HIDDEN STORIES FROM WARTIME

My mother grew up on a farm in South Carolina. Of five daughters, she was the one in a tree reading books, dreaming of faraway places where she wouldn’t have to pick cotton. As soon as she could, she left home to work her way through nursing school.

By age 22, my mother, Mary Janette Holcombe, was overseas during World War II as part of the 15th Evacuation Hospital, a 450-bed mobile tent hospital that received the wounded directly off the battlefield — often while being bombed and shelled themselves. She worked hard but also played hard.

Unfortunately, Mama shared very little of her past with my sister or me. This stunning, rebellious woman with an exquisitely dry Southern sense of humor was a mystery to us … but she left a paper trail.

After she died, her letters and writings miraculously resurfaced. It’s true about the feeling you get when you have your hands on “source” documents for the first time in 80 years — you feel like you’re there.

Through her letters, I followed the front from North Africa to Italy, including Anzio. The intensity of being part of a unit that worked closely together “like a well-oiled machine” would never be equaled in her lifetime.

I chose the Veterans History Project (VHP) for her documents because my scholarly sister Evadne held the Library of Congress in the highest esteem. Plus, VHP staff have mentored me as a “citizen archivist.”

By 2021, I had painstakingly transcribed my finds and was ready to scan everything when my South Carolina cousins discovered a trunk full of her uniforms, helmet, documents and an abundance of love letters from numerous men. The sheer “archival bulk” of it paralyzed me.

Now, in 2026, I am resuming the charge. Not just a charge into history that I wish to share with others, but an opportunity for me to learn who my mother was.