105-year-old former army nurse during WWII shares her story

 

WAUWATOSA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Sixteen million Americans served in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II. Survivors are well over 90 years old now, and there are just 66,000 left. Among them, a woman who grew up in Milwaukee.

Marjorie Jothen is 105 and going strong, an army nurse who saved lives during World War II.

And at 105, Jothen's still got it. She's been singing most of her life, often in church choirs.

Faith has been an important thread of her life, pulling the World War II army nurse through some tough times.

"We lived in there probably more to a room than they had expected, but at least it wasn't on the ground where the rats were, were running past our cots," said Jothen.

Jothen cared for war casualties at makeshift hospitals, some very close to combat.

"And I would run from one to the other to you know, to help them breathe. You read about it, and you heard about it, but sometimes we weren't quite prepared for I think the severity of the wounds and so forth," said Jothen. "We entered in the very top of Luzon in a very small hospital with dirt floors where the Japanese had taken care of their horses so we would find some of the horseshoes in the dirt."

As hard as some days were, Jothen says she didn't feel alone because she already knew some of the other nurses.

"I think we still had four of us from Mt. Sinai Hospital in Milwaukee, new graduates you know who were assigned together it just almost sounds impossible," said Jothen.

Hers is a story of incredible perseverance and strength. Jothen overcame stage four breast cancer nearly 30 years ago, and she only recently moved from independent living to assisted living at Luther Manor in Wauwatosa where she enjoys reading her bible, attending church services and singing.

We asked Marjorie, "Would you recommend to people who want to have a long life to do something in music?"

She said, "Well it certainly helps. I mean I think to have some major interest in life and if you happen to be musically inclined that's fine."

Jothen tells us she thinks that since she was a nurse all those years, she took pretty good care of herself.