MERCY MORE THAN LIFE TRIVIA QUIZ

Okay, book lovers, history buffs, and super sleuths! Let’s see how much you remember about Sally’s story! You’ve been reading about her for fifteen weeks now, and I’m pulling the plug on the regular blogs so that some people will want to buy the book when it comes out! So today, we’ll play a little trivia quiz and see how you do! The answers are at the end of the quiz. And no prizes. Just bragging rights if you get them all right.

Question #1: Sally was born and raised in what state?

1. California
2. Ohio
3. Missouri
4. New Mexico

Question #2: What was Sally’s name before she got her nickname?

1. Hazel
2. Daisy
3. Lillie
4. Ethel

Question #3:  Where did Sally do her nurses’ training?

1.  San Diego General Hospital
2. Baton Rouse School of Nursing
3. Memphis, Missouri Nurses’ Training Program
4. United States Army Nursing Corps

Question #4: What date did the Japanese invade the Philippines? (Hint: same time as another attack)

1. January 13, 1947
2. December 8, 1941
3. June 30, 1943
4. September 14, 1942

Question #5: After the Japanese invasion of the northern part of Luzon, Philippines, Sally and the nurses and doctors began moving patients from one hospital to another. Why did they do this?

1. To make the patients more comfortable.
2. Because the Big Wigs decided there were too many hospitals in the Philippines.
3. Because the Japanese were bombing all the hospitals from north to south.
4. Because there wasn’t enough staff to operate all the hospitals

Question #6: Why did the US and Philippine Armies make the decision to move the patients out to the Bataan Jungle?

1. Because of the many resorts there, which could house many patients
2. Because the Top Brass realized there would be no imminent rescue from the Japanese by US troops
3. The patients wanted to go to Bataan
4. The nurses and doctors wanted to go to Bataan

Let’s see how you all did on the quiz! Sorry, no prizes, just bragging rights if you get them all correct.

Question #1: Sally was born and raised in what state?

               c. Missouri

Question #2: What was Sally’s name before she got her nickname?

               d. Ethel

Question #3:  Where did Sally do her nurses’ training?

1.  San Diego General Hospital

Question #4: What date did the Japanese invade the Philippines?

               b. December 8, 1941 (same day as the Pearl Harbor attack, but 18 hours later)

Question #5: After the Japanese invasion of the northern part of Luzon, Philippines, Sally and the nurses and doctors began moving patients from one hospital to another. Why did they do this?

b. Because the Japanese were bombing all the hospitals from north to south.

Question #6: Why did the US and Philippine Armies make the decision to move the patients out to the Bataan Jungle?

b. Because the Top Brass realized there would be no imminent rescue from the Japanese by US troops

Meg Blaine Corrigan is the author of four books: Then I Am Strong: Moving From My Mother’s Daughter to God’s Child, a memoir about growing up in an alcoholic home; Saints With Slingshots: Daily Devotions For The Slightly Tarnished But Perpetually Forgiven Christian, Books One and Two; and Perils of a Polynesian Percussionist, a novel depicting Meg’s time playing drums in a Hawaiian Road Show. Her latest project is to tell the story of her Aunt Ethel “Sally” Blaine Millett, who was an American Army nurse in the Philippines when WWII began. “Sally” joined about a hundred other nurses and 50-some doctors in transporting about two thousand patients from Statsenburg Hospital north of Manila (with more arriving every day) to the jungle on the Bataan Peninsula. They hid the patients from the Japanese for about four months until they were all captured and placed in POW camps for over three years before being liberated by American forces. This blog contains excerpts from the book in real time as Meg is writing and posting a blog once weekly. The book’s title is MERCY MORE THAN LIFE: Sally Blaine Millett, WWII Army Nurse. The anticipated date of publication is spring 2023.Meg’s website is www.MegCorrigan.com . She lives in a tiny apartment in Little Canada, Minnesota with her species-confused tropical plants and her rescue Carousel Horse, Mr. Ed.

A MOTHER’S LOVE

It was a typical summer’s day, as if anything was “typical.” Since the fall of Bataan and Corregidor, Sally’s mother, Altie Blaine, usually suffered silently, trying to be stoic in her approach to life.  Two of her sons had served in WWII. One had driven to the house in Bible Grove from Kansas City, and the other lived nearby, so it was easier to drive up to see her. She and Sally’s father William had sold the farm and moved into a tiny clapboard house in the little village of Bible Grove. Then, William had died suddenly, probably of a heart attack. Altie’s youngest charge found him lying inside the shed. There was no ambulance, so Altie called on neighbors and friends to help get William in somebody’s truck and head for the nearest hospital. But Altie already knew that he was gone. She could tell, holding his head in her lap, that there was no movement of him, no rhythmic breathing, nothing to expect hope in this situation. She and her youngest child would be alone in the house. Altie had lost one son in WWI, when he contracted a fever at boot camp. Now, word was the Americans and Filipino soldiers might come to this camp to search everything. Altie tired not to think about her daughter, squalling around in a filthy POW camp…sometimes just preparing a meal for each of them……brought peace and calm. By then the Blaines had soldiered on, literally, and gone about their business, perhaps sending up a prayer or two for Sally’s safety, simultaneously with dark thoughts that things would never change, that the world would be at war for a long time.

The mail came, this day in late summer, so Altie wiped her hands and went to greet the carrier at the front door. The look he had on his face was won of loss and deep sorrow He handed Sally the letter; he knew it was bad news but he was still hopeful about a prison swam or something to rescue both men and women.

With shaking hands, Altie opened the letter with great care, but she dreaded reading it. Suddenly, a neighbor stood beside her. “Do you want me to read it, Altie?” the woman said.

Altie shook her head up and down.

The neighbor read the contents, which turned out to be a telegram. It read, “Mrs. Blaine, your daughter Ethel “Sally” Blaine is confirmed to be alive and incarcerated at Santo Thomas University. You may write her there. Your most current address has also been obtained by the Japanese.”

Altie could not hold back her tears. The neighbor surrounded her in a big hug, which surprised Altie. But she hugged her back. Altie cried on the neighbor’s shoulder while the woman continued to fill that void a bit when she prayed for Altie and for Sally.