Hinemoa Ruskin, a resident of Ben Lomond, is an unsung heroine who risked her life and left everything behind to serve as a U.S. Army nurse during World War II.
She was not a typical nurse, however. Ruskin was a hometown rodeo queen who eventually served as a lieutenant under Gen. George S. Patton and nursed Mafia members.
“I never intended to become a nurse,” recalled Ruskin, now 90.
As a young girl, her passions were dancing, participating in 4-H Club activities and playing tennis.
Ruskin was born Nov. 2, 1920, in Portland, Ore., and grew up on a farm. Life was hard, especially during the Great Depression. Her mother, Alma Cloninger, was the only registered nurse in their community. Ruskin remembers her mother traveling to nearby farms to deliver babies. On one occasion, her mother even delivered twins in a cave, Ruskin recalls.
Her father, Lt. Elmer Cloninger, was commander of the local Civilian Conservation Corps, in addition to running the farm.
The family moved to Nyssa, Ore., when Ruskin was 14. She became involved in Future Farmers of America and was elected the hometown rodeo queen.
With no prior aspirations, Ruskin decided to become a nurse after she attended a capping ceremony for a friend.
“I was so impressed with the ceremony that I enrolled in the Good Samaritan Hospital Training School for nurses in Portland, Ore.,” she said.
After graduating in 1941, Ruskin worked as a private-duty nurse. The turning point, she recalls, came shortly after the breakup of her brief first marriage.
“I’ll never forget that day, Dec. 7, 1941,” Ruskin said with tears in her eyes. “I came home to my empty little apartment and was sitting at the kitchen table listening to the radio. Suddenly, I heard that Pearl Harbor had been bombed by the Japanese. I decided right then to join the Army Nurse Corps. From that moment on, I knew this was what I wanted to do.”
After intensive training, Ruskin signed up to serve in evacuation hospitals. Her first landing took place in France on Utah Beach in 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge.
“When our truckload of nurses rolled up the beach, we would gather up the wounded and take them to the evac hospital,” she said.
She was shocked by the thousands of white crosses she saw, each representing a fallen soldier.
Upon meeting her commanding officer, Colonel Hadley, Ruskin was asked to state her full name.
He replied, “The war is hard enough without having to remember a name like that! From now on, you’ll be G.I. Jo.”
From then on, everyone called her Jo.
The evac nurses were under tremendous pressure. There was a shortage of instruments and sterile supplies. In addition, they were required to wear helmets as protection from flying shrapnel.
“The worst battle was the Battle of Saint-Lo,” Ruskin recalled, with tears at the memory. “Almost 95 percent of the city was destroyed.”
Other battles included the Invasion of Normandy and the France Campaign. She was commissioned first lieutenant under Patton’s 3rd Army and earned three bronze stars for her heroic efforts in the European Theater of Operation.
“I only cried once that I remember,” Ruskin said. “I covered for a nurse in the psychiatric tent. When I looked into one soldier’s eyes, there was nothing there. ‘Oh God,’ I thought, ‘where has he gone?’ His hollow eyes haunted me for nights to come.”
Ruskin met Capt. Murray Ruskin in Normandy.
“We were having supper during a blackout,” she said. “I tripped over the tent rope, and he picked me up and kissed me. We eventually got married.”
After the war ended, the Ruskins settled down in New York and had two boys and a girl. Later they moved to Park Forest, Ill., where she worked as a nurse for the notorious Arlington Park Racetrack. Ruskin recalls taking care of “lots of Mafia guys.”
In her later years, she directed a mental clinic, was active in the Veterans of Foreign Wars and 4-H Club and played tennis up until age 85.
In 2004, Ruskin moved to Ben Lomond to be closer to her family.
“I’m very grateful for the years I’ve had, the people I’ve known and the soldiers who served us all,” she said.
Sandi Olson of Scotts Valley is a writer, speaker and teacher. She writes about interesting people in Scotts Valley and the San Lorenzo Valley. E-mail her at [email protected].
