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- World War II Navy Nurse
Aldine Anna Guimond was born February 2, 1917, on a farm near Manteno, Illinois. In September 1936, she entered St. Mary's Hospital School of Nursing in Kankakee. Graduating in 1939, she received her license and began practicing as a private duty nurse in the Kankakee area.
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Eight days later, Aldine was in a recruiting office in Kankakee taking an oath and enrolling in the Navy Nurse Corps.
In February 1942, the Navy sent her to Great Lakes Hospital for training. About a week after arriving, she was commissioned an officer. In January 1943, the Navy transferred Ensign Guimond to full-time duty in a dispensary at Crane Naval Ammunition Depot in central Indiana.
In March 1944, she was reassigned to the U.S. Naval Hospital in Shoemaker, California, and it was here that she spent the remainder of the war. At Shoemaker she served as a medical ward superintendent with the rank of Lieutenant, Junior Grade (LTJG, 02). On March 1, 1945, she was promoted to Lieutenant (LT, 03). She had a chance to go to Okinawa, but the war was winding down, and on September 22, 1945, she was released from active duty and returned to Manteno.
Instead of staying in Manteno, Aldine came up to Chicago and got a job at Michael Reese. It was in Chicago that she met Gordon Tell Brown. Employed by Zenith, he was a young G.I. who had returned to the States in November 1945 from fighting in Europe. They met at an American Legion dance. They started dating. After three months, Gordon proposed and Aldine accepted. They were married in Manteno on August 20, 1949.
The newlyweds started making plans together. They used Gordon's G.I. housing benefits to buy a home at 9747 Lonnquist Drive in Franklin Park. Pregnant with her first child Mary, Aldine decided to give up her commission, and in July of 1950, she sent in her letter of resignation to the U. S. Naval Reserve.
She had accomplished much in her young life. There weren't many women in America who had served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
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1917 - 2006 (89 years)
d. 4 Aug 1972, Manteno, Kankakee County, IL