When Sister came marching home again...

Neither one has been with the military for more than 50 years. But last fall, the pair joined their old comrades one more time, when they attended the dedication of the Women in Military Service Memorial in Washington, D.C.

The women religious called the experience "indescribable." The memorial, to which they contributed personal reflections on the war for a computerized registry of U.S. servicewomen, includes an exhibit hall and conference center. There is a Hall of Honor recognizing women who were prisoners of war, died in service or won awards for their service; and a terrace covered with glass tablets etched with quotations from servicewomen.

Military nun

Born Mary Barton in Albany, Sister Christine grew up attending Cathedral Academy and Mildred Elley's Secretarial School. Back then, the notion of a young woman's joining the military "was quite novel," she said. "I was still in high school when the Women's Army Corps [the first military branch to admit women] was founded, and I don't think society in general looked too favorably upon that. It wasn't what you looked forward to, growing up!"

Later, the Women's Auxiliary Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) was formed, and the Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard began to allow women into their ranks.

Attracted by photo

"I was a young girl, and there wasn't much going on," she remembered. "I kept going back to that picture and thinking I wanted to go into one of the services, and I liked the way she looked."

In 1944, she was sworn into the Coast Guard and boarded a train for Palm Beach, Florida. Every hotel in town had been taken over for wartime use by the government, Sister Christine recalled, and the best of all was the Biltmore Hotel, where the women's training center was headquartered. Each room had a private bath, and the center was the envy of women in all the other military branches.

Fun at first

"They looked like little girls in school," she said with a laugh. "It was a fun way to arrive, to see that."

After six weeks of training, it was decided that Sister Christine's prior work experience merited another four months in yeoman's (secretarial) school. Then she was missioned to the Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, D.C.

In contrast to the experiences of today's military women, "we knew the girls would not leave the continental borders," Sister Christine said. "We were there to relieve the men so they could be sent out to sea. I didn't really expect to do anything new."

Proud moments

Sister Christine also took pride in meeting a young soldier who had been shipped home after several major naval battles, who later served as a pallbearer for President Franklin D. Roosevelt. "He looked so official and handsome and perfect as he walked by that casket," she remembered.

The yeoman second class even marched in a Navy Day parade, which "instilled a sense of pride. Everyone in the military was in it."

Another life

"It was a funny way to spend a war," she remarked.

After she came home, Sister Christine attended the College of Saint Rose (CSR) in Albany, receiving her degree in American and European history. The discipline of both Catholic school and the military may have influenced her decision to enter the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet soon afterward, she said.

Sister Christine became a teacher, numbering St. Mary's in Hudson and Catholic High in Troy among her assignments in the decades before her retirement. Today, she calls herself "semi-retired," having taken on the job of visiting nursing home residents in Troy twice a month.

"It's never boring," she said of her life.

Sister William

Having just graduated from CSR's nursing program and passed the state nursing boards, she joked that "I'd been giving some thought to entering the convent, but I wasn't sure I could be away from home -- and it would have been harder to go AWOL than to leave the convent!"

Trained at Camp Swift, Sister William was sent to San Antonio, Texas, where she spent her time in service as a "general duty medical and surgical nurse" at Brooke General Hospital.

Respect for women

"We were also in the South, which was a bit of a different experience at that time," she commented.

Esprit de corps

"They encouraged each other," she said. "They were just so glad they were home. I have warm memories of how courageous they were. Especially among those coming from the prison camps, there was a sensation of knowing they were free. They were so relieved."

The young servicewoman's most exciting moment took place on V-J Day, when she saw crowds of thousands filling the streets of San Antonio, forming impromptu parades and packing neighborhood churches.

"You could hardly walk; you just got lifted up" by the crowd, she remembered. "I'm positive it was happening all over the country, but it was great to be a part of it."

Into the convent

In 1951, she took her vows -- and ended up working in the maternity field, an unexpected surprise.

Sister William still works in the maternity ward at St. Mary's Hospital in Amsterdam, although she gave up the job of supervisor several years ago. Today, she does follow-up meetings with mothers after they give birth.

Retirement might be on some people's minds after such a career, but Sister William says she has "no definite plans yet. I've been blessed with good health, and I just keep trudging along."

(05-21-98)