By Bill Stokes, 1630 words
Col. Banna Rodriguez Ghioto
She served her country, now she helps others
By Bill Stokes
IPS Features
Colonel Banna
Rodriguez Ghioto (United States Army Reserve Retired) was a career nurse who has
a zest for life and relishes every moment of it, past and present.
A diminutive
five feet tall, COL. Ghioto was born in Kansas in 1917 and gave 36 years of her
life to the military. But let her tell it.
"I entered
the service as a registered nurse in 1941, after receiving my nursing degree
from Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in Cumberland, MD." Rodriguez
cashed in her life insurance policy in order to pay her tuition. War clouds were
on the horizon and there was talk about drafting nurses. Rodriguez's family were
depression people who appreciated everything they had.
"Following
becoming a registered nurse, I was in Maryland, and looked in Washington and
Baltimore for a job; there were none. After months of looking, I did land a
position in Washington, D.C. This time I decided I wanted to go into graduate
work and be a pediatric nurse, working with children."
Rather than
being drafted, as the war came closer to our shores, Rodriguez enlisted in
August 1941 for a year, and took the oath as an army nurse at Washington's
Walter Reed General Hospital. Her plan was to stay in for a year, then return to
school. But war was declared in December, 1941. She was assigned to Charleston,
South Carolina, to supervise getting a military hospital operational there.
"In 1942,
we were ordered to Boston prior to embarking for overseas. At that time, nobody
thought women should be in the military; but President Truman decided 'we'll
make females 2% of our military strength'.
"We nurses
had no formal rank, just the "relative rank" of 2nd lieutenant, and we
had no uniforms. In Boston, we were finally able to furnish ourselves and other
nurses with uniforms, shoes and other government issue.
"These were
the darkest days of the war for us. News reports were not good at all.
Nevertheless, orders were orders and no one was alone. We embarked in a convoy
of ships equipped with depth charges, anti aircraft guns, the whole works. It
was just terrible; we lost one ship along the way to a German submarine. The
convoy split up as we approached Europe; one half going on to England. My group
and I went to Iceland, and of course there was an air raid the minute we docked!
"We worked
in Iceland for almost two years, doing hands-on patient care in the 213th
General Hospital, near Reykjavik. It sounds grandiose, but it was really a
cold, muddy, dirty field unit. Later, seven nurses and I transferred to a new
field hospital we set up nearer the airport at Keflavik."
Then, very
unlike the army, Ghioto and her fellow nurses were actually given a choice: go
back home or go on into Germany, sine the war had swung the Allies' way. She
chose to return home to Luke, MD, bidding for a nurse job in Florida. Very much
like the army, she was sent to California! After 18 months, she received orders
for the Pacific theatre.
"I served
on Luzon, in the Philippines, in 1944. We disembarked from the transport onto a
small LST; we couldn't go ashore on a larger vessel because the harbor was full
of sunken ships. We commandeered a children's hospital for our living quarters
which had been a Japanese officers' headquarters. We worked there until 1946.
"By now, I
had accumulated enough points to be eligible for discharge. I came back to the
states and was relieved from active duty at Fort Dix, NJ. The rest of Ghioto's
service has been in the Army Reserve, and through the years she has attained the
rank of full colonel.Every veteran carries certain poignant memories of the good
and the bad of war.
"It's
funny, the poignant things you remember," muses Ghioto. "I recall
landing in San Diego on our way back from the Philippines. We all dashed to six
outdoor phone booths and I stood in line for two hours on a hot day to call my
family in Luke, Maryland. I finally got to the phone, dialed my parents' number
and all I got was 'ring-ring-ring.' There was no one home! I left the booth with
tears streaming down my face. A correspondent from Miami, whom had I met on the
ship coming home, was standing behind me for those long two hours. He asked me
what was wrong, and I told him.
‘We
had exchanged addresses the way service people do (you never expect to
hear from anyone ever again) but after I had been home several days, there
arrived a dozen red roses with a card reading 'Welcome Home!' from the
correspondent! That was just on of the nice little things that can happen when
people look after one another."
