This Military Service Page was created/owned by
PO1 Jeff Frey (Ace)
to remember
Bernatitus, Ann Agnes, CAPT.
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Contact Info
Home Town Exeter, PA
Last Address Wilkes-Barre, PA
Date of Passing Mar 03, 2003
Location of Interment Saint Casimir Cemetery - Pittston, Pennsylvania
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
First American to be awarded the Legion of Merit. Capt Bernatitus donated her medal to the Simithsonian Institution in 1976.
RADM Randell Jabobs, Chief of Naval Personnel noted when he presented the award to then LTJG Bernatitus, "Your ecellent service in a time of stress and under such dangerous conditions in worthy of the distinction shown you in becoming the FIRST PERSON IN THE UNITED STATES NAVAL SERVICE TO BE SO DECORATED."
Among the last group to be evacuated from the Philippines just prior to the fall of Corregidor aboard the USS Spearfish(SS-90).
Capt Bernatitus was the only Navy Nurse to evade capture at Corregidor.
A monument in her honor is at the Exeter Borough Building in Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania was unveiled on Memorial Day in 2007.
Legion of Merit
Awarded for Actions During World War II
Service: Navy
Citation: The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Legion of Merit with Combat "V" to Lieutenant, Junior Grade Ann A. Bernatitus (NSN: 64916W), United States Navy, for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States as a member of Surgical Unit No. 5 during the Japanese attack on the Philippines, December 1941 through April 1942. Nurse Bernatitus maintained her position in the front lines of the Manila-Bataan area rendering efficient and devoted service during the prolonged siege. Miss Bernatitus was regularly attached to the NavalHospital, Canacao, Philippine Islands having reported for duty there on 20 July 1941. Shortly after hostilities commenced in December 1941 the Naval Hospital Staff and patients were moved to a new establishment in Manila. On 24 December 1941, when Manila was being evacuated Miss Bernatitus accompanied by two Navy Medical Officers proceeded to the ArmyHospital at Limay, Bataan. The remainder of the hospital staff stayed in Manila and were taken prisoners. On 25 January 1942, Miss Bernatitus was transferred to Army Field Hospital No. 1 at Little Baguio, Bataan and remained there on active duty until that hospital was destroyed by enemy bombing on 7 April. When Bataan fell Miss Bernatitus was transferred to Corregidor. During her stay in Bataan she worked directly under Lieutenant Commander C. M. Smith (MC), USN, who is now a prisoner of war. The conditions under which the nurses lived and worked lacked everything in the way of comfort. They were constantly exposed to enemy bombing attacks and experienced several as well as the endemic jungle diseases of that area. Miss Bernatitus suffered from both dysentery and beriberi during her tour of duty in Bataan. In spite of all difficulties Miss Bernatitus performed her duty in an exemplary manner with courage and good spirit. She was officially transferred from Corregidor three days before the surrender of that fortress. (Lieutenant, Junior Grade, Bernatitus is authorized to wear the Combat "V".)
The Cañacao Peninsula juts into Manila Bay, and is an ideal location for mooring and repairing ships. Originally a point of commerce between Chinese merchants and resident Spanish and Filipinos, the peninsula emerged as a shipbuilding and repair area, ultimately housing a Spanish navy base.
In 1871, the Spanish established a naval hospital on the peninsula. When the Americans occupied the Philippines after the 1898 war with Spain, the hospital fell under United States Navy administration. U S Naval Hospital Cañacao served sailors of U S Naval forces in China and the western Pacific until December 1941, when, as a result of damage caused by Japanese air attacks on U S bases in the Philippines, patients and medical staff moved to joint Army and Navy medical facilities in Manila.
