Prudence Burns Burrell


Prudence Hathaway Burns Burrell was an American nurse. Burrell served in the Army Nurse Corps during World War II, mainly in the Pacific theater. She continued to tell the story of African American nurses in the war throughout her life.

Biography

Burrell was born in Mounds, Illinois on March 23, 1916. She grew up with a caretaker in Danville, Illinois. In 1934, she graduated from Lovejoy High School, where she excelled in Latin. After high school, she moved to St. Louis, where she worked as a maid to put herself through nursing school. Burrell graduated in 1939 from the nursing school at a segregated hospital in Kansas City, General Hospital No. 2. In 1941, she was starting her degree in public health at the University of Minnesota.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Burrell joined the Army Nurse Corps and was given the rank of first lieutenant. Burrell attended basic training at Fort Huachuca. She was part of the 268th Station Hospital for three years. On October 15, 1943 she and her unit were stationed in Australia for six months before they were transferred to a hospital in Milne Bay, New Guinea. In May of 1945, the hospital unit was transferred to the Philippines. As the war was ending, Burrell married Lieutenant Lowell Burrell. Her wedding dress was made of a silk parachute.
After the war, Burrell continued to study at the University of Minnesota and graduated in 1951 with a bachelors degree. She and her husband moved to Detroit and Burrell worked as a math teacher.
Burrell kept track of the women she served with and continued to speak about her experiences in the Army. Burrell wrote a book about her life's experiences called Hathaway.
Burrell died on February 29, 2012.