That small
gesture has stayed with Banna Ghioto to this day."I'm a first generation
American;" she says proudly. "My parents were born in Spain,
emigrating to the U.S. in 1915. My father was working in the coal mines in
Kansas, so my mother took her three children to Kansas to be with her husband. I
was born a year later. I often use my maiden name, 'Rodriguez,' as a testament
to my heritage."
She attended the
University of Michigan on the G.I. Bill, earning her Bachelor of Science degree
in Public Health there. It was there she met Dr. Carl C. Brumback, then Public
Health Officer at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and a Michigan graduate. Dr. Brumback
later became Palm Beach County's Director of Public Health.
Ghioto
remembers, "As I was taking my last examination at Michigan, Dr. Brumback
called, recruiting nurses for the atomic research project at Oak Ridge. I
accepted his offer and stayed in Tennessee two years. When Dr. Brumback came to
Florida, I decided to go to Colorado; when I asked him for a reference, he said
"oh, you're not going to Colorado, you're coming to West Palm Beach,
Florida!
"He
assigned me first to public health work in Belle Glade, which was a wonderful
experience. Then he brought me into West Palm Beach as an assistant nurse
supervisor with the Palm Beach County Health District. Dr. Brumback later sent
me to The University of Maryland, where I earned my Master's degree in
Psychiatric Nursing. This was in 1960, and I married in 1962.
Her new husband,
West Palm Beach Realtor Wilford Ghioto, Sr. brought five children to the
marriage, so Banna resigned her nursing career to become a homemaker. After a
year, however, Dr. Brumback called her back and she became a mental health
consultant with the county for about four years. She was then asked to join the
Palm Beach Community College as an instructor, teaching Psychiatric Nursing.
"I retired
from the Army in 1979," Col. Ghioto said, "with 36 years' service. At
62, I simply decided it was time to hang it up. And I did." But this small
dynamo hasn't slowed down. As a Reservist she went away for two weeks' annual
training, and her outfit was the 3220th Garrison on Gun Club Road, West Palm
Beach."
Every morning
she rises early, as if to reveille, walks three miles, and later in the day
performs any number of volunteer activities. She works with the VFW, has
volunteered at the VA Medical Center in Riviera Beach, is very active with the
Women Veterans of America, and was president several times of the Reserve
Officers Association. Other accolades conferred upon Col. Ghioto include her
recognition for serving as consultant to two mental health centers in Palm Beach
County. She also has served on committees for the American heart association,
Mental Health Association, and Association for the Mentally Retarded.In 1995,
Col. Ghioto represented all nurses who had served in the Pacific by appearing in
a TV documentary entitled Victory in The Pacific, narrated by Dan Rather. Also
in the film were General Schwartzkoff and former President George Bush.
"I felt
very honored to represent nurses in that documentary," Ghioto says,
"and I was fortunate not to have suffered the hardships that nurses from
all services did. Many of them had a life much more difficult than mine."
She further
recalls that the CBS news crew interviewed her for two hours, "but they
ended up using about this much!"(putting her thumb and finger together).
The response to the show from friends and relatives locally and around the
country, however, made me feel the message had gotten across."
Col. Ghioto
revealed one of her current projects. She and the Lake Clarke Shores
Administrator have started asking residents to contribute $75 to buy a flag in
remembrance of veterans in their family. The flags will be placed in three
locations in the community, and so far the response has been overwhelming.
Ghioto keeps
busy in her community in other ways.
"Right now,
you may smell the vegetable soup I have on the stove. I'm taking some to a lady
who is under the weather. Anybody who is sick gets my vegetable soup. I've been
told it's right up there with chicken soup for whatever ails you!"
Among her many
recognitions, Ghioto is also the first entrant into the Alumni Hall of Fame at
her alma mater, Bruce High School, Class of 1934, in Westport, Maryland.
This great lady,
endearingly called "The Little Colonel" by neighbors, feels completely
fulfilled by her husband, five stepchildren, seven grandchildren and 11
great-grandchildren (ages eight to 18).
Her husband and
family, her long service career and her personal credo of doing one nice thing
for someone each day, have combined to instill the good mental health she has
taught others to attain, not only in the classroom but also throughout life.
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