World War II combat nurse Ellen Ainsworth being memorialized by post office was a “true hero”
By Cara L. Dempski
GLENWOOD CITY — The Glenwood City post office will soon be renamed the “Second Lt. Ellen Ainsworth Memorial Post Office” to honor Second Lt. Ainsworth’s service as a combat nurse. The post office will be renamed in a ceremony at 2 p.m. on August 31.
On February 12, 1944, Second Lt. Ellen Ainsworth was wounded by enemy shelling while in her tent at the Army evacuation hospital in Anzio, Italy. She died of her injuries four days later.
Two days earlier Second Lt. Ainsworth was working in the hospital when German shells began falling on the hospital tent where she was located. She and three other nurses worked to move 42 patients from their beds to the floor, decreasing the chances of patients being hit. All four women then worked by flashlight to move those 42 people to a safer location.
For her actions that day, Ainsworth and the other three nurses were presented with the Silver Star, awarded for gallantry in combat. All four were the first women to be awarded this honor by the U.S. Army.
Growing up in Glenwood City
Ellen Gertrude Ainsworth was born March 9, 1919 to Guy and Emma Ainsworth. She was the youngest of three children, and spent most of her time playing with cousins living nearby. Sally Berkholder of the Glenwood City Historical Society said Ainsworth was quite mischievous as a child.
“They liked to get into all sorts of trouble,” Berkholder said. “Most often it was pranks and practical jokes on each other, but other times they would do things like break items accidentally.”
Ainsworth graduated from high school in 1937. As a junior in high school, her portrait was printed in the local newspaper in 1936, along with a quote describing her as having “a friendly timidity, quiet attractiveness, and subtle charm.”
Berkholder said this quote doesn’t mesh with what other people have told her about Ainsworth.
“She (Ainsworth) was very independent and seemed to instinctively know what to do in any situation,” Berkholder said.
Ainsworth attended the Minneapolis Eitel Hospital School of Nursing after high school and graduated in 1941. She enrolled in the Army in March 1942 and was assigned first to the station hospital at Camp Chaffee in Arkansas before being reassigned to Fort Sam’s 55th Evacuation Hospital in Houston, Texas, at the end of 1942.
Fellow nurses at that time describe Ainsworth as fun, and a “livewire.” She liked to dance, to sing, and to have a good cigar and a glass of whiskey. Even after going overseas, this cheerful spirit didn’t seem to dampen.
Tunisia and Italy
Soon after her reassignment, Ainsworth’s hospital was sent to Bizerte, Tunisia, to assist in the evacuation of wounded soldiers from North Africa. Fellow nurses told Sally Berkholder that Ainsworth did a lot to help boost morale on the journey across the desert of Tunisia.
“She would sing songs for the troops as she and her fellow nurses rode in the trucks,” said Berkholder.
Several weeks after arriving in Tunisia, Ainsworth and her fellow nurses were sent to the 56th Evacuation Hospital in Anzio, Italy. This hospital was a collection of tents that sat at the top of the beachhead and treated not just Allied soldiers, but wounded members of the Axis forces as well.
Berkholder said of Ainsworth and her compatriots, “Even in the carnage of war, those women kept their professionalism and humanity. Soldiers from both sides were treated equally.”
She goes on to describe the combat nurses of WWII as the “toughest of the toughest,” and said that the men who worked with the nurses frequently stated “if the gals can do it, we better be able to as well.”
When several of Ainsworth’s friends heard she’d been injured, they were shocked. Fellow nurse Avis Schorer said that when Ainsworth died, she couldn’t believe it. She had a hard time with her strong, self-assured friend being dead.
The Ainsworth family was notified of her death via telegram on March 9, 1944. That day would have been Ainsworth’s 25th birthday.
After the war
Several people spoke with Ainsworth’s parents after her death in the hopes of organizing a memorial for her. The family instead asked that the money gathered to pay for such a thing be used for something practical and useful.
Ainsworth’s sister, Lyda, said that the lives of her family were hard enough without seeing a daily reminder of Ellen.
Sally Berkholder first came to hear Ainsworth’s story as a young child.
