DANVILLE, Calif. (AP) To run Tuesday, Nov. 11 after 12:01amET (9:01p PT). ACallister edited.

Photos still in the works: Alice Darrow (from last month); and photo of Elsie from 2020; and HO of Elsie.

At age 106, Alice Darrow can clearly recall her days as a nurse during World War II, part of a pioneering group that dodged bullets as they hauled packs full of medical supplies and treated the burns and gunshot wounds of troops.

Some nurses were killed by enemy fire. Others spent years as prisoners of war. Most returned home to quiet lives, receiving little recognition.

Darrow sat with patients, even after-hours. One of them had arrived at her hospital on Californias Mare Island with a bullet lodged in his heart. He was not expected to survive surgery, yet he would change her life.

To them, youre everything because youre taking care of them, she said, sitting at her home in the San Francisco Bay Area town of Danville.

Eighty years after the war ended, a coalition of retired military nurses and others is campaigning to award one of the nations highest civilian honors, the Congressional Gold Medal, to all nurses who served in WWII. Other groups, such as the Women Airforce Service Pilots of WWII and the real-life Rosie the Riveters, have already received the honor.

The general public doesnt often recognize, I think, the contribution that the nurses have made in pretty much every war, said Patricia Upah, a retired colonel who served as an Army nurse in conflicts abroad, and whose late mother was also a Army nurse in the South Pacific in World War II.

Only a handful, like Darrow, are still alive. The coalition knows of five World War II nurses who are still living including Elsie Chin Yuen Seetoo, 107, who became the first Chinese American nurse to join the Army Nurse Corps. They fear time is running out to honor the trailblazers.

Its high time we honor the nurses who stepped up and did their part to defend our freedom, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin, said in a statement.

Baldwin and U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, a New York Republican, have sponsored legislation to award the medal, but it faces steep odds. It needs two-thirds of each chamber 67 cosponsors in the Senate and 290 in the House and so far, the bills have eight and six cosponsors, respectively.

Saving lives in the face of danger

Before the war, there were fewer than 600 nurses with the U.S. Army and 1,700 with the U.S. Navy. By the end of the war, those numbers had ballooned to 59,000 in the Army and 14,000 in the Navy.

The Congressional bills cite harrowing examples of bravery. Some nurses served on Navy hospital ships treating patients as the vessels came under fire. Sixty nurses landed off the coast of North Africa on Nov. 8, 1942, to set up shop and care for invading troops.

Without weapons, they waded ashore amid enemy sniper fire and ultimately took shelter in an abandoned civilian hospital, the legislation states.

The nurses saved lives. Fewer than 4% of U.S. soldiers in WWII who received medical care in the field or underwent evacuation died from wounds or disease, the legislation states.

They probably saw more infections. They probably saw more chemical casualties. Remember, they didnt have disposable products, so they had to sterilize everything, says Edward Yackel, a retired colonel and president of the Army Nurse Corps Association, of World War II nurses.

Without them, he says, we would not have the knowledge base we need now to fight the wars of today.

Some nurses endured harsh captivity. In 1942, nearly 80 military nurses were captured when the U.S. surrendered the Philippines to Japan. Held as prisoners of war, the women endured starvation rations and disease but continued to work until their liberation three years later.

Nurses played outsized roles in 600 U.S. Army hospitals worldwide and 700 prisoner-of-war camps at military bases in the U.S., said Phoebe Pollitt, a retired nurse and professor of nursing at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. But their role has largely gone unrecognized.

Within even womens history and health care history, nurses are kind of at the bottom of the barrel, she said.

Breaking color barriers

The majority of military nurses were white, and those who were not often had to fight for the right to serve.

In 1941, only 56 Black nurses were allowed into the U.S. Army. Japanese American applicants, whose families were incarcerated during the war, were not accepted into the Army Nurse Corps until 1943.

