Posted: Tuesday, September 17, 2002 6:00 AM
CLINTON, Ky.--A service is set for 1 p.m. today at Clinton Cemetery for Earleen Allen Francis, one of a small group of military nurses who distinguished themselves during years of captivity as prisoners of war in World War II.
She died here Sunday at age 91. A salute by the Veterans of Foreign Wars is planned during today's service.
Francis was among 300 women with the U.S. Army Nurse Corps captured by Japanese forces after the fall of Corregidor, a small, fortified island in the Philippines. They were held prisoner from May 1942 to February 1945, caring for other prisoners, both civilian and military, while subsisting on insect-infested rice and enduring beatings.
Francis' friends say she was scarred by her captivity and worked only infrequently after she returned to the United States. She was married briefly to Garnet Francis, an Army dentist she met in the Philippines.
Francis, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease, had no family. She lived with a caregiver in Clinton after residing for several years in Paducah. She was a native of Bardwell.
Gov. Paul Patton and the state Department of Veteran Affairs presented her a certificate of appreciation last month for her service. She and other survivors of the Japanese camp were recognized by President Ronald Reagan at the White House in 1983.
She is mentioned in two books about the POW camp: "To the Angels" by Denny Williams (1985) and "We Band of Angels" by Elizabeth N. Norman (1999).
Obit from The Paducah Sun
CLINTON, Ky.--A service is set for 1 p.m. today at Clinton Cemetery for Earleen Allen Francis, one of a small group of military nurses who distinguished themselves during years of captivity as prisoners of war in World War II.
She died here Sunday at age 91. A salute by the Veterans of Foreign Wars is planned during today's service.
Francis was among 300 women with the U.S. Army Nurse Corps captured by Japanese forces after the fall of Corregidor, a small, fortified island in the Philippines. They were held prisoner from May 1942 to February 1945, caring for other prisoners, both civilian and military, while subsisting on insect-infested rice and enduring beatings.
Francis' friends say she was scarred by her captivity and worked only infrequently after she returned to the United States. She was married briefly to Garnet Francis, an Army dentist she met in the Philippines.
Francis, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease, had no family. She lived with a caregiver in Clinton after residing for several years in Paducah. She was a native of Bardwell.
Gov. Paul Patton and the state Department of Veteran Affairs presented her a certificate of appreciation last month for her service. She and other survivors of the Japanese camp were recognized by President Ronald Reagan at the White House in 1983.
She is mentioned in two books about the POW camp: "To the Angels" by Denny Williams (1985) and "We Band of Angels" by Elizabeth N. Norman (1999).
Obit from The Paducah Sun
Posted: Tuesday, September 17, 2002 6:00 AM
CLINTON, Ky.--A service is set for 1 p.m. today at Clinton Cemetery for Earleen Allen Francis, one of a small group of military nurses who distinguished themselves during years of captivity as prisoners of war in World War II.
She died here Sunday at age 91. A salute by the Veterans of Foreign Wars is planned during today's service.
Francis was among 300 women with the U.S. Army Nurse Corps captured by Japanese forces after the fall of Corregidor, a small, fortified island in the Philippines. They were held prisoner from May 1942 to February 1945, caring for other prisoners, both civilian and military, while subsisting on insect-infested rice and enduring beatings.
Francis' friends say she was scarred by her captivity and worked only infrequently after she returned to the United States. She was married briefly to Garnet Francis, an Army dentist she met in the Philippines.
Francis, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease, had no family. She lived with a caregiver in Clinton after residing for several years in Paducah. She was a native of Bardwell.
Gov. Paul Patton and the state Department of Veteran Affairs presented her a certificate of appreciation last month for her service. She and other survivors of the Japanese camp were recognized by President Ronald Reagan at the White House in 1983.
She is mentioned in two books about the POW camp: "To the Angels" by Denny Williams (1985) and "We Band of Angels" by Elizabeth N. Norman (1999).
Obit from The Paducah Sun
CLINTON, Ky.--A service is set for 1 p.m. today at Clinton Cemetery for Earleen Allen Francis, one of a small group of military nurses who distinguished themselves during years of captivity as prisoners of war in World War II.
She died here Sunday at age 91. A salute by the Veterans of Foreign Wars is planned during today's service.
Francis was among 300 women with the U.S. Army Nurse Corps captured by Japanese forces after the fall of Corregidor, a small, fortified island in the Philippines. They were held prisoner from May 1942 to February 1945, caring for other prisoners, both civilian and military, while subsisting on insect-infested rice and enduring beatings.
Francis' friends say she was scarred by her captivity and worked only infrequently after she returned to the United States. She was married briefly to Garnet Francis, an Army dentist she met in the Philippines.
Francis, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease, had no family. She lived with a caregiver in Clinton after residing for several years in Paducah. She was a native of Bardwell.
Gov. Paul Patton and the state Department of Veteran Affairs presented her a certificate of appreciation last month for her service. She and other survivors of the Japanese camp were recognized by President Ronald Reagan at the White House in 1983.
She is mentioned in two books about the POW camp: "To the Angels" by Denny Williams (1985) and "We Band of Angels" by Elizabeth N. Norman (1999).
Obit from The Paducah Sun
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