A nurse in the US Army Nurse Corps of WWI and WWII.
An Angel of Bataan and Prisoner-of-War of the Japanese in the Philippine Islands during WWII.
Born 19 Apr 1890 in Willmar, Kandiyohi County, Minnesota, Captain Aasen trained as a nurse at Columbus Hospital, Great Falls, Montana. She entered the US Army Nurse Corps at Great Falls on 11 July 1918. She served as a nurse, US Army Nurse Corps, in World War I, and in the Philippine Islands as a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese in WWII. She never married.
Before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Army assigned (then) Second Lieutenant Aasen to Sternberg Hospital, Manila, Philippine Islands. The Army sent her to Bataan peninsula in Dec 1941. When Bataan fell, the Japanese took Second Lieutenant Aasen and the remaining nurses as prisoners-of-war, and moved her to Ft Mills / Corregidor Island until Aug 1942. The Japanese then moved Second Lieutenant Aasen to Santo Tomas prisoner-of-war / internment camp in Manila, where she remained and served for nearly two years and ten months. She was one of the sixty-six US “Angels of Bataan.” The US Army freed Santo Tomas on 3 Feb 1945.
After her freedom from captivity, (now) Captain Aasen went to Letterman Army Hospital, San Francisco, California, to recuperate and serve for the next two years. She retired from active duty on 19 Jan 1947, serving in uniform for almost twenty nine years.
She lived in San Francisco until 1967 when she moved to Minot, North Dakota, to be near family. She lived at the Minot Lutheran’s Home. Mina died 2 Apr 1974 in Minot and is buried there.
Biographical sketch by LTC Ed Saunders, USA, (retired)
An Angel of Bataan and Prisoner-of-War of the Japanese in the Philippine Islands during WWII.
Born 19 Apr 1890 in Willmar, Kandiyohi County, Minnesota, Captain Aasen trained as a nurse at Columbus Hospital, Great Falls, Montana. She entered the US Army Nurse Corps at Great Falls on 11 July 1918. She served as a nurse, US Army Nurse Corps, in World War I, and in the Philippine Islands as a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese in WWII. She never married.
Before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Army assigned (then) Second Lieutenant Aasen to Sternberg Hospital, Manila, Philippine Islands. The Army sent her to Bataan peninsula in Dec 1941. When Bataan fell, the Japanese took Second Lieutenant Aasen and the remaining nurses as prisoners-of-war, and moved her to Ft Mills / Corregidor Island until Aug 1942. The Japanese then moved Second Lieutenant Aasen to Santo Tomas prisoner-of-war / internment camp in Manila, where she remained and served for nearly two years and ten months. She was one of the sixty-six US “Angels of Bataan.” The US Army freed Santo Tomas on 3 Feb 1945.
After her freedom from captivity, (now) Captain Aasen went to Letterman Army Hospital, San Francisco, California, to recuperate and serve for the next two years. She retired from active duty on 19 Jan 1947, serving in uniform for almost twenty nine years.
She lived in San Francisco until 1967 when she moved to Minot, North Dakota, to be near family. She lived at the Minot Lutheran’s Home. Mina died 2 Apr 1974 in Minot and is buried there.
Biographical sketch by LTC Ed Saunders, USA, (retired)
A nurse in the US Army Nurse Corps of WWI and WWII.
An Angel of Bataan and Prisoner-of-War of the Japanese in the Philippine Islands during WWII.
Born 19 Apr 1890 in Willmar, Kandiyohi County, Minnesota, Captain Aasen trained as a nurse at Columbus Hospital, Great Falls, Montana. She entered the US Army Nurse Corps at Great Falls on 11 July 1918. She served as a nurse, US Army Nurse Corps, in World War I, and in the Philippine Islands as a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese in WWII. She never married.
Before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Army assigned (then) Second Lieutenant Aasen to Sternberg Hospital, Manila, Philippine Islands. The Army sent her to Bataan peninsula in Dec 1941. When Bataan fell, the Japanese took Second Lieutenant Aasen and the remaining nurses as prisoners-of-war, and moved her to Ft Mills / Corregidor Island until Aug 1942. The Japanese then moved Second Lieutenant Aasen to Santo Tomas prisoner-of-war / internment camp in Manila, where she remained and served for nearly two years and ten months. She was one of the sixty-six US “Angels of Bataan.” The US Army freed Santo Tomas on 3 Feb 1945.
After her freedom from captivity, (now) Captain Aasen went to Letterman Army Hospital, San Francisco, California, to recuperate and serve for the next two years. She retired from active duty on 19 Jan 1947, serving in uniform for almost twenty nine years.
She lived in San Francisco until 1967 when she moved to Minot, North Dakota, to be near family. She lived at the Minot Lutheran’s Home. Mina died 2 Apr 1974 in Minot and is buried there.
Biographical sketch by LTC Ed Saunders, USA, (retired)
An Angel of Bataan and Prisoner-of-War of the Japanese in the Philippine Islands during WWII.
Born 19 Apr 1890 in Willmar, Kandiyohi County, Minnesota, Captain Aasen trained as a nurse at Columbus Hospital, Great Falls, Montana. She entered the US Army Nurse Corps at Great Falls on 11 July 1918. She served as a nurse, US Army Nurse Corps, in World War I, and in the Philippine Islands as a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese in WWII. She never married.
Before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Army assigned (then) Second Lieutenant Aasen to Sternberg Hospital, Manila, Philippine Islands. The Army sent her to Bataan peninsula in Dec 1941. When Bataan fell, the Japanese took Second Lieutenant Aasen and the remaining nurses as prisoners-of-war, and moved her to Ft Mills / Corregidor Island until Aug 1942. The Japanese then moved Second Lieutenant Aasen to Santo Tomas prisoner-of-war / internment camp in Manila, where she remained and served for nearly two years and ten months. She was one of the sixty-six US “Angels of Bataan.” The US Army freed Santo Tomas on 3 Feb 1945.
After her freedom from captivity, (now) Captain Aasen went to Letterman Army Hospital, San Francisco, California, to recuperate and serve for the next two years. She retired from active duty on 19 Jan 1947, serving in uniform for almost twenty nine years.
She lived in San Francisco until 1967 when she moved to Minot, North Dakota, to be near family. She lived at the Minot Lutheran’s Home. Mina died 2 Apr 1974 in Minot and is buried there.
Biographical sketch by LTC Ed Saunders, USA, (retired)