Elsie Chin Yuen Seetoo was born in Stockton, California, but spent her teens China. She joined the Chinese Red Cross Medical Relief Corps in unoccupied China after fleeing Japanese forces in Hong Kong.

She later applied to the U.S. Army Nurse Corps, but they said she had an obligation to serve her country and that meant China.

An indignant Chinese American medical officer fired off a letter on Seetoos behalf, stating that she was a U.S. citizen. She became the first Chinese American nurse to join the Army Nurse Corps, working in China and India before returning to the U.S.

She already has a Congressional Gold Medal awarded to Chinese Americans for their service in the war despite the discrimination they faced.

We answered the call to duty when our country faced threats to our freedom, she said in video recorded remarks at the 2020 ceremony.

A love story

Among the patients Darrow cared for was a young soldier wounded in Japans attack on Pearl Harbor. Before surgery to remove the bullet in his heart, he asked if she would go on a date with him, if he made it through.

I said, Well sure, you can count on me, she says, and laughs. I couldnt say, No, I dont think youre going to make it.

Dean Darrow did survive and they did go out. The couple kept the 7.7 mm bullet. They married and raised four children. He died in 1991.

In September, Alice Darrow took a cruise to Hawaii with her daughter and son-in-law, where she donated the bullet to the Pearl Harbor National Memorial so visitors from around the world could learn of its significance and the love story behind it.

Darrow said shes looking forward to seeing the bullet on display. The Congressional Gold Medal would be another treasure to look forward to.

It would be an honor, she said.

___

Terry Tang of APs race and ethnicity team contributed from Phoenix, Arizona.

加利福尼亚州丹维尔市（美联社电）——将于东部时间11月11日周二凌晨12:01（太平洋时间晚上9:01）开始运行。ACallister编辑。

正在处理中的照片包括：艾丽斯·达罗（上月拍摄）；2020年拍摄的埃尔茜照片；以及埃尔茜的HO照片。

106岁高龄的爱丽丝·达罗仍能清晰回忆起二战期间担任护士的岁月。作为先驱团队的一员，她曾冒着枪林弹雨运送装满医疗物资的背包，为士兵们治疗烧伤和枪伤。

一些护士在敌军炮火中牺牲，另一些则经受了多年战俘生涯的煎熬。大多数人虽得以返乡，却过着默默无闻的生活，鲜少获得认可。

达罗（Darrow）即便在下班后也坚持陪伴病人。其中一位患者心脏中弹后被送往她所在的加州马雷岛医院。尽管手术存活希望渺茫，这名患者却将彻底改变她的人生。

"对他们而言，你就是一切，因为你在照顾他们，"她说道。当时她正坐在位于旧金山湾区丹维尔镇的家中。

战争结束八十年后，一个由退役军队护士和其他人士组成的联盟正积极推动为所有在二战中服役的护士颁发美国最高平民荣誉——国会金质奖章。此前，二战期间的女飞行员部队（WASP）以及现实版铆工露西（Rosie the Riveters）等团体已获此殊荣。

我认为公众往往没有充分认识到护士在几乎每场战争中所作出的贡献，”曾作为陆军护士参与海外冲突的退役上校帕特里夏·尤帕说道。她的母亲也曾是二战期间南太平洋战区的一名陆军护士，现已离世。

如今只有达罗等极少数人仍在世。该联盟已知的五位二战在世护士中，包括107岁的黄延雪（Elsie Chin Yuen Seetoo）——她是首位加入陆军护士团的华裔美国护士。他们担心，向这些先驱者致敬的时间所剩无几。

威斯康星州民主党籍参议员塔米·鲍德温（Tammy Baldwin）在一份声明中表示：“现在正是我们向那些挺身而出、为捍卫自由而尽责的护士们致敬的时刻。”

美国纽约州共和党众议员埃莉斯·斯特凡尼克与鲍德温共同提出授予该勋章的立法提案，但通过前景渺茫。该提案需获得参众两院各三分之二议员支持（参议院67名、众议院290名联署），而目前仅分别获得8名和6名议员联署。

