Mary L. Turner Collection

Details

Who's responsible?: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries (Repository)
How much has been digitized?: Only a part of this collection has been digitized.
Where can I find more information?: https://uncg.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/2/resources/1088
What's in the full collection?: photographs, circa 1952-1954, with a photograph of Mary on a trip to Japan, a group photograph of Mary in a group, and photographs of Mary with her husband and also her son in uniform in the 1990's; copy of newpaper article dated November 1991 from Fifty Plus News titled "Dr. and Mrs. James Turner Mixed Military and Medical Careers"; Kernersville News articles written by Mary, circa 1992 and 2002.
Full biography: Mary Palek Turner (b. 1930) of Linden, New Jersey, served as a nurse in the United States Air Force from 1952 to 1954. Mary Palek Turner was born in Williamstown, Pennsylvania in 1930 and raised in Linden, New Jersey. She graduated from high school in 1948 and enrolled in nursing school in Jersey City. After she completed the program in September 1951, she worked in a tuberculosis hospital. In 1952 she attended Wheaton College in Illinois, while working during the day at Chicago Presbyterian Hospital to help pay her tuition. When she realized she was unable to support herself through school, she was referred to an air force recruiter. Turner entered in the air force in the summer of 1952 and completed her basic training at Gunter Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. She was assigned to Mitchel Air Force Base in Long Island, New York, where she spent eight months performing general nursing. On May 2, 1953, she married James Turner so they could be stationed together overseas. After a brief delay, she was sent to Tokyo, where she worked in a day clinic for four months, while her husband was stationed in Hawaii. When the Korean War ended, Turner was reassigned to Hawaii to work in her husband's clinic. She was discharged from the air force in 1954. Turner and her husband moved to Greensboro, North Carolina, after their active duty service, but remained in the reserves. They opened and operated a medical practice in Kernersville for five years before James enlisted in the Public Health Service. Following two years stationed on Long Island, the couple returned to the Triad. Turner earned a BA in political science and a master's in public administration from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She wrote a column called "Yoda and Me" for the " Kernersville News " and was a member of the American Legion. The Turners had three children, one of whom was in the navy.
Topics: Women's History
Military
Schools and Colleges
Branch of service: Air Force -- Air Force Nurse Corps
Conflict: Post World War II, Korea (1947-1963)
Subject headings: Korean War, 1950-1953
United States. Air Force
Contributing Institution: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries

: Oral history interview with Mary Palek Turner; Primarily documents Mary Palek Turner's service as a nurse in the air force and her personal life afterwards. Turner discusses her Austria-Hungarian heritage; blackouts in New Jersey after the attack on Pearl Harbor; attending nursing school; and working in a TB hospital. Discussion of her pre-service life focuses on her time attending Wheaton College and working at Chicago Presbyterian Hospital, including being unable to support herself and pay for her schooling; being referred to a recruiter in her dorm; and choosing to join the air force in 1952." Turner discusses learning basic rules and regulations while in basic training at Gunter Air Force Base; and the rotating shifts and long work weeks at Mitchel Air Force Base in New York. She also describes in detail getting married so that she and James could be stationed together overseas and the reasons the plan failed. Of her time stationed in Tokyo, Turner mentions working in a day clinic; seeing the destruction from WWII; and her interactions with Japanese civilians. Other service topics include: the reputation of servicewomen and writing letters to her husband." Of her post-service life, Turner discusses the medical practice she and her husband opened; his reenlistment; having to leave the reserves when she adopted a child; and her column in the Kernersville News . She also briefly mentions the various places she has traveled and obtaining degrees at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

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Women Veterans Historical Project

Mary L. Turner Collection

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