Helen Stevenson Meyner

Meyner's serving papers take the form of either letters or postcards written to her family during her time in the Korean War. These documents describe her experiences as a hospital nurse in Japan from 1950 to 1951 and a clubmobile worker in Pusan, Korea from 1951 to 1952. Throughout her time at the A.R.C., Meyner continuously expressed her discontent with the administration and the mistreatment of the volunteers.[2]

“I went to Headquarters (Red Cross) I shouldn’t have because it ruined my day. Boy they give me pain. I have never seen such a place. They treat you as if you-- a mere insect of a hospital worker-- were a dirt under their feet. Personnel there is especially bad it seems to me…. At headquarters they very obviously resent club workers (they are mostly hospital there of course) and they make it pretty obvious that they do too” (December 17th 1950).

During her time in Japan, Meyner worked as a nurse in an American military hospital. As the hospital was severely understaffed and under-equipped, soldiers did not receive the health care that they needed, especially with regard to their mental well-being.[2] Through her patients, Meyner learned of the chaos in Korea. She emphasized that the western media coverage of the war was not reflecting the actual situation.[2]

“There is little fighting going on in Korea right now. We don’t know that from reading the papers or listening to the radio, we can tell by the number of wounded we are getting into the hospital... They [the soldiers] are not proud of anything and they certainly are not fighting for anything, not even their outfits” (January, 5th, 1951).

In April 1951, Meyner arrived in Pusan, Korea, as a clubmobile. She served coffee and doughnuts to soldiers who were returning to the base. She describes Korea as “dirty” and “extremely impoverished” in comparison to Japan.[2]

“There is such poverty here among the poor Koreans who are very different from the Japanese. And how different this is from Japan! Such dirt! We are always dirty but we make a mighty effort to stay neat and groomed, not only for G.I morale but for our own too” (April 13th, 1951).

Although her work was in recreational services, she was able to collect information about the war from soldiers. Meyner specifically reflected on her role as a white woman; often, soldiers enjoyed her company due to the lack of American women serving in Korea.

“It was the first time we had visited them [Marines] and they were so cute and excited. They have absolutely nothing in the way of recreation out there and they could hardly believe their eyes when they saw a white woman. They took a million pictures of me and made such a fuss over me that you might have thought I was Lana Turner. I guess I seemed like Lana to them” (April 30th, 1951).

She indicates that the troops included soldiers from many nations. However, the hierarchy within the military prioritized white American soldiers over other nationalities.[2]

“... I must say that the foreign troops are ever so much more polite...than our own G.I’s. American soldiers are treated better than any soldiers in the world” (April 30th, 1951).

In February 2019, Kara Dixon Vuic wrote the book The Girls Next Door: Bringing the Home Front to the Front Lines, which pulled from Helen Stevenson Meyner's letters as well as other women's writings in similar lines of wartime work to explore gender roles in the war environment. Vuic highlighted Meyner in the chapter “Dancing for Democracy.”[3]

Images of Meyner from this time period are accessible in the online exhibit “Coffee, Doughnuts, and a Witty Line of Chatter”.[4]

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  Letter from April 16, 1951, to family
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  Letter from January 5, 1952, to family
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  Nurses and patients at the Johnson Air Base, Japan 12 March 1951
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  Helen Stevenson Meyner working in the A.R.C clubmobile, South Korea ca. 1951
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  A.R.C Club in Pusan, Korea 1950-1951