危难时刻拯救生命

战前，美国陆军护士不足600人，海军护士仅有1700人。而到战争结束时，陆军护士人数激增至5.9万人，海军护士也达到了1.4万人。

国会法案中列举了令人动容的英勇事迹。部分护士曾在海军医疗船上救治伤员，即便舰船遭遇炮火袭击仍坚守岗位。1942年11月8日，六十名护士在北非海岸登陆，建立野战医院并为进攻部队提供医疗救护。

该法案称，他们手无寸铁，冒着敌方狙击手的火力涉水上岸，最终躲进了一家废弃的民用医院。

护士们挽救了无数生命。法案指出，在二战期间，接受战地医疗或后送救治的美军士兵中，因伤或疾病死亡的比例不足4%。

“她们可能面临更多感染病例，也可能遭遇更多化学武器伤员。要知道，当时没有一次性医疗用品，所有器械都必须消毒灭菌。”退役上校、陆军护士队协会主席爱德华·亚克尔在谈及二战时期的护士时这样说道。

“没有他们，”他说，“我们现在就不会拥有应对当前战争所需的知识基础。”

一些护士经历了残酷的囚禁生活。1942年，美国将菲律宾移交给日本时，近80名军队护士被俘。这些女性作为战俘被关押期间，忍受着食物短缺和疾病的折磨，但仍坚持工作，直至三年后获得解放。

北卡罗来纳大学格林斯伯勒分校护理学退休教授、护士菲比·波利特表示，护士在全球600所美军医院和美国本土军事基地700个战俘营中发挥了超乎寻常的作用，但她们的贡献在很大程度上未被认可。

她表示：“即便在女性历史和医疗保健史中，护士也处于最不受重视的底层地位。”

打破肤色壁垒

军队护士中白人占多数，而非白人护士往往需要为争取服役权利而斗争。

1941年，美军仅允许56名黑人护士入伍。而日裔美国人申请者因战时家人遭拘禁，直至1943年才被陆军护士队接纳。

陈阮秀桃（Elsie Chin Yuen Seetoo）出生于加利福尼亚州斯托克顿市，但青少年时期在中国度过。她从香港逃离日军占领后，在非沦陷区加入了中国红十字会医疗救济队。

她后来申请加入美国陆军护士队，但对方表示她有义务为自己的祖国效力——而她的祖国是中国。

一位愤慨的美籍华裔军医代表司徒（Seetoo）发出了一封信，声明她是美国公民。她成为首位加入陆军护士队的华裔护士，曾在中国和印度工作，后返回美国。

她已获得美国国会金质奖章，该奖章旨在表彰华裔在战争中做出的贡献，尽管他们曾遭受歧视。

她在2020年典礼的视频致辞中表示：'当我们的自由面临威胁时，我们响应了职责的召唤。'

一个爱情故事

达罗照顾的病人中，有一位在日军偷袭珍珠港时负伤的年轻士兵。在手术取出心脏中的子弹前，他问她，如果自己挺过来了，是否愿意和他约会。

“我说，‘当然，你可以指望我，’”她笑着说道，“我可不能说，‘不，我觉得你成不了事。’”

迪安·达罗（Dean Darrow）确实活了下来，两人也最终走到了一起。这对夫妇保留了那颗7.7毫米的子弹。他们结婚后育有四个孩子，迪安于1991年去世。

去年9月，爱丽丝·达罗与女儿及女婿一同乘船前往夏威夷，并将一枚子弹捐赠给珍珠港国家纪念馆，以便来自世界各地的游客了解其历史意义和背后的爱情故事。

达罗表示，她期待看到这颗子弹的展出。国会金质奖章将成为另一个值得期待的珍宝。

“这将是我的荣幸。”她说道。

美联社种族与民族报道团队的谭特里（Terry Tang）从亚利桑那州凤凰城发回报道。