“I was in kindergarten, and we had gone out to his (Guy Ainsworth’s) garden greenhouse,” said Berkholder. “My mother told me to be on my best behavior because ‘Mr. Ainsworth’s daughter died in the war.’”
She recalls Mr. Ainsworth putting his hand on the top of her head at the end of the visit, and telling her “I had a little girl like you once.” He gave her a pansy when the conversation with Berkholder’s mother was finished and the family went home.
Berkholder also remembers her father, the local pharmacist during her childhood, telling her to be kind to the Ainsworths when she saw them because Ellen had died in the war.
Still, despite knowing Ainsworth’s importance to the people of Glenwood City, Berkholder didn’t really understand the full impact of Ainsworth until visiting her grave while on a trip to Italy.
“I wish now that I had asked more questions,” Berkholder said.
She wishes she had pushed more to learn about Ainsworth while still a young child, as there are very few artifacts left regarding the Second Lt.’s time in the army. After he learned of his daughter’s death, Guy Ainsworth is reported to have burned all of her letters, souvenirs, and photographs.
Ainsworth is described by Berkholder as the “VIP” of the Sicily – Rome American Cemetery and Memorial in Nettuno, Italy. Former cemetery director Tina Young said that the majority of people visiting the cemetery after it opened asked after Ainsworth, and the current director said that the cemetery has at least one visitor per day asking to see Ainsworth’s grave.
“People will always remember her now”
After visiting the cemetery, Berkholder sent a brief note regarding her visit to the local newspaper. The note encouraged other people who remembered Ainsworth’s story to visit the cemetery.
“It started to snowball after that,” Berkholder said.
It started with phone calls from local friends who had never heard Ainsworth’s story and grew from there. A reporter from the St. Paul Pioneer Press caught wind of Ainsworth’s history and contacted Berkholder for resources and information for a story to be published on Memorial Day in 2014.
Congressman Sean Duffy read the story in the Pioneer Press and asked his district director, Jesse Garza, to contact Berkholder for more information regarding Ainsworth. A few days before Thanksgiving 2014, Berkholder received a second phone call from Garza.
“Representative Duffy is going to introduce a resolution to the house to change the name of the post office to the Second Lt. Ellen Ainsworth Memorial Post Office,” he told her. “What are your thoughts?”
Berkholder said that she had to keep this knowledge quiet for a long time, because Duffy’s office had asked her to not speak to anyone about it. In March 2016, the resolution passed the house, and passed the senate in May 2016. It was signed into law by President Barack Obama in June.
“When we heard Ellen’s story, we wanted to take it one further,” said Cassie Smedile, Duffy’s communications director.
Berkholder gives Duffy a lot of credit for wanting to ensure Ainsworth’s name is remember by future generations. By putting her name on the local post office, Glenwood City adds to existing memorials: the local American Legion Post 168 (The Curry – Ainsworth) and the memorial bench placed near the high school football field.
“In a lot of ways, this meets the family’s preferences,” Berkholder said. “It meets their criteria of useful and practical.”
One afternoon, Berkholder asked Ainsworth’s sister, Lyda, how she thought Ainsworth would have celebrated the end of the war. Lyda responded that she would likely have celebrated the same way she did at home.
“With a cigar and a shot of whiskey,” laughed Berkholder.
She finished by saying that by renaming the post office, it seems that Glenwood City, is going to get a sense of closure, having recognized Ainsworth’s sacrifice.
Glenwood Area History Museum will be open
The Glenwood Area History Museum will be open from 12:00 to 4:00 next Wednesday afternoon, August 31st when the post office renaming ceremony takes place.
An army duffel bag and bed roll with the printed name of, “2 LT E. G. AINSWORTH” was accidentally found by carpenters, tucked away in the attic of the former Ainsworth home in Glenwood City when the house was being remodeled. Not knowing just what should be done with this find, the carpenters gave them to a neighbor, who then gave the items to the local history museum. Researching began and so did sharing Ellen’s history and her many stories in articles, newspapers, veteran’s programs, and books.
The Museum has an Ellen Ainsworth display in the lobby. There will also be free handouts containing Ellen’s life story.
