Barkley, Beulah L.

BEULAH L. BARKLEY

2nd LIEUTENANT
WOMEN'S ARMY CORPS

Beulah Barkley was born on July 20, 1908 in Union Township, Indiana to parents Jacob C. and Elva Mae Barkley. She had three siblings: an older sister Xariffa M. (Walters), an older brother Ivan Vernon, and a younger brother Robert Dale. Beulah attended East Liberty United Brethren Church with her family for the duration of her childhood and went to Monroeville High School. At age 19, Beulah won first place in the cake contest held by the Adams County Home Economics Club. Her score of 97 earned an all expenses paid trip to the State Fair Home Economics School. On August 29, 1927 she traveled by interurban to Indianapolis with other local winners. In the October 10, 1927 edition of the Decatur Daily Democrat, Beulah wrote "As I had never been very far from home, a trip to Indianapolis and the State Fair meant a great opportunity to me". While in Indianapolis, Beulah participated in demonstrations by the Ball Brothers Canning Company, Singer Sewing Machine Company, and the Jello Company. 

She lived as a student nurse in a boarding house with other girls her age in Fort Wayne in 1929. She attended Lutheran Hospital School of Nursing and was thereafter employed as a school nurse in Plymouth, Indiana and as a nurse at the Adams County Memorial Hospital. Beulah was very active in the Adams County Nurses' Association.

Beulah enlisted in the Army Corps on May 29, 1943 and trained in Fort Knox, Kentucky and Camp Forrest, Tennessee. She attained the rank of Second Lieutenant and was a registered nurse in the 36th Evacuation Hospital. Evacuation hospitals are mobile or partially mobile and serve as a place of major medical and surgical treatment near frontline action before casualties are able to be evacuated elsewhere. 

In February 1944, Lt. Barkley was sent to England in preparation for the allied landings in France. On July 19th, she arrived in the Normandy region in support of Operation Overlord and the liberation of France. One week after her 36th birthday, and after only 8 days in Normandy, Second Lieutenant Barkley died of asphyxia during an attack on her field hospital in Sainte Mere Eglise, France on July 27, 1944. She was temporarily buried in the U.S. Military Cemetery in Blosville, France but was later moved (at the bequest of her family) to the IOOF Cemetery in Monroeville, Indiana in May 1948. Beulah Barkely was the first and only woman from Adams County to die in service during WWII. 

Upon the return of her remains to Decatur, a funeral service was held at Zwick Funeral Home in Decatur with American Legion Post 43 performing graveside rites. All Adams County nurses were asked to attend the funeral service in their white uniforms.  

For her service and sacrifice, 2nd Lieutenant Barkley was awarded the Purple Heart, Women's Army Corps Service Medal, WWII Victory Medal, Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal, and the American Defense Service Medal. 

Information researched and collected by Claudia Hebble, 2015. 

SOURCES

"Evacuation Hospital." Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary. N.p.: Merrimakc-Webster, n.d. N.pag. Print.

Indiana Historical Bureau, comp. Gold Star Honor Roll: Adams County. Vol. 1. Bloomington: Indiana War History Commission, 1949. Print.

"Beulah Barkley". Ancestry K12. Ancestry, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2015. http://ancestryclassroom.com

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