An excerpt from our first Legacy Angel biography… Mary E. Wright-Martin, born Nov. 01, 1920, served in active duty during WWII as a member of the Women’s Army Corp (W.A.C), United States Army, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign. Mary, at the age of 19, began her training as a cook while stationed at Ft. Oglethorpe, Walker County, Georgia, but little did she know where her journeys would take her! Mary would soon travel by train to Camp Stoneman, California, later boarding the SS Lurline en route to Australia. She shared with our CFVF United family that, by the time her ship pulled up along the Australian coast, she’d already been assigned and trained as a Field Medic—a soldier who delivers emergency care to wounded soldiers, as part of a mobile medical unit. From Australia, Mary’s unit moved to New Britain, then New Guinea, and finally to Manilla, Philippines, where they awaited orders amidst news of the bombing taking place in Japan. Mrs. Mary has stories to tell - stories of war, stories of hardship, but also stories all of us can relate to. Stories like this one… After making her way home aboard the West Point Troop Ship, Mary says, “I opened the screen door, [but] Mama didn’t recognize me for a minute or two, because I had skin so dark she thought I was one of the Brooks family girls. Mama was frying potatoes and onions. She had a pot of pintos cooking on the stove and a pan of corn bread in the old wood stove. After years being gone, I was finally home!” Mary Wright-Martin resides in Kernersville, North Carolina and is 98 years old as of this story collection in 2018.
Mrs. Mary Eaton Wright Martin, 99, passed away Tuesday, November 19, 2019 at Summerstone Nursing and Rehabilitation in NC. To have your story collected through transcription and distribution to state and national archives please email us at info@cfvfunited.com or click the link below.