Husband of nursing graduate donates items to alumni history museum

Robert Martina speaks with Virginia Tilden, D.N.Sc., dean of the College of Nursing.

Standing alongside his two sons in the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing and Alumni History Museum, Robert Martina took time to revisit the past. His wife, the late Pauline M. Doughtery, a 1942 College of Nursing graduate and member of the Navy Nurse Corps during World War II, is featured among articles and memorabilia he donated to the museum.

“The College is deeply grateful for this gift from the Martina family,” said Virginia Tilden, D.N.Sc., dean of the College of Nursing. “These memorabilia about Pauline’s service in World War II clearly reflect the selfless dedication of this remarkable alumna. We are extremely proud to have photographs of her and the story of her remarkable career in our History Museum, and we thank Mr. Martina and his sons for sending these materials and then visiting us so we could hear first-hand about her accomplishments.”

Martina, a resident of Orange County, Calif., donated several copies of his wife’s war memoirs and pictures to the museum. His sons, Paul Stuart of Westminster, Colo., and Robert Stuart of Orange County, accompanied him on the recent trip to the university. “We heard about the museum and decided to make a special trip,” said Martina.

Martina said he donated his wife’s things as a way to honor her. “I’m very pleased to do that. I wanted to share.”

Pauline M. Doughtery, a 1942 College of Nursing graduate and member of the Navy Nurse Corps during World War II, is featured among articles and memorabilia he donated to the museum.

Pauline entered nursing school in 1938 after graduating from Omaha’s North High School at the age of 16. She took a year off due to rheumatoid arthritis but graduated in 1942. A year later, she entered the Navy Nurse Corps at the Naval Hospital in San Diego, Calif.

Pauline was transferred to Guam and became part of the first group of elite flight nurses stationed in the South Pacific. Throughout the war, she flew on patient evacuation missions to islands in the South Pacific, including Okinawa, Japan, and received the Navy Unit Commendation (Bronze Star) for her service.

Martina, then a Navy Lieutenant Junior Grade and radar specialist, said he met Pauline through a friend when the two were stationed at the Naval Air Station in Patuxent River, Maryland.

“I had just gotten a car when I met her,” Martina said. “I had the car all shined and parked under a tree near the nurses barracks when she came walking along. I asked her to the officer’s club and dinner.”

Pauline said yes, and the couple was later married and settled in La Habra, Calif. After 50 years of marriage, Pauline passed away in June, 2004.

Martina held back tears as he stared at a picture on the museum wall of his sweetheart sitting atop a Japanese gunship in the Admiralty Islands of the South Pacific. “She was truly beautiful,” he said.

Pictured from left to right are Paul Stuart, Robert Stuart, Robert Martina and Minnie Thornton, president of the College of Nursing Alumni Association.

From one of Pauline’s posters displayed in the museum, Martina read aloud the words “dedication, perseverance and character.”

“She lived up to those three things,” he said. “She’d be proud to be on this wall.”