, so they were helping them with the
water who are still there, human nature come out to Okinawa, and then onto Japan. They
treated some of the atomic bomb victims as well.
Unknown Speaker 8:48
During your time in the military, did you know many other service women? Were there many
other females with you?
Regina Benson 8:55
I have my three friends who are with me and they stayed with me the whole time we were in
the service.
Phyllis Benson 9:00
How many women?
Regina Benson 9:02
No, there wasn't. There weren't that many women in the service. Like the men didn't like the
woman in the service. And we weren't not allowed to in the operating because I was an
operating nurse. And and but later on later on, they change that nurses weren't allowed in the
operating room.
Phyllis Benson 9:25
In the beginning, they weren't Parker, but then later on, I guess I realized that the women were
capable and they let them in.
Unknown Speaker 9:32
What was the public opinion about women serving in the military at the time?
Unknown Speaker 9:37
Oh, public opinion they didn't feel women should be in the service. They didn't feel they were
strong enough to go into combat but we proved them wrong.
Unknown Speaker 9:51
That's right. You sure did. Such an inspiration for sure. How were women treated as part of the
Military, do you think that women were treated unfairly?
Unknown Speaker 10:03
No, they will treated with respect. But they, they didn't want us doing just anything. And, and
they were just taking care of the sick. Because everywhere we went, we had had to take to a
score it was because of that we wouldn't be attacked and raped you know that it wasn't only
the enemy. It was evenour guys that did that because they haven't seen women around. So
they they were also guilty of attacking us. We had to go to the bathroom well two of them
went. So one, one, enter, make sure it was all clear before we could go in.
Parker Beverly 10:59
Could you describe your contributions during your time in service?
Regina Benson 11:03
Oh, I took care of the sick. And also for the family of the of the sick. We we always rode home
to the family to let them know how that their son was alright. And they were not dying alone
that we were there with for them.
Parker Beverly 11:23
Wow, I bet that brought so much peace of mind to their families back home. Yes. Now at this
point, were you married?
Regina Benson 11:31
No, I wasn't married at the time. I met my husband in Honolulu during the war. And when we
got together after the war and married
Parker Beverly 11:44
How do you think military service changed you?
Regina Benson 11:48
I was more aware of the people and the you know and my surroundings. So I was more careful
of what I did what I didn't do. And I was proud of my country and for what it stood for.
Unknown Speaker 12:08
Once the war ended, what was the adjustment like to civilian life?
Regina Benson 12:14
It wasn't that easy because in the service, they told you what to do. But in civilian life, I had the
I had to make my own decisions. And then they were not always right. I decided after they left
the service I wanted to get married and continue nursing.
Parker Beverly 12:37
Now did you stay in Philadelphia? Or did you move?
Regina Benson 12:41
I got no I got married and I am in New Jersey where my husband was from.
Unknown Speaker 12:49
How did your family and friends What did they think when you returned home?
Regina Benson 12:55
They were happy I was back home. No, of course they feel like change because the experience I
had I looked differently if the world. Yeah, then then I did before the service.
Parker Beverly 13:14
So do you think that society's perceptions of women change because of women like yourself
that served in World War Two?
Regina Benson 13:20
And yes, I do. They respect \ women today more for what they can do. And they don't think
they're just little nannies. They didn't realize I have the courage to serve as well as the men do.
Parker Beverly 13:42
Absolutely. Yeah. There's so many women that serve in the military today.
Regina Benson 13:47
Yeah, many women are making it their career.
Unknown Speaker 13:52
Thank you for joining us for this edition of Reflections from the Front. We hope you enjoyed our
conversation with Regina Benson, one of the shining examples of women making a difference
on the battlefield. Please join us for our next episode featuring an interview with Suellen
Hudson, who served on the homefront during the Vietnam era.