ZENNIE DARNOLD

Zennie Chesnut Darnold was born in Rosalia in 1920 and, along with two brothers and a sister.  She was raised in St. John where her father, Z.M. Chesnut, was a garage man.  "His place was just over the railroad tracks where the Grange now stands," said Zennie.  "He sold Chevys, Fords, and Mercurys through the years in a great big cement brick building.  He had mechanics in the back and a big show room across the front.  My uncle, Andy Chesnut's father, worked with him before he opened his own motor shop in Colfax."  Her mother was well know in town too.  Lula Curtis Chesnut was a  Cheney Normal School alumnae and published a single-sheet newspaper in St. John.

Zennie graduated from St. John High School in 1939.  She fondly remembers playing basketball as she went through school.  "Our big enemy was Pine City," she smiled, and pointed out that she was one of the modern basketball players.  Her team wore shorts instead of skirts or bloomers.

While she and her siblings were growing up, her brothers attended Citizen Military Training Camp (CMTC) in Spokane during the summer.  CMTC was a group designed for young men, offering some drill instruction plus a heavy emphasis on sports and competition.  Her brothers inspired her early in life to take an interest in military life.  One summer Sunday she visited her brothers at camp and saw all the young men in uniform, "And I fell in love with everyone of them," claims Zennie.  Afterwards, she dreamed of herself in the military, even seeing the details of her barracks, and knew that someday she would get to be there.  At that time in her young life, it would have seemed to be an impossible dream, since the military was clearly a "man's world."

When she finished high school she entered Nurse training at St. Ignatious Hospital in Colfax, then graduated from a small hospital in Spokane, but was unable to continue studies due to accreditation problems at that institution.  By then the war was on and she signed up in 1944 with the Women's Air Corps.  She was finally able to live her dream.  She got her papers and notice from the Air Corps in a sealed envelope and hopped on a train headed east to Camp Attabury, Indiana for six weeks of Boot Camp and further training. 

She had not told the Air Corps about her Nurse's training, since she had been a bit discouraged with the profession, having found herself unable to proceed as she planned.  But when she went through the standard battery of tests, she ended up being assigned to a Surgical Division.  "I shined the best in areas needed to qualify as a Surgical Nurse, both on the tests and in our training too," she admitted.  The Air Corps also asked her if she preferred overseas or home front duty and she requested overseas duty.  But at that time all the quotas were filled, so she was shipped to Scott Field in Illinois, then sent to Shepard Field in Texas.  "That was my overseas duty," Zennie grimaced.  "The bugs there were horrible."

She was assigned there for a year as a Surgical Nurse.  A great many of her surgery patients were Cadets injured during flight training, but the base also received patients returning from combat.  One time a night patrol of black trainees was hit by a truck and nearly filled the hospital with severely injured men.  She gave shots to trainees and those going overseas, and also worked with many officers who had become hooked on the codeine they found readily available in cough syrup.  One of her favorite duties was writing letters for the homesick young kids who ended up under her care.  One of her least favorite duties was comforting those receiving "Dear John" letters.

Zennie talked about the times she and her friends would get all dressed up, looking sharp, and go into town to shop, and the treatment she and the other Air Corps Women received.  She and her friends were shunned and denied service at the Red Cross Canteen in town where both workers and servicemen were rude to them.  She tells of walking down the street and having people spit on her. 

"Why?" I asked.

"Well, some women in the military early on had gained a bad reputation for the rest of us.  And there were a lot of people, both military and civilian, who thought we shouldn't be taking men's jobs."  

"We made our own recreation," Zennie said, moving away from a painful memory.  "I played tennis, went bowling, we went on hay rides and went horse back riding.  I smoked then.  Always bought my own because I didn't know what was in the ones other people smoked.  I got mine at the PX for, I think, twelve cents a pack.  Everything was a bargain there.  We also got to go on airplane rides with pilots in flight training.  One time we ran out of gas, and the auxiliary tank wouldn't kick in.  We were really scared.  Finally the pilot rolled the plane and it shook something loose and we started getting gas to the engine.  I got an idea of what it would be like to be in combat and lose power.  Very scary."

After her year's commitment she was discharged at her request.  Her Commanding Officer wanted her to stay on and get a degree, but she was ready to move on.  She and three friends went to Chicago for discharge.  "We stayed awhile and shopped, went out at night, had fun, in civilian clothes," she laughed.

When she got back to St. John she traveled a bit, then went to work for the Bryant Wiseman Clinic in Colfax.  She found she had an interest in experimental issues.  "Cancer was just coming on," she said, "and I wanted to do lab work, see what caused illnesses."  She even thought of doing hobo nursing, traveling around until she found a place to work for awhile, making some money, then moving on. 

Instead she met Irwin Darnold.  They married, had three children, and settled down in Colfax.  She worked at Whitman Community Hospital in Colfax for almost twenty years.  She now spends time visiting her six grandkids and gardening.  She also spent many years driving for Council on Aging & Human Services, making sure people got the medical attention they